huck blog

2

extroverted introvert

July 28, 2006, 2:26 pm

I’ve been noticing that Huck has two very different personalities. Depending on the situation, he’s either extremely animated and silly or quiet and serious. When he’s around just a few people and he’s the smallest one in the room, he becomes like a circus clown showing off his tricks, strutting here and there, dancing, singing, telling stories and imitating my awful Louis Armstrong imitation. When Huck is in a crowd of people and there are other drunk cavemen around, he is pretty reserved. His eyebrows furrow as he plays intensely with hardly any sense of humor at all.

My sister Jeni (and mother of two) once taught me that little kids have moods just like all of us, and I remember that when I watch Huck’s response to the world around him. I think he may be an introvert like Pappy T. Both of them have this hilarious goofy side, but sometimes people drain their energy a bit. (But not you. You don’t drain anyone’s energy. You’re great!)

Also like his daddy, Huck is a superhero fan. When he sees an image of the Man of Steel he excitedly shouts, “SUIT! SUIT!” (This is also his word for Fruit, so things can get confusing around here.) Then he gets to wear his Superman outfit (and so does Daddy) and fly around the room. Sometimes Huck searches for his magical “S” on his chest and wonders where it is. “Suit? Suit?” he’ll ask in a charming and somewhat pitiful way.

Huck is also crazy about circles and hearts, and the other night he accidentally drew his first circle in the bathtub. He will often hand me a crayon and ask me to draw him either a circle or a heart. He growls the word “HEART” aggressively, as if it’s a war term. Similarly, when I tell him “I love you” in sign language, he slaps my hand real hard like I wanted a high five. On the other hand, when Huck wants something he’ll touch my face real sweetly and say “gen,” which is Huck-talk for gentle. Other times he’ll do the sign for “please” and accompany it with a tender little “peeeeece?” and a very darling smile. Sometimes he's rough, sometimes he's gentle.

Huck's added "wet" and "broke" to his daily words. He loves to touch my just washed hair or put his hand into puddles outside and declare them "WET!" Everyday he sadly brings me broken crayons or a toy that he can't figure out how to turn on and shouts, "BROKE! BROKE!" And thankfully he's finally learned how to ask for help, as opposed to grunting and whining, by quietly and delicately saying, "Hep?" Other new and entertaining words are "hopper" for grasshopper, "sunda" for thunder, "neck" for giraffe, obviously, and "mow" for cat. As in meow. Tricky!

Once a week Huck gets to spend five hours with his friends Betty and Amanda while Mommy and Daddy are both at work. The three of them are having a very good time together. In fact, the first day I returned home from teaching, practically running down the street to get here, I was greeted by Huck with a quick glance, and then he went back to his drawing. I expected a tearful reunion but was very relieved that he was so happy and comfortable. When I ask Huck what he did that day, he tells me all sorts of interesting things and always smiles when he says, “Betty” and “Manda.”

(And by the way, I’m enjoying my teaching job very much and am really happy I decided to do it. With three weeks to go, I’m halfway done.)

And lastly on this terribly hot summer day, I would like to talk about what a marvelous actor Huck has become. When I read to him from a wonderful book called “I Love You Through and Through,” he gets quite emotionally involved. I’m beginning to think he’s taking acting lessons at the Actors Studio when we’re not looking. When he hears “I love your sad side,” he looks down in a very melancholy, heartbreaking fashion and little tiny tears well up in his eyes. On the line “I love your cries,” he puts out that lower lip that we met when he was a few minutes old, wipes his eyes with his little fists and makes a sad whimper for a while. I try to hold my applause till the end, knowing there will be many more beautiful performances.

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these are for you, carmen!

July 23, 2006, 8:40 pm

[ 2 comments ] ( 38 views )

there's no place like home

July 18, 2006, 12:17 pm

While in Kansas for cousin Kayla's wedding, Huck met some gorillas, talked to a duck in the front yard, wore a tuxedo for the first time, got sprayed by a gigantic fire fighter hose, played in a wagon with Grandma Judy and Grandpa Gaylyn while Grandma Rosie and Mommy took hundreds of pictures, told Grandma Linda his name over and over again, went swimming with Aunt Jeni, Uncle Nathan, Uncle Steve, Grandpa Bill and cousins Megan, Lauren, Noah and Lily, had his toe sucked on by Aunt Lori many times, played with Callie and Heather at the zoo, threw the ball to everyone, played in many sprinklers, and spent the night on the floor of the Atlanta airport with Mommy and Daddy! What a trip to remember.

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sweet 16

July 7, 2006, 9:16 am

Happy 16 month birthday, Huck!!!

Huck just had a very exciting weekend with his Grandmama Judy and Aunt Tina. Tina taught him to do a touchdown dance and claims that he even did a baby version of the moonwalk after a particularly good catch. We think she may be delusional, so excited for her nephew to be a pro athlete. Grandma taught Huck how to ride the tire swing with ease and finesse, something Mommy hasn't quite mastered. Here are a few pictures of his fun time with “Buh” and “T.”

I have been trying to count all of Huck’s words, but I gave up once I reached 50. Here are his top ten: Huck (he says this all day long pointing to himself proudly), More, Mama, Dada, Hi, Down, No, Book, Apple and a very melodramatic OW! Huck says “No” a lot, but he says it very sweetly and with an essence of “You silly,” as if he’s teasing. If you ask Huck something like, “What did you do today?” he will answer with a 15 minute monologue that contains very few actual English words. It is a secret caveman language that is very animated and passionate, full of dramatic pauses and intense eye contact. Out of every sentence, at least half of the words are accompanied by an aggressive gesture and a “POW!” kind of sound.

When Huck smells flowers, which he does everyday, he rubs his tummy happily as if they taste good. Sometimes when he touches flowers he shouts “OW!” as if they have thorns on them. Always when he sees a bug or a friend, he waves and shouts “HI!” Sometimes he blows a kiss, too.

I am beginning a six week job on Monday, teaching drama to special needs kids three days a week. While I’m looking forward to it, I’m also feeling pretty sad about leaving Huck for so long. He’ll have his good friend Betty taking care of him on Thursdays, and Pappy T will be with him on Mondays and Wednesdays. A lot of people say this will be good for me, but I think what’s good for me is hanging out with Huck all day long.

Yesterday while swinging at the playground a woman told me that in her language, which is Arabic, Huck means “truth.” So much better than the English meaning of the word: “an absorbent durable fabric of cotton, linen or both, used chiefly for towels.”

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