The Family Truckster

The Family Truckster

Monday, August 06, 2007

Can You Hear It? Dawn is Breaking!

It's about five minutes 'til five in the a.m. and I am blogging. I would prefer to be sleeping but Gracie Mae put an end to that two hours ago. It is amazing how much torque a 24-pound child can apply to a 200-pound man! She can vie for position better than Shaquille O'Neal in the low post! The really strange thing is how well she slept with her head nestled in my armpit for 45 minutes. (I'm still not sure who got the worse end of that deal.)
Between the three of us restlessly trying to get comfortable and back to sleep, our bed looked like a litter of piglets fighting in a cotton sack.

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A classic from way back in the day: 'Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer.'

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After posting a Knox Memory on Hannah's blog the other day, it got me to thinking and I remembered another funny incident featuring the youngest of the Anderson clan.
Gracie Mae was only a few months old when we were invited over to Rancho del Anderson for supper. We were all in our places: Rachel and Jon were at either end of the table (to keep order, I am sure), while Ashlee and I faced across from The Girls who sat, pretty as a picture, in order by age (and heighth, as it were). Happy Jack was only speaking a few words at the time; he sat next to me. I wasn't sure how that was going to work out because, as we know, Happy Jack is as unpredictable as he is cute. (I have no HJ incidents to report.)
Knox sat in his highchair in an unassuming corner of the dining room--and he didn't really seem to mind. He remained largely silent, content to observe and listen to us, piping up only when running short of food. (Notice I wrote running 'short' of food, not running 'out' of food.)
As you can imagine, we were having a grand time filled with laughter and sharp conversation. Jon and I were discussing one of the historically great soteriological disputes of the Church--or maybe were talking about 'Smokey and the Bandit' (I can't remember)--when the low hum of the meal was shattered by an outburst of surprise, peppered by consternation, from Rachel: 'OH STINK!'
Judging by the way she bolted from her chair in his direction, it didn't take me long to deduce that she was reacting to Knox--who had quietly, unnoticed by all but his mama, thrown up all over himself. In fact, he was still fast at it when I looked over at him. (I was still a new parent and had not built up my baby puke immunity yet, so I had a tough time with it.)
I'm not sure whether it was Rachel's consternation with herself for having fed Knox something that she said she knew better than to give him or Knox's 'What's the Big Deal?' look of incredulity on his face as she wiped him up, but the rest of us got a pretty good chuckle out of the entire episode. The clincher was when Anne Michal gave her 'look'--you know the one where she raises her eyebrows, gives a wry smile, and glances over at you as if to say, 'Hey, what can you do?!'

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Southernism of the Day: 'Just cause a cat has kittens in the oven, that don't make 'em biscuits!'

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Eric Manthei asked me a few weeks ago what I looked like without a beard. Well, here you go:

1 comment:

Kierstyn said...

The first time I was at your house, I saw a picutre of Ahslee with a guy I did recognize. Then, I saw a picture of Ashlee in a rather affectionant pose with this same guy. Low and behold, it's beardless Matt!