huck blog

1

de boss

March 26, 2007, 2:44 pm

Huck has developed a startling dialect which makes him sound like a tough and tiny taxi driver from another time with a heart of gold. He says “dee” for “the” and doesn’t pronounce his r’s. Here are some examples of recent sentences: “Dee ball is ovah deah. Dat rolly polly right heah. I do not like dee fly. I can take you to toidy-toid stweet, old chum.” So while the following anecdotes are all about Huck being a very bossy and demanding little thing, remember what his voice sounds like. And that he has a heart of gold. And that he could play Tattoo if they ever bring Fantasy Island back.

Being a powerful two year old, Huck is full of rules and this is especially clear when he’s swinging at the playground. He demands that I push him from behind with both hands while counting to ten in Spanish, followed by English, followed by singing the ABCs loud enough for him to hear. This morning he wanted Tiffany to push him while I pushed Kadin, but she’s sassy and refused to follow his rules. Instead she pushed him with one finger from the front and didn’t count or sing! He accepted it because every now and then she tickled his tummy.

He’s been role playing a lot lately, always assigning everyone their characters. For instance, often he’s Bono and Troy is The Edge. Sometimes he’s the Lion, I’m Dorothy, Daddy’s the Scarecrow, Brian’s the Tin Man and Kadin's the Munchkin. (Which was actually our idea but was well received by Huck the director.) Most often Huck is Baby Kadin, I’m Mommy Tiffany and Troy is Daddy Brian, and lately I’m Mommy Michael and Huck is Shannon. We continue to reenact the Nativity Scene nearly every evening in our living room, though these days Huck prefers to play Mommy Mary himself, complete with a shawl around his head. He also likes to pretend that he has a baby, and once this baby was played by a bottle of Sprite which he wrapped in a blanket and rocked for a while. Sometimes we're all lions in our den (under the big white blanket) eating gazelles (Daddy's colorful contribution). And I don’t mean to criticize, but Huck does absolutely nothing to change his look or personality when he plays these characters. For instance, Kadin is just beginning to walk, but Huck always plays him jumping all over the bed. He does, however, do a wonderful lion roar.

When we go grocery shopping he insists that I pull the cart up to the dead fish in their little Styrofoam packages so that he can look at them for a while. During this ritual I look away and try not to throw up. He also requests an orange in a plastic produce bag so that he can hold it throughout the store. This makes checkout time very stressful because he does not enjoy giving up his orange-in-a-bag for even a moment.

Huck loves to sing his ABCs and “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and all the Vacation Bible School songs and he counts to about 13. He can now draw triangles, ladders, ladybugs and walruses, and he can write “H” and “u.” And just when I think he’s the smartest person on the planet he puts a little blanket over his head with his entire body exposed and actually thinks that I can’t find him until he pulls the blanket off and yells, “PEEKABOO!” Nothing makes him happier than joining him at this game. So if you ever come to our home and see a bulgy blanket with our bodies sticking out of it, try to pretend like you have no idea where we are. The second you grow a little panicky we will give you a very exciting surprise.

[ 10 comments ] ( 44 views )

everything looks better in black and white

March 22, 2007, 1:42 pm

[ 3 comments ] ( 36 views )

terribly sweet

March 15, 2007, 3:29 pm

Ever since Huck turned two, which was only eight days ago but feels like several years, he’s been a commercial for temper tantrums. Many times a day he throws himself on the floor in deep frustration and kicks his legs while screaming. I’ve never been a fan of ignoring him even for a moment, but there’s just not much a mommy can do while her child is possessed by an evil demon. Most of the time Pappy and I are able to keep things in perspective and catch each other’s eyes behind Huck’s back, doing the koo-koo sign or aiming an imaginary gun at our heads. But every now and then we consider taking him down to Penn Station and leaving him there.

(Since today’s Max’s 13th birthday I thought I would begin a blog for once with less than sweet things about our precious two year old angel who we would never leave at Penn Station.)

When Huck takes a break from his commercial work he is one very polite fellow. For instance, when he wakes up from naps we hear his groggy little voice through the monitor say, “Excuse me, Mommy?” And when he wants to repeat a particularly fun activity like painting his body or jumping on the bed he says, “Shall we do it again?!” These little words go a long way to take the edge off his Linda Blair impersonation.

This afternoon we took Huck to see the Buglisi Dance Theatre. Our friend Michael sits near the stage and draws the dancers, and his work is projected onto the wall behind them. It’s quite an incredible sight to behold, and Huck sat on Pappy’s lap and watched the whole thing with intense focus. I’m not sure he noticed the wonderful dancers, but he definitely watched the drawing unfold before his very eyes. I think one day Huck and Michael are going to sit around and look at each other’s sketch pads over a beer. I would have taken a picture of the two of them if only our camera wasn’t broken.

That’s right, our camera's broken. We’ve had this one for six months. You may recall it replaced our camera we’d had for a year and a half. Either we’re really rough with our cameras or Canon needs to improve their shelf life. Thankfully Canon’s customer service has so far been incredible and hopefully within a few weeks we’ll have a working camera back in our lives. Meanwhile this here blog may need some of your imagination.

[ 4 comments ] ( 44 views )

terrific, talented, top-notch and two

March 8, 2007, 8:35 pm

Huck is now a real live two year old, and I swear his NO has an extra bite to it as of yesterday. He started the day with all kinds of exciting presents, but a ratty old blue balloon and some red bubble wrap from Aunt Lori were the most popular toys. Then he asked for mango sorbet from Tia Rosie for breakfast, which was great except for the occasional brain freeze. Paps took the day off and we three spent it together, taking lots of phone calls and receiving all kinds of sweet emails. Huck refused to talk to almost everyone on the phone because he wanted to make sure we all knew exactly who was in charge here. We ended our day with a small gathering at the church where we ate pizza and Cheetos and played Pin the Spot on the Ladybug. Tiffany and I made Huck a disgusting dirt cake full of worms and other bugs, and although he was very excited about it all day long, he shouted, "EEWWW!" and "GROSS!" as I dished it out to folks and refused to eat any of it.

Thank you one and all for the gifts and the lovin'!!!

[ 6 comments ] ( 49 views )

happy birthday, two year old!

March 7, 2007, 7:16 am

[ 10 comments ] ( 79 views )

one day more

March 6, 2007, 1:59 pm

Aunt Jeni and cousin Noah were here for the last few days celebrating Huck's almost second birthday! We sure had fun playing Noah's Block Buster, watching Eric Carle books come to life, taking funny pictures on the computer and making funny sounds with Dr. Fart, walking through the incredibly cold streets and taking shelter at Famiglia's Pizza, playing Ring Around the Rosie while jumping on the bed, painting bodies,eating Aunt Jeni's homemade apple pie, washing rocks from the river, playing in tunnels and on trains, drinking ginger ale and eating pretzels, shooting bows and arrows, hitting balls with a gigantic red bat, carving bugs and fish out of soap, and hiding from each other under the covers (the game that never loses its zing)!

[ 4 comments ] ( 40 views )