Emerson Albion Wadsworth

So... we got a dog. Never thought I would say those words. And it was my idea. He's a cute little guy, not at all what we were expecting to get. He's already really well behaved and house trained, which is a bonus. His name was Bernie, but since that's Ben and Henry's middle name, not to mention Ben's grandpa's name, we decided to switch it. We've been calling him Albee. Ben hasn't quite decided what he wants that to be short for though. He likes long, distinct names. His favorite name is probably Emerson Albion Wadsworth. Quite a classy name. 

While I'm still on the fence about how I feel about dogs, there are quite a few nice things about having one. First of all, it Henry someone to play with. Though Henry is still warming up to him. Second, it gives us an excuse to get out of the house and go on long walks. Which I love to do, but laziness can be a strong deterrent. And third, it's nice to have a companion when Ben is gone or working late nights. As long as Albee isn't barking, I know there's not a creeper in the house. All good things.

Visit

I feel like I've been a bit wordy lately, so I'll keep this post about my family's visit mostly visual.

We went on walks to the library and around the neighborhood.

There was a high level of Cheez-it consumption in the car. Most of it was done by a rather short person.

We played with Geo Trax

Lots and lots of Geo Trax

We spent time at the park, enjoying the slightly warmer weather

After ignoring me for most of the week, as he tends to do when other people are around, Henry finally snuggled with me the last night my parents were here

Growth

I'm going to share a little secret. Being a mother is hard. And a child's discovery of temper tantrums does not make it any easier. Try as I might not to encourage them, Henry still seems to find them effective. It's hard to find motherhood rewarding when your only companion for most of the day isn't being nice to you. I've really been discouraged lately.

Yesterday, though, Henry did two wonderful things that made up for all of the tantrums. Ben and I have been wanting to see Life of Pi, which is playing in the theater in our park, but I was a bit anxious about taking Henry. We went last night, and Henry was perfect. He sat in our laps the whole time, occasionally talking to the screen, but being extremely well behaved. Many people in the theater commented on it. It felt good to know that our son doesn't have to constantly be running around to be happy.

The second thing happened as we were getting him ready for bed. We knelt down on the floor for a prayer, like we do every night, and Ben said fold your arms. And guess what Henry did--he folded his arms! That made me so happy I could barely say the prayer. The thing about being a mom is day after day you try to teach your children things, but sometimes it seems like it's just not getting through. Seeing my son kneeling next to his dad, folding his arms for prayer, was one of the most rewarding things I've ever seen. It's good to know we're doing something right.

So Henry, thank you for helping me realize that I am not a bad mom.

Slam dunk

No surprise that our child is good at sports. Or that he celebrates the way he does.

Grosse

Yet again, we have moved. It seems to happen pretty frequently. I suppose it's this phase of life where (if you're like us) you don't really have solid plans further than a year or two out. We loved our apartment, but we're ready for a bit more outdoors space. Hello yard and safe neighborhoods for me to walk around in. Not to mention hard wood floors and wood burning fireplace. And bigger kitchen.

The house itself is much larger than we need. But we didn't choose it out of greediness--it's owned by a couple who used to be in our branch and don't want to sell the house with the market this low, so instead they are renting it to us for far less than it is worth. Score. It's a very charming, older house, as you can see.

I have to point out my cleverness in the title. The town we live in is called Grosse Pointe. Plus, grosse is a French word meaning "large" (or "fat" or "pregnant", but neither of those apply here). So there is double meaning, because our house is large and in Grosse Pointe. I chuckle at my cleverness, but I suppose if you have to explain it, it's not really clever.

Soccer

Henry and I have this game where he drops something on the ground and I make a random noise and he cracks up and repeats the process. Ben decided to apply this concept to kicking, to teach Henry how to use a soccer ball. The result was pretty adorable.

Dance Like Nobody's Watching

We dance a lot at our house. I like to have music in the background while doing dishes or other chores, and Henry usually laughs at me as I dance. But lately any time music is played (even if it's the piano playing a hymn at church), he bounces to the music.
This is a little compilation of recent dance moves. You can see that Henry has a diverse taste in music. We like to play Just Dance, and obviously Ben is really good. Oh, and don't mind the mess in our house. There are boxes everywhere on account of we're moving in 5 days (!!!)