going to boston
April 24, 2006, 2:08 pm
My great-grandfather, who I never met, used to push my older sister Lori around in her stroller and say, “We’re going to Boston!” This became a sweet family tradition, and when we were home last Christmas my dad introduced the game to Huck. My dad would slowly stroll around the living room and the hallway and sometimes outside on the sidewalk saying, “We’re going to Boston, Huck. You and Grandpa are going to Boston.” Huck giggled and kicked his legs and loved it.This weekend Huck finally got to go to the real Boston! Our movie “Chalk,” which we credit as being responsible for Huck’s existence, was in the Independent Film Festival of Boston, and so Troy and I rented a car and joined Austin filmmakers Dezi, Angie, Ryan and Jeff, fellow actor and New Yorker Shannon, and our good friends Russell and Cheryl for the weekend. We knew the film was doing extremely well in the festivals across the country, winning awards and selling out in pretty nice sized theatres, but nothing could prepare us for this experience. People were recognizing us and being very congratulatory and complimentary as we hurried along through the hotel so that we could rest in our ridiculously fancy room before the screening. This was Huck’s first hotel and he enjoyed all the long hallways and stairways and elevators and big chairs. He met another one year old caveman named Fin while playing in the lobby. Here's Huck taking a seven second nap in our room with his beloved keys in his lap, resting up for his big weekend.
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We went to lunch and saw our “Chalk” poster up in some store windows. Huck is now crazy about apples and says the word all day long. It always, always makes him happy to see an apple, and so he loves this poster.
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After lunch, Assistant Director and Babysitter Extraordinaire Angie took care of Huck so that we could watch our movie with a crowd of people. It was a 200 seat theatre and Troy, Shannon and I were very skeptical that it would get filled. Not only did it fill up quickly, but there were over a hundred people in line around the block wanting to get in. The movie had been shown earlier at the festival and had generated some buzz apparently. After much confusion, chaos and excitement, the festival directors moved the entire crowd into the 900 seat gigantic theatre so that we could all fit. That one nearly filled up, too, meaning that there were about 700 people laughing and applauding and going a little nuts. We felt like movie stars.
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Afterwards we had to go up in front of the audience for a Q&A. By this point Huck was really wanting my attention, so as I stood under spotlights in front of a whole lot of strangers, including professional photographers, he began quickly and obviously trying to undress me. I politely excused myself so that I could feed the starving child in private.
That night there was a party at a Boston museum where we stood around and talked to other filmmakers, as well as audience members who again loved the movie. Troy sweetly stayed in the hotel room with sleeping Huck and let me, his extroverted party-loving wife, go and have fun. At midnight there was an awards ceremony, and “Chalk” won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Film. In Academy Awards language, that’s the Oscar for Best Movie. Because of this prize, they added another screening of "Chalk" today. (Again I find myself doubting that anyone will show up for it, but you never know.) The next step is finding a distributor to buy the movie and get it into theatres. You may be hearing from us if this happens.
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It was Troy’s birthday weekend and our 15th year dating anniversary. A very nice way to celebrate!
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(For more "Chalk" news and to see the trailer go to http://www.chalkthefilm.com!)
[ 15 comments ] ( 138 views )
snips and snails and puppy dog tails
April 13, 2006, 3:46 pm
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These pictures were taken right before the Dirt Eating Incident of April 2006. Huck stuck a handful of dirt in his mouth and didn't like it when I dug it out, nor did he like the taste so much. You'd think this would have taught him to stop eating dirt, but just this morning at the playground I had to stop him from making the same mistake over and over again. He likes to take dirt and rub it all over his face, too, just in case anyone wasn't sure he was a little boy. And he has a big cut on his chin from a fall he took the other day. And a big scrape on his nose. And he loves sticks, balls, dump truck type toys, trains, airplanes, loud cars and tools. If anyone ever wants to play with dolls or have a tea party, give me a call. [ 22 comments ] ( 71 views )
inebriated neanderthal
April 7, 2006, 10:42 am
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In honor of Huck’s 13 month birthday today, I will now summarize our little toddler’s latest accomplishments and personality delights.
We recently heard the idea that toddlers are like cavemen, and now that we’ve had one living with us for a month we feel it’s a very good analogy. I like to think of Huck as a drunken caveman, often needing our guidance so that he doesn’t run into a wall, say, or roll off the couch. Drunk cavemen don’t always understand our modern sober ways.
For instance, we’ve worked very hard to teach Huck the danger of outlets. Now when he sees one he runs up to it, shakes his head NO furiously and points at it while shouting loud and aggressive drunken caveman babble. He hates outlets and wants to punish them, but he also wants to touch them, which makes us feel that perhaps we have a flaw in our parenting discipline regarding household safety.
Caveman Huck now tells us when he’s hungry, when he wants more food and when he's done eating by doing the cute signs we’ve taught him. His favorite foods are crackers and beans. We try to sneak non-crackers and non-beans into his diet occasionally, but you have to be very tricky. He shakes his head NO when he doesn’t want something. Sometimes I confuse him by nodding my head YES and shoving non-crackers or non-beans into his mouth. He also loves Cheerios, but even more than eating them he likes to feed them to his best friend Max, who is well on his way to becoming obese. The other day I gave Max a bath and discovered some sad old Cheerios stuck in his coat. Maybe he was hiding them there for later.
In other fingers and hands news, Huck attempts to do the “itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout” routine, along with the rain coming down and washing the spider out. He also kind of waves HI and BYE (along with kind of saying HI and BYE), blows kisses and gives high fives. Because Huck is so holy, he puts his hands together to pray with us before dinner. During the short prayer he stares at me and smiles and then explodes in laughter upon hearing “Amen.”
Huck has become quite talented at pointing to body parts like his head, toes and ears. (Unless I’ve gathered a large audience and talked it up too much. Then he looks at me with his tongue sticking out and spits.) When you ask him to point to his nose, he sticks his little index finger way up inside his nostril and laughs like he knows this is naughty. If you’re lucky, he will then stick that index finger into his mouth because he likes to see you scream and laugh. 13 months and already acting like a six year old boy.
Huck has fallen in love with nature and loves to be taken to the window first thing in the morning to look at the birds, trees and sky. Of course at 6AM it is still dark so this requires some imagination. When we're on our friend Abbie's terrace she holds him and they talk about the moon (la luna), river and bridge. They always wave to New Jersey. Huck takes these nature sessions very seriously and does a lot of pointing and babbling.
I must now confess that on my watch in the last couple of days Huck developed two new bumps on his head. Sorry for making fun of you, Pappy T. Now when you ask Huck where his bumps are, he excitedly hits his head real hard. He has added “bump” to his vocabulary because he hears the word so often.
And finally, Huck is now a very accomplished walker, bordering on being a professional runner. My favorite thing about his walking style is the clapping. Rarely does he walk without giving himself a little applause.
[ 17 comments ] ( 33 views )
what happens when daddy's in charge
April 5, 2006, 10:56 am
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If you look closely at Huck's forehead in this last picture you might see a bump and bruise. That's also part of Daddy being in charge. But he sure is fun![ 154 comments ] ( 54 views )
a dose of spring
April 1, 2006, 9:21 am
Thanks to some beautiful warm weather here lately, I've been able to dress my human doll in his new shorts and t-shirts! Since he's not so tall, however, his shorts look like very long, awkward capri pants. The result is that he still resembles the Lollipop Guild. As you can see in this first picture, Huck is not sure what to make of social interaction with other people his size. In the next picture he's giving a happy round of applause for barefootness, followed by a standing ovation for spring time.;)
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[ 15 comments ] ( 45 views )