turkey travels
November 29, 2008, 6:41 pm
What do you get when you mix two 41 pound three-and-a-half year olds, a big black dog who's always smiling, an elderly overweight dog who can’t stop peeing all over the floor, a cat who makes a guest appearance now and then, several fish, and four old friends who like to sit around the fireplace telling stories and drinking white Russians? A Happy Kingston Thanksgiving, that’s what! Aside from the general merriment, highlights for Huck were the incredible puppet shows performed in the cardboard puppet theatre (which occasionally starred him opposite Elmo and Grover), the little art studio in the back where he could paint any time he wanted, swimming at the YMCA post-turkey, and being introduced to Road Runner cartoons, complete with a lesson in how to keep saying, “Oh, no, not again!” at all the right places. And now Huck can't stop saying, "I wish WE had a fireplace and a chimney." Me too, Huck.;)
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[ 2 comments ] ( 27 views )cold weather projects
November 25, 2008, 6:08 pm
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[ 13 comments ] ( 49 views )right
November 18, 2008, 7:14 pm
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Huck had a rough morning yesterday, throwing himself on the ground more than once and having good old fashioned temper tantrums as if he knows his temper tantrum days are numbered and he’d better get them all out as quickly as possible. It all culminated in the throwing of a “medium sized” car at another child, thus causing us to leave our Monday school early and spend the rest of the day talking about Right and Wrong. Last week we watched Walt Disney’s “Pinocchio,” and in it the Blue Fairy tells him he must be brave, truthful and unselfish in order to become a real boy. Jiminy Cricket is assigned as his conscience to guide him along the path of doing right.
I love it when movies help me with my parenting.
So yesterday we talked a lot about Huck’s conscience. I admitted to him that I don’t always listen to my own conscience and I sometimes choose to do what’s wrong instead of what’s right. And without a single second of hesitation he cheerfully said, “Like yelling at Daddy! WRONG!”
Yesterday he thought his conscience was a hopeful little singing cricket, for he said to me at one point, “Do you know what my conscience is saying to me right now?” and then proceeded to hum a very happy song. Today he was confusing his conscience with his tummy. Instead of choosing to help clean up toys he insisted his conscience was telling him he was hungry.
This is one of my favorite attributes about three year old people: they're constantly getting things wrong. It's the cute kind of wrong, not the throw-a-toy-at-another-child kind of wrong.
Like Huck writes words everyday and recently I was helping him spell a love note. I got carried away and when he came to the end of the letter I accidentally spelled his name for him. He was mad and said, "No, don’t give me the ingredients!”
He loves to hide objects and make us guess where they are. He will say, “Guess where I hid my lizard? Don’t guess in the towels in the bathroom.” Or he will hide in his closet and shout, “Guess where I am? Don’t guess the closet. Guess eleven other things and then ask for a clue.” The other day he came up to me and said, “Guess what I have on under my clothes? Don’t guess pajamas.”
Huck is always hungry and nowadays asks for an “appetite” before meals. I always go into this hilarious routine and say, “Oh, I don’t think you need an appetite!” Then he says, "No, an appetite is something little you eat before a meal." Then I say, "Oh, I think you have a big enough appetite!" It's quite the routine. It goes on and on. I wish you could hear it. Someone stop me.
And lastly, we were walking along and I must have made some comment about him growing up so fast. He casually said, “Well, soon I won’t live with you and Daddy. I’ll have a baby and then look for a mommy and live in a house.”
Right.
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[ 4 comments ] ( 28 views )huck's pals
November 13, 2008, 4:57 pm
Today Huck had to say goodbye to his very special friend Pijka (and her mom and brother), as they are moving to the Netherlands this Saturday. Of all the kids in the neighborhood, Pijka has always been the one that Huck gets along with the best. (She's also the only kid who can lift Huck.) We will miss her (and her whole family) very, very much! The two posed for a little photo shoot today and then when the final moment came, Huck went up to her, pulled her hair back and gave her a loving kiss on the lips. It was so romantic.;)
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A few weeks ago Huck's good friend and birthday buddy Jaydon moved away with his parents and sister, and a few months before that his friend Keira and her parents and sister did the same. It's heartbreaking to lose these neighbors but we have hopes that we'll see them all again. Here are some other special people (and dog) in Huck's life who still live very nearby ...
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[ 15 comments ] ( 22 views )autumn in new york, part two
November 12, 2008, 7:24 pm
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[ 2 comments ] ( 19 views )
autumn in new york
November 7, 2008, 2:28 pm
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[ 27 comments ] ( 29 views )the big day
November 4, 2008, 7:54 am
I’ve always loved Election Day, but never more than this one. Four years ago Troy and I sat in awe (with a tiny creature in my body) watching the Democratic National Convention and listening to the most inspirational leader we’d ever heard. Here’s some of what he said that night:“If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for their prescription and having to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandparent. If there's an Arab-American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.
"It is that fundamental belief -- it is that fundamental belief -- I am my brother's keeper, I am my sisters' keeper -- that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family: "E pluribus unum," out of many, one.
"Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America.
"The pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue States: red states for Republicans, blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states. We coach little league in the blue states and, yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq, and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America. In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism, or do we participate in a politics of hope?"
That was four years ago. We weren’t used to hearing words like this from a politician, and it stirred something up inside of us. We felt hope for our country and our world in a way we never had before. Today we live in a very divided and fearful country. I don’t know if it’s possible for "politics" and "hope" to coexist, but I hope so. Whether you’re voting for Barack Obama or John McCain, here’s to a future where we take care of each other. I am my brother’s keeper. I am my sister’s keeper.
We like that kind of an America for Huck.
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(Here he is happily showing off his campaign posters for the bumblebee, which won the election for "Insect of the Day" at school yesterday. Congratulations, Huck!)[ 26 comments ] ( 51 views )