Here’s what’s been going on in New York City Kid Huck’s life over the past few days.  First, he apparently got taken out of his class one morning last week by the music teacher because she needed him to help teach the Kindergarteners the “I Love Muscota” song with gestures because he has a memory like a steel trap.   The next day he was asked to lead the school in the song at Town Meeting.  Again let me reiterate: I don’t know where this musical confidence comes from.  I do know that I may be one of those proud, crying American Idol moms in the audience after all.  I had hoped for So You Think You Can Dance, but this will have to do.

Next he started the amazing Washington Heights Jazz Choir and learned the song “Shoofly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy” which he sings with the sweetest of jazz accents.  Then a few days later he and his choir buddy Parker got to experience real life shoofly pie and apple pan dowdy because Parker’s dad Shannon made them both.  Huck, the pickiest pie eater on earth next to his mother, was not crazy about the molasses tasting dessert and later changed the line “makes your tummy say howdy” to “makes your tummy say disgusting.” But no matter.  The thrill was in looking at the song title come to life right there on the table.

As mentioned in a previous Huck Blog entry, he excitedly began taking the school bus for the first time ever last week.  On day #3, I was greeted after school by three extremely excited kids screaming in unison something about a car hitting the bus, the bus backing up and knocking over a stop sign, and the seatbelt wearing children being 30 minutes late to school.  This was not the milestone I was hoping for, but Troy thinks this now means nothing bad will ever, ever happen to the school bus again because the odds are with us.  I have no pictures of the Bus Accident of 2011, even though the kids all swore they’d be on New York One.

Next Huck got to take part in the World Maker Faire at the New York Hall of Science in Queens (same place where he walked the tight rope last summer).  Not only did we get to see a gigantic (and flawed) Rube Goldberg machine in person and the Diet Coke/Mentos guys from our favorite YouTube video ever …

… we also helped with Skraptacular, a wonderful organization started by a Muscota mom to bring “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rethink” into the forefront of children’s minds.  Huck and Troy worked hard on their beautiful sign, complete with paper cranes made from trash, and the three of us could be seen pushing a recycle bin around the fair shouting for people to give us their water bottles.  At one point Huck left us to join Kadin and his dad Brian, and there Troy and I were, decked out in fabulous signs and accessories made out of recycled materials (I think I had some kind of wings hooked to my backpack) like a couple of delightful old kooks.  Oh there have been so many of these moments in our marriage, thank the Lord.

And lastly, Huck is finally riding his bike without training wheels!  He’s a kid easily inspired by his friends’ amazing feats (Luca learning to swim and jump off the diving board led to Huck’s water abilities), and so over the weekend when Huck watched Kadin riding his two wheeler, next thing we knew Huck was doing it too.  Thanks, Kadin.

Looking forward to what the next week will bring!