Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas 2010

It was a grand day indeed. Jamie woke up on Christmas Eve saying he wanted to go to bed right away so Santa would come sooner (I'm not sure what would have happened if we'd tried to put that into practice.). But we counted the hours down by watching NORAD's Santa tracker throughout the day and this year they both went to bed right on time so as not to risk being naughty. There was some concern because there are some little girls on our street and there was a fear that Santa might mix them up and bring the boys princess dolls or some such horror.

But happily Santa nailed it as usual and the boys were very pleased with their loot. They managed not to get up too early, with Jamie waking around 6:30 and Connor soon after. The bunny was a little cranky at first and I think may have forgotten it was Christmas but as soon as his eyes scanned the room full of presents he perked right up and it was on. Most of their presents had been unwrapped before it was light out. For Jamie the big item was a Nerf gun (shoots soft darts with surprising velocity). He has actually handled this responsibility well, meaning that he hasn't been shooting Connor with it. Connor got a smaller version and a number of other things. Curiously, he greatest excitement was opening his stocking when he found a Matchbox old-time pickup truck. Frankly it was a bit of throw-in, but the minute he saw it proclaimed "Ohhh!! It's just what I always wanted!!!"

The rest of the day was pretty good, there was only limited crashing and most of the toys managed to make it through the day without breaking so all in all a success!

The Reader

I don't why we don't pick up on this pattern until after the fact, but Jamie has once again disproved the notion that you have to walk before you can run. Just as he waited to walk until he was an absolute expert and could zip off in a hurry, Jamie seems to have waited to start reading until he could read almost anything. The penny has dropped suddenly and he is a reading machine, tearing through one chapter book after another.

This has coincided with and partially contributed to a shift in sleep patterns. It used to be that Jamie would drop off to sleep the second he got in bed and Connor would be awake for hours. Now, having done with naps, Connor tends to sack out very quickly, while Jamie will now lie in bed and read for hours if we let him.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Snippets from the road

I obviously have a lot of material to catch up on, going back to Halloween and Jamie's birthday, so I'll try to get some of that up soon. For the moment, I'll just offer a few details from our Thanksgiving travels.

First of all, I will say that the boys are really seasoned, skilled travelers. As should any traveler, they learn from past experiences and plan accordingly to avoid discomfort. Thus, at the very beginning of the trip, Jamie counseled all of us, but Connor in particular, NOT to sit at the back of the shuttle bus from the parking lot. As he learned this can lead to carsickness and vomiting while waiting in the check-in line (good times!). So, wisely they sat in front and all was well. Also pleasing is that some line has been crossed and the boys have actually become a help, at least some of the time, in carrying the masses of stuff we need to bring. Jamie likes pulling a suitcase on wheels very much and so Connor has to as well, which is a bit of an adventure, but the fact is, it made things genuinely easier. Granted they tend to weave a rather twisted line through the airport, so we don't move too fast but it certainly beats Sarah and I lugging three bags each. Once we got on the plane, the boys both settled in immediately with their entertainment devices and snacks and were as happy as clams. Connor as usual asked about the plane "blasting off" and I had to hush them a bit because as we were just about to "blast off" they began saying gleefully, "We're gonna blow!!!!" Makes people nervous.

Connor also produced a couple of funny neo-logisms along the way. First of all, he kept asking if we were in Baltimore yet, except he struggled with the name so started calling it "Voldemort," from Harry Potter. So of course soon we were all talking about going to Voldemort. Second, he christened the headsets for watching movies "earrings." Picture this said about 50 times: "Daddy! My earrings fell out again!" Grrr. Once we got to Voldemort (Frederick really) he saw some horses pulling a carriage down the street. Remembering that we had seen something similar in Houston as well, he remarked intelligently, "Those must be very energetic horses to have come all the way from Houston!"

But really travel was simple and we had a great time at Nonni and Diddy's. They had a great time raking leaves then jumping in the pile and also discovered a "secret garden" in Nonni's backyard. "Do you think she knows about it?" Jamie asked me in a hushed tone. Given that she built it with her own hands, I assured him, yes.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Time and space

As with many four-year-olds, Connor's sense of these things in very much still in development. About a month ago, Pops was coming through Houston on business and stopped by. Now, we had already told them some time ago that Nana and Pops were coming for Christmas. At this point, about September, Connor had said, eagerly, "Is Christmas TOMORROW???" This is about the conception of things he has, today and tomorrow. Anyway, when Pops walked through the door a couple of weeks later, Connor turned to us, his face bright with glee, and said "Is it Christmas???!!!"

Similarly, for all of his ongoing fascination with the continents his sense of place is a little vague too. There is constant confusion between the categories of North America, the United States, Texas, Houston and our neighborhood. Because he knows that we are in North America, for instance, he assumes that other things similarly favored by geography must be quite close. Thus, he other day he and Sarah were at a doctor's appointment. The office was up on the fifth floor so they had quite a good view of the tall buildings in the Medical Center, about a mile away. Connor became quite excited and proclaimed loudly, "Look!!! New York City!!!" If only it were true...

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Sick again!

Well, as I write this I am home again with a sick Connor. Poor little guy has had a rough Fall so far. He got sick Saturday night, was out of school Monday, seemed better Tuesday but is back under the weather again today. Hopefully, he's getting it out of his system before the holidays.

We've had a nice day together, if somewhat disjointed. First, we spent some time sitting on the couch this morning watching a movie. He was on a Motrin high for a while and seemed almost like normal. He spent a good 20-30 minutes playing with Jamie's Star Wars legos. Suffice it to say Jamie keeps a very close eye on Connor while he's around so unimpeded access to the Legos is rare and Connor was clearly enjoying it. I played with him for a while and then went to do some other stuff. When I came back I remembered why Jamie is so watchful. Connor does rather like to destroy the Legos. This creates two related emotions for me: one is fear, because I know if I don't get them fixed we will all feel Jamie's wrath. Two is the dread of fixing them. Just getting them built is one thing but having to re-do the process is almost worse. So I quickly dealt with the carnage and encouraged Connor to be a little more gentle.

It was a nice morning so I thought we'd head to the zoo. Connor fell asleep within moments of getting in the car so I spent a good bit of time sitting in the parking lot listening to him snore. Then he woke up, looked around and asked imperiously "Why are we sitting here??!!!" He refused to believe that he had been asleep, so I let it drop and in we went. It was soon apparent however that the Motrin was wearing off because he was walking around hunched over and shivering a little. So I gave him some more medicine and he sat on my lap and snuggled up to me. This was lovely and lasted for about 10 minutes at which point the Motrin clearly kicked in because his head popped up suddenly and he said "I feel better. Can you stop snuggling me now?!" So we went to see birds, lions, and tigers. Connor's favorite part is seeing where they all live. Still likes to talk about the continents, our little fellow.

So we came home, had some lunch and played some games. Connor beat me in two out of three games in Sorry! He is really pretty good at it, but of course gets mad when he doesn't win or when something bad happens. Eventually it all came to a head when we were well into a game of Candyland. He got sent back to the beginning and almost the next turn I got the much-coveted ice cream float card, which puts you very near the end. This was too much to bear. He stomped off into the other room and it got quiet. I went to see him and he was lying on the couch with his woobie. It was expressed fairly clearly that my company was not desired so I went into the other room to do a little work. After I didn't hear anything for a few minutes I went to check and he was sound asleep, as he remains now an hour later. It's hard to be a sick bunny!!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Sick boy!

Poor Connor has had a tough week. He got sick last Tuesday, missed a couple of days, went back Friday and then had a good weekend, but got sent home again Monday with a fever. Inevitably, we took him to the doctor to be told what we could have guessed: it's a virus and we have to wait it out. Thanks for that. So we've been home with him all week. He has a couple of good hours when the Motrin is working but otherwise there's not much he can do. The only plus of this, and I feel guilty calling it that, is that he gets pretty snuggly.

Nights have been long too because the fever wakes him up but when the medicine kicks in he seems to get an energy jolt and has trouble getting back to sleep. Last night he was due to get medicine at about 10:45 so I was waiting up to give it to him. He emerged at 10:30, however, crying and hot with fever. Once I calmed him down enough to understand him, he told me he was scared because there were "bad guys in his room." All my assurances to the contrary were not enough to calm him down. Worse, he told me, was that Asajj Ventress (an evil character from The Clone Wars spinoff series from Star Wars) was trying to get his woobie! Evil indeed. I told him that was just a dream and he angrily said, "No! It was real!"

So he said he wanted to go into mommy's bed, which he's done a couple of times this week. This can be very cozy at times but often doesn't lead to a lot of sleep for mommy, so I offered to pull a mattress into their room and sleep there. This immediately calmed him down. It ended up being a long night, but it is awfully nice to know that one's presence alone is enough to chase away the bad guys and woobie-stealers.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Readers and writers

Things continue to go well with school for both boys. While we do have some concerns over the possibility that there is too much "teaching to the test" going on at Jamie's school, there is no question that he is learning a great deal and excelling. It shouldn't surprise us by now, but Jamie's reading has followed his usual pattern: just like he waited to walk until he could almost run, he took a long time to start reading but is now plowing ahead full steam. He's always been great with numbers but it's wonderful to see him working through some pretty advanced reading. It also makes sense in retrospect that he took a while to do it but now works really quickly, because while he can certainly sound some things out, he doesn't usually work that way. Rather he seems to read by word recognition and contextual interpretation. I think he's been storing this stuff up for the past 5 years and now has enough that he feels able to succeed. He does not like embarking on things with uncertain outcomes.

For his part Connor is proceeding by leaps and bounds this year and is now almost obsessively concerned with writing. He learns to write in cursive at school and can render his name wonderfully in cursive, but just lately almost anytime he is able to he grabs a pen and paper and starts writing block letters. Yesterday he was home sick from school and we spent an hour with him just writing each of our first names and last name (including Annabelle). Eventually I think he got tired and started to struggle a little. It's clearly an emotionally charged exercise because at some point he messed up the "b" in Annabelle, he just wailed "I can't do it!!!!!" and started bawling. In typical Connor fashion, too, sometimes he just decides to write an "E" as an "M". Don't be picky.

Species confusion

Connor continues to go blithely through life calling things by the wrong name. In one sense, we look back and laugh at the way he used to look at a zebra and say "Giraffe!" But in another sense it really hasn't changed. We went for a nature walk the other weekend when it finally got nice in Houston and some passed us on a trail and said they had seen an armadillo. The boys were pleased by this prospect, so we walked on a few yards to go see if we could find one. Connor then points to an ant in the trail and says, very loudly, "OH!! Is that an armadillo??!!!"

It's not that he doesn't get it I think, it's just that he wants to be able to call things what he wants them to be. In the same vein he wants distant events to be tomorrow. So it's been Christmas tomorrow for about a month now.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

More Con-neologisms

It's been hard to decide when to actually post this because Connor just keeps busting out brilliant neologisms. But here's the latest batch:

Sarah took the boys to get a icy drink the other day. To be fair, these get called a few different things, from smoothie, to slurpee, to icee, so Connor has produced a couple of names for them, which also capture some important qualities: "Flushee," and "Slicee".

The other day Sarah was confused because he kept asking her about sea eagles. Eventually she figured out he meant "seagulls". Quite clever that one.

Last night he informed us that the dinosaurs "probably died when the earth was hit by a metium."

Friday, October 1, 2010

More Connor-speak

Another good neologism today, referring to a fruit: Africots.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

No words

Connor views bedtime sort of like the curtain call to a daylong performance. He likes to make many return appearances. One of his excuses for coming back out is to claim that he has a question to ask, something he's learned from Jamie. As with his older brother, moreover, if he doesn't really have a question he'll just make one up. Thus, for instance, he likes to ask "Do you know that fire can beat lightning?" This then takes on a ritualistic aspect and is repeated on a nightly basis.

In a (futile) effort to forestall this I took for some time to asking him while I was in his room still whether he had anything to ask. I think he sensed this strategy required a new response, so one night he said, "Yes. My question has no words." And then he stared significantly at me for a few seconds and said, "There. That's it." I was taken aback at first but now we do this most nights. I stare back at him and say "That's the answer."

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Connor-sick

The last couple of weeks things have gotten pretty good with the boys' relationship. For a long time we have felt that the more the played together, the more they fought. Lately however, that's changed. Perhaps it's because they argue more or less continuously and so couldn't do it any more, but the fighting does seem to have leveled off, even as they have been playing more and better.

Jamie seems to finally see Connor as a potential partner in fun, and, while he is still pretty hard on the little guy, he is capable of great kindness towards him as well. The other day we were at a cross-walk downtown and Jamie just walked up behind Connor and gave him a real hug. Whenever he does this, or asks Connor to play, Connor's face lights up like the sun.

Last weekend we were all planning to go out to a nature preserve on the Katy Prairie, but Jamie got a last-minute invitation from a boy at school he's becoming quite chummy with. Connor was very unhappy he couldn't go to the party, but he and I went off to the Prairie anyway. It's quite a drive out there, so Jamie and Sarah were home for a good while before Connor and I got back. After a couple hours, Jamie announced that he was "Connor-sick," as in "home-sick."

Tsunami anyone?

Connor has a wonderful approach to language. Like so many children he is a sponge, picking up expressions from Sarah and me, and Jamie of course, and TV and movies. Just today as he and Jamie were play fighting Connor told his brother he was a "miscreant." What's great about him, however, is that he is very un-self-conscious in trying out new vocabulary. He doesn't always pay a great deal of attention to whether he is particularly right. He used to do this with animals a lot. Upon seeing a giraffe, he would happily exclaim, "Look!!! A zebra!" and be totally unconcerned when corrected. Even now, he blithely calls dinner breakfast and lunch dinner. Sometimes one doesn't know whether he's mixing words up or just being eccentric. Ask him what he wants on a hot dog, for instance, " and he'll say "Ummmm. Ketchup...and pickles...and CHICKEN!"

Lately he has had a number of great malapropisms and idiomatic expressions. Here's a sampling:

Waffle = "Muffle". As in, "I want a muffle for breakfast."
Sneakers = "Fast shoes"
Fast = Speed, as in "I can run SO speed!!!!"
Aisle = Style
Hamburger = "Hang-ubber" (Cheeseburger, "cheese-gubber")
Burritos = "Doritos"
Pajama tops = "Topping" as in "I don't want to wear a topping to bed!"

And our personal fave:
Salami = "Tsunami"

What's bad about this is that they are so cute, and we know how soon they will be gone, that we not only don't correct them, but actively encourage them: "Who wants tsunami for lunch?"

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Fair play

Jamie gives Connor a pretty hard time. He wins every game they play, every race they run and is perpetually correcting how Connor plays, sings, talks and quotes movies (an important skill around here). Connor's opportunities for revenge are few and to be honest he's such a good-natured little fellow, and adores Jamie so much, that he rarely takes them.

A few days ago, however, the bath afforded an opportunity for a little gentle payback. Jamie has this squirty fish he plays with in the bath. He likes to set up targets and knock them down. Connor very rarely gets to use the fish. In this case Jamie tried to soften the blow for Connor by telling him he would be the judge in Jamie's game. Actually this was somewhat sensitive because his impulse would initially have been to have a squirt fight with Connor, which the latter would inevitably lose. The game was to squirt a particular tile on the wall from some distance. Jamie would get points for hitting it and the tile would get points if he missed and Connor would judge whether the tile had been hit.

Jamie, making some gesture to give Connor a stake in the game, asked how many ("how much" in Jamie speak) points he would get for hitting the tile. "Ummmm....Forty!!!" answered Connor. Then Jamie asked how many points the tile would get if he missed. I could see Connor's mind working but was surprised when he said, "Ummmm.... Two...hundred...and.... fifty-thousand!!! Jamie didn't quite know what to make of this and so pressed on, only to discover that within moments, even after some fairly accurate squirting, he was down 500,000 points to 120. He proclaimed "Connoo!!! That's not fair!" With a rather enormous grin, Connor answered, "Yes it is! That's why I'm the judge."

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Day one and no drama

Well, Jamie's first day seemed to go well. When I picked him up, he was extremely calm. There was some question about materials to come home and I think he wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to have and whether he had forgotten something. Interestingly, he got just ever-so slightly teary as he tried to sort this out, which was I think just some of the emotion of the day coming out. Turns out it was our fault, we were supposed to send him with a back-pack, so on the plus side he ended up with something to reprove us with.

Anyway, we have seen that the general rule is that the boys still us very little about school and this held true. You can well imagine I was beside myself waiting for details but not much came. But I asked how it was and he said firmly, if succinctly, "good." I asked if he had made friends and he said yes and named the boy who sits next to him. He likes his teacher he says and that's about what I got. Not worst fears realized by any stretch.

Drop off today went smoothly as well, there was no sense of not wanting to go back and, to his credit, he has not mentioned his old school once. I even got to hug him before he went in to the class.

Monday, August 23, 2010

And they're off...

The boys are at school as we speak. Jamie seemed to do just fine. He was a little nervous clearly but not overwhelmingly so. He has informed us that he wants to be James at school and Sarah, hoping against hope asked if she could kiss him when she dropped him off. You can guess the answer.

We stuck around for a parent info session after we dropped him off and found an excuse to walk by the classroom. As it happened, they were lining up in the hallway to use the bathroom. Jamie saw us but played it very cool as we walked past, watching us but otherwise giving nothing else away. As it happened, the door we were going to exit by was closed, so we had to walk back by. He was similarly reserved when we walked by, but we wondered if he was beginning to fear we were going to do that all day. Which of course we'd like to.

For his part Connor was not thrilled, but it was a more of a I-don't-feel-like-doing-this reaction than any anxiety. He did claim he didn't like school because his teacher gets mad at him. The love-fest that the two of them put on every time we see them tells a different story.

Friday, August 20, 2010

First impressions

We went with Jamie to look at his new school and talk to his teacher yesterday. Sarah and I are both anxious about this, more than I think would even be normal in such a case, because he was so settled at a previous school. We decided to walk, in part because we are so pleased we can walk, and on the way he asked again in a very good-natured way about why he wasn't going back to St. Catherine's. We went over it with him and he pretty much accepted what we said.

When we got to school, it was very crowded and chaotic, but aside from slipping his little hand it ours occasionally Jamie betrayed no discomfort. We got to his classroom and he immediately walked all around looking at everything. We met his teacher and he was a little shy but responsive. His biggest thrill was discovering that there was a package of school supplies waiting for him and that he would have a table space all his own that he would keep throughout the year. When we were walking away he said he liked the classroom. My heart leapt. Then when we got home he immediately wanted to look through the supplies, which he did with great attentiveness. So, so far so good.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

More from the swimmer

Connor keeps asking to go to the pool this week. Unfortunately, it is now on late summer hours and so is only open on weekends. But it's clear his swimming success is on the little guy's mind. He announced to Sarah today that when he grows up he wanted to be a lifeguard. She encouraged him and, thinking it would further reinforce it, told him she had been a lifeguard too. He was not pleased, however. His face went pensive and then he announced he wanted to be a doctor...and a swimmer.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The swimmer

It is amazing with kids how some things seem to to happen over night. At the beginning of the summer Connor seemed ages away from swimming on his own. He was a good little soldier in swim lessons, but was still very apprehensive about being in the water and showed no signs of being able to keep afloat on his own, let alone get from one place to another. All summer he's been in a swim vest, which works great, but we did wonder if it was good to have him relying on that. Since we went to Nonni and Diddy's in June he has been very brave about jumping in the water by himself, which we took as a good sign. And then, just in the past three weeks, he has started wearing goggles and putting his face in the water while he paddles along. Then, the other day we went to the Y which doesn't allow swim vests. Well, little bunny just launched himself off the steps put his face in the water paddled around and swam back to the steps! Bunny can swim! He proceeded to swim back and forth between us about 100 times, all with a gigantic grin on his face.

He now seems to advancing every time he gets in the water. He looks like a little fish, twisting this way and that to look around under water and turning around and changing directions in a flash. He can really motor along surprisingly fast. Best of all, though, is the fact that he can now jump into the water by himself, come up, and swim to the side. This really augurs a new era of parental bliss: from the moment Jamie was born Sarah has has ongoing nightmares about drowning. They will not ever go away completely, and we will remain vigilant, but there's no denying the progress.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Update on camp

I was worried all day Monday after Jamie had been so anxious when we got to camp. Of course he got home and all was fine. Any nervousness was a distant memory.

The big topic of conversation was a boy named Andre, who Jamie said was "cool." Curious about what makes a 6-year-old cool to a 6-year old, Sarah asked why this was so. Jamie said it was because he has sports glasses and brings different legos to camp every day. "Everybody likes him," we were informed. Sure enough when Sarah went to pick them up today there was Connor bunny-hopping along behind Andre.

The Sleeper












I'm going to let the photos tell the story on this one. Some of you have probably seen some of these pictures before but I think seeing them together is even better. Connor, like many children, never admits to being tired. As these pictures suggest, he can be very persistent in holding to this claim even to the end. One of the things you'll notice, is that he likes to read in bed. Which is funny, because it's dark in there and he can't really read.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Change is a-comin'

Jamie has seemed quite reconciled to the fact that he is starting a new school this Fall. Perhaps surprisingly, I think that it actually helps that Connor is going to be at their old school still. This means that Jamie can think of it as a little-kids situation, just like when he left pre-school for St. C's.

But I think there is some anxiety. He won't say so exactly, but it may be emerging in other ways. Last week they went to a baseball camp in the mornings. Both seemed to enjoy it well enough, though Connor claimed otherwise, as always. It's not clear exactly how much baseball they actually played, since it was very hot and they also seem to have spent a lot of time on the playground, but whatever; it's all good. Jamie says he didn't do that well hitting because they threw underhand and he is better with overhand.

Anyway, this week Jamie is doing basketball and Connor soccer. Jamie had been initially extremely favorable about basketball, I think because he hears about me playing. But suddenly this weekend he became apprehensive, saying he was a little scared to start a new class at camp. When I took them this morning, it was a little chaotic and Jamie, quite uncharacteristically these days, was clearly anxious. I sat with them until the counselors got everybody together. Jamie was tearing up a little, but he was being so brave, he was really fighting it off and trying to stay cool. I think that this is really a bit of new school anxiety coming out with the camp, but I'm really impressed at how he's handling it, so I think that bodes well.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

D-fence!

One of Jamie's favorite things about or visit to Nana and Pops was playing checkers. Jamie enjoys games greatly and is getting better. The problem is that he has no concept of playing defense. In tic-tac-toe, for instance, he just barrels ahead trying to get three in a row, regardless of what his opponent is doing and this is pretty much how he approaches chess and checkers.

He did, however, reveal an interesting strategy yesterday after camp. It seems they have been playing dodge-ball at camp and he LOVES it. He excitedly told his strategy: "I like to wait at the back until all my teammates are out and then I am the only hope." I think that this is the combination of a)time spent with Luke Skywalker and Star Wars and b) our games of freeze tag in the back yard. When we played with a couple of Jamie's friends and Connor I would make sure to freeze everybody except one so that that person got to save everybody else. It started as way to get Connor some cred with the big boys but Jamie in particular really likes be the last hope.

Swimming with my homies

When I look back on this summer with the boys, I will definitely picture them against the backdrop of a pool. While Sarah was gone and the boys weren't in camp we got into a good rhythm during the day. We would either go to the Zoo or do some errands in the morning, come back for lunch and then watch a little TV in the early afternoon while it was still hot. Then we went to the Y where I would work out while they went to the kid's area.

Then we would ether go out to the pool at the Y or come home and go to our pool for the rest of the afternoon. Each has its virtues so we tended to switch back and forth to avoid excessive repetition. The boys have been playing really nicely at the pool, and actually doing it together sometimes. Connor really loves it when the stand on the edge of the pool inside an inner tube and jump in simultaneously. Sometimes they also jump into the center of the tube when it's in the water. Connor is actually very good at this, except every so often he misses, hits the edge of the tube and bounces off head over heels into the water.

This freaks him out a bit, of course, but he has gotten so brave. He still wears a swim vest but is working hard on swimming with his face under water, which is a big milestone. Just before Sarah got back he started jumping in the water by himself too. He had never done it, but one day we went tot he pool and as soon as I got the vest on him and told him it was OK to get in, he just launched himself. I think he was emboldened during our visit to Nonni and Diddy's. There, too, we went to a pool every afternoon and it had a short (~6 feet) water slide. Jamie, of course, was all over it, going down feet first, head first, on his tummy on his back, you name it. Connor clearly wanted to do it but I didn't know if he could bring himself to actually take the plunge. But after some hemming and hawing and encouragement from Jamie ("Just go Connoooo!") he did and came tumbling out of the slide with really shocking velocity. I caught him and he looked a little freaked and cried and said he didn't want to do it again. But by the time we'd gotten to the side of the pool (about 3 seconds) he was ready to go again and never looked back.

At the Y pool there is a gently sloped shallow area and the boys also loved running into this and then splashing headfirst and swimming to me. We did this for hours and hours. It developed a kind of ritual aspect for Connor. It started when he would stand outside the pool and ask me to count for him to go. I did this with my fingers because it was noisy. So I would count to increasingly high numbers and off he would go. By the time we got to about 25 he got bored waiting so he started saying "count to this" and holding up his fingers in various strange hand shapes. So I would have to replicate that shape exactly or else he would not go and soon become angry with me. I think it must have looked a little like I was holding up gang signs to him. Hey, Connor is street. And he speaks French.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Fly boys

The boys and I had a great visit to Nonni and Diddy's last week. As almost always happens when we travel the boys were complemented for their good behavior on the plane. They really are very good travelers. When we were sitting waiting to taxi away from the gate Connor started saying "Daddaaaa? Are we blasting off yet??!!!" Jamie of course, having snagged the window seat, said with his wise, impatient older brother voice: "No Connooo. We're still on the ground."

Then when we did blast off it was rather a bumpy ride for the first few minutes. I wasn't sure how they would react but they loved it, especially Connor. The bigger the bump the more heartily he would laugh. He started calling it the "Humpty-Dumpties." The whole ride back, which was rather smoother, he kept asking for more and bigger humpty-dumpties.

Anyway, on the way up, as we were bucking around during "blast-off," Jamie, with a great big grin, suddenly says, not at all quietly, "It's OK everyone, don't panic!!!" This actually broke the tension on the plane a bit and there was general mirth, which encouraged them both to keep saying it to even greater hilarity.

Their positive attitude to travel is helped of course by the fact that the answer to almost any question concerning snacks or treats is a big yes. Jamie got a packet of Skittles, which featured a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory style promotion by which if you find a golden skittle you win $10,000. Jamie was immediately obsessed and convinced he would find one (I'm afraid this optimism comes from his mother). He was so sweet about it though. There is a Star Wars lego set of the Battle of Endor that he wants for his birthday. He knows it costs $100 so he said he would just take that and then give Sarah and I the rest. Then he thought about and said, "I could probably buy 10 Battle of Endors! Then I'd give you the rest!"

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

It begins...

Jamie has gotten to be such a big boy. On the one hand it makes things very easy. He absolutely loves going to cap and had none of the apprehension in going back after two weeks that I expected. He even helped reassure Connor about it a little. But this comes at a price. He has started demanding that I only hug him outside the camp building. "And no kisses!!" he says. Ouch. As soon as we walk in the building he shoots off without a look back at me. Makes me appreciate Connor's clinginess a little.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

3-year-old being a 3-year-old

The boys had a great weekend with Auntie Meg. They were extremely excited for her visit and were counting down the hours until she came on Friday. Except that Connor hasn't quite mastered the idea of which numbers are smaller than others so he kind of counted up to it. Whatever.

Today we went out to lunch with some friends at a very popular Houston breakfast place. Now, the boys had already eaten so as we stood in the long line to order I wasn't surprised that they claimed they weren't hungry and didn't want anything. Neither, however, was I surprised when Connor announced, literally as I took my first bit of food, "I'm hungry." I was prepared for this and had some toast to which I applied strawberry jam and all seemed well. Then he remonstrated me strongly for not giving him ketchup. Silly me. I didn't quite know what would happen when I did, but I should have guessed he would just happily pick up a glop of it with a corner of the toast as it went towards his mouth. Yum!

Jamie, meanwhile, had found a table knife and had begun slashing the salt and pepper shakers into submission. I came down on that pretty quickly so he turned his blade to his brother. He did at least give Connor a knife to protect himself. I came down on that to so then Jamie took Connor's ketchup-and-jam splattered crusts and began hacking them to crumbs. Good, good times.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Nature up close

The boys and I have been to the Zoo a couple of times this week and it has been a real success. We used to go a lot but they seemed to have gotten a little bored of it, so it was nice that they were really into it again. We've been spending a lot of time at the reptile house, as the boys are into snakes these days. They also like the little frog displays because they can play find the frogs (Jamie finds more inevitably and Connor gets impatient). Today was rather intense since and we got there as they were feeding the black-headed python. We got to see it eat two mice whole, which is quite a thing. I wondered how the boys would react to this but they were very interested and not the lease bit disturbed. Jamie did feel a little sad for the mouse. But he offered a very pertinent fact to the group gathered around ("Some larger pythons can eat a whole deer!") and asked the zoo keeper relevant questions about the mice (turns out they get them frozen).

Then we went outside to have some snacks. Connor wanted to sit and watch the ducks so we found a shady spot and they turned their chairs around to face the lake and happily munched away on pretzels and goldfish. As we were walking towards the elephants Connor spotted a centipede on the ground. Jamie was immediately concerned that the little fellow would get stepped on so he plucked it right up and put it in his palm. A bond quickly formed. He giggled delightedly as the centipede crawled over his hand and up his arm, that unaffected bubbling laugh that is one of the best sounds in the world. He held onto to the little guy for the rest of our time there. When eventually we had to leave (it was 11:15 and we were going to expire from the heat), we agreed it was best to put the centipede on a nice bush. Jamie duly did so, and then turned around and hugged me, crying a little. He really liked that little guy.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Connorisms

The boys talk pretty much non-stop. It's another thing about Sarah being gone. They sense there is only one pair of eardrums for their voices to reach so they are in considerable competition to make themselves heard. As with many other competitions, Jamie usually wins in the end. The two manage to make virtually everything, like walking from one room to another, into a race. Connor generally tries to do this retroactively, so that having gotten somewhere, or eaten something, or done anything really, he happily proclaims, "I won!!" This angers Jamie who insistently proclaims that it wasn't a race, but remembers it exactly, so the next time he makes sure to announce that it is a race, which, given an equal start, he invariably wins. Connor then collapses into tears.

Anyway, in the midst of all this Connor does manage to get a word in occasionally and he's got some very cute little sayings. One of my favorites is that in playing "I spy" he likes to say "I spy on my little eye..." He also likes to stand on the scale. The boys have been enjoying this as they like seeing when they have gained weight. When Connor wants to go weigh himself he says, "Let's go measure my feet!"

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Missing mommy

Well, the boys and are getting along OK without Sarah, but we all miss her. Jamie has been in something of a mommy phase lately so this came at a tough time for the little guy. But, as he gets older, he is a little more able to cope with the emotions directly. We talk a lot about what time it is in Cyprus (Houston +8 hours) and what Mommy might be doing. Every time we see a plane Jamie proclaims "That's Mommy's plane bringing her back to Houston!" as if by saying it he could make true. And he talks a lot about giving her hugs and kisses and telling her he loves her when she comes back. He's also excited, because as always he knows he will be due a present when a parent returns from abroad. But in the past this has at times seemed to eclipse the joy of seeing the parent. He himself now says that he's excited both for Sarah to come back and for the present.

Connor is a little less able to vocalize and is a bit pouty. He asks me when mommy's coming back and when I say 3 1/2 weeks he gets sulky and says, "That's too long!, giving me an angry look. It's the same look I get when it's raining and he doesn't like it, or when he doesn't like the position of the sun. Daddy can really be good for nothing sometimes.

Monday, June 7, 2010

More from Mr. Bossy

Sometimes the things we say to the boys come back to haunt us. During the period when Connor was sick, he had some tummy issues that precipitated a bit of a regression in terms of the potty. This got a little frustrating for us because there were times when it seemed he was making no effort to get to the potty. When we would gently remonstrate him about this or betray some frustration, he would often answer that he had tried. Given that he evidently hadn’t, we sometimes told him to “try harder.”

So yesterday we’re walking home from the pool and Sarah asked him, as is often our wont, “Do you know how much I love you?” He gave the standard answer “So much,” a little wearily. Then he asked, “Why do you always ask that?” “Well,” Sarah said “because we love you so much.” Here Jamie chimes in with an eye-rolling, “We already know that.” Sensing she was being reproved, Sarah said “OK I’ll try not to ask that so often.” What was Connor's reply? “Try harder.”

Friday, June 4, 2010

Mr. Bossy

Poor Connor has been suffering over the past couple of weeks from a variety of illnesses. He is only just now recovering from a series of ailments whose cause was much less certain than the symptoms. On the early side of this, I'm afraid some rather impressive vomiting was involved. I'll spare you all the ugly details, but suffice to say Connor has not quite learned to keep himself out of the way of his barf. Not pretty.

The second half of the illness featured a fever that spiked at a shade over 106! This happened while they were at the doctors office as a matter of fact and the nurses were rather impressed, though not as alarmed as one might have expected. What's curious about Connor when he's sick is that our normally laid back second child turns into something of a Napoleon. When they got the 106 reading the nurses brought in some cold towels to cool him down. One might well imagine that this would feel good, but Connor did not like it one bit. Screamed his head off in fact. When he had endured this for a while, Sarah asked nicely him he would like them to take the towels off. "No," he replied angrily, "I want you to throw them in the trash. Gotcha.

He had been promised a lollipop to make for the indignities of being poked and prodded. The doctor, in a misguided attempt to be nice came in at some point, however, with the offer of a popsicle. He first politely declined, but when she insisted it might feel good to have something cold he said firmly, "No!!! I want a lollipop! And I'm taking one home for my brother Jamie!!" She took the popsicle away. Finally, as things were wrapping up, the doctor, who was extremely gentle and kind with Connor, was doing a few last things. Connor beheld her with a steely gaze and then turned to Sarah and said, as if the doctor weren't there, "When she gets out of here can we go home." He did not find this as amusing as Sarah and the doc.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Tooth #2

Jamie lost his second tooth a couple of days ago. It's his other front bottom tooth, and like the first one the permanent tooth, about twice as large, had already come up behind it. The baby tooth had been wobbly for quite a while, and this filled Jamie with pleasing anticipation of tooth fairy visits and dollar bills to come, but also periodically made him a little nervous. As before, we went back in forth about him wanting us to pull and being afraid, but in the end it just popped out. This time he kept a hold of it though so we put it in a little pouch under his pillow. Anticipation was high. The pouch had a little snap on it and that night before he went to bed, Jamie expressed some anxiety about whether she would be able to get it open, but we agreed the tooth fairy was strong and could handle it.

Monday, May 10, 2010

We're with alacrity!

One of the ways Sarah and I spend a lot of our time is in "encouraging" the boys to do things they don't want to do: getting out of the door, getting into the car, getting into their car seats, going to the bathroom, washing their hands, getting their pajamas on, getting into bed...You get the idea. Pretty much anything we want them to do they drag their feet as much as possible.

You can well imagine that after pleading, begging, cajoling and bribing them to get a move on in a variety of ways we get a little punchy and begin seeking new ways of saying the same things. Now Sarah usually likes to needle me, not without good reason, for the way my sometimes esoteric word usage and over-elaborate sentence structure finds its way into the boys developing speech. In this case, however, it was all her. One day, exasperated while trying to get the boys out the door to school, she said, "Come ON boys! Let's move with alacrity!" She didn't think too much of it until the next day. As she again exhorted the boys to get moving Connor started off cheerfully and looked back and asked, "Am-am-am- I wiff....a-la-cri-teeee?!!!" Sarah almost fell over. Since then he continues to use his new word, when it suits him, to highlight his compliance, always pronouncing it carefully: "Look mommy! I-I-I'm doing a-la-cri-teee!"

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Let's play chest!

Jamie's latest obsession is chess. He's actually doing great with it. For once I am forcing him to play by the actual rules as opposed to the Jamie-always-wins rules Risk and Candyland we usually play, so I wasn't sure how he would react the very rigid rules about piece movement. As soon as we started playing, however, it was clear it would go well because he said, "Dad, is this like war?" Then before I could nuance a reply he said "I think it is, so I like it." He's actually picking up the rules pretty quickly, too. The only piece he really can't figure out is the knight. But he has some of the lingo down after watching the chess scene is Harry Potter, so he likes to refer to his "queen-side castle" whenever possible. This makes up for the fact that he is still working the name of the game out and often calls it "Chest."

It's funny watching him learn strategy. He's been very into Tic-Tac-Toe lately, but he is still totally unable to think in terms of defense. He plays straight ahead to win and doesn't try to block the other player. On the other hand, he's very into rock-paper-scissors and shows a sometimes spooky ability to guess what you are thinking and react accordingly. Of course sometimes he still waits to see what you play and assure himself victory.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Little drummer boy?

So we are moving Jamie to a new school next year. This has been the subject of much hand-wringing over the past couple of years but we are really settled and comfortable. The school is right in the neighborhood and is great. The only issue is that it has a special music curriculum. We like this of course, but Jamie "doesn't care about that stuff." Really he couldn't be less interested in music, even Johnny Cash these days. I thought we might have had a little breakthrough recently, and maybe it will prove to be so. The boys and I were at home playing in the living room and listening to the Master and Commander soundtrack. There are are a number of pieces featuring big booming drums and Jamie perked up immediately and asked "Is this war music? I like those drums." I told it was indeed war music and now he officially likes it.

So later that day I told Sarah about this and we thought, aha! here's our chance to break the news to him about not going back to his current school, and to maybe get him enthused about the new place. So we told him he was going there and could perhaps learn to play the drums like that. He paused and said, "So I'm not going back to my school?!" "No?" we said hopefully. He immediately burst into very genuine tears and sobbed for about 5 minutes.

Of course at this point we both wanted to just say OK, never mind you can go back, but we managed to stifle the impulse and interestingly, he got over it fairly quickly and hasn't said a whole lot else about it since, except for the occasional negative comments about not liking music. We haven't even yet been able to tell him that his best buddy won't be there either so I think it may get easier in time. We've also been trying to play the "you'll get recess now" card, which is making some headway I think.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Drivin' and eatin'

As you all know, anything related to food with Jamie can be a challenge. Occasionally, very occasionally, he can get an eating on him and just go crazy. Other times, if he's somehow distracted in a way that doesn't make him want to leave the table he can very easily polish off a meal before he's even aware that he's done it. I think it must be that he gets enough nutrition at these times to cover himself because the rest of the time he sure doesn't eat much. We've been working out for a while why this is because it's clear that all things being equal he doesn't actually dislike food, and I think a couple of things are in play. The main thing is that he simply doesn't want to sit there, when he could be doing something else more fun. Whatever hunger he has just generally isn't enough to overrule this impulse, at least for very long. He would be perfectly happy eating if we would let him bring the food to where ever he's playing, or even if it could stay at the table and he could come back and take a handful when he wanted. But no, we're mean parents, so we don't let him do that.

The other piece to the puzzle is that Jamie now proclaims his hunger every time we are about to get in the car. This has been on the increase lately and has really been confounding us. In part we can recognize it as just a time-honored delaying tactic, one also mobilized when it is bedtime of course. But I started to figure it out one night when he was refusing to eat a dinner that consisted of entirely foods that we know he likes. I asked him if we put it in a bowl and gave it to him in the car, if he would eat. Without hesitation he said, "Yes! All of it!" "Why?" I asked. I was impressed that he was then able to pretty much vocalize clearly that it was because when he's in the car he's sitting anyway, so he might as well eat, there be nothing better to do. This explains too, that when he waits until the moment we say it's time for bed to declare that he's STARVING, it's more than just delaying bedtime, it's acknowledging that he really is hungry and just doesn't have a more entertaining option.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Of girls and magma

Perhaps one of our biggest regrets in removing Jamie from his current school is that there is a group of adorable little girls who seem totally smitten with him. We were at a birthday party at one of these bouncy-castle places a couple of weeks ago and one of the girls was there and spent the entire 2 hours chasing him and, when she caught him, tackling him. At first, he was happy to see her and they had a good time. Eventually though I think he began developing some personal space issues and started to run away. Whenever he gave her the slip, amidst the din and rancor of 30 bouncing kids you could hear "Jaaaaamiiiieeeee?!!!!" ringing out and the chase would be on.

Of course we always want him to be nicer to the girls too. Recently Sarah took the boys to a playground not too far from school and yet another adorable, slightly older girl from school was there. She is, in fact, the best friend of Jamie's best friend's older sister. We had always had the sense the they treated the boys with disdain, and probably much of the time they do, but in this case her face absolutely lit up when she saw Jamie. They circled each other for a bit, but when Jamie sat down to do some digging she came over with a big smile and said "Hi Jamie!!!!!" Sarah was fascinated, but Jamie only gruffly responded. She asked what he was doing and he said, without looking up, "Digging for magma." No offer of letting her help was made. Sarah wanted to tell him to stop digging and be nice, but at this point, Connor, perhaps sensing an opportunity, happily marched up and introduced himself. "Are you Jamie's brother?" she asked with another big smile and got a much more enthusiastic response from little C.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

A sad state of affairs

Jamie, as many of you know, is very into playing with Star Wars legos. He sets up elaborate battles in which, happily, good seems to triumph inevitably over evil. They are fairly fragile, however, as can be his psyche, so when they break it is a bit traumatic. Some of these are fairly elaborate constructions that are beyond Jamie's ability to put together at this stage. (Honestly, they're almost beyond our ability.) Over time we have built and rebuilt several ships only to see them disintegrate over time. There then ensues a period in which Jamie asks us to rebuild them and we stall. It's a little hard to gear up for this because it's a real undertaking and ultimately a futile one.

Jamie recently had a friend over who is also a big Star Wars legos fan (surprise!). The last time he was over he and Jamie had lamented the breakdown of the Republic Attack Shuttle, and as soon as he arrived he asked where it was. Jamie replied, a little wearily, "It's in my bed room. And I'm sorry to say it's in the same condition as before." They both sighed.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Sick boys!

Once again I must apologize, dear readers, for the delay between posts. Between Easter, allergies and various (minor) sicknesses the expected calm period has yet to be realized. Nonetheless I am in the last week of classes at Rice so I hope to be able to catch up on some of the various happenings.

After a very long healthy period the boys have both been under the weather of late. Poor Connor had a double ear infection a couple of weeks ago and then Jamie got a virus last week. It has been ages since he got sick so I think he was a little taken aback by the experience of feeling poorly and it made us realize how lucky we've been with him. The worst symptom was a very high fever for a couple of nights. I slept next to him on the futon and it was nice to be able to care for him though also made for a long couple of nights. The fever and the semi-sleepy state meant that he produced some rather strange comments as he was clearly hallucinating a little bit. He kept talking about being upside down, which then seemed to disconcert him. Happily, it took one day at home from school with Sarah, some TV and some video games to restore him to health. He refers to this day now as "the best day ever!".

Now Connor seems to have the virus. It's different with him because the main result is that he wakes up and wants to get out of bed and play. Wants us out of bed too. So we had a bit of a time getting him back to sleep at about 4 last night. It gets hard to comfort him too because if he doesn't get what he wants he gets mad at us and turns away when we come near. Finally, we turned a desk light on in their room. Sarah had positioned it on the floor pointed down so it wouldn't be too bright. Apparently that's not a problem because when he finally fell asleep he was lying with his face on the edge of the bed looking directly at the light, about a foot away. Whatever works!

Monday, March 29, 2010

When an expanded vocabulary is not a good thing

Like many parents, we fret over the television and its possible effects on the boys. As a result I was pleased a couple of days ago when Jamie asked me what "nullify" meant. I asked him where he'd heard it and he said on the Bakugan TV show. So I asked him how it had been used and we kind of reasoned out the meaning together. Well, there, I thought, he's picked up a good vocab word from the show, can't be all bad. A few minutes later, however, he asked, "Dad, can Connor ever be nullified?" Good feelings gone.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Goal of the year!

We continue to have Jamie in the low-impact, easy-going soccer group at school and he is more and more enthusiastic all the time. While no official score is kept Jamie is one of a number of kids who keeps a very careful tally of the goals. Interestingly, he seems equally happy when any member of his team scores a goal as when he does it himself. Sarah and I, and Connor for that matter, like to see Jamie do it though and the other week he had an amazing one. He has moved up an age group lately so in any given week, depending on the make-up of the sides, he may be playing with some older, bigger, faster kids. He doesn't complain though and really goes in and mixes it up. He has learned also to move out ahead of the pack and wait for the ball to come out. He was doing precisely this the other day and sure enough the ball popped out of the scrum and came directly to him. There was no one in front of him as he took off with the ball, but he was a good 50-60 feet away and so it wasn't long before a much older kid, at least 6 inches taller than him, had caught up and placed himself between Jamie and the goal. Jamie plowed bravely forward and the kid got tangled in his own feet and fell by the wayside. At this point the rest of his team, and the parents, were all yelling "Go! Go! Go!" (I may have been yelling a little too). But now yet another bigger kid had caught up and placed himself in Jamie's path. Jamie didn't pause however and kicked it directly through the kid's legs. The ball dribbled and dribbled and dribbled and edged over the goal line, just before another kid tried to sweep it away. There was much rejoicing.

It was was truly epic. The whole thing seemed to have transpired in slow motion. I really had to work hard to contain my enthusiasm. For his part Jamie was pleased but not overly exultant. I guess he's heard the phrase "Act like you've been there before." He was, however, very gratified when I decided the goal had earned him a trip to the donut store on the way home.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Talking to Connor

Though reticent at times Connor can be quite an engaging conversationalist. One has to be prepared however for some surprising turns, some creative logic and sometimes downright lying. Here's an example, taken from a recent conversation with Sarah:

Mommy: OK, kids, let's go, we're going to a fun place with animals.
Connor: (claps hands) Oh, thank you!! Is it the zoo?
Mommy: No, it's a feed store--they have seeds, plants, and bunnies, kittens, and puppies.
Connor: Oh, yay! I love kittens. Are there tigers?
Mommy: No.
Connor: Lions?
Mommy: No.
Connor: Oh. Daddy said there would be.
Connor: Are the kitties black and white?
Mommy: Yes.
Connor: Well if we're going, let's go!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Lollipop, lollipop!

We are a little obsessed with lollipops in the Costello house these days. This is in large part because of swimming. They are each rewarded at the end of their lesson with a Dum-dum lollipop and also bring some along as it can help to smooth any tiredness and crankiness after the lesson or in the car ride home. Things have escalated a bit, however, because Connor, as he often does, has charmed his teacher so he's now authorized to take 3 lollipops after the lesson. Jamie, of course, will not be shortchanged so inevitably he gets an extra one too.

Last week, however, Sarah noticed something odd. We keep the swim bag, which has a bunch of lollipops at all times, in the hall closet, near the boys room. When she opened the bag one day there were some empty wrappers and she hadn't remembered leaving any in there. She didn't think too much of it though and certainly wasn't thinking about it at all that night when, since I was at basketball, she was fighting the get-Connor-to-sleep battle on her own. For about an hour Connor had been talking, getting up to ask questions, go to the potty, do about anything but stay in bed. Jamie had long since fallen asleep, of course. Finally at about 9 it got quiet and Sarah went to look in on him. She was not completely surprised to find, however, that Connor was not in bed. She looked around the room and didn't see him. She next checked our room, which is logical because one night not too long ago, she came into find him there relaxed on the bed quietly watching TV. But this time no Connor. Now she started to get nervous and searched all over the house. She was about to really panic when she walked by the closet and saw a pair of blue eyes peeking out from between the coats. There was our little angel happily sucking away on a lollipop. This was almost exactly the point at which I got home, finding Sarah trying hard not to laugh but also having to get over having been really relieved to find him, and not a little bit exasperated. So I told Connor to go to bed which he dutifully did plopping the half-eaten Dum-dum directly into the swim bag, which now contained several more empty wrappers. Two mysteries solved.

It's all just a sign of how different from each other the boys are. Jamie could never be that sneaky. In the first place, he wouldn't be interested in getting out of bed if it didn't involve us. Secondly, he could just never sustain it for that long. He's such a good citizen, he'd come clean after a minute. Connor, on the other hand, would have kept this going precisely as long as he'd wanted to, then come out only to ask us to put his blanket over him.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Crushes? Really?

As I was getting him dressed after swimming yesterday, Jamie informed me that a little girl in his class has a crush on him. "Oh!" I said, surprised to hear this word, and asked how he knew. Seems another girl, best friend of this one, informed him. He then asked with a mixture of bravado and uncertainty, "Do you even know what that means?" I said yes, it meant that she really liked him a lot. "Yeah," he replied coolly, "And she wants to marry me." Well, well. She seems to come from a good family, though no dowry has been discussed, and her name isn't "Brytneee" or something (the Brittany variations are many here in Tejas), so we're in favor of it.

Things seem to be going a little less swimmingly for his best buddy. He informed us that W. is "looking for a girlfriend." It's not clear what qualities are particularly desired here, but Jamie also told me that the best friend of the girl who likes him does NOT want to marry W., so back to the drawing board I guess. In the same conversation Jamie started asking about whether one could marry someone in the same family, so I think he and W are still in competition for the hand of W.'s sister. What a tangled web.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Are we having fun yet?

So we started swim lessons again with the boys last week. Our goal is to get Connor to a basic level of independent swimming as soon as possible so Sarah and I can stop having drowning nightmares about the boys, so we signed him up for a 2-week everyday boot camp kind of thing. Jamie protested vigorously when we suggested signing him up as well, but after the first day of watching all the other swimmers and bragging about all the things he could do, he wanted to take them too. Connor cried terribly the first day. They are very loving at this place but also very direct about getting them used to being the water, putting their faces under water, etc and Connor was clearly terrified.

After the first day we talked to him about how it was OK to be scared but his teacher would make sure he was safe. We suggested to him that if he wanted to cry he should wait until after the lesson and then cry. As I watched him the second day he did some crying but was also clearly trying really hard to hold it in because sometimes he would sit on the side of the pool with an anguished expression and two hands clapped over his mouth. But he toughed it out and then came to me to be dried off afterwards. As he stood there shivering, he said, "N-n-n-now, m-m-m-may I cry please?!!!" I said yes and cry he did.

But incredibly that was the last time. By the next day he was completely fine and he has gotten better everyday since. Yesterday he went all the way under water to pick up rings from the pool floor and jumped off a little platform, going all the way under. Jamie, meanwhile, is totally fearless, diving (literally) headlong into every new thing without hesitation. He is the most advanced in his group and is very proud of the fact that he often goes first to show the other kids how to do new skills.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Ouch!

Sorry, loyal readers, for the paucity of posts lately. I had a couple of other writing things to occupy me the last couple of months but those are cleared away for the moment so I can concentrate on the important stuff.

The boys have inherited, perhaps from G-diddy, a love of the well-placed movie quotation. They've been at it for some time. About a year ago Jamie and I were at a Rice baseball game and we came across a Ferrari in the parking lot (tenured faculty member's no doubt). I showed it to him eagerly, and he immediately responded, quoting the Cars movie word for word, with Italian accent: "A real...Michael Schumacher...Ferrari!! Punch me Guido! Punch me in da face!!"

Connor has picked this up as well and deploys it sometimes to quite comic effect. We were discussing going to a surprise party for Jamie's teacher last weekend and Connor asked how old she was going to be. We told him 50 and he said, quoting his current fave Space Chimps, "Oooh. That's gotta hurt." You can't teach this stuff. Don't worry though, it will be several years before they're in a position to quote from The Godfather saga, and The Hurt Locker is right out.

Monday, February 22, 2010

$1 more, 1 baby tooth less

Yes, Jamie lost his first baby tooth on Saturday. It had been loose for quite some time and the permanent tooth, about twice the size, was already well up behind it. Jamie was a little ambivalent about the whole business. On the one hand, with so many of his friends losing teeth, he has the distinct impression that this is a big kid thing to do, so that's good. Also, he has learned of the tooth fairy and is interested in the acquisition of wealth so that he can buy Star Wars legos or Bakugans without being subjected to the whims and vagaries of his undependable parents. On the other hand, he was a little disquieted by the feeling of looseness in his mouth and genuinely apprehensive about whether it would hurt when it came out. By Friday night it was very loose indeed and he couldn't stop messing with it, but the more he did so the more upset he became. He wanted me to pull it out but recoiled every time I got near.

Unfortunately, we never actually saw the tooth come out and it was lost. We assured him that the tooth fairy knew the deal and didn't need the actual tooth. He was clearly doing some thinking about the nature of the tooth fairy and his beliefs that night, though he did not say so exactly. Just before bed he asked me if I believed in Santa Claus. Yes, I said quickly, aware that I meant this metaphorically, but that even so I was lying a bit.

Anyway, he was very pleased about the $1 so alls well that ends well. Except that this is only the beginning. Parenthood is a process of perpetual inexperience as we seem to be unready for each new phase. We actually had to borrow a dollar bill to avoid a highly awkward situation and even so very nearly forgot to put it under his pillow.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Scary things

Jamie is a very brave little boy. He used to be so timid, but now he just dives headlong into new situations. It's quite inspiring. We are always asking him if TV shows or movies scare him and he just laughs at us. The key for him seems to be a very clear sense of real and imaginary. The only things, in fact, that seem to upset him are historical events. He's been very into the Magic Tree House books lately. These are great for him and he absolutely loves them, but at times they can get a little intense. The Titanic one, for instance, gets pretty graphic about the situation at sea and Jamie needed to take this very slowly. As is his wont, he memorized a number of salient details, as you'll see below.

Generally, Jamie reacts in a reassuring way to these things, talking about how he would run away, or get on a lifeboat or something sensible like that. One night after we read a bit and the boys headed off to bed, Connor started talking about the same thing, saying that if he were on the Titanic, he would stay on the life boat. Jamie, with his great older brother knowledge, then said, ever a little impatiently, "Connoooo. The life-boats are used to get AWAY from the boat. And I hate to tell you this but there were only 20 lifeboats and they needed 40 to get everybody off the boat. It's very sad..." Here the voice cracks a little and the pedantic tone shifts to uncertainty. "It's making me really sad, right now. Now...I'm...crying..." And indeed he was. Poor little fellow, when he knows things are real, he feels them acutely. Connor, meanwhile, had already moved on.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Heartbreaking Connor story of the day

Poor Connor. It is hard sometimes being the younger brother. Jamie is, of course, the most fascinating, funny, inimitable character in the world and endlessly more interesting than Sarah or I. Connor wants to be with Jamie and do what he does all the time. Very often this works out well because Jamie is forever in search of a partner in crime and Connor is all too happy to be co-opted. The problem is that if another partner presents his or herself to Jamie, Connor is frequently jettisoned.

Last weekend a family that lives down the street came over for dinner. They have a 5-year-old boy, who is great friends with Jamie, and a 2-year-old girl who is just heavenly. Every time we see them, which is not infrequntly, we are rewarded for our decision to move. Anyway, Connor couldn't care less about the little girl, of course, and just wants to play with the big boys. At best, he has trouble physically keeping up with them and at worst the game becomes getting away from, or otherwise torturing, Connor. On this night in question Jamie's friend got really into playing with Legos, which Jamie didn't want to do, so that made him sad. Connor meanwhile, just wanted to play with Jamie, who had no interest in him. We were in the other room when we heard Connor start to wail. We went in (not quite rushed in, I'm afraid, because in these post-pacifier days this happens often enough not to be alarming). I found him on the couch absolutely inconsolable. I asked what was wrong and it took a good 30 seconds for him to calm down enough to blurt out: "Jamie doesn't want to be WIFF me!!!!" before dissolving again. Poor little fellow. I offered myself, Sarah, our friends, the Obamas, and double chocolate brownies all as substitutes. None would do.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Beware! Science!

Jamie has been going to a science class after school one day a week. When we first informed him of this (as with many kids, it is sometimes best to package something new as a fait accompli) he was resistant. But when I picked him up after the first day he was bubbling with enthusiasm, and said "I wish I could go everyday!!" Every week now, he proudly brings home the results of experiments with chemistry, magnets, colors, sounds, etc. One never quite knows what he will emerge with from week to week. Case in point: this week Sarah picked him up and he came running out with a bag of white powder and proclaimed "Mommy! We have to make sure to tell Daddy not to sniff this!!!"

Seems it is the hyper-absorbent chemical they put in diapers to soak up liquid, and would do bad things in one's lungs.

Brotherly love

We have been discussing summer camp plans with the boys. There is, by and large, great enthusiasm. Contrary to his increasingly obsolete reputation as a non-joiner, Jamie claims to have loved camp last summer. We assumed this was because of having his brother from another mother, Will, there. But he says he wants to go even if Will isn't there this year. As it happens this group is running a camp from the boys' old pre-school, as well as a place very near our house. We asked them and they were actually tickled by the prospect of being at their old stomping ground, perhaps because they can feel like distinguished alums now.

As we were talking about this, Connor suddenly says, in his sweetest, most heart-breaking little three-year-old voice: "Jamie? Will you take care of me at camp???" Jamie, of course, deferred answering by saying, "Connoooor (accompanied as often by eye rolling). You won't even be in the same group as me." We agreed, however, that Jamie could keep an eye on him in the playground and during camp-wide activities. Jamie wasn't overly excited about it but Connor then came after Jamie, arms extended for a rare fraternal hug. Reluctantly it was returned and good feelings abounded. For a little while.

Friday, January 22, 2010

The donut train

The boys and I have a Sunday tradition of going to get kolaches before Sarah gets up. For the non-Texans out there the kolache is a wonderful breakfast item of soft bread that can be filled with a variety of things including egg, cheese, sausage, potatoes, etc. It is significant in our household because while Jamie would never eat eggs under any ordinary circumstances, the egg and cheese kolache, which is in fact quite a substantial thing, is the one breakfast food he eats absolutely without fail.

On some mornings, we go next door to the donut store and bring those back as well. The boys like this of course and clamour for it constantly. Apparently it stays in their minds during the week as well. Last evening Sarah was sitting in her study listening to Connor playing with his train tracks in the next room. Both boys have the very appealing habit of voicing different characters when they get really into playing. Here's what she heard:

Connor says in an exaggerated, deep voice:

"Thomas, I want you to get the donut train. To bring donuts to people."

"Yes sir!"

(Sound of trains moving on track)

The kid has the makings of a great public servant!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

The joys of Texas winters

We had a three-day weekend this week with MLK day so Jamie's BFF Will came over for the day. Now, time was having Jamie and Will together was an exercise in crowd control in miniature, because unless directed in some very defined way they could spin out of control fairly quickly. But suddenly, big boys of 6 and 5 that they are, they just disappear and play nicely for hours. By great good fortune there was a the day before and it's become quite warm. So Will arrived at about 9 and immediately announced he wanted to go outside and Jamie and Connor followed. We then watched in amazement as they stayed outside for the next 5 1/2 hours almost completely without a break. The real miracle was that not once did we have to tell anybody to include Connor, be nice to Connor, not to hurl any kind of projectiles at Connor. This was a nice change from the last time we hosted a play date when there were actually two friends plus Connor and Jamie. The only way I could keep them from turning on Connor was to put them all on a team against me in freeze-tag. This actually turned out to be a great exercise in team-building but 2 hours of it is exhausting. For me of course. They were fine.

Of all of Jamie's friends Will is by far the sweetest with Connor and as a result Connor thinks Will is his best friend too. It's a little heartbreaking because he never quite understands when Jamie goes over to Will's why he doesn't get to go to. When the doo opens and Jamie runs in, Connor just follows, only to be told that no, he can't stay. Whenever we ask if he wants to invite a friend over he just says "Will." He clearly has some buddies in his own classroom (in fact Sarah spotted a little girl kissing him repeatedly while they were waiting outside to be picked up yesterday) but Will is just cooler I guess.

Connor and Jamie's relationship continues to evolve. They are often at odds over toys and Connor's tendency to want to copy and repeat everything Jamie does and says it's true, but more and more they have a great time together. Jamie can be really sweet and supportive of Connor. When he's in the right mood, if Connor reads something or does something well he'll say so genuinely, "Way to go bunny!!!" He's even starting saying, "Connor you're a genius!!"

Friday, January 8, 2010

20 minutes in the art museum

Guest entry from Sarah:

I had to visit the Menil Collection to set up a writing assignment for my students, so I brought the boys. We didn’t stay long, and they spent most of the time asking when we would leave. But when they did stop complaining and started looking at the art, they had some interesting things to say. Connor walked around saying “sculpture!” Jamie was intrigued by little bronze figurines of animals with antlers, and wanted to know how old they were and where they came from. He was also pretty interested in the religious art, thanks to his Catholic school education. Both boys stared in some awe at a painting of the crucifixion. Then Jamie saw a Dormition of the Virgin and asked if it was Mary, dead. I was pretty impressed that he guessed right, given how few of my students would have. There were a couple of good “St. George and the Dragon” panels which of course pleased the boys. We also looked at some Fayum portraits, and I was explaining to Jamie that they would get wrapped in with the mummies so the realistic portrait faces would show. At which point Connor piped up in his little voice, “I don’t want to die!” I decided that the Menil had been quite scary enough for the day, even without seeing the Surrealism galleries, and we left.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

What did the rest of us achieve over the Christmas break?


Because I'm afraid it will pale compared to Connor. The boys went back to school yesterday after a 2 1/2 week Christmas break. There were lots and lots of good times, and lots of staying up late and the somehow it all seemed much longer than that, especially I think because Connor seems to have left St. Catherine's in December as a baby and returned a big boy. I'm not trying to be a bragging Dad, but what he accomplished in this period of time is really quite stunning. He has a) mastered using the potty, b) gotten rid of his pacifier and c) learned to read.

With the potty to be honest we were despairing. (Sorry if no wants to read about potty training but it's a big moment and this blog is partly to keep a record of the things that happen!) He had been at it in earnest since August and was still having accidents on a daily basis. This made for a long few months, to say the least. The first couple of weeks in December was the first time it seemed to bother him and he would say sadly, "I'm tired of having accidents." In retrospect, this was the turning point because it seems to have outweighed his disinclination to take the trouble of going to the bathroom. Now he has almost no accidents at all. Amazing.

With the pacifier, it was a day we had been fearing. We had lost all but about 3 of them by Thanksgiving and then in quick succession two more broke. We knew the last one would go and sure enough just after Christmas: snap! We were prepared for a major battle about not getting more because he seemed more into it than ever, but he accepted the news calmly and has just moved on. He talks about it occasionally and seems to harbour some hope that one of the lost ones will be returned but otherwise he really hasn't looked back for a moment.

Finally, the reading. He watches Jamie read and has been imitating him, but we thought it was just a matter of going through the motions. Then, last week he and Sarah were driving and he pointed out a Volvo in front of them. It looked nothing like ours and Sarah noticed that Volvos don't have logos on the back so she asked how he knew and he answered flatly, "I read it." Still, the boys have been noticing that our Volvo has the all over it, so she figured it was just recognition. Maybe so, but when they got home they pulled out a puzzle they'd never done and he pointed to the word "cool" and sounded it out perfectly. There are only very simple words he can get right now but he works out the sounds even with longer ones.

We still weren't totally believing it until Sarah saw his teacher after the first day of school yesterday and she marveled about Connor reading words. It was then that we stopped to admire what a big boy he seems to have become, all in the space of a Christmas vacation.

He's still our bunny though.