birthday weekend number two
April 25, 2009, 9:40 pm
And now Troy and I are the same age again!;)
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[ 4 comments ] ( 32 views )birthday weekend number one
April 21, 2009, 8:26 pm
For all of Huck's counting abilities, he often goes from 39 to 50. This never bothered me much until I turned 39 the other day and he said to me sadly, "You're almost 50." Here are some pictures from our very fun, very beautiful springy weekend.;)
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[ 11 comments ] ( 47 views )something for everyone
April 18, 2009, 7:22 pm
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Huck has two very distinct sides to his sparkling personality. Sometimes he's very horrible and violent, pointing objects at my body and saying he's going to kill me, all with a disturbing smile on his face until I go into my peace loving lecture and take the toy away (or stick or spoon or crayon). Last week at the pizza place we were sitting in the booth by the open window and he began aiming his magic wand at innocent passersby and "shooting" at them with a very mean look on his face. Again, peace talk followed by a change in tactic: Huck began shooting the strangers with love bullets and a sweet smile. Recently I asked him what he was shooting and he told me the bad-guy germs in his body. He really wants to destroy something, anything. If he wasn’t such a sweetheart I’d be worried.
Then there's little-girl Huck who loves the color pink most of all. We were shopping a few weeks ago and I told him he could pick out a water bottle of his choice, thinking he would go for the one with spaceships or robots. Instead he exclaimed, "I want one a girl would pick out!" and sure enough, he chose the one full of pink and yellow hearts. One of Huck’s favorite games is to play like we’re sister squirrels (another game I hope none of you ever witness – I can’t stand my baby sister character), and he’s very maternal and tender. He told me recently that when he grows up he's never going to stop having children and that some will be dark skinned, some light skinned, some part dark skinned and part light skinned, and one part girl/part boy.
That sounds about right.
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[ 3 comments ] ( 50 views )so many eggs
April 15, 2009, 11:50 am
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[ 2 comments ] ( 25 views )what i've learned about huck lately
April 10, 2009, 1:22 pm
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He’s a rule follower, as anyone who’s seen his dance recital video footage will understand. Unfortunately Huck doesn’t hesitate to tell his friends (mainly Kadin) what they are “supposed to do,” which is, I’m sure, earning him a reputation for being a bossy know-it-all. There’s no doubt in my mind who he gets this from. On most days I too am a rigid rule follower and always have been, but even I can abandon my rule-following instincts if necessary. We were at the Children’s Museum the other day having a great time until we got hungry and remembered their very strict rule against all food on the premises. This making no sense to me (what with it being a children’s museum and every child I know constantly has a pretzel in their mouth), I began plotting a way for us to sneak snacks. He looked concerned as we found a secluded stairwell and I began feeding us both. After two bites Huck smiled sweetly and said, “Okay, I’m not hungry anymore!” and began putting our snacks away quickly. He didn’t ask for anything else to eat until we were far from the building several hours later, which is a world record for him. My parent-of-the-year lesson for the day: it’s okay to break stupid rules.
He’s not competitive (at least with me). Huck got a lot of fun games for his birthday that have made long winter days a little shorter. I’ve discovered that he’s pretty good natured when it comes to losing to his old mom on the rare occasion that happens. He loves to say, “I will CERTAINLY win!” all through the game, and if his prediction is true he’ll encourage me to keep going until I, too, “win.” If he picks an evil card in Candyland that sends him back 50 or so spaces he never gets upset, which is more than I can say for myself. In summary, he has his dad’s sparkling personality in this department (and I am so going to beat him in Froggie Boogie later today).
He loves human anatomy. As he explained to Shana the other night, “I have two loves: The Body and Sewing. So I will be a surgeon.” This was actually a suggestion from Shannon who figured he might as well combine what he loves in life. It’s never occurred to Huck that looking at pictures of mummies or watching videos of an endoscopy (his new favorite hobby) would be gross. In order to survive being with my child when he’s entertaining himself with such awful imagery, I’ve mastered the art of making it appear as though I’m looking directly at something, when in fact my eyes are focused slightly to the left. Huck loves talking about blood and all the internal organs, and the other day when I called him a cutie patooty he made a mean face and growled, “I’m not a cutie patooty. I’m a fungus.” In other words, he loves all things that make Mommy want to get a full-time job.
My last observation about Huck at age four years, one month and three days is that he’s in love with a beautiful little girl named Olive. When they are together it is either with arms around each other, holding hands, or necking. Her mom Bea and I have had to stop them from kissing on the lips many, many times, and I don’t just mean a peck. I mean eyes closed and moving their faces around. Either Troy and I and Bea and Ryan are extremely romantic kissers or these kids have been watching soap operas. Luckily Olive is one of the kindest, most delightful children I’ve ever met, so I’m okay with the relationship. Maybe we’ll just never leave them alone for too long. That’s all I’m saying.
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[ 5 comments ] ( 41 views )
really, really ready for spring
April 6, 2009, 7:26 pm
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[ add comment ]slowly but surely returning to the river
April 6, 2009, 9:12 am
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[ 7 comments ] ( 51 views )ballet boys
April 1, 2009, 9:31 am
Yesterday Huck, Kadin and many of our neighborhood friends performed in the YMHA's dance recital for a bunch of cameras attached to parents' faces, and boy was it delightful.;)
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During one of the routines Kadin improvised an extremely entertaining interpretive dance as Huck stayed very serious beside him, following Miss Katie's instructions with a concerned look on his face while keeping an eye on his little friend. My other highlight was when each child did a twirling solo across the stage. Huck was toward the end and by the time it was his turn he mistakenly thought it was a galloping solo, so he galloped excitedly across the stage to his teacher, who quickly whispered what he was supposed to do. He sweetly walked back across the stage, shot the other dancers an awkward look, and then began twirling with all of his might. He didn't really move across the stage so much as twirl in place, making his audience dizzy and worried that he may fall off the stage. This reminded me of a time when I was about seven and participated in a jump-rope contest (which I won) at a block party. I got so involved in my jumping that the guy in charge had to physically stop me. This is what Huck's twirls were like. He was going to twirl until he fell down, and so Miss Katie finally put an end to it and gave him an enthusiastic high five while the crowd applauded his tenacity. Here he is in mid-twirl.
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And here's the big curtain call ...
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Here are two of Huck and Kadin's biggest fans and supporters Rosie and Kimberly. Huck carried his flowers, which were about as big as he is, all the way home.
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Afterwards we took Huck to his choice of restaurant, our neighborhood Indian place called Kismat. The owner was so pleased to hear about Huck's recital that he gave him a bowl of ice cream on the house.
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And here's Huck's best April Fools joke so far today (initiated by his hilarious father): "Mommy, I loved my dance recital so much that I want to take the class again!" Don't tease your mother, son.[ 8 comments ] ( 72 views )