How Much Do I Love My Boy?

This much.



And this much.



These pictures came from a recent trip to Baba's house, where the livestock are plentiful. The view from the front yard:



And Buxton sharing his new favorite word, one that brings tears to daddy's eyes. Not only can he tell the difference between a basketball and football when asked, but now he can say football.

Infectious

I could go my whole life without knowing the texture of it. At least I always hoped so, before fate and improper planning so viciously stole that possibility from me like an unattended laptop in a Silicon Valley ghetto. There I was, fishing it out of the bathtub with my bare hand. The size of a dinner portion chicken finger, complete with several smaller submarine gifts whose birth I witnessed from the most horrifically perfect angle only moments prior. Slick rubber. Rather like a sandblasted garden hose.

So naturally it happened this week. The week some unfeeling strain of flu - oddly enough not the swine variety, given her unique preference for the animal - imprisoned a husband and son to opposite ends of their home from an ailing woman. A week where that same beautiful boy refused any attempts at confinement from the germs, and where any fluids his mother succeeded in keeping down poured out like jungle rain in tears for a lad spending his first two nights apart from her - two full hours from home.

He is away now, leaving nothing more than questions between his parents as to who set the satellite to recording every episode of Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Of course it was the boy, but he is away now. I remain here, worse than alone. God help us all.

A Picture Book For Buxton

I thought I'd share what Anna and I worked on recently for the few folks who we haven't dragged down to show it to already. I had to sign up for Shutterfly for work, and they started sending me all these deals of which one was a free photo book. Anna isn't the scrapbooking type, but wanted something for some time accounting Buxton's first year. We put two and two together and here it is. It looks quite nice in person. Just ask us to see the real deal if you like, but here is an online version.

Click here to view this photo book larger

No, Nothing To See Here

So here are the pictures I planned to show everyone. Another day at Grandpa and Grammy's house, playing in the hammock with cousin Eve on Friday. Yes, daddy had to lay down on the dirty ground to get some of these shots, but it was Friday so everyone was happy.

First, the standard shot from above:



A little bit more creative now with the knelt, just below the twine shots:





Then the full on "tell Grandpa to help daddy wipe the leaves off his back" shots.





And just when I thought I had all the Buxton playing in netting shots I wanted, this little gem comes along and renders all my effort all but unnecessary. Do enjoy, and try to look past the obvious violation. He is, after all, only a year old. Plus, when mommy and daddy work this long with you on walking they're not about to blow a whistle and make you stop at this point. Special thanks to Anna's parents, the cheering section.

The Vortex

Welcome to my life. Lately a few people began mentioning to me how happy I seem, how happy it seems I am with my little family. Watch this video and answer this question: Can you blame me?

I like to call this video The Vortex. Evidently our home rests squarely upon some until now unforeseen portal into another world, plugged tightly as you will soon see by our remote control. Just watch what happens when we pull that plug. Enjoy.

Effect and Cause

So the other day Anna and I watched as our beautiful son bathed himself, one of many things along with feeding himself meals he no longer needs our help with, and we enjoyed him enjoying splashing so much we decided to take a picture. Isn't he lovely? Yet I know what you're asking. I do. Why would such a sweet little boy need so many baths?



Enter exhibits A through D. Maybe mommy overcooked the blueberries, which she admitted. But I'm pretty sure given to his own druthers he could perform pretty much the same feat with a bar of soap or an ice block.







Doesn't he look like he's having a blast. That face is pretty much permanent right now on all our faces--too happy to talk about it or explain why. Until the baby has enough. Then he gives us one of these, blueberry-fingered and all, peace outs.

Growing Pains

The funniest part of last night came when Buxton answered to "Buckaroo" (just don't dare try it anywhere near his mother), but the most interesting part came a few moments earlier. Anna and I had a meeting for our Infant 2 class at church. Infant 2 basically runs from when a baby starts crawling to when he or she can walk and toddle well enough to move up to the next class. Being the reluctant parents we are, at least when it comes to admitting Buxton is older than he previously was, we had a difficult time even letting Buxton move up to our class. And that was with us as the leaders. It got me thinking what it would take for him to move up again, leaving us behind with all the little babies. Following are a few things that likely will happen before Anna lets Buxton move out of Infant 2 (feel free to share your own):

-Buxton will sprout facial hair
-The Cubs will succesfully defend their World Series championship
-Geico will stop running caveman commercials
-I will start using Facebook, Twitter and those text message thingies
-Some other set of parents will name their child Buxton
-ESPN will go an entire season without showing a Yankees/Red Sox game
-Anna, at a given time, will be completely happy with the length of my hair, toenails and fingernails
-Peyton Manning will stop trying to sell me things
-A presidential debate will include the line, from one of the candidates, "You know, you're probably right. My bad."
-An ASU(of Southern Conference fame) grad will read this post without grimacing, asking for a translator or inducing a confusion headache (because, you see, none of you can read...you're illiterate...how I can I explain this where you'll understand...you don't know words good)
-Winthrop will host a parade to celebrate its BCS National Championship

Surely there are others, but I have sports to watch now.