Saturday, January 17, 2009

Likes and dislikes

The other day the kids were home from school due to the cold weather. As Adam fed them leftover lasagna for lunch, Xavier -- who had announced that he LOVED lasagna the night before and that he was just like Garfield, he loved lasagna so much -- announced that he was tired of lasagna. This is typical Xavier behavior, and we take it as it comes.

Shortly thereafter, Adam told the kids to finish up with lunch so they could go to the store. Xavier threw his head back, and groaned, "But, Da-ad! I wanted to play legos with Gwen after lunch!"

Gwen -- the long-suffering sister -- rolled her eyes and said, "Well, I don't think the break will kill us."

Xavier glared at his sister and said, "You used to love playing legos!"

"Yeah, well, I'm getting a little tired, that's all," she muttered, taking a drink of milk.

Mystified, Xavier said, "That doesn't make sense -- how can you love legos one day and not another?"

Adam said, "You can have too much of a good thing, and even if you like something a lot, you can get tired of it ... like lasagna."

Gwen added, "And then there are things you can never get tired of, like coconut ice cream!"

"Well, some people might get tired of coconut ice cream," Adam commented. "Some people don't like coconut, for example."

Gwen looked skeptical. "Well, no one could ever get tired of ice cream, then."

Adam said, "Well, sure, some people might."

"No," Gwen insisted.

Catching on, Xavier said, "Sure they can. They might be lactose intolerant!"

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Bat ... who?


I bought Xavier a C3 Batglider (a cheap Lego knockoff, except I foolishly bought it on eBay) as an incentive to get him to learn his alphabet flash cards. It seems to have worked, because he learned them.


This kit comes with lego-like action figures of Batman and Catwoman. Batman even has an alternative "armored" body. Xavier arranged and rearranged the body parts to build the ultimate Batman hero. I've attached a picture of Batman with some of his friends.
Now, the first time I saw this Batman "configuration," I noticed something ... unusual. In case you have not clued in, Batman has a couple of U-shaped details on his chest.
"Um, Xav," I said. "Does Batman seem a bit ... buxom to you?"
"Mo-om!" he snapped. "Those aren't breasts! Those are his pecs!"
I was willing to let it go at that, but someone (probably Adam) remarked that those "pecs" are, um, remarkably large, given Batman's build. "They aren't breasts!" Xavier insisted. "They're pockets -- for his pencils and stuff."
For the rest of the day, whenever I looked at him playing with the legos, he would reiterate the point: "Don't even think it, Mom! They're POCKETS!"
I guess that everyone knows Batman is kind of a geek -- building the Batmobile, his weapons and all. I guess it makes sense that he wouldn't let a little thing like "streamlining" keep him from being prepared.


Saturday, January 03, 2009

Bathtime

Typically, our evening schedule is:

4:00 - 5:00 Play outside
5:00 - 5:10 Play outside for ten more minutes (because the kids aren't ready to go in)
5:10 - 5:15 Play outside for five more minutes (because the kids aren't ready to go in)
5:15 - 5:16 Play outside for one more minute (you know why)
5:16 - 5:20 Listen to the kids bellyache about having to go in while we go inside.
5:20 - 5:30 Give Xavier a bath.
5:30 - 5:40 Let Xavier play in the tub while Gwen has a shower in the other bathroom.
5:40 - 5:50 Get Xavier out of the tub.

Well, this being holiday break and all, our schedule was thrown off a little, and last night I ended up having to give Xavier his bath before dinner and Gwen her shower after dinner.

As it turns out, this didn't work out so well. Xavier's bath went without a hitch, but this was the schedule of Gwen's shower:

6:40 Gwen gets in the shower. Mom stands by in case help is needed.
6:41 Xavier trots into the bathroom, singing show tunes as he is wont to do
6:42 Xavier trots out
6:43 Xavier trots back in with a stack full of dishes (a long ago gift from Nana) and stacks them beside the sink.
6:44 Announcing that he is "washing dishes," Xavier starts running water in the sink. Gwen screams that the water has gotten hot.
6:45 Mom helps Xavier put the dishes away
6:46 Mom returns to the bathroom to help Gwen wash her hair
6:47 Xavier trots back in with a robotic arm toy that Nana got him for Christmas this year. He proceeds to try to pick up toothbrushes with it. He fails.
6:48 Boring of this sport, Xavier tries to grab the hem of Mom's shirt with the robot arm. He misses, grabbing her behind instead.
6:49 Xavier abandons the robot arm as he flees in terror from the wrath of Mom.

I guess, in the grand scheme of things, the difference was nil, since it still took about ten minutes to get Gwen through her shower. Still, I have to admit, I have learned my lesson that it is best to distract him while I go through that process.

Either that, or I need to be especially wary of gifts from Nana.

Friday, January 02, 2009

Happy New Year and Watch Out for the Goose Mob!

Hi all! I hope you had a wonderful New Year and that I didn't miss anyone with my letters (except you, Tania and Mike -- I have to find your address, I know it is around here somewhere ...) If your name is not Tania or Mike, blame the postal service.

Anyway ... Adam had to work today. There was a light snow falling, and I decided to take the kids to a local park where we like to hike. There is a big pond there (although last time we went there, it had dried up to a big swamp) and all kinds of opportunity to view wildlife.

Well, when we got there, it was clear that we weren't going to see a lot of wildlife because the kids were singing songs off of my new Beethoven's Wig CD at the tops of their lungs. Oh well, I guess that meant that the bears heard us coming. As we approached the pond (reverted to its usual depths), we did see, halfway across the frozen water, the one form of wildlife that does not flee from noisy children: Canada Geese.

Needless to say, the geese decided that we might have brought them a snack, and they began waddling our way (why they didn't fly, I'm not sure, but maybe they thought they looked more menacing this way.) I positioned the kids so I could take a picture of them with the geese coming up behind, but Xavier kept clowning around. Finally, exasperated, I said, "Xav! We need to pose for this picture and move on, or the geese are going to think that we are here to give them a handout!"

Xavier thought this was funny, so after the picture was taken (not entirely the success I was hoping for), he turned around and yelled, "Come on, geese! We have a handout for you! We have a handout for you!"

"Xavier, come on!" I called. "If they get there and they find out you are teasing them, they might break your arm!" This comes from a story my dad (Grandpa) told me about how, when he was a kid, he was knocked down by a goose and broke his arm.

"No ... they couldn't do that!" Xavier laughed.

"They could -- it happened to Grandpa once." Gwen and I were already heading down the path, and Xavier now reluctantly followed.

"Really?" he asked, so I had to tell him the story as well as I remembered it (not very.)

Meanwhile, we approached a branch in the path, one way leading back to the parking lot, the other onwards around the pond. To my surprise, Gwen headed down the branch toward the parking lot.

"Gwen! Where are you going?" I asked. "Are you going back to the car?"

Without looking back, she replied semi-hysterically, "Yes!"

"But why? We just got here!"

"I know!" she called. "But I'm afraid those geese will catch us and break our arms!"

Watch out for the Goose Mafia -- and never go to the park without bringing a "Protection Fee."