Not Even for Free

The other day, Sam was sitting at the table doing his homework. From his daily planner he pulled his weekly Communication Folder, which contains all his homework for the past week, tests he’s taken, notes from his teachers and school, promotional flyers, etc.

He opened the folder and pulled out a free ticket to the Piccadilly Circus and said, in his very authoritative voice: “We are NOT going to the circus. I do NOT like these clowns.”

I told him not to worry, we didn’t have any plans to go to the circus.

I came back later and found the ticket on the table beside his completed homework:

I think he really wanted to send a message, otherwise he would have just thrown it away. There will be no making of lifetime memories for this family at the magical place of fun in Fort Mill on March 15th and 16th.

Friend is a Four Letter Word

Back in the day, before kids, Tom and I used to listen to a lot of CAKE on our various road trips. We loved traveling together (still do, of course, but it’s a whole different ambiance in the car now, compared to back then) and we loved us some CAKE (still do, of course).

I have a little music lover in John – every day he listens to all kinds of music on my ipad while studying the world via Google Earth.

Tonight he came in the kitchen and asked if I could sing while he played his “instruments” (a lemonade canister with plastic lid; Sam’s guitar; two spoons) and I replied – in singing voice, “Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.” Which is the name (and repeated refrain) of a CAKE song. He asked me about it (I sing it often), and I told him I would download it for him.

I ended up downloading the whole album. John was very impatient waiting for all 14 songs of the album Fashion Nugget to download.

Finally, it did, and John settled in on the couch to listen. He got to track 3, “Friend is a Four Letter Word.”

It goes like this – a man lamenting that the lady he has feelings for doesn’t feel the same for him:

So about half way through the song, John comes running into the kitchen, where I’m washing dishes…

John: Mommy! Is “friend” a four-letter word?

Me: Well, no, those are the words of the song, John…

John: Well, I’m sure “friend” has more than four letters. I think he counted wrong.

On the Eve of Turning Six

Someone here is quite excited that he’ll be turning six tomorrow! All week I’ve been telling John I can’t believe he’s six, and he responds that he is not six. He will not be six until February One. (He is very specific and once again Tom remarks, “He’s your son.”)

“February One” is his way of making up for his still-lazy r’s. Instead of making the “are” sound, he says “awe” or “owe.” So “first” is “fohst,” which sounds a lot like “fourth” when he says it, and too many people became confused about his birthdate. This frustrated John to no end, so he found a way around it…when asked when his birthday is, for the past six months or so he’s responded “February One.”

And “wah-tah,” as John would say (his mix of voila and ta-da, in case I’ve never mentioned that)…No more confusion!

I’m taking cupcakes for his class after lunch and we’ll have our family party on Sunday afternoon. I can’t wait to show you what he’s getting for his birthday!

Welcome, 2013!

New Year’s Eve finds us snug and warm at home, thankful for all the blessings of 2012 and ready for a busy, wonderful 2013.

Untitled

Obviously there are times, like most of October and November, when there is so much going on that it is hard to stop and write things down. I’m so out of the writing mindset that I can’t even think of a good title for this post.

We’ve had some exciting things going on here and a big day for John tomorrow (he is Terrific Kid for November at his school) so I promise I’ll be back with stories and pictures soon!

Dinner Table Talk

Since I’ve been feeling pretty puny for the last 3 weeks, Tom has been helping with dinner prep many nights…which means he gets to prepare things I usually do not.

Tonight’s meal included Spam – well, let me clarify, three of us had Spam, one did not – I’ll let you guess who passed on this delicacy.

As Tom set the table, John sat down in front of his plate and admired it. Then, he looked at my plate which only had a bit of macaroni on it.

John: Why is there no Spam on Mommy’s plate?

Tom: Mommy doesn’t eat Spam.

John: What? Who doesn’t like Spam?!

Tom: I hear ya, brother.

John: I’m not your brother.

Me: Who are you, John?

John: I’m his son. A daughter would be a girl-son.

 

 

Toothless Johnny

A few weeks ago Mumfy realized that John had a new tooth growing in behind his loose middle bottom tooth (on the left, from his perspective). That John and I didn’t realize this ourselves is a testament to how busy and crazy things have been around here.

Seeing Sam lose several teeth so far, he has been asking me for the last year when he would lose his first tooth. I really didn’t think it would be this soon, so I told him probably sometime between Kindergarten and first grade. So when this happened, he was as surprised as I was.

With his usual flair for the dramatic and a dreamy look in his eyes, he told me, “Oh, Mommy, I’ve waited my whole life for this moment.”

Meanwhile, last weekend, both boys got sick (a week after I’d come down with a nasty cold myself) and I took them to the doctor on Monday morning. Sam was swallowing hard and John had woken up on Monday morning around 1:30 a.m. with a fever and ongoing headaches.

(John and I continue to fight this. We just can’t seem to kick it. Ugh.)

Here we are looking mighty puny, waiting for the doctor…

They took their turns being poked and prodded. I told John to show the doctor his loose tooth, and John obliged by letting him wiggle it. “Oh, John, that’s pretty loose,” said Dr. S., “I can pull that for you if you want.”

John assured him that he’d rather keep his tooth a little longer.

(We have somewhat of a tradition now, at the dinner table…when one has a loose tooth, we go through scenarios of how we can get that tooth out of there…”Let’s climb to the top of Daddy’s office tower, tie a bowling ball to it, and drop the ball over the side!”…and John’s scenarios include, of course, speeding locomotives. Of all the scenarios we’ve joked about, none have involved letting the doctor pull it out.)

“Well, let me look again,” said Dr. S. while grabbing a Kleenex. “Look up for me, John.” And remarkably John did, and allowed Dr. S. to wrap that Kleenex around his tooth and start pulling. He whimpered twice – once with each pop I could hear from across the room, thankyouverymuch – and then a look of relief turned to joy came over his face as Dr. S. proudly showed him his tooth.

The tooth fairy visited John for the very first time the night of October 1, 2012, and he really appreciated his gold coin.

Overheard

Moments ago, as I sat at my desk checking email, Sam and John were at the kitchen table enjoying some of “Nana’s Famous Chocolate Chip Bars,” made by them and their father on a rainy, cold Sunday afternoon. They didn’t know I could hear them.

John: I am so glad Mommy and Daddy are married because I really like Mommy and Daddy.

Sam: Yeah, me too.

Me: (Sound of heart melting).

Piano Man

John likes to play the piano while I’m working (my desk is now in the living room, beside the piano). Tom told me recently that he’d had another talk with John about whether he’d be interested in taking piano lessons, and John had responded very positively. I’m not sure he’s quite ready – he and his hands are still so small – but I’m thinking perhaps next summer, and in the meantime I will try to teach him a few things myself and gauge his readiness.

What impresses me most right now is his finesse – he does not bang the keys, but rather plays with specific fingers and combinations of fingers. He repeats sounds and rhythms deliberately.

Today, John came in to play one of his songs for me. His “compositions” often make me think of the Eastern European pieces I played in junior high school – like Tcherepnin’s Bagatelle Op. 5 No. 7 and Bartok’s Mikrokosmos Volume VI.

After he was done, he hopped off the bench, turned toward his audience (me) and made this formal announcement:

“That was a song from 1801, about someone dying.”

(And his piece was, in fact, quite a dirge.)

He loves listening to all music, piano solos included, and when I played him the Tcherepnin from the link above it was amazing to watch his hands and fingers move around as if he was playing it himself.

See the posture and the curl in those fingers?  He’s off to a great start.

Neology At Its Finest

The bus was 10 minutes late getting home today…thankfully it rolled up just about the time I was getting ready to freak out and call the school. I think this is only the second time the bus has been late and since it is so unusual, it is worrisome and nerve wracking. Especially since that day last year when Sam fell asleep on the way home and failed to get off at his stop, and no one knew where he was for about 20 minutes, including the school. Surely both of them didn’t fall asleep, I thought today.

(Turns out they were delayed because they took time to reassign their seats.)

Once they got home, I asked them to sit on the front stoop with me to talk about their day. We did, but the darn mosquitoes were out in force and they love John the most. Poor kid comes in with welts the size of a nickel.

I brought him in as soon as I realized they were dive-bombing him, and led him to the couch so he could start to wind down from his day. (And scratch those itches.)

As I went to the kitchen to get him a drink, he called out to me.

“These bumps are itchy, Mommy. Bumps. Itchies. I call them Bitchies…get it?”