One thing to add to last post.

I forgot to mention a quick cute story in the last post. We decorated our house a bit for Halloween. Geddy is "a little bit scared" of some of our decorations. So Scott asked him if he was a chicken. Geddy promptly responded, "Yes, I am. Bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk."

"Little Bit Scared"

He loves having his basketball hoop in the garage so he can play whenever he wants.

Geddy is, in his own words, "a little bit scared of 'alloween". (He doesn't pronounce his h's). I take most of the blame for this. He wasn't too bothered by things until several weeks ago when we were in the Salt Lake area and took him into a huge Halloweentown Store. Everything would have been fine if they hadn't had all of their life-sized, motion-sensored people around. It seemed everywhere we turned there was a killer clown, Jason from Friday the 13th, a zombie taking its head off, and so on. I though it was kind of cute that he was a little scared of it even though we told him they were pretend and robots and couldn't hurt him, so I wasn't in a hurry to leave the store. Ever since then he is very wary of Halloween decorations.

Outdoor adventures in our front jungle, I mean yard. He had just witnessed me killing a huge black widow and a hobo spider.

He hates going to the grocery store by our house because they had a skeleton with a top hat that would sing and dance. He didn't care that it was trying to be funny and not scary, he just always clings to me while chanting "go away, go away, go away". Luckily someone paid the $100 and bought the thing so it no longer torments him when we go to the store. Or so I thought, after a few days of it being gone they put a freakier looking zombie butler there. It is still relatively mild compared to the ones we saw at the Halloween store, but he once again never wants to go to the store. Every time I say we need to run to the store he asks if we can go to Wal-Mart instead. Pretending to sleep on his bookshelf on the bottom of the entertainment center.

He doesn't seem too bothered by some of the small decorations where he can push the button himself to make it do its thing. I guess he isn't as startled by them. One of the cutest things was a time when we were in K-Mart. He was playing with a little space blaster gun while I shopped. When we got to the Halloween section he insisted on shooting all of the scary things so they couldn't get him. After all of this he decided he is going to be a skeleton for Halloween, a scary one. It will be interesting to see how he does trick-or-treating with all of those other kids around in costumes.

Showing off his new haircut.

(none of the pictures in this entry have anything to do with the text, but I thought I would break up my ramblings with some recent pictures of Geddy.)

I'm not sure what caused this expression. He just kept going up and down the front steps waiting for Daddy to come home.

Jeepers, Creepers . . .

Where'd he get them peepers?!

Geddy's Idea of Work

Sorry no photos with this one. I will try and get some to add later.

Geddy has a good knowledge of how Mom and Dad go to work to make money to buy the things we need. If you ask him where his Daddy works, he will tell you, "BYU work". If you ask him where Mommy works, he will say, "at library". If you ask him where Geddy works, he will most likely respond with, "Geddy work home, in kitchen". He is completely right. He loves helping me around the house, but most especially the kitchen. He particularly loves emptying the dishwasher - after I take all sharp knives out. Sweeping is another favorite, though he is much less proficient at this task. I let him do it and then I just do it over. It may take more time, but he loves feeling helpful and important. While I was mopping the floor today I gave him one of those Magic Eraser pads and had him cleaning the wall in the living room where he left marks from his baseball bat. I did have to do it myself afterwards, but he was so pleased with himself that he told me "Geddy happy, helping Mama".
A couple of days ago I completely cleaned out our massive garage. We don't really have a lot in there, but what is there was really disorganized and messy. One particular corner of piles of boards that we inherited with the house, had never been touched in the years we have been here. Needless to say when I moved them I found quite a little black widows nest. The purpose of cleaning it out finally was to bring Geddy's beloved basketball hoop inside for the winter. I don't think that boy would survive several months of not being able to shoot a real ball. Geddy woke up from his nap partway through this adventure. I was tempted to just quit for the day and come inside and play with Geddy. Then I thought about it and asked if he wanted to help me. I told him what I was doing and why, and he enthusiastically said, "Yes, I do help Mama". After getting him bundled up (it's been close to freezing for the past couple of weeks) we headed out and finished the project. He was such a big help carrying boards (I removed all black widows) and letting the air out of his wading pool and many other projects. We now have a fantastically clean garage with a huge area for him to play basketball in. We were both pleased with the end results, as was Scott when he got home from work.
So the point of all this rambling is to let you all know that Geddy really does "work at home"!

Photo's from Uncle Brian's Visit

"Thank you, Mom!"

I finally remembered to buy a step stool so Geddy can wash his own hands and face at the bathroom sink. He can also turn off and on the water, he quickly learned to only touch the one that has a "C" (for cookie he says - thank you Sesame Street). He even can flip the light switch on and off.
He very enthusiastically brushed his teeth. He wants to brush his teeth constantly now, a definite improvement. I hesitated for so long because as you can see, our bathroom is quite small. I didn't want a stool being out and in the way, we already have the Elmo potty chair doing that. Then I finally had the brilliant and oh-so-obvious idea of keeping the stool in the cupboard under the sink when it wasn't in use. So after cleaning out the cupboard, I taught Geddy to get it out himself and put it back himself. It has only been a couple of days but so far he is doing great.

This simple purchase of a step stool has allowed Geddy a lot more freedom and independence. After using it to brush his teeth the first time he gave me a big hug and kiss and said very exuberantly and sincerely, "Thank you, Mom!"

I was tagged (kind of, not really)

I haven't officially been tagged. Scott's cousin Heather didn't have anyone to tag so left it open. I took her up on the invite mostly because I want to see what everyone else has to say.

8 TV shows I like to watch:

1. House Hunters/House Hunters International
2. Design on a Dime
3. Designed to Sell
4. Star Wars: The Clone Wars
5. Flintstones
6. All in the Family
7. Incredible Hulk
8. Three's Company

8 favorite restaurants:

1. Applebee's
2. PF Chang's
3. California Pizza Kitchen
4. Magelby's Fresh
5. Bajio
6. Papa Murphy's
7. Tsing Tao
8. Sconecutter

8 things that happened yesterday:

1. Geddy and I cleaned in the basement
2. Geddy took a nap
3. I read Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne Duprau
4. Geddy and I watched Scooby Doo meets the Boo Brothers
5. I went to work and came home from work
6. I created a crock pot meal for Scott and Geddy's dinner - Scott liked it, Geddy didn't
7. I almost hit a stupid pedestrian
8. I killed a spider in the kitchen and a beetle in the living room within five minutes of each other

8 things I'm looking forward to:

1. Being Healthy
2. Seeing friends and family in Canada
3. Losing Weight
4. Christmas Vacation
5. Carrie's Wedding
6. Geddy's willingness to listen when I say "stop" or "please don't do that"
7. When Scott has a new job
8. When I don't have to work anymore

8 things on my wish list:

1. A brother or sister for Geddy
2. Scott having a better job that he enjoyed
3. Moving away from Utah
4. My family was closer
5. Losing Weight
6. Being able to travel
7. A Master's Degree in Library Science
8. Money

8 People I am Tagging:

1. Beth
2. Sarah
3. Carrie
4. Chantelle
5. Jenny
6. Kristine
7. Anita
8. Stacie