This morning I had breakfast with my dinosaurs.

I wore my new dinosaur P.J.s that mom bought me, because I'm a sad guy whenever my T-rex P.J.s that Aunt Trisa bought me are dirty (which is most the time,  because every time they are clean I wear them as soon as possible).

My dinosaurs like to eat sausage... and horse.

"Smile for the orange!"

Recently Cannon has started adding his own contributions when we pray. Typically our prayers begin, "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for ... " and we help him list the things we're about to eat, or experiences we had during the day, or people we got to be with. We love when he ignores our promptings and comes up with his own material instead.

Tonight, after getting together with several family members to celebrate my birthday, he did not feel ready to go to sleep even though it was 9:00pm, 30 minutes past his usual bedtime. He threw a little fit and tried to climb out of his bed, but I laid him down on his pillow and gently but firmly held him from leaving. He protested and cried but eventually calmed down. I said cheerfully, "Okay, Cannon, it's prayer time! It's Daddy's turn to help. Dear Heavenly Father..."

There was a pause, and I figured I'd be praying alone tonight. But then he sadly muttered back, "Father," still sniffling.

"Thank you for cousins," I suggested.

Almost in tears: "Thank you for Cannon could be a sad guy."

Molly and I tried to hold back our impulse to laugh, but at the same time it broke our hearts.

"Heavenly Father, please help Cannon not to be a sad guy," I said, as I gently rubbed his back.

Still hurting, he sadly replied: "Please bless we could go to dinosaur museum tomorrow."

I continued prompting him through the remainder of it, thanking Heavenly Father for nursery day, our yummy dinner, etc., but he was done and didn't speak another word. 

Baseball in the living room!

The only thing better than playing baseball in the living room is playing baseball in the living room naked. Unfortunately I don't think this passes Google's decency policy, so you'll have to come to our house if want to see the rest of the movie.

Christmas morning checklist

1. Look to see if there are presents.  

Check-  Looks like Santa pulled through.

2. Turn on fire in the fireplace.

Check- Now we can get started.

3. Open presents!

CHECK, CHECK, CHECK!!!

And yes, for those of you who were curious, Santa did leave a whole bag of "Sacrament Meeting" in my stocking!

Great one-liners

Today in sacrament meeting, Molly showed Cannon a photocopy of the cover of this month's New Era, depicting Mary holding the baby Jesus, both of them draped in white, evidently not much unlike the way Molly wraps herself and Cannon up in our white towels when they get out of the shower:


"OOH! IT'S BABY JESUS!" he yelled out, loudly enough for everyone around us to hear. "TAKING A BATH SHOWER!"

Molly has been trying hard to keep him sitting with us during sacrament meeting for as long as possible--at the very least until after the sacrament has been served. We're not above bribery. We offered him all of his favorites if he would endure quietly until the sacrament: M&Ms, fruit snacks, and apple juice. He did pretty well. After the sacrament was passed, he quickly consumed his rewards, and then yelled out, "Mommy, I want MORE sacrament meeting!" We thought perhaps he meant that these perks were making the experience rather enjoyable. But as soon as we got home, he climbed up to the counter and started digging through the diaper bag, exclaiming, "I want SACRAMENT MEETING!" Evidently, sacrament meeting literally means M&Ms and fruit snacks.

Tonight, we met with all the cousins at Nana's house for dinner, and then Nana had us all go Christmas caroling to several of her friends in the area. At each house we visited we left a little bag of chocolates. Cannon felt that if we were giving them treats, they ought to give us treats in return. The first family we visited invited us inside, and Cannon immediately noticed the bowl of chocolates sitting on a small table in the entry way. "Oooh! CHOCOLATES!" Of course, they couldn't resist offering him a piece, which meant they had to offer one to everyone else as well. Cannon was very polite, and responded loudly: "THANK you!"

At another house, the front porch was small and so we were sprawled out on the walkway, me holding Cannon in the very back, about 15 feet from the door, with all the other 11 of us standing in between. Cannon watched as one of the cousins standing close to the door handed the family their bag of treats, and yelled out, "PLEASE HAVE SOME TREATS, PLEASE?!" The poor man at the door laughed and said, almost inaudibly to us in the back, "Well, we do have some mints. Would you like some mints?" Mary told him no, thank you, we have dessert waiting at home. I hoped Cannon hadn't heard the little exchange. No such luck. "I WANT SOME MINTS!" He threw a fit and I had to wrestle him back into his car seat.

A couple of days ago Molly was in the living room preparing some things for Christmas, and Cannon was busy running about pretending to be a Kung Fu Panda and getting into whatever he could. After a while he put on Molly's shoes and one of my gloves, worked his way over to Molly, and said, "Mommy, have to go to a meeting."


Apparently this was an important meeting, because he decided he needed to upgrade to Daddy's shoes and add some accessories:

It's a boy!   

Now tell me, honestly, who is surprised?

Grandma Hadfield said she didn't have any suggestions for names except that we shouldn't name him "Barack." But I already showed Mom and Dad the old ultrasound this morning and said "Barack Obama."  So that's one vote for and one vote against... what do you guys think?

Growing Up Fast

It is amazing to us to see how quickly Cannon is learning and becoming increasingly independent. 

He loves pumkins. He calls them "pokins." Yesterday he went to the doctor for his two-year checkup and got some shots. When he came home, I asked him if the doctor had given him a poke in the leg. I expected him to put on a sad face and tell me how it had hurt. Instead, he got excited, exclaimed "Pokin! Pokin!" and ran to see the pumkin we have sitting on the living room cabinets.

He loves to help mom make scrambled eggs, which has become one of Molly's favorite breakfasts this pregnancy. He stands on a little step ladder to help her pour the "ewey gooey eggs" into the frying pan. He calls the ladder his "step skull."

Lately his favorite song seems to have moved from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to Old MacDonald Had a Farm. It seems to have become his favorite now that he's decided he doesn't have to be restricted to typical farm animals. Instead, Old MacDonald typically has a dinosaur, a T. Rex, a baby T. Rex, a car, a stick, a tree, M&Ms, a baby... and then back to a dinosaur, a T. Rex, a baby T. Rex....

He's beginning to get excited about trains. Not quite as much as his cousin Jaron (yet), but he really likes them. For his birthday, Molly's mom got him a Molly train (from Thomas & Friends) and Molly's sister got him a little blue Sir Topham Hatt car. Cannon calls him "Got A Hat." 

He lost his "milkie" privileges this week. He's used to having a bottle before going to bed, but lately he has been drinking less and less of it--but he still wants it. Finally, two nights in a row this week, he insisted on us getting his milkie, but as soon as Molly gave it to him, he handed it back to her and said, "All done"--without even putting it in his mouth. Sorry, Cannon... no more bedtime milkie for you.

Update (10/29/08)

I forgot to add another one of our favorites: "fwootbeer juice." He loves it. So does Dad.