Author: The Nack Daddy

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Of Floor Nostrils & Chicken Swings

Despite our clear wishes, Finn loves shoving bits of fuzz up his nose–or should I say, he loves having Leo do it. For months now Finn’s claimed to be our ally, advising us, “I keep telling that crazy Looen not to keep shoving stuff up there, but he just really likes to do it!”

Meanwhile Leo has become fast friends with Menace (short for “Bushy-Tailed Menace”), Finn’s little chipmunk from Colorado. Leo drives Finn’s “Massive Crane” while Menace sits in the operator’s cab. As they’re a really professional crew, Finn tells us “They even have little [company] jackets.” (I’ve gotta get to work in Photoshop making those happen!)

Anyway, long ago we used to have big fun passing little objects through a knothole in Finn’s floor, sending them down to the basement & then back up. Finn’s big-guy bed ended up over the hole, so it’s been long forgotten. During a bedtime story the other night, I said that Menace had flown up in the air, gone down a crack, and ended up in a mysterious area: Under the bed! In the story Leo & Finn headed to the rescue and discovered (cue dramatic music) the hole!

“Raarh,” said Leo. “That looks like a great hole for stuffing things into! It’s like a nostril in the floor!!”

And do you think it was “game on”? Because oh yes, it was on. 🙂 Ever since then Finn (or rather, Team Leo) has been enthusiastically driving the crane under the bed, then lowering its hook down into the basement. I came home yesterday to discover that Finn had arranged a step stool to facilitate hooking on cargo, and that now a fuzzy toy chicken was swinging freely around the basement! “Mom-O asked if this was a chicken-swinging factory,” he reports, “and it is!!”


When I went to capture the action on video, I told the guys that Grandma & Grandpa would love to see it. As you can hear in the clip, Henry was sure we’d see G&G on the camera itself, so afterwards we fired up the iPad for some quick video chatting with my folks. What a neat way to show them a little slice of the guys’ lives!

PS–As the story continues, Leo & Menace stuff tons of popcorn down the hole. When they go to the basement to see the resulting “corn cone,” the neighbor cats scratch at the window, then *burst* through and spray corn everywhere. The boys then each grab a gato (Finn taking the fatty, Hen the smaller one), flip them upside down, and sweep with them like feather dusters. They kickstart the cats’ “motors” via their tails, then use them to suck up all the corn. Vrooooom!!

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Photos

SprayFace!!

And now may we present The Sheer Joy of a Very Young Boy Blasting Himself in the Face with a Hose. 🙂 Here’s the gallery.

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Photos

Wolfman Hen

G-Man tries on some warm-looking headwear at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk yesterday. (We had a blast playing in the sand & sea, but boy it can be unexpectedly chilly over there.)

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Miscellaneous

The Marrying Men

File under “Things That’s Embarrass the Guys in a Few Years.”

Lately we’ve been spending a good bit of time with our friends the Wiggins, and I’ve advised dad Michael: Hide your ladies!

Recently Margot walked by Finn’s room and heard him singing in his bed, crooning what sounded like “The Ju-li-aaaan-a Song.” When asked to repeat it, he turned a little sheepish. Later, though, he grew more bold: “Mom-O,” he announced, “I’m going to marry Juliana!” Margot explained that Juliana is already married to Michael, but Finn was unfazed. “That’s okay,” he said, “In a week or so, when I’m a man, I’ll marry Juliana.” (Knowing this “marrying” stuff–whatever it is–gets a laugh, he now claims he’ll marry Michael, marry his brother, etc.)

Henry’s a little more realistic, setting his sights on little Hazel. He and I had a fun little exchange a few weeks ago as I entered his bedroom:

Henry, waking, greets me: “Who is it? Is it ladies?”
Me: “No, it’s Dad-O.”
H: “Oh. I was dreaming… of ladies… ladies in my crib.”

🙂

Random bonus: My German colleagues sometimes say “Mach’ keine Fisimatenten,” meaning don’t do anything stupid/any nonsense that could lead to harm. Apparently the phrase dates back to when occupying French soldiers would call out to German fräuleins, inviting them to “Visite ma tente” (visit my tent). Thus German parents told them not to do any “Fisimatenten”. I thought of this phrase when Henry was showing Hazel the tent that’s set up in the basement. No fisimatenten, little lady!

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Haircuts Photos

Post-Haircut Peace-Out

Oh, Henry: Might you ever get a haircut *without* becoming a hysterical bucking bronco? The little guy keeps flipping out (almost literally) in the barber’s chair: “I don’t like the bee!” (buzzing clippers). Ah well: at least he finally wore himself out yesterday, making his post-chop sucker all the sweeter.

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Videos Zoos

“Seventy-Hundred Dollars'” Worth of Bacon

On Saturday the lads & I got down & (very) dirty at Rancho San Antonio, checking out old vehicles (“Not zooming,” notes Henry; “Non-zooming,” corrects Finn), trails, and animals. Having learned where bacon comes from, Finn dubbed a pair of hogs “Makin'” and “Fakin’.”

A wiser, more discreet father would’ve probably edited out the middle section of the clip above; unfortunately you’re stuck with The Nack Daddy & his inner 3-year-old. ;-p

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Videos

Stomp: The *Very* Early Years

You know the famous dance troupe Stomp, the guys who make music with all kinds of trash cans, buckets, etc.? We think Henry is auditioning. 🙂 (For some reason Finn gets an almost insane kick out of this clip, asking to watch it over and over again.)

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Photos

Big Gulps & Secret Muffins

We’ve been making the most of our warm weather & remaining long days, partying in the back yard. Lots of water is getting passed around (“Octoberfest isn’t going to prep for itself,” G-Man seems to say), and the guys like to sneak into a little nook near the back stairs. “This is my secret muffin-eating area!” declares Finn.

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Lake Tahoe Photos

Hey, Ho, Ta-Hoe!

What a whirlwind weekend we had! We’re just back from visiting north Lake Tahoe with our friends Michael, Juliana, Cyrus, and Hazel Wiggin (aka “the Wigii”). Having slept since returning, I’m still a little bushed, but here are a few photos. Random anecdotes:

  • Both boys were eager to see Michael & co. On a little hike Henry would point at every single building and ask, “Is that Michael’s cabin?”
  • The lake water is quite chilly, so the guys mainly enjoyed their first boat ride (sailing all of 20 feet from shore in a pumped up raft) and getting carried by me. As waves smashed into us, they’d happily squeal and yell “You darn Lake Tahoe!!”
  • The Wigii are quite fit, and Michael would goad me into doing macho stuff (crazy push-up combos, swimming out into the lake, etc.). Now Finn, who tried his hand at the push-ups, loves repeating Margot’s idea for a reality show: “Man Up! with Michael Wiggin.”
  • We picked up our cabin’s keys from “the Vacation Station.” Henry’s taken to repeating whatever someone has said but adding “not” in there (e.g. “We are *not* home”), so I think he’s visited “the Negation Station.”
  • At a beachfront park on the way out of town, we met a friendly second grader named Juan. He played tag with the kids, playfully taunting them with “Toodles!” And thus “Mr. Toodles” was born.
  • On the way home as Margot & Finn slept, Henry & I chatted back & forth. The boys have a running joke where they call minivans “mouse vans” (as in Minnie Mouse). Spying one, Henry volunteered “I see a mouse in it!… I don’t see monkeys in it… Must not be monkey vehicle.”

All in all we had a ball, and we hope for many happy returns!

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Photos

Maxin’, Relaxin’

Greetings from (mini-)vacation! At the moment the whole family is resting happily after a long but uneventful drive up to Lake Tahoe (our first time here–rather amazing given that Margot & I have lived in the Bay Area for a combined 15 years!). We’re sure to have more photos and stories to share soon, but meanwhile, here’s a quiet little shot of Henry enjoying the accommodations back home yesterday. As Bill Murray in Lost In Translation might say, “For Relaxing Times… Make it Front Porch Times.” 🙂

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Photos

Wings Over Wine Country

In this week’s episode of “Brave or Foolhardy? The JNack Parenting Adventure,” I bundled up the lads for their first air show. Margot was off for a girls’ weekend with her friend Alethea, but I was ably supported by my fellow plane-nerd Bruce & his son Noel. As Noel is used to looking after his 4-year-old sister Anja, Bruce says “He’s good at sheep-dogging little kids.” That’s quite true, and I think Henry might need to register the online name NoelFan09 for future use. 🙂

We cruised up to Santa Rosa (about 2 hours away, north of SF), fueling up with melon chunks & cookies at a “Food Hole” (Whole Foods) along the way. I’d foolishly forgotten our stroller, making for some serious tot-lugging. As such I couldn’t get a ton of photos, but I got enough for a little gallery. Highlights:

  • Seeing a bunch of real fire airplanes up close. At bedtime later we made up stories about them (inventing a trio called Hoser, Big Belly, and Tank, who save Hoot, Milos, & co. from immolation).
  • Walking up the tail ramp & then around inside an enormous C-17 Globemaster III. Now Henry announces, “I’m a C-17! I’m putting trucks in my big boca!”–after which he tries to ingest my fingers (the “trucks”).
  • Enjoying the bunk beds on an old DC-6 Liftmaster. Finn especially liked picking at the ancient seats (“Look, Dad-O, I’m making the foam disintegrate!”) until I put a kibosh on that fun.
  • Watching the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office demonstrate the Henry 1 chopper! The machine is used for retrieving lost hikers (just like Harold in Thomas’s Misty Island Rescue). I didn’t record the video below, but we watched a very similar demonstration, complete with booming explosions, “bad dudes,” & smoke. Too bad we never did find their booth & get Henry 1 T-shirts.

Thanks to Noel & Bruce for being excellent wingmen*! Our guys were troopers with the sun & noise (“The [F-15] Eagles were too loud,” Henry keeps noting), and I foresee many happy returns.

* See what I did there? Bah-dum, tssch!

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Videos

Big Fish, Big Fun

Today the dudes & I enjoyed our first “Tiny Trek” adventure. Mom-O & Finn had a blast at their session last week, but poor Henry cried his head off when he was left home (as we’d figured he was too young to join). He spent all week saying, “I want to hike!” and–when he heard that his participation required a fee–“I want to pay!” So pay we did, and today off we went.

We bombed around nearby Hakone Gardens (although I suppose “bombing around” isn’t really the idea in a tranquil Japanese retreat), exploring with pal Dillon (whose mom Finn’s dubbed “Jodi Coyote”), making origami dogs, painting paper fish, and filling out a scavenger hunt sheet (“Let’s find those turtles!”). The unquestionable hit, though, was getting to feed the giant koi fish. As you can see, keeping two kids & a camera from getting submerged/eaten is no easy task, and Henry capitalized by “eating the profits”!

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Babyslang Photos

“Tom, Julian, & Cemente”

‘Tis better to give than to receive, right?

With that in mind, on my birthday I/we gave the boys a pretty great treat: front-row seats to the Exxxtreme Destruction of our driveway via a team of workmen, followed by its re-paving. For months we’d been meaning to repair the damage necessitated by our sewer line work, and last week we finally made it happen. Finn & Henry were *thrilled* to pull up chairs and watch a jackhammer-wielding Bobcat lay waste to our concrete, then scoop up the shrapnel, after which workers laid rebar & finally poured new cement. Check out our gang enjoying the show.

For me Finn’s verbal inventions were the best part. Some months ago we started making up stories about a cement truck driver named Zeke. Our barber Tom has three sons named Tom, Julian, and Clemente. Finn decided that Zeke’s boys must be named Tom, Julian, and Cemente. Thus we loved playing name-that-dude, assigning names like “Zeke” to the workers. Oh, and Finn (often aka “Blackbeard”) dubbed the hairy, heavyset foreman “Chubbybeard*’–though not to his face! 🙂

* He’d previously dubbed his pirate Mom-O “Curlybeard”

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Photos

Security blanket, anyone?

🙂 (Previously: Check out the then brand-new Hen hanging out with Charlie Brown & Linus.)

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Milestones

Welcome Baby Jenna!

Speaking of birthdays, we extend a hearty Micronaxx welcome to our new niece/cousin baby Jenna Marie Nack, born yesterday to Ted & Stephanie Nack. Lookin’ great, kiddo; can’t wait to meet you at Thanksgiving! 🙂

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Photos

Giant G-Man

More smiles from a guy once addicted to The Power of Glower. 😉

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Photos

A man, a plan, a tunnel…

Little “Captain Salty” explores his ship (or, to my mind, young Skywalker traipses around the bowels of Bespin):

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Miscellaneous

Nighttime philosophizing with the Finnster

On Monday night as Margot & I were watching a movie, a little blonde man suddenly appeared in the doorway. “I wanted to snuggle with you guys upstairs! I couldn’t find you up there!” he declared. As I escorted him back to bed, he was eager to show me his open door: “This is where I creeped out!” Afterwards as we laid in the sack, he struck up conversation:


“Dad-O, what if your back was broken and there was a hole in it where we put food?”
“Uh… what do you mean, buddy?”
“I mean what if you were a food truck, and I was a table?”
“You were a table…? Where would you be?”
“I’d be in the kitchen, by the stove.” [Duh, dad!]
“Oh… and who would eat off of you?”
“Mom-O and G-Man. [Double duh!] You’d pull up outside, and I’d go out to unload the food.”
“Ah, okay. Would you walk on all fours, like a bear, or regular person-style?”
“I’d walk person-style.”
“Okay. You’d probably have to be careful not to dump off the food when you stood up.”
“Yeah… Hey, what if I was just wearing a table costume, instead of being an actual table?”
“I think that sounds like a pretty good plan, buddy. Okay, ready for some sleep?”
“Sure. May you rub my back first?”
“Sure, pal.”

[Aaand, *scene*]

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Photos

Nurse Ratchet will see you now

Finnster, enjoying Mom’s glasses + neighbor Chris’s tools during the building of the swing set:

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Photos

Sir, it seems there’s an owl on your head…

Mealtime greetings from Henry & his stuffed buddies. (As it happens we’ve just retired his “hopper” (clip-on booster) shown here, having promoted him to a big-guy stool. End of a tiny era. :-))