Lazy Town

I remember the first time I realized that Joshy was pretending to be Sporticus. It was the day I walked by his room and couldn't figure out what he was doing with the golf clubs until I heard him verbalize that he was saving Lazy Town. Since then, the Sporticus kick has only grown. Not only is he bounding through the house each day, every motion is accompanied by the "swoosh swoosh" sound you hear on the show. No matter what the battle, Joshy's side is Sporticus and Sporticus always wins. Jessi has begun to taken advantage of this trend and gives Sporticus "missions" to complete when she's around. They are silly things like hopping on one foot in the kitchen, but he runs off with serious intent and is nothing if not proud to return having completed his task. Of course when she gives him the missions, she uses some weird deep robotic German accent of a voice, which I suppose is her idea of what a mission giving voice should sound like, but he loves it all the same. Ben is also a fan of the show, just for its bright colors. If he is eating a bottle when it is on for Joshy, he will crank his neck every which way to see the screen. Although, he is not so much the Sporticus fan as he is of Robbie Rotten. Whether it is the slapstick comedy (walk into wall, fall into hole) or the silly faces, every time he comes on screen, Ben gets the biggest smile. I watch as Joshy flips along with Sporticus and Robbie captures the attention of Ben and I can see some duels ahead. For now it is still "eeeee, eeeee", screamed in Ben's face that some how gets a smile.

Addendum: As we were trying to get the boys ready this morning and out the door, Joshy kept bothering me about getting a particular piece of his artwork off the fridge. Why he was wanting it, I had no clue but it was an easy request to fill and move on, trying to tame my own fro in the midst of messing with them. Well, when I come back downstairs, he had rolled the piece of paper up and was shooting himself mail, in the same way that the residents of Lazy Town shoot mail to Sporticus. It is in this tube that they shoot up in the air. He would unroll it and read about how someone needed help. That boy just makes my heart melt. I was always a little creeped out by people who used the phrase, you are so adorable, I could just eat you. But I am beginning to understand the feeling inside that they are trying to express.

I think I can...

If you have spent a good chunk of time running merely on fumes, when you finally get to a point where you can catch your breath, it is then you realize just how tired you have been. After wrapping up some things this week that have been creating a great deal of stress, I got home Friday night and just crashed. Even all day Saturday. I couldn't believe how exhausted I was. John, in his sweet way, allowed me more than one nap while he watched the boys. Of course, now that I am rested and my mind has a reprieve, all the other thoughts that had been smothered down have free reign again. One thing that has been on my mind a lot is the idea of comparing our insides to other people's outsides. It is so easy to look around and get the idea that you are incapable of things the rest of the world seems to handle with ease. Of course, you know the truth is that everyone has their struggles. As a general rule, people just don't walk around saying, "Man, I just sat for three hours with a screaming child and had no clue what to do and felt like a simple punishment had turned into a jumbled mess". We like to put our best feet forward. Someone asks "How are you?". You say "good". Under no circumstances answer "I am just struggling with keeping my house clean with all the other stuff on my plate and the kitchen, well it is just gross. I'm pretty sure something alive is growing in the sink and man does it smell..." That is when you get the "Um...I asked 'How are you', I wasn't actually interested in how you were" look. It is the glazed over eyes and the constant response of "uh-huh". When we struggle, we tend to see ourselves as terminally unique but the more I watch and listen to those around me, the more I seem to hear the same themes. I suppose no one is immune to life, both it's ups and downs. It is just hard to remember when you are the only one who can't seem to do math in their head, put together a remotely sophisticated outfit or come up with the right words in any sort of "mingling" situation. I guess the key is to remember that you also are the one who can make your coworkers laugh or assemble almost anything pre-made bookshelf builders can throw at you or get lost in an imaginary world with your son. It will probably always be easier to come up with the can'ts but there is a lot more happiness when you focus on the cans.

Nobody can make Ben laugh like his brother...

Clyde

Tonight when we got home from work, we found Clyders in the backyard and while we are not certain what the cause, he died this afternoon and was just laying in a ball as if he was sleeping. I have always touted myself as not an animal person, but I should probably caveat that phrase by saying there have been two animals that have come the closest to helping me understand the bond people share with their animals. Chip was the first and the second was Clyde. He was a big guy but there was no one quite as sweet natured. When he would run up, he would jump his feet up onto my shoulders and we would literally be the same height and I could just hug him as I would hug a person. Either way, I am not interested in talking about it, I just wanted to let everyone know that we told Joshy that Clyde had become too sick to stay in our backyard anymore and so he had to go where someone could take good care of him and I wanted you all to be aware before you came over next. We all have days that are just bad days. I am going to miss our Clyders.

Quote of the Week

I barely trust established sources of information. I have a hard time finding Wikipedia, an encyclopedia that anyone can alter, to be a safe way to learn about anything except how many idiots think their opinions are a suitable substitute for facts. - Randy K. Milholland

Zzzz

Cowboys and Infants

Apparently today was cowboy day at daycare as Joshy came sauntering into the house with his rainbow colored cowboy hat head band. For someone who has always shunned having things on his head, he comes back from that place with all sorts of paper head bands and hats. We have had Indians, skull caps, shamrocks, etc...

One thing that always cracks me up is when you hear phrases and sayings come out of your child's mouth. Sometimes you think, where in the world did he pick that up (i.e. old lady) and sometimes you think, wow, that is all me. In this case, it was all John. Anyone who knows him can picture how he talks and the "dudes" that pepper his speech. Well, it looks like it rubbed off...

(Pictures by Jessi - happy?)

Catch up...

Hectic can barely describe the way my life feels at the moment. Exhausted, frazzled, stressed and weary are getting closer. Now, this is not a "woe is me" as much as a "understand why my posts have been sporadic of late". And by sporadic, I, of course, mean non-existent. Still, in the midst of all the stuff that gunks up my day, there have been moments that I have been noting in my brain to share with you but haven't found the time to sit down and write. Until now, when I am forcing myself as my tendancy to forget grows in proporation with my need for sleep. Let's just say that I am at the point where I can go over a list of four things in the car and totally blank by the time I make it the 20 steps into the store. Um...I know it has something to do with babies... So, here we go, two weeks in as many paragraphs...well, they will have to be long paragraphs...

Ben has made quite a bit of progress in these last couple of weeks. He is doing all sorts of new things all the time, but the ones that are the most monumental are the ones that make your life just that much easier.

Progress #1: Holding his own bottle.Progress #2: Sitting up on his own. (Note, when Ben was put in the play pen, guess who HAD to be in there with him? And yes, that is Joshy pointing and laughing at Ben because he fell over. Brotherly love runs deep...)

Okay, let's see. We had the fourth of July at my mom's house as per usual. The He-man Woman Hater Club (as Jess calls it), Ross and John, took on the task of purchasing all the fireworks from the big black cat warehouse. My only request: at least a couple of good finale fireworks and not just thousands of blackcats to explode in various containers. For Joshy and I, John picked up the marigold sparklers, smoke bombs and pops. I am not into the idea of mixing 3-year-olds and roman candles, so I thought that would be a safer list. Joshy loves watching the fireworks from a distance, shot from other backyards all around Choctaw, but as soon as John lit the first non-smoke bomb firework, he started screaming in fear. I don't know if it was the sound being up close or seeing the firework before it explodes in the sky, but the little boy was absolutely terrified. As you will see, after a couple tries, he ended up inside the house, watching the fireworks through the storm door. So much for my finale. As I stood in my parent's entryway, I saw them light and shoot into the air where they exploded in bright colors far above the sky visible under the covered porch. Even if I had seen them though, my favorite Fourth of July memories would still involve my grandparent's townhouse when they lived in Foster City. Every year we would go out to the canal that ran by their house and Pop would put his little raft in the water, secure it with a rope to the side, and let us drift out aways into the water. The firework show was put on at the end of the canal and as a kid, it just seemed magical. One year there was a group on the water behind us who said "Ahhhhh" at the first firework and then with each firework that followed, "Eeeeee", "Iiiiii", "Ohhhhhh", "Uuuuuu", "and sometimes Yyyyyyyy". Upon reflection, they were most certainly drunk but floating out there that night, I thought they were so clever. I don't think there has ever been a fourth that I have loved as much as those.

Did I mention our complete inability to take a group picture??

The Sister Hazel concert was better than I ever could have imagined. Driving down to Dallas and back in less than one day, that I could have done without. Still, I have loved Sister Hazel for the last decade and I never really believed that I would be able to see them live. Okay, here is the part where I look like a complete dork. When they took the stage...I cried. It wasn't like I was heaving or anything, just a few droplets from being so wonderfully and completely happy. They put on an amazing show and afterwards even came out to meet their fans and sign autographs. I have a CD case with their signatures that will be framed and even a picture of me and Ken Block where you completely can't see our faces because it was taken with a cell phone and we are backlit by blue squares. Oh, that reminds me, I completely recommend the House of Blues for concerts. It is far more intimate than a stadium concert and if you buy seats in the boxes and happen to get row BB, they are these chairs the height of bar stools and you can just sit there and swing your feet back and forth while you listen to your favorite band. You feel just like a little child. The floor in front of the stage is saved for general admission and there are of course the crazy girls reaching up to have their hands touched. I love this band, I think that they are great musicians, but I don't get the need to touch their sweat drenched hand while they are singing. I just don't see it. Or the drunk couple who are the only ones standing in their seats, dancing back and forth with drinks in hand. Or the man in his 50's to my right who is mimicking a swan dive every time they sing "swan dive...into you". Or the girl in front of us who got busted for trying to record the show. Or the ladies to our left who seriously were like camels. I have never seen anyone drink so much in three hours. They must have come back 10 times with alcohol in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. We were the only normal people there, just trying to watch the show and cry...

That pretty much brings us up to date. Only three weeks until vacation and with a certification test and more work than hours in the day between now and then, I can't wait to get on that plane on 8/9 and have the next three weeks in the past and 7 days in our cabin in CA in front of me. That is another place full of memories but that is for another time.