Nothing much to blog, though I’ve been tagged by Melissa of Waking Up, so I need to get to that before too long. For now just some pictures from a recent trip to Wallis Sands State Park in Rye, NH. No better way to spend a 93 degree day…
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The kids and I were playing with some mini, plastic superhero characters this morning. It’s a set that comes with Captain America, Spiderman and Wolverine. This particular set is made for little kids, and comes with a little playground set that is put together Leggo style and features a slide, a see saw and a climbing wall for the three superheros to play on. My mom got it for David back when we lived in Vermont. We rediscovered it again recently and even though they don’t know these superheros, they know they’re supposed to have “super powers” and therefore are “super cool”.
David’s got Captain America and Sofi’s got Wolverine and Spiderman. Somehow she ended up with two, but David didn’t seem to mind. They decide to have a small, stuffed cow be the helpless victim and dangle him from a step on the staircase.
David: “FSHHHHUUUUU!!!!! FSHHHUUUUUUUU!!” He straightens Cap. America’s arms and makes him fly around the room, occasionally crashing into things, like the ottoman, the cat, the lamp. “Don’t worry…I will save you!”
Sofia: She’s busy trying to put the playground set together. “Mommy, Fiderman needs a kiss. He likes kisses.”
Me: “Oh…okay.” I give the molded plastic hero a kiss.
Sofia: “No, he wants a kiss from Ulverine.” She makes Spiderman and Wolverine kiss. “He likes hugs, too.” She smiles, and the two embrace.
Me: “Well, that’s nice that they’re such good friends.”
Meanwhile David is now throwing Captain America into the air while crashing himself into various objects in the room. He’s making alternate flying and crashing sounds.
Sofia: “Fiderman wants some ice cream. He likes ice cream!” She proceeds to stick a plastic peg from her stacking peg board into his cupped hand and she makes slurping sounds. “Dat is some goooood ice cream!”
David is also sticking little objects into the hands of Captain America and then having him throw them at the wall, while making more loud smashing sounds. Sofia is staring lovingly at her Wolverine and Spiderman while holding them as though they were newborn kittens, petting them gently, whispering softly near their little heads.
My children do not fall neatly into stereotypical gender roles- they are constantly breaking the mold for those supposed “boy/girl behaviors”. But days like this do remind me how very different males and females are at the core and how no matter how culture continues to transform us, some things will never change.
Ernesto’s favorite tool this month is “You Tube”, the make your own movie service. He’s having way too much fun with it. He pieced together a short video from a recent trek out to a local “Irish” pub this past weekend with the kids. While the place doesn’t exactly transport me back to the Emerald Isle, it does invoke some feelings of nostalgia with its decor and thick brogues from the wait staff. The bangers and mash are pretty wicked, too.
I’ve been to Ireland twice, to ride my bicycle, eat great food, drink great beer, meet wonderful people. That was very long ago, almost another lifetime, even. Can’t wait to get back, but for now I’ll just hang out here.
He just did it again. And I think I have finally figured it out.
I blog mostly at night now, and while I’m sitting here in the office, I have the sounds of the street outside my open window setting the “mood”. I hear the sounds of cars passing, distant motorcycles, the occasional firecracker (it’s almost August people, come on), the jingle from the tags of a dog’s collar as its being walked in front of the house…and then there’s the guy who every once in a while shouts out, “No! NO! NOOOOOO!!!”
I’m not sure where exactly it’s coming from. The first time I heard it I stopped typing to listen, but it was quiet, so I started back up again. A few minutes later, he did it again. At first it sounded like he was scolding someone, but I didn’t hear a second voice responding.
The next time I heard it, he sounded kind of excited. “NOOOOO!!!” I was getting nervous, waiting to see if I’d have to dial 911 in response to some violent outbreak and then I thought, what have we done, moving here?…it seemed like such a nice neighborhood. Then it stopped. No crashing sounds, no raging. I was relieved, but perplexed.
And then tonight I heard it again, just a few minutes ago. It started in low, then it started to grow, (again with the Seuss) “no. no. NO! NOOOOOO!!!” and then a dismayed, “Uggghhhhh.” And then it hit me.
He must be watching the Red Sox.
the following is my creative expression for the roly-poly little woodchuck that used to eat all the flowers in my back yard. You need not tell me what a lousy poet I am. I am all too aware.
Little Fatty, Little Fatty,
Oh what have you done?
You’ve eaten my daisies,
and now I have none.
The sunflower plants
I had sown with great care,
you chomped and you chewed
’till the stems were left bare.
You were my great foe,
many battles we fought,
but I’ve not seen you this week-
I guess you got caught.
Did you eat someone’s tomatoes?
Did you push them too far?
Were you tempted by beans?
Were you hit by a car?
I might even miss you,
despite all you’ve done,
but if I find you in my yard again,
pick your fat butt up…and run.
This may easily be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen. And I’ve been witness to some pretty stupid things. I may be a tad bitter because someone bumped into my child and I once while riding one of these. Or I’m right and it is one of the stupidest things ever. You make the call.
Well, we finally did it. We bought the drum kit that Ernesto and I have wanted for some time now. I know what you’re thinking, crazy parents, having a drum set around kids…oh the noise, noise, noise, noise …(sorry, we’ve been reading ‘The Grinch’ a lot lately). See, if you knew the kind of noise we already make, you wouldn’t be thinking that. Ernesto plays guitar. He has an acoustic and an electric. He also plays piano. I don’t play an instrument, yet, but I’ve always wanted to have a drum set because I do have a pretty good sense of rhythm and the beauty of the drums for someone like me is no chords to learn, no sheet music to follow. It would still take a great deal of practice for me to get even pretty good, but I think it is managable. And I just love to hit those things. It is so much fun.
We can also be found singing, especially Ernesto. When I sing, Sofia often tells me to stop. David used to do that, mostly I think because it meant I wasn’t paying attention to him. Or I’m tone deaf and just don’t know it. But when they are both in the right mood we can have everybody playing or singing something. No matter which song we are working on at the moment, Sofia will most likely sing “Twinkle, Twinkle”, or rather “Tinkle, Tinkle”. She’s really good, though. She hits all the notes and when she gets up to the piano bench she’s like a young Tori Amos, writhing around with her red hair going every which way. Except with more joy and less angst.
And David has a gift for remembering lyrics, making up musical rhymes and strumming the guitar. It’s very strange to pass by the playroom and hear him working on a puzzle, singing to himself: “Old man, look at my life…I’m a lot like you were…”
So it looks like they’ve acquired the music bug. I hope it’s as infectious as they say it is…
David has taken to photography the way chocolate takes to peanut butter. Just a real nice combo. He’s very serious about it. He lines up his shots carefully, holds the camera still and comes to show me every picture he’s taken and says what he likes about each one. He always wants to use our new digital camera, even though I’ve let him take over the old one, (the first one we ever bought that’s in pretty rough shape, but it will still take a grainy pic) and he sneaks off with it when I’m not looking. I put it up somewhere high (and I’m 6′, so I mean high) but he’ll scale any surface to find it. He’s a little rock climber in training. We had a talk about this, and he has now resigned himself to the “old” camera, but he got in a few shots before he gave the new one back. Here is an exhibit of his nearly four year old self’s perspective, at least as of last Thursday.
My personal favorite is “Still Life With Foot”.
Without Lance, the Tour just isn’t the same. All the riders seem so young and inexperienced. I mean, look at this guy…is that a Schwinn he’s riding???
I just found our little man, Whisky, as you see him here, propped up by the front door. Note the vacant expression. Either he’s really not enjoying the 90+ weather or he was hitting the cat nip a bit hard last night. I caught him sitting just like this last weekend but the memory card on my camera was full and I missed the shot. The dear boy was kind enough to pose a second time.
