Bop Bop Bop all the way home.

Saturday 6:15AM June 2nd 2009 (I-35 North)

After 16 hours in the car driving all the way home from Florida, Layne wakes up right outside of Dallas and starts singing country, which is his favorite kind of music by the way. Hey, I'm cool with country. I love me some Patsy Cline, Keith Whitley, George Strait, Rascal Flats and the like. "He's gone country," I think is how it goes...or something like that. I turned off the radio and let him take a solo.

This cute moment was a nice change from the feeling I had during this last leg of the trip of wanting to shoot myself in the face. Its these moments that keep you going when you feel like you aren't gonna make it. There's a lesson in there somewhere. Thank you Lord for good times!

Going for the Gold!

Saturday June 13, 2009

Marcy Priest Jackson and her step-daughter Kristin came over to babysit Layne for a few hours while Kim and I hung out with a visiting youth group from Ada, OK doing a donation give away at the apartments. When they knocked on the front door, Layne pointed and said, "SSthat?" and ran toward the door. When Marcy and Kristin walked in, Layne ran around in circles a few times and went right into a headstand on our wood floor. He was so excited he didn't know what to do, why not a headstand?

We coaxed him onto the rug in the dining room for safety reasons. With a running start he went right into a headstand. He was staring at us between his legs and giggling when he got off balance and did a full somersault. "Uh oh" he said, and then more giggles. "This kid could take gold in the 2020 Summer Games I know it," I thought quietly. We cheered him on and he did two more for us before I had to go. What a little performer. All he needs is a couple of pretty girls and a bowl of Cap'n Crunch and watch out, here comes the charm.

123..."Meatball"

June 12, 2009

Kim taught Layne to say "1, 2, 3..." while laying on the ground balancing him on her knees and then dropping and lifting him about twenty times. Talk about multi-tasking, Kim can incorporate pilates and arithmetic while watching the Biggest Loser!

Me on the other hand, I worked all dinner long trying to get Layne to say one thing and then he finally said it. He said "meatball" as he was finishing off a chef-boy-r-dee. Its the important things that I have to make sure get taught. Like anything pertaining to food, bodily functions and wrestling moves.

05/09 Beach Trip Memory # 1

Layne saw the beach for the first time and had no inhibitions at all about getting right in. His word for water is "OOWEE". Exhausted from the 20 hours he just spent in a car, it didn't take him long to put it together that this was the biggest bath tub he had ever seen. I think his first word was "mine" when he looked out over the expanse of the gulf coast.After climbing down the narrowest and longest board walk in Walton County, we hit the sand and Layne immediately took two hand fulls of the white power and put it in his hair. Then it was all "OOWEE" from there!

Tickle Me Layneski

New in Layne-land

Layne's got a new room! It's so fun and bright and kid-proof and he loves it! One of the new additions is a rocking horse that a friend gave us. It makes a clip-clop sound when it rocks and Layne's in love. Now every time we move the horse while he's somewhere else in his room, he stops what he's doing and makes a rocking motion. We've only had the horse out for 4 days. Don't tell me that kid's not smart!

Flippidy do-dah

I recently discovered that Layne (9 months old) loves to open and close my (Brad) cell phone. The other day Layne sat leaned against me in my bed for 20 minutes opening and shutting my phone. He would switch between his right hand and then his left each time getting more and more efficient. It's amazing to see his brain at work finding new pathways and modifying small muscle memory functions until his little fingers found the perfect groove to open the flip function. It made a little click sound too, which he also found irresistible.

I am learning everyday how to be "present" during these times with Layne. Everyone says it goes by so fast and that Kim and I will miss this age. They're right. Everything is new, literally, and he gets so excited about the smallest stuff, and he is so cute too. It is really cool just hanging out with him and experiencing the "wonderment" of life again (Yeah that's right I said it...wonderment.). I am glad that Layne is here to remind me in the busyness of life to enjoy the simple things... like a crappy cell phone I got for "free" after signing up for a two-year service agreement.