Spencer

When I first found out I was having a boy (which was Spencer) I cried. I know, not a great way to start out, but it's true. Boys scare me. At least being a mom to a get down and dirty, jump off the furniture, you-can't-handle me kind of boy. But then I had Spencer who was the most mild-mannered boy I knew and I changed my mind about boys. I could have a dozen just like Spencer. He has always been my 'little boy'. He was born with the most amazing kind of red hair and his eyes kind of match. It is just this reddish (not orangey) brown hair. Pictures don't ever do it justice, but if you ever get to see it in the right bit of sunlight, it is stunning. Even though he is mild-mannered and calm, he is still into video games, riding bikes, roller blading, and legos. He is really my only kid that ever got 'obsessed' over anything. When he was two, it was Buzz Lightyear. He would watch Toy Story 1 &2 daily. Then when he got tired of that after about a year, he fell in love with Rescue Heroes, and then it was Star Wars, then Ninja Turtles, etc. There has always been some thing that he is obsessed with. He still does 'dumb boy' stuff. Like the kids will sometimes slide on the wood floor in their socks after I polish it, and Spencer will try sliding on his tummy. Or, there is something on top of the entertainment center so he'll just scale up the shelves and get it down. Or the time that he wanted to see how far he could throw a rock and ended up hitting Jenna causing her to get a couple staples in her head. He's my only kid so far to have broken a bone, he broke his leg jumping on the neighbors trampoline.His biggest hobbies, are puzzles. Of all kind. When he was little like 4 (and I'm not exagerating either) he started doing puzzles. Hard puzzles too. Like 500 to 1000 piece puzzles. And he would dump the puzzle out and without even sorting it, just start putting it together. He'd just have this little pile of pieces that he would grab pieces out here and there and put them together. He likes doing Sodoku puzzles too. And he's got a very mathematical mind. {I wonder where he gets that?} Someday I see him being an Engineer of some kind.

Not to make it sound like he's perfect, but he's had some challenges in life as well. When he was little, he didn't understand to stop eating when he was full, so he would throw up all the time. Every time he ate, until his mom got it right and learned to make him stop eating. So, as a baby he ate every 2 hours. And never took a bottle. Never took a binky. I learned how to cup feed him when he was about four months old, but it's hard to find someone willing to cup feed him for me while they are babysitting, so he stayed with me ALL THE TIME until he was old enough to have regular milk from a sippy. He finally learned when he was a little older to stop eating when he was full. But that was crazy. I cleaned up a lot of throw up with that one. Speaking of throw up and Spencer, he learned when he was little that if he threw up in his crib Mommy would have to come get him out of bed to clean it up. So he did that too EVERY NIGHT and EVERY NAP. Mommy finally wised up though and just put shower curtains all over his floor and just let him throw up and fall asleep in it. I know, it's gross, but it sure taught him!

When he was about 3 he all of a sudden got this anxiety problem where if he didn't know where the adult was that was in charge of him, he would freak out. So, if he was in my room playing while I was folding some laundry and I told him that I was going to go put some clothes away in his room, if he forgot while I was gone, he would all of a sudden start screaming at the top of his lungs. That went on for about a year. A year of me having to constantly tell him where I was, what I was doing, and if I had to leave him with someone (including Dad) I would tell him what time I would be home and by dang make sure I was home when I said I would be home. None of this be back in a minute. It was, I'll have to go to the store and I will be home in one hour. And then run like mad to make that happen. However, the time came for him to go to school, and this is how he has been ever since. Always heading out the door. Off to play with some friend or another. Wanting to ride his bike to whoever's house while I am at home waiting by the phone for him to call and tell me he got there OK. I guess it happens to everyone at some point, but when it does happen it just seems way to soon. The nice thing though, he hasn't gotten 'so cool' that he still likes me to tuck him in bed every night. Hopefully he never grows out of that.