Injuries, Eyebrows, and Etymologies

It's been a while since I wrote, so I guess I'd better start by updating Aric's "condition." His nose has been healing better than I expected it to, and actually looks pretty good. However, his black eye, which had been gone for quite a while, has reappeared. No, it's not some frightening bruise disorder; it's just that Aric is a "bruiser" of a kid. Last night, we heard a thud followed quickly by Aric's screams. I thought maybe he'd fallen out of bed, but we discovered him in his crib with a bright purple spot swelling under his eye. From what we can gather, he was holding onto his sippy cup and the crib rail while jumping up and down. Somehow, he managed to land with his eye socket on top of the cup. Voila! Black eye number 2. Here's a picture of his old and new facial injuries.

I wanted to post today with some new pics, so I spent much of the morning trying to OBTAIN said pictures. Aric was not cooperative at all. He did not want his picture taken, so of 65 or so pictures, probably 20 were of his ear or his hair as he turned away and/or ran away from my camera. As you can see, we finally did manage to get a few keepers that were actually cute. :-) Along the way, though, I managed to capture Aric's "look of the month." He's been looking up at us from furrowed eyebrows a lot lately. He uses them when he's mad at us, when he's in trouble, when he's sad, when he wants something, and when he is trying to make us laugh. It's an all-purpose sort of a look, I guess. Anyway, here's a picture of the "eyebrow look."

Speaking of eyebrows, Taylor woke up at 5 a.m. today and announced that his eyebrows hurt. I laughed and sent him back to bed. When he woke up for the day a few hours later, he had a fever and insisted that his eyebrows still hurt. I don't know what is ailing him, but I suspect he's experiencing some sinus pressure with his sickness. I have never heard of a medical complaint originating in someone's eyebrows before. I guess there's a first time for everything (at least there is when MY kids are involved! :-)

When we began the "photo session" this morning, I posed the boys with "Mr. Bob the 'Tato Head." All three "guys" wore funny glasses for one pose before Aric discarded his glasses and began fighting off the camera. The picture turned out pretty funny, so here they are, my "usual suspects."

You may be wondering why I used "etymology" in my title. I was inspired by watching the National Spelling Bee Finals last night on TV. Watching those junior high kids battle it out (and seeing a pale blonde girl win it all) really stirred my old "spelling bee" memories. Jeremy was surprised how into it I got, but the spelling bee was a really big deal to me in junior high. Those of you who knew me then aren't surprised by this revelation, but the truth is that I'm a big nerd at heart (in the best sense of the word). I still remember what words put me out of each spelling bee and I still have fond memories of the "hope" that I, the county runner-up, might take some ill finalist's place at the MT State Bee. I could ramble on for quite some time about my "glory days" (just ask Jeremy - he had to listen to it all evening! ;-), but I'll wrap it up now and get back to my "glorious present" - cleaning up the lunch mess and doing a few more loads of laundry. :-) Before I go, though, one final tie-in to etymology. This fancy word, used quite a bit in spelling bees, simply means "word origin." While it should reveal where a word came from and how it moved from it's original language through any intermediate languages and into the language in which it is commonly found today, my favorite "etymology" isn't quite that complex. However, it is still the explanation of the origin of a phrase, so I figure I can still call it an etymology -- the etymology of "Mr. Bob the 'Tato Head." It's not just that Taylor named his Mr. Potato Head "Bob." The origins of two separate characters actually came together in my toddler's mind to form this new title. Taylor was familiar with "Bob the Tomato" of VeggieTales fame before he met Mr. Potato Head. When he got the spud last December, he immediately combined the old and the new and dubbed his new friend "Mr. Bob, the 'Tato Head." Now that's etymology for you!