huck blog

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april musings

April 28, 2008, 7:26 pm

These days Huck loves to say something a little outrageous (usually having to do with bottoms and/or pooping) and then follow it with "Just kidding!" about 700 times a day. Why, just this morning he said to Troy, "I can see your butt crack." Pause, pause. "Just kidding!" This, along with his knock-knock jokes, makes him quite the vaudevillian performer around here.

And speaking of performance, Huck’s alter ego Krisdy has taken over our lives. Krisdy is eight and her birthday is July sixth. I'm always Annie now and Troy's always Sue. Recently Krisdy woke up in the middle of the night and shouted angrily, “ANNIE! YOU GET IN HERE RIGHT NOW!” That caused “Annie” to lose it a little bit and give a cranky monologue about how I AM MOMMY and NOT ANNIE and QUIT YELLING AT ME ALL THE TIME. I was telling a daddy friend at the playground about Krisdy the other day and he smiled and said, “Oh, so he’s crazy!” Finally someone has said aloud what the rest of us have been thinking.

For the last few weeks Huck has been going to "Children and Worship" during church with 3-8 year olds (he’s the youngest), and it’s really the first time he’s been in a structured situation where he doesn’t have one of us sitting right there with him. So far Troy or I have always been in the room, but our role has been teacher and not parent. It's hard to take my eyes off of him because he looks so darn cute and little sitting there like that. He’s definitely awkward in this environment and loves watching the older kids acting silly. He sings way too loudly and overdoes it laughing at the kids and trying to be like them. His hero is the boy who talks about pooping sheep. Good stuff.

In the meantime we're enjoying spring in New York, except for right now which is chilly and rainy. But last week was amazing and Huck and I spent most of our time happily outside working on our matching sun tans.

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birthday hike across the river and through the woods

April 24, 2008, 2:21 pm

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that time of year

April 21, 2008, 7:35 pm

We had a very exciting weekend around here. First our dear old friend Amy came all the way from San Francisco to finally meet Huck and play with her old buddy Max. Then we grown-ups went downtown to enjoy our band Balthrop, Alabama play at Joe’s Pub with Michael’s drawings being projected onto a wall behind them, all a part of our April birthdays celebration. Huck got to stay with Mimi, Poppy and Kadin for the evening! What could go wrong? Well, as soon as the first song ended we got the news that Huck was throwing up. Being the sweetie husband and dad that he is, Troy told me to stay and enjoy the evening while he rushed all the way back uptown to care for Huck, who was asleep by then and done being sick. Meanwhile I got to sit back, listen to wonderful music surrounded by wonderful friends and beautiful art, and even enjoy a shout-out to Huck by his girlfriend and lead singer Lauren. How many three year olds can say that?

The next day we didn’t let Huck eat much and decided to postpone the birthday cake a few days. We played at the park and then headed downtown to meet up with Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Dottie visiting from Virginia, along with Shannon for a wonderful lunch at South Street Seaport where Huck tried out some of his best knock-knock jokes and drank a lot of Ginger Ale. Afterwards we walked around our lovely city in the beautiful April 19th weather, threw coins into fountains and eventually hooked up with Tony visiting from LA who did not understand Huck's knock-knock jokes but laughed politely anyway. ‘Twas a great birthday after all!

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super H by pappy T

April 13, 2008, 8:21 pm

Look!
Up in the sky?
No! Out on the lawn...
It's a bird!
It's a toy!
It's...
It's a SUPERBOY!

Actually, it's "Super H" to the general public. However, to a elite group of Super Toddlers known as THE SUPERBOYS, he is called HAWKEYE -- THE SEEKER!

That's right, wherever there's trouble or missing cupcakes, mild-mannered toddler, Huck William, ducks out of sight, dons his blue cape and goggles, reveals his H-emblazoned chest and leaps into action as HAWKEYE - THE SEEKER, to save the day!

Above is a rare photo of all the SUPERBOYS in action:
POLAR PARKER --The Freezer (Ultra-Freezing Power)
LIGHTNIN' LUCA --The Chaser (Ultra-Sonic Speed)
HAWKEYE HUCK --The Seeker (Ultra-Vision Power)
CLEAR-CUT CUTHBERT -- The Hider (Ultra-Violet Vanishing Power)
They fight for truth, justice and good snacks!
(They also like to hide, seek, chase, and freeze on the playground so it just makes sense that they're super-powers help them to do all that!)

In other words... for no real reason at all, except that it was really fun, four toddlers got together with their dads and had a super-hero party. They each got to choose their own super power (Huck kept saying, "I can see through things!") and then were given a cape. Then when it was discovered that the cupcakes had been stolen by an unknown villain with only a chocolate smudged ransom note left behind, the SUPERBOYS leapt into action (after they got off the elevator.) Fathers and sons were seen leaping off of rocks and over the grass and striking very heroic poses. It was a lot of fun for this dad, I have to say. Special thanks to Parker's dad, Shannon, for coming up with the idea and to the other two dads, Scott & Ian, for playing along with such vim and vigor! (Thanks, too, to Rosie and Betty who caught wind of this impromptu superhero soiree and insisted that Huck have a tailor-made Super H logo to wear).

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born to be wild

April 12, 2008, 11:26 am

Huck is now an official tricycle rider, and it has become his mode of transportation both inside and out. The other day he rode his trike down the hall, parked it and then went to the bathroom. Huck has two tricycles, his red one from Na-Na and his colorful one we found on the street. He calls them his “three wheeled bikes.” When he rides down the sidewalk and gets going kind of fast he shouts, “Lightning! Lightning! Lightning!” And there is no sound cuter than the sound of his awkward little horn, which he often honks as he tootles along.

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maine!

April 8, 2008, 7:41 pm

We just returned from six glorious days in Maine where we stayed with Jennifer, Pete, Quincy and Charlie outside of Portland in their beautiful home. Jennifer is my very dear friend (and fellow charades champion) from Salina, Kansas days and also right here in our neighborhood where she lovingly prepared me for motherhood and has guided me along ever since, one of those special people I've known and loved as long as I can remember, literally. Ever since they moved to Maine two and a half years ago we've wanted to visit them, and it finally happened thanks to a training workshop Troy attended in New Hampshire about an hour away. While on our Maine vacation Huck collected seashells, gathered eggs from the next door neighbors’ hens and ate them all up for breakfast the next morning, saw lighthouses, got very very muddy, slept a night spooning with Quincy during their first slumber party, had the worst ever public temper tantrum at L.L. Bean, rode a real train alongside the water, watched movies in the car, played in snow and on the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean, and excitedly watched as Daddy ate a lobster and grossed out Mommy to no end.

Here's a special picture proving that Mommy can jump while holding 40 pounds:

And here’s another special picture proving that Mommy and Daddy could have made “Lord of the Rings":

Thank you, Segals (not to be confused with your naughty cousins the seagulls) for such a wonderful vacation! We look forward to some more charades one of these days.

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