King of the World

At least that's what he thinks.

And not much else matters.

Yesterday we had quite a day. We drove to Jackson, TN to see JEB's old babysitter (one of B's former students) who is attending college there. So most of these pictures are from our nearly 12-hours-away-from-home Family Wednesday -- the only day when we have all except 50 minutes together. I teach from 10:10 - 11:00 a.m., but otherwise it's like our Saturday.

Here's a recap:

There was tree climbing.

And book reading. What could be better than a book about Bob the Builder (i.e., "Bob Boeing"), his meow (Pilchard), and Scoop, Muck, Roley, and the gang?

Kudzu gawking:

And finally there was Pond/Duck Gazing. Quack. Nevermind that part where Mama got a little negligent in her efforts to take cute pictures and nearly dropped her baby in a pond.

But the highlight of the whole event -- for me -- was listening to him completely finish a verse of a Laurie Berkner song about making cookies. We were eating those delicious chocolate chip cookies that The Dad makes (secret family recipe) ... and I started singing the cookie song ... "Mix it, mix it, mix it 'til it's yummy ... mmm, mmm, mmm."

And then he finished it:

Tate it, tate it (taste it, taste it)

yummy in my tummy

mmm, mmm, mmm

'lishus (delicious)

shape it, shape it, shape it

'til it's ROUN----DDDddd

and row it, row it (roll it, roll it)

row it on the GROU-DDDddd (ground).

I'm telling you, I cheered and cheered like he had just thrown the winning touchdown, and then I made him do it one million more times. He is gifted, I just know it. He can spot the moon in its tiniest crescent stage in the middle of a daylight sky. He can see cotton fields blooming behind entire towns. He can find hidden birthday gifts on top of refrigerators. Birthday gifts taken away because even though pink dump trucks are really cool (custom paint job, of course), they sometimes have small parts which get frustrating for little fellas. I am not ashamed to gloat. Especially since we can all agree that it's true.

And then today while I was at work, The Dad and The Goose biked to the library in 45-degree weather.

This is not a picture of that; rather, this was taken last Sunday, but there is a bike in the picture, so give me some credit: it's late. Plus, I managed to successfully include a semicolon, comma, and colon in that last sentence. That is like unheard of.

By the time I got home at 1:00 p.m. today, this was the scene:

So he napped and I yoga'ed, and then four hours later he awakened chanting "Bob Boeing! Elmo go potty!" which, obviously, means, "I would like to watch a video, please."

So I acquiesced, but only after dumping 2.5 loads of laundry on the couch. Nevermind the mess ... He Will Be Comfortable:

At dinner tonight, he refused to eat anything except tofu, graham crackers, and pudding. And since he'll regularly scarf down an entire plate of steamed broccoli, I just let him have his way. And I was having Sprite to drink. Which I never have except maybe when we go out and there's no sweet tea. And he wanted some. And it was that kind of night (confession!) and so The Goose had his first taste of a softdrink. His response?

Hoe. Lee. Cow.

I am getting addicted to all this hilarity.