Tooth!

Oops! I forgot to add, Gwen did lose that first tooth -- finally -- last Saturday while we were watching Star Wars: A New Hope with the kids. Yes, it took a really long time, I think in part because her permanent tooth got tired of waiting and came in behind the original tooth in the meantime. Yes, we've started an account to start saving for her braces.

And the kids loved Star Wars. Xav's favorite character was R2D2, and I think he now wants to be R2D2 (or Artie-D2, as he calls him) when he grows up.

After hearing him refer to R2D2 as Artie-D2 through most of the movie, I gently corrected him, "Xav, it is R-2-D-2."

"Artie-D2?" he asked.

"R-like-the-letter, 2-like-the-number, D-like-the-letter, 2-like-the-number," I replied.

"R2D2?" he asked.

"Yes, you got it."

"Oh." He paused, then asked, "But can I call him whatever I want?"

"Umm, I guess," I replied.

"Then, I say we call him, 'Artie-D2.'"

We also played Star Wars later that afternoon in the backyard. Xavier played -- you got it -- Artie-D2, but evidently did not feel that he was short enough for the part, because he was running around the backyard using one of his arms as kind of a third leg. I personally thought he looked more like Quasimodo or Tarzan that way, but I kept my opinion to myself.

Oh, and he wants a lightsaber for Christmas, even though Artie-D2 did not personally use one. I guess some concepts are just too cool to take literally.

Piper

The bad part about being too swamped to BLOG is that when you do have time to BLOG, you can't remember the funny stuff. However, we had a couple of timely funny things that happened in the past couple of days that I can pass on.


The other night the kids were brushing their teeth, and Xavier announced, "I love my teeth. They're pretty much my favorite part of my body. They're the most important part."

Adam replied, "I think the brain is the most important."

Xavier responded, "Well, my teeth are my favorite, anyway."

Gwen piped up, "My brain and my teeth are my favorite parts of my body. And my eyes. And my ears. And my nose."

"So pretty much your whole head," Adam said, amused.

"Yeah, my whole head," she replied. Then, after thinking for a moment, she added, "And my pancreas."


Teeth-brushing must be a great time for random thoughts for my kids, because as Xavier was brushing his teeth tonight, he placed his hand thoughtfully on my tummy. When he didn't remove it after a little while, I said, "Don't worry -- there is no baby brother or sister growing in there."

"Oh," he mused. "I wish there was."

"You wish you had a younger sibling?" I asked, surprised, because Xavier is usually pretty possessive of his position as baby of the family.

"I wish we had a Piper," he said vaguely, referring to his two-year-old cousin who visited us a couple of months ago.

"Really? Why?" we asked.

"Because she is really cute," he replied.

And what better reason does he need?

More problems on the Island of Sodor

Yep, another recall: http://www.recalls.rc2.com/recalls_Wood_0907.html . Heck, we haven't gotten our trains back from the first recall (although we did get a gift to thank us for our patience.)

I think it is time to introduce my kids to the fun you can have with sticks and stones.

Iconic

Adam was listening to NPR this morning, and they were having some piece on some great Jazz artist (I don't know who -- I wasn't there.) Adam was not following the piece, either, but suddenly Gwen piped up, "What is a 'jazz icon'?"

Adam said, "Well, an icon is something that everyone has heard about. For example, a monarch butterfly could be considered a butterfly icon -- if you have heard of butterflies, you have probably heard of the monarch."

"But who would be a jazz icon?" Gwen asked.

"Duke Ellington would be a jazz icon. Everyone has heard of him," Adam replied.

"Well, I haven't," Gwen muttered, returning to her cereal.

Ah, alas, evidently we are not teaching our children culture.


On the other hand, it seems that we are not teaching them appropriate phone etiquette either. Xavier was home from school, sick with a cold, and Adam was -- ahem -- "busy" when the phone rang. Assuming that no one but I would call at this time of morning, he called to Xavier to answer the phone.

He could hear Xavier rattling on in the next room, and after about three minutes, Xavier brought the phone into the "powder room" and said, "It's for you, daddy. It's Miss Joan." (The woman who lives next door.)


Hey, "Instructor Hoy who is a Boy" (as Xavier now calls you), Adam had a story he wanted me to share with you that he heard on the radio. Some robber had the bright idea of attempting to rob a karate school while class was in session. In his defense, he was armed with a gun.

The police apprehended him at the hospital.

The Very Nice Caterpillar

You get a sneak peek at the book Gwen is writing at school -- her very first book! This is an early draft, and there are no pictures yet, but here it is. For your reading pleasure, I have preserved as much as I could of her original language.

The very nice caterpillar by Gwen/Miranda

one day a egg hatched. a baby caterpillar came out it. It looks like a pink and red caterpillar.

one day a baby bug was eaten by a ladybug. Then the caterpillar looked at the ladybug.

Hi said the caterpillar.

Hi said the ladybug.

and the caterpiller ate on.

One day the caterpiller saw a cat.

Hi said the cat.

Hi said the caterpiller.

One day the caterpiller made chrysalis.

the ladybug looked at the caterpiller. the cat looked at the caterpiller.

One day the caterpiller came out! only it is a butterfly!

bye said the cat.

bye said the ladybug.

bye said the butterfly.

fly away! said the cat.

fly away! said the ladybug.

One day the ladybug and the cat saw the butterfly.

Hi said the cat.

Hi said the ladybug.

Hi said the butterfly!

The end


What do you think? I think a star is born!

Notice the juxtaposition of the banal greetings of the ladybug, caterpillar/butterfly and cat against the horrific backdrop of the ladybug's carnivorous impulses! Observe the caterpillar's wordless acceptance of the baby bug's brutal murder -- clearly a reference to the hazards of peer pressure! Only when the caterpillar changes (metamorphasizes into a butterfly) can he "fly away" from his modest and somewhat brutal beginnings. This is an ingenious, subtle commentary on life as we know it today!

Or at least an excellent first attempt.

Oops! They did it again ...

Another Mattel Recall: http://service.mattel.com/us/recall.asp

They're not that innocent.

Nuptials

We just got back from a whirlwind trip to Washington, DC where we saw a few exhibits at the National Zoo (we did see the Giant Panda Cub), the Natural History Museum (unfortunately, the Insect Gallery was closed, although we did see some of the Korean exhibit until Xavier lost interest and wandered off to see the Early Human exhibit), and, not coincidentally, my cousin John's wedding to a lovely woman named Tricia.

The kids had a great time riding on the Metro, jumping on beds at the motel, and also going to the zoo and museum (although when asked what their favorite activity was on the trip, Gwen said, "The gift shop!") Still, there was a lot of apprehension about the wedding itself. Xavier took the wise course and fell asleep in the car on the way over, but Adam made the mistake of saying that weddings were not designed to be fun for kids, so Gwen was in a funk before we got there.

I held Xavier on my lap, and even though he woke up, he was pretty quiet through the ceremony. Adam picked up Gwen, and she leaned her head against his chest. "I can hear your heart beating, Daddy," she whispered.

"Is it saying, 'I love Gwen, I love Gwen?'" a reference to a joke we have with the kids.

"No," Gwen replied, "It's saying, 'When are we leaving? When are we leaving?'"


Still, it was really nice seeing my cousins and my cousins' kids. I got to meet my cousin Jimmy's girls, which was nice; Jimmy's oldest, Caroline, and Gwen were born at about the same time, so his wife Lisa and I had exchanged a few baby gifts six years ago. My mom had been a little worried that if the kids all got together, Xavier would feel left out -- Jimmy's second girl Jameson is about Xavier's and my niece Chloe's age, and his third daughter a little younger than that. I guess she figured that Xav would feel like an outcast amongst all that "Girl Power".

As it turns out, she needn't have worried. Chloe slept through the wedding, so I don't think she got a chance to meet Jimmy's girls until later. Gwen and Caroline sized each other up, but didn't say much.

Suddenly Xavier leaped out from behind my skirts and began "working the crowd" as it were -- which seems to be his tried-and-true technique of acting like a lunatic. Jimmy's girls were delighted with him.

So much so, that when I stopped to talk to Jimmy's wife Lisa at the reception, her daughter Jameson jumped up and said with an expectant smile, "Where's the boy?"