I’m almost ready, but Fuller keeps trying to climb in the car so we can go now. We are embarking on our new stage of family life- Auburn Season Ticket holders. This weekend is the kickoff and we plan on going to Lake Martin for the hospitality of D’s parents. While Fuller is enjoying some grandparent time, Damon Auburn Elvis and I will be at Auburn enjoying the fans, atmosphere, and some football.

Fuller has been looking forward to football season just because it meant one more trip to the lake.

A few weeks ago I approached by a fellow Auburn fan who saw the Auburn sticker on our car. His car was covered in Auburn magnets and stickers. He is the grandfather of Bailey Woods, a red shirt freshman who will be one of Auburn’s tight ends this season (number 48). Grandpa Woods was going on and on about Bailey, giving me stats and a little family history (Bailey’s dad and grandpa both played for Georgia Tech, Bailey bucked tradition).

It was nice to see someone so proud and excited for his grandson. It made me think forward to the future and how Fuller’s grandpas will probably talk about him when he plays for Auburn too. And it got me even more excited for the season, since I have a little something personal to hang on to. I guess I’m one of those spectators who likes the color commentary and back story on players, a lot more than stats and speculation.

So, our family will drive south with our Tiger Tail out the trunk and ready to shout “War Eagle!” to every Auburn fan we pass on the road.

Guess where we will be this weekend?

The remnants of Tropical Storm Fay came through our area and dumped rain all day yesterday. It was pretty miserable and I think rain makes our house feel even smaller, so Fuller and I opted for some time at the museum.

Since it had been about a month since we went, he was thrilled to get to go run around, play with Clifford, and just be out of the house. Well, he was thrilled to be out of the house and not running errands with Mommy.

It was pretty obvious the school year just started because the museum wasn’t packed with field trips and I could actually find a bench to sit on while Fuller amused himself.

And Fuller was thrilled not to have to share the trains in the Little Yellow House, the last stop for all our museum trips.

Still raining today, but we have Moms’ Group. Fuller will get plenty of kid interaction there.

Today was the first day back to two services at our church. We were asked to do Little Lambs (children’s church for 3 and 4 year olds) in the first service, so we did. The story was Noah and we took up quite a bit of time gluing popsicle sticks to paper. After we were done, the kids were allowed to play and I was amazed how they all gravitated to the dress up box. Lots of scarves and ties, but these two doctor coats drew Fuller and Isaac in immediately.

I had to take a picture because the doctor who donated them to the church just left for Alaska. I need to print it and send it to her.

Fuller was just amazed that Daddy and Mommy could also be his teacher. When we opened up the class we said “I’m Mrs. Crumley and this is Mr. Crumley.” Fuller started to actually call me Mrs. Crumley, which made me giggle. And later this afternoon he quized me:

“You are my mommy?”

“Yes.”

“And you are my teacher?”

“Yes.”

Unfortunately I think I missed a teachable moment where I could explain Daddy and Mommy are always his teachers, and have been since he was born. But Fuller just responded with “That is so funny!” and let it boggle his three-almost-four year old mind.

Reading
I’m loving this new phase of learning Fuller is in. He is always trying to spell things, asking us to spell things, and making up the spelling of words. I try to reinforce the phonics by getting him to tell me what letters make the sound of the word he wants me to spell.

In July he loved going to story time and we have started going to our neighborhood library story time on Thursdays, which just keeps fueling his imagination and desire to keep learning.

We always check out five books (plus one for Mommy), and we read them several times during the week. I have caught Fuller “reading” to himself often. The other day he spent a good thirty minutes going through his board books, reading them one by one.

I’m half expecting Fuller to really start reading one day, with out much help from us. Until then, we will just keep sounding things out. Or I could just point him to a computer and see how far he could get with completing his education online.

Writing
While Fuller doesn’t really care for drawing or coloring, he is enjoying his “pre-handwriting” books, tracing lines from the green star to the red dot. He hasn’t settled on a left hand or a right hand, preferring to use both at the same time.

But at the same time, he is making strides in keyboarding. Today he was playing on PBSKids.org with out much supervision. I walked over to find Fuller had correctly entered his name into a name field, so it was proudly displayed at the top of the screen.

‘Rithmatic
Fuller is obsessed with the numbers of the clock. It stems from our desire that he not get up before 7 a.m. (and he is successful most mornings) and the 2 p.m. quiet time. He obsesses on the first number of the digital clock, getting a tad upset when the first number changes. He also wants to make sure the number on his clock is the same as the one on my computer, which I find interesting.

Even though he grasps the clock as a guideline for getting up, he seems to refuse to use it as a guideline for going to bed. To him, if it isn’t dark outside, it isn’t time to go to bed yet.

I’m done bragging now. But I’m sure it won’t last long.

I haven’t really blogged much about this pregnancy here on this blog. I put most of those updates on my personal blog, Always, Alli.

Overall, the pregnancy is doing well. I’ve moved into the second trimester and am finally starting to find an even keel. I’m still tired, but not feeling very ill anymore. My carpal tunnel has cleared up due to the cooler weather, but I’m still being cautious. Last week I managed to make dinner most nights, and I have a whole week of menus planned for this week.

But the pregnancy does affect the entire family in some ways. Damon said I was in a foul mood, which I think came from my caffeine cut backs, and Fuller has unfortunately watched a bit too much TV due to my inability to function most afternoons.

We talk about the baby with Fuller and he understands the baby is in my tummy. He also thinks he can take the baby out via my bellybutton and then put it back again. When we were in Ohio, he was talking about the baby and calling it a “he.” So I asked him, “Fuller, are you going to have a brother or a sister?” He responded, “A brother.” I then asked him what the brother’s name was and Fuller said, “I don’t know!”

I would repeat this series of questions almost every other day and the answers were always the same.

When we were able to visit with Tia, Tio, and Genevieve, Fuller really enjoyed playing with Genevieve. A few days after they left, I asked Fuller again, “Fuller, are you going to have a brother or a sister?” And this time he said, “A sister.” I then asked him what the sister’s name was and Fuller said, “Genevieve!” I explained Genevieve was his cousin, so we wouldn’t name a sister that. So Fuller said, “Then I’m going to have a cousin!”

Since then Fuller has declared he is having a sister. Then yesterday it went back to being a brother. Tonight he told a stranger he was having a sister.

Who knows. We have a 50/50 chance. I’ll take either.