Thursday, November 29, 2007

Introducing the next GQ cover model

Several months ago I was at church and I saw this cute little kid enter church wearing a little suit with a tie. It took me a second to realize that the little boy was mine. I was so used to thinking of Baker as our little Baby Boy that it took me a second to realize that he is quickly turning into our little man. Seeing him in his little outfit was so adorable. Well, you'll notice that he isn't wearing a tie in this picture. That's because a week or two ago I turned to Heather and said, "did we ever get a picture of Baker in that cute little suit that he used to wear to church?" She said no. As usual we had great intentions of taking his picture but back in those days I was in the Bishopric and Heather had two kids, an entire music lesson, and several other things to all juggle Sunday morning before church all by herself (needless to say those generally are not the most priceless Kodak moments). On the flip side Baker had usually been in nursery for two hours, eaten snack, and wrestled with several kids during that time. As a result he usually crashed in the car on the way home. Again, waking a sleeping child for a parent's picture gratification is generally not a great idea. Either way, we never got a picture. So imagine Heather's surprise the other day when she came out before church and her little boy was wearing his suit. Why the surprise? Well the suit is for 6-9 months. For those of you who are counting Baker is now less than a month away from being 2. While it may be a little small for him (his vest looked like he was a high priest still trying to wear his mission vest; which we know there are several of those that exist in the church) I think the overall look was fetching. He certainly is a fun child to have in our lives.

I also wanted to show you a picture of Katie and Baker together. I love this picture because it really illustrates how Katie treats Baker. She is an absolutely wonderful big sister. She will play with him and entertain him for hours. The two of them have a very special bond and Baker will often follow her around the house and do everything she does. Katie is not in his vocabulary but one of the very first words that he learned to say was, "cis-sy" (Baker for sissy). It seems that Katie can get him to laugh and play faster than anybody else in the family. For example, the other day I went in to get him out of bed in the morning. After several minutes of catering to his every need (changing his diaper, getting him a drink, changing his pee soaked jammies), during which time Baker hardly acknowledged I was there, Katie walked in the room and he jumped up and yelled, "CIS-SY" We certainly are a lucky to have two such beautiful and loving children.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Do you ever wish you had a recorder?

So I'm driving in the van with Katie, Baker, and her two neighbor friends Tyler (the one with the monkey face; not that he looks like a monkey but the one literally pulling the monkey face) and Josh (the one in the stripes). As I'm driving them home I have one of those moments where I think, Man I'd pay money to have a tape recorder right now. So I decided I'd hurry and sit down and try to recapture some of the magic. We'll see how I do. Many of you may not realize this but in St. Louis they require you to tell a joke in order to "earn" your trick-or-treat candy. As a result the kids were all well versed on their latest jokes. As I got in the van I received a chorus of "do you want to hear a joke?" My thought, "who wouldn't want to hear a joke created by a five year old?" (although secretly in my head I set a timer to see if we would make it all the way home hearing progressively more creative jokes; my hypothesis was yes; my hypothesis was confirmed).

First Joke:

Katie (K): Why did the kitchen cross the road?

Answer (A): to get some food to cook and eat

then a variety of jokes that followed, each child taking their turn. Katie's second joke:

K: Why did the squirrel cross the road?

A: because it was attached to the kitchen. Rounds of laughter, where does she come up with these things.

Later, Tyler, asked: Why did the Thanksgiving dog cross the road?

Josh: to meet his girlfriend.

Katie: that's silly Josh, dogs don't have girlfriends.

Josh: Yes, they do. My uncle Rick has a dog, and his wife's name is Lasso (?) and she has like 10 kids.

Katie: Oh yeah, well why did they Thanksgiving dog cross the road?

Tyler: because he wanted to eat some turkey.

Katie: wrong

Tyler: because he wanted to be with his family and friends while they ate turkey.

Katie: Wrong again.

Tyler: b bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb (that isn't actually what Tyler said Baker simply decided he needed to share computer time with his daddy). Back to the conversation.

Tyler: because he wanted to kill the turkey so he could eat it.

Katie: How did you get it?

Tyler: Hah! I got it right. In your face!

Katie: Allright, here's another one. This time I'll make it easier so you can get it right on the first time. Why did the house cross the street?

Tyler: to eat turkey with his friends (noticing a theme?).

Katie: NO! because he had feet.

Tyler: You mean he didn't like his neighbors so he decided to walk to the other side of the road to find new neighbors that he liked better?

Katie: Yeah you got it.

Tyler: Hah! I got it right. In your face!

Oh the wonder of kids. They literally could keep you entertained for hours. By the way, for those parents that have had similar experiences and as a result found themselves placing a mental wager on how long the conversation would last? We drove from our stake center to my house. Approximate traveling time: 19 minutes. So the essence of the story? Come to St. Louis, where for the small price of a candy bar you will meet our future comedians. We love you all and hope to see you soon.