Chicken Dance

Dancing is one of Spencer's new favorite things to do. (Can you tell he's my son?!) He's not quite steady enough on his feet yet to really get his whole body into it, but Alan and I love how he flaps his little wings. As you can tell from the video, he has the 2-second attention span of a 17-month-old. He does this little dance for a few seconds every time he hears a tune.

Spencer has just about completely recovered from his broken leg. His limp is gone and he can do all of the essential skills a kid his age should be able to do. He's a little behind because he was off his feet for 6 weeks, but Alan and I have both been impressed with the progress he's made since the cast came off. I took him in for a physical therapy evaluation last week. The therapist said everything looked great and there was no need for therapy. Yay! We're so relieved and blessed that this has turned out so well.

Create

Our Relief Society Presidency used this video of Elder Uchtdorf in Church a few weeks ago. I was touched by his talk during the last General Relief Society Meeting. I thought this video was a great example of someone putting Elder Uchtdorf's words to action and wanted to share it with all of you.

No more mullet

Alan makes me cut his hair and I hate it. I have no idea what I'm doing even though I've been doing it for 6.5 years now. Last week however, I discovered that cutting the super fine hair of a squirmy little boy is even worse. Spencer was in danger of growing a mullet so I had to bite the bullet and give him his first haircut. It was a lot faster than cutting Alan's because I really only had the cut around the edges. Spencer's hair now looks much better, but I didn't do a great job by any stretch of the imagination. I'd be happy to hear any tips you other moms have!


Before:




During: (I was smiling because I messed up, not because I was enjoying myself.)




After: (I'm glad you can't see all of the lines and edges very well in this picture.)

Astoria

We decided to try to escape the rain in Portland and headed to a little town on the coast called Astoria for Labor Day. Alan had only been there once in high school and I had never been, so we decided to check it out. Lucky for us, it was sunny (but not warm) on the coast.

Astoria is famous for being the place where Lewis and Clark ended their expedition across the country. (I thought of you and your research paper while we were there, Mandy!) This column, The Astoria Column, is a monument to Lewis and Clark.




This is the view from the top - 149 steps up. The bridge in the background is the longest of its kind and is 4.1 miles long! Astoria is where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean.




This is a waterfall Lewis and Clark wrote about in their journals. Spencer thinks it's fun to wear sunglasses now. Those are mine.



Spencer's favorite part of the day was throwing pebbles in a little pool of water. He was totally fascinated by the splash. It turned out to be a fun, relaxing day. Now, back to normal life...

It's about time

This may not look like much to any of you, but Alan and I have waited a long time for Spencer to be able to crawl on all fours. He never learned how to crawl, get in and out of a sitting position, or pull-up before walking so we've been using this "down time" to teach him those skills. He has picked them up quickly with a little instruction and I think we're ready for him to walk again. Alan took this video last night. Since then, Spencer has started to cruise all over the house holding onto walls and furniture. In fact, he didn't get much of a nap today because he kept pulling up to standing in his crib. He just stood staring at the door and crying for 40 minutes. Grrr. I am glad he has learned those skills so quickly though and won't have to go through any physical therapy.