haircut + dinner w/dolly

t2 had his first real haircut while we were on the east coast. it was a pleasant surprise that he was very good and didn't grab the scissors and poke anyone's eyes out. he even had a lollipop. more pictures from our trip are on flickr.
i have my camera back and keep meaning to get walking video, but then forget. i'll remember eventually. it's just that between keeping him from climbing the walls and whopping on other kids .... well, i'm a little distracted. pharida jokes that t2's spirit (i'll always call it that, even when he's in jail) is my 'payback' for having such an easy infant. only pharida can get away with this kind of 'joke.'
on saturday night tayloe and i went to dinner and a movie (the flick was 'into the wild' and i give it lots of stars). tayloe picked the supper spot, matteos, because it was close to the theater. we loved it the minute we walked in because it was tacky with just a touch (the tiniest little touch) of taste. we were saying just this when we realized we were seated right next to MRS Tacky, dolly parton. mmmm, mmm, i love me some dolly. i mean coat of many colors?
dolly's sippin her martini with her girlfriends and we sit down. and i stare. how do i not stare? as my mother in law says, anyone dressed like that wants me to look at them. there's so much to look at. her ginormous boobs, for one. and the 80 karat diamond ring that's so big it spreads over three fingers and i can't even tell which finger it's on for another. and her hair and her lipstick and her spandex and her big poofy lips. she's only 5"2', but there's a lot of doll in dolly.
i tried to eavesdrop, but the only thing i could hear was her saying,'there's no such thing as natural beauty' in 'steel magnolias.'
i did get over it eventually and we had a really nice dinner. we were just about done when we looked over and noticed dolls and her gals were touching up their makeup. at the table. full-on compact-lookin, lipstick smackin,' makeup applyin. oh no she didn't.
tayloe leaned over to me and said ever so quietly, 'you can take a girl out of the country ...' which made me laugh so hard i snorted wine through my nose.

teedle toddle

home again, home again.
i wish i had some new pictures or some video, but i left my camera on the east coast and it's en route as i type. so we'll just have to wait. pooh.
mr.mister is a bonafide toddler. after taking his first steady stretch of steps to his great aunt courtenay in the great hall of mt. airy a few weeks ago (i think he was inspired by his young friend sawyer), t2's been an unstopable beast on 2 feet. he's a comical mix of a drunk and frankenstein, staggering around with his arms straight out in front of him. it's a familiar image if you've ever mixed big tayloe and a bottle of patron.
with his new found skill has come an enormous amount of confidence to try dangerous things, including climbing on anything he can swing his leg up on and then trying to jump off. this has taken precedence to throwing things and hitting people. however now instead of trying to explain gentle, i'm faced with trying to teach a toddler that sitting in a chair is ok, but sitting on a table is not. it's kinda tough not only because it's tedious but also because i find that even as i enforce the rules, i'm questioning them. i mean, some tables really do look like chairs.
sometimes i try to sum up the ways my time as a stay at home mother could come in handy should i ever find myself in an office again. there's the patience, and the organization. but there's also this fundamental right and wrong stuff. like don't bite people and don't hit them and don't go bananas and jump off other people's furniture because all of that is really offensive and rude and no way to make friends.
speaking of making friends, one last thing. thursday we were at the park. t2's toddling around and i'm watching him. i'm also eavesdropping on other kids' conversations. there's this little group of 3 year olds, maybe 4 or 5 of them, all playing in the sand with buckets and shovels and such. one little boy has a toy flip cell phone. while the other kids are building a castle, the cell phone kid is unflipping his phone, putting it to his ear and shouting, "IT'S JUST A STUPID MEETING! CANCEL THE STUPID MEETING." then he'd flip it closed and put it in his pocket. a few seconds later, he'd repeat it all.
poor little parrot. the other kids were looking at him like he was retarded. it makes my heart ache.

play nice

yesterday was such a treat. t2 and i left richmond county and headed down to heathsville to see sweet reid and her even sweeter son sawyer. we had such a nice time playing and hanging out at their way cool barn house.
reid took this series of pics (and also one of them playing very nicely together). every time i look at it i laugh so hard. i also can't help but ask why my kid's the one crying.
t2 does kinda have a hitting/biting "issue." sometimes i honestly know he's playing and has no idea how strong he is or that what he's doing is wrong. other times, he really is mad - like when we had to get out of the river today. either way, we always say no firmly and tell him some kind of alternative (even though we feel stupid saying, 'we don't hit, we hug' because he's still so young). it makes me feel very self conscious as a parent and reminds me that even though my ego isn't attached to a salary or a job in an office anymore, it's very much attached to this little golden haired person and the way he behaves.
i know he's far from an angel and this is just the very skimmy surface of the things he'll do that'll make me want to shoot myself in the head. i guess i'll just keep being consistent (or is there some wonder trick, like duct taping his little hands to his thighs???? tell me, tell me, tell me... ). but hit? and bite? does it have to be that? its so ..... boyish.
despite all the snips and snails and puppy dog tails, he fell sound asleep in my lap at bedtime with his little head on my chest and his sleepy piece clutched in his arms.
that's what little boys are made of.

thank god i'm a country boy

aren't these pictures great? my mother-in-law has an amazing eye and took these on saturday as we washed her car. the one with the chocolate lab moose's mouth framing t2's head is a blue ribbon pic, i think.
t2 had a dandy time playing in her flower pots and in the puddles that the hose made. the country really is a great place for a kid (and his parents). it's still pretty hot, but you can feel fall right around the corner. this is the time of year tayloe and i were married, and because we were married here it makes me very nostaligic for this place.
i can't help but tote t2 down to the river, plop down in the sand and watch him toss rock after rock into the water. we've all been sweaty and dirty and salty most of the time we've been here and it's been delicious.