Brace Face

A friend of mine recently commented on the fact that Spencer doesn't get much face time on my blog anymore.  Was this on purpose because he's getting older?

Um.  No.

I had actually been thinking about this lately.  It's not that I don't want Spencer on my blog, it's just that 8 year old boys just aren't as dang cute as 1 year old girls or as interesting as cantankerous 3 year old terrors.  Spencer's been mobile, eating solid food, and house broken for years now, so none of that is big news.  And during the school year he's in school for the majority of the day, so he misses out on a lot of prime photo ops and blogging fodder.

It's not that Spencer isn't interesting - he's quite the character!  He's still as friendly and talkative as ever.  His humor is developing, and he's almost figured out the nuances of sarcasm.  (Side note: he had a Big Bang Theory Sheldon Bazinga sarcasm moment the other night that was awesome.  As in, he had to ask if I was being sarcastic.  Haha.) ((I was, surprise surprise.)) (((BAZINGA!!!)))

Spencer is generally a really big helper around the house.  If I ask him to do something, he'll do it.  (Unlike Josh, who will whine and cry and basically have to be threatened.)  Spencer is really into computer games, just like his father.  He thinks it's funny that I don't know all the stuff that he knows about computer games.  He thinks it's awesome that I have a Steam account (username: The Wooden Spork), but doesn't understand why I don't play on it more often. 

He's really into Pokemon cards, and as a reward for his homework chart I finally let him buy a pack of 50 - heaven for a boy his age, apparently.  He's also really generous, because he gave quite a few of those cards to Josh so they could both have some.  They sit in the back seat of the minivan and compare and contrast the qualities of each card. 

My throat just got a little tight and my eyes welled up thinking about that.  Spencer is such a good, nice boy.

Not that he doesn't have his moments.  Oh boy, does he have his moments.  People always warn me about how Tess will be when she's a teenager.  No worries there because I'm getting plenty of practice now - prea-dolescent boys can be HUGE DRAMA KINGS!  There's the sobbing and whining and the "that's not fair" and the stomping of feet and the gnashing of teeth.  And I know I'm not alone in this because I've talked to other moms of 8 year old boys and they are all quite similar in this respect. 

But back to his more positive qualities.

Spencer's gotten his Bobcat in Cub Scouts and is now working on his Wolf.  He loves going to Cub Scouts, but I think it's the socializing he enjoys more than the actual Scouting.  He takes after his momma that way.  He also takes after his momma in that he is a born reader.  That child loves to read.  Every night he reads at least one page of his scriptures and then at least 30 minutes more of whatever book he is working on at the moment.  (And often longer - I've had to tell him to go to bed several times since summer has started!)

Spencer truly loves his friends and prays for them every night.

Spencer is a good big brother.  He LOVES Tess.  Actually, he LOVES all babies.  I could totally see him being an excellent pediatrician when he grows up.  (Assuming I can get him away from the computer games...)  No one can make Tess smile like Spencer can.  It's funny/sad because he really wants to pick her up, but she's just too heavy for him.  Oh - did I mention that Spencer is still stick thin?  The poor child has zero body fat, making swimming a difficult and cold experience to say the least.  (Not that that stops him - he loves to play in the water!)  He takes after his daddy in that respect.

And speaking of genetics, which we were in a kind of round about way, Spencer unfortunately inherited my awful genes when it comes to teeth.  The poor child is 8 years old and has already had his palate widened - twice - and is now moving on to braces.  This is not entirely just for cosmetic purposes; if we don't do all that we're doing to his mouth now, then down the road he would have to have a ton of teeth extracted to make room for them all.  And I figure that the more teeth you can keep in your head, the better off you'll be in life.  So orthodontics for Spencer!

As you can see in the photos, Spencer is showing off his new braces.  They're only on the top 4 teeth, and they're there to move a few things around and to make sure there's enough space for the teeth coming in.  He was quite pleased that he got to have red rubber bands, but the magic wore off a few hours later once his teeth started to feel sore.  I can totally empathize with him, as I went through all of this and more.

Here's another picture of Spencer's new brace face.  It's pretty much the same as the one above, only this one has a creepy Joshie stalking in it.

I also needed to get a photo of these two in their outfits.  Why is it so difficult to teach boys about what matches and what does not?  And why do they not care?  Well, Spencer's close, I mean the colors go together.  But stripes and plaid?  Um, no. I seriously don't think that Josh even really looks at what he's grabbing out of the closet.  Just whatever is closest suits him just fine! 

Oh well, it's summer.  And anyone who judges me for how my children are dressed probably do not have children of their own and haven't fought this sort of battle yet.

So, there's your update on Spencer.  Hopefully this little wake up call will help me keep him more in the loop in the future!