The Dangerous Twos

As of yesterday, Little I was 731 days old (don't forget 2008 was a leap year). He celebrated this momentous day by falling into the moulding by the stairs and busting his forehead open. Mom E and Little I got to take a fun trip to the emergency room where Little I got five sutures. Poor guy. He kept saying, "Be all done soon" while the doctor stitched him up. He handled it very well and told me that he "have Band-Aid" and it would "be okay." Thanks for the encouragement little guy! To make him feel better, Mom E baked some special cookies decorated with some of Little I's favorite things. Happy Birthday Little I! Let's stay safe this year and stick with minor bumps and bruises only!

Thanksgiving Recap

To all our family who traveled from accross the country to visit for Thanksgiving, THANK YOU! We had a blast! It was so much fun to see a large portion of the Robertson family together for Thanksgiving. It was nice that my parents and my sister Sharon got to meet Mr. C for the first time. It was really nice that a certain uncle got to meet Mr. C and Little I for the first time. I guess that's what happens when you live over 2,000 miles away... Well, for those of you who missed it, here is the recap: Grandaddy Robertson made the turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Grandma Robertson made a sweet potato casserole. Mom E made cranberry salsa, salad, roasted asparagus, and a ginger pumpkin merengue. Ellie made a dutch apple pie and brought stuffing. The highlight of the meal for me was the gravy. I've never seen such a recipe for gravy. It required chopping various root vegetables into the turkey roaster, cooking the giblets and making a broth from them, chopping up the giblets and continuing to let them simmer, deglazing the carmelized drippings from the turkey with white wine, adding reserved broth from the giblets to the drippings, making a roux from some giblet broth, and then putting everything together for the world's awesomest gravy. No problem. I have to hand it to my dad, he follows recipes to a tee. On the mashed potatoes, he specifically purchased russet potatoes "for texture." Wow, they were even fantastic as leftovers. The other highlight of the meal had to be the ginger pumpkin merengue made by my lovely wife. I can't tell you how it tasted as leftovers because there was none leftover.

Then, we had an early birthday party with family for Little I. I'll let the pictures below speak for themselves. They fairly accurately capture the party. All I have to say that Little I is still talking about his birthday party, describing how he ate cake, jumped high, and shot hoops with Cousin James and Uncle Joe.

Fall is Here

Fall is the best season in Alabama. The weather gets cooler,

... trees turn colors, ... and college football reigns! This fall has been especially nice as far as college football goes. Newcomers to Alabama quickly learn that they must declare their football allegiance: Alabama or Auburn. As an alumnus from the University of Alabama School of Law, the decision to root for U of A was not a difficult one to make, despite the fact that my three years at Alabama were during the Franchione/[Mike Price]/Mike Shula debacles--all the while Alabama was under NCAA enforced sanctions. Still, for those of you who follow Alabama football, or football at all, you know that this fall is an especially good time to be an Alabama fan as the team is currently 11-0 heading into the much-hyped Alabama-Auburn Iron Bowl.

Of course, football is merely a diversion. The real joy of the fall has been to see my two boys grow and mature. Little I continues to talk in full sentences (his Mother's-Day-Out teacher said he is the only one in his class to do so). He is amazingly coordinated and "mature" for a 23-month old. Mr. C turning into Mr. Smiles, and his expressions continue to thrill Mom E and me. My parting shot was taken on my new camera--a digital SLR, which can take snapshots without that annoying delay, allowing for otherwise impossible shots such as this. Check out that form!

Smiles and Coos

Mr. C has reached two milestones. He has turned over from stomach to back and he has laughed. I've not caught either one on video yet, but here he is smiling and generally being cute.

Georgia Aquarium

GG and Papa visited recently and prior to their arrival Little I told me that he wanted to go to the pool with GG and Papa. I told him that it was too cold out, so we'd have to go somewhere else, like the science museum, to which Little I responded, "Fish." I was amazed that he remembered the fish from the McWane Center. So, I thought it would be neat to show him the pictures of the fish from our visit on the computer. Then in looking for videos of fish online, I discovered the Georgia Aquarium's website with a live webcam of their 6.3 million gallon Ocean Voyager tank. Little I was hooked. He was especially interested in the sharks and stingrays, which he told me he wanted to "pat." I remembered there was a kids area at the aquarium that allowed kids to touch rays and little sand sharks, so I started talking it up. We even started a game: my arm is the shark that slowly comes to take a bite out of Little I; all the while I hum "Jaws" music; then Little I swats my hand and the arm-shark retreats with a yelp. (Repeat as necessary).

We went down to the museum on a friday, so it was not too busy, and met up with our cousin John Andrew and aunt Ellie. The entrance of the aquarium has two walls of fast-swimming tuna. When we stepped through the door, Little I saw the fish, hopped out of my arms, and was off like a shot to get a closer look at the fish. When we actually started on the Ocean Voyager exhibit, Little I pushed his way to the front of the crowd and pressed his face against the glass to watch the various fish, rays, and sharks.

Unfortunately, Little I had already been running on adrenaline, not sleep, and became overwhelmed before the end of the exhibit. While we got to see the Tropical Diver, we knew we were running short on time. We made a quick trip to the kids' area, the Georgia Explorer, only to discover that Little I was not very proficient at only using "two fingers" when trying to touch to rays, shrimp, etc. It is also hard for a toddler to remember not to put his hands in his mouth until after he gets to a sink...so we gathered our things, popped "Finding Nemo" into the van's dvd player, and said goodbye to the fish, to the sharks, and to the stingrays.