Author: The Nack Daddy

“I once was lost but now am found…” — Leo, Lion Buddy to the Stars

Finny, Dad-O, and our beloved, dirty-tailed little friend had quite a scare last Saturday. The three of us had headed to local hardware store/child sensory bombardment theater OSH, dubbed “GOSH” by Finn. After spending an inordinate (but delightful) amount of time inspecting sprinklers (“That a little windmill! Make it turn-turn-turn!”), spoingy hoses (“That look like Mom-O!”–presumably in the hair department), and more, we departed to get wood at Home Depot. Well, Finn and I departed, that is. Getting out of the car, I got that gut-turning feeling: Where is the little buddy??

Back we drove as fast as the Ocho would carry us, making a beeline for the shopping carts (no Leo) and Customer Service (no sign of him). Having a team of backup “stunt Leos” strategically cached around our house, I’d already begun prepping Finn with a story about how “maybe a dude brought him back to our house,” calling Margot to prepare a swap. We retraced our steps, checked everywhere, but no dice. And then, at the last minute… our cashier said she’d seen someone throw Leo in the garbage!

An lo, there was much rejoicing! Finn gave Leo a giant “skeez,” hugging his buddy all the way home. Given the little guy’s condition, we did arrange a quick swap (“Oh, Leo has to take a bath”) to a cleaner version. Whew–all’s well that ends well. And thanks again, cashier-lady, wherever you may be.

Eyeing an empty stem from which a large petal had detached & descended:

• Finn: “What happen to that flower up there?”
• Mom-O: “Oh, it got kind of old, so the top part fell off.”
• F. (earnestly insistent yet quizzical): “Fix it?!”
• M.: “Um, yeah, it doesn’t really work that way…”
• F.: “Duct tape?!”

Whew–what an evening. Things were running pretty much as usual, with everybody happy and active as ever. During dinner Henry got fussier and fussier, so after we finished I gave him some gas drops for his tummy. Who knows whether that was the trigger, but immediately afterwards–well, let’s just use the word “projectile” and leave it at that. Poor little guy. I can’t recall seeing anything quite like it, putting the fountains of the Bellagio to shame.

“Finny saw that!!” his brother declared excitedly. Eyeing the carnage, he pronounced it “Disgusting baby food.” After being shooed out of the room, though, he returned to do something profoundly sweet: Bringing in his beloved lion-buddy Leo, Finn said, “Bring lion over to help him out a little bit!,” making Leo peck Henry on the head. He may have been thinking of The Lion and the Mouse, a new favorite book from cousin Anne Nack.

Fortunately a good puke seems to have been just what the G-Man needed, and from that point on he was his regular content self.

Bonus Finny bits o’ the eve:

1. Margot observed him talking by himself in the kitchen, making each of his hands into a little talking wedge. “I would like some more graham crackers, please!” one hand told the other.
2. During his bath Finn was making up a bunch of crazy jibberish, saying, “What that mean?” I told him, “You’re a strange boy.” “And good!” he replied. “Strange and good!”

Finn, grabbing my ear, turning my head, and peering intently this evening:

F: “Finny the doctor. Checkin’ out the ear.”
J: “Uhh… what do you see? Is there any byyuck in there?”
F: “No. Buncha hole in there.”

We’re all still coming down from our Thomas-cake-induced sugar crash, so we’ve been a little slow in sharing photos and news.  I know, I know: thinking that taking three days off from a family blog constitutes being “slow” is more than a little warped.  We do have a backlog of some fun pics and videos, though, so look for those soon.

This morning Mom-O headed out for Pilates plus a haircut, leaving me to manage both lads–including getting Henry down for his nap.  I’d been weirdly psyched out about that task, but happily, he was a dream about the whole thing.

Afterwards, Finn and I headed outside to climb up a full-size ladder, among other things.  Yes, that does sound like an unbelievably awful idea, but I was holding onto/following him the whole time.  Finn, carrying his plastic crescent wrench, was “Handyman” and dubbed me “helper.”

“Handyman climbing up to the clouds!,” he announced.

Soon we were having fun with letters & wordplay.  Pointing to the name of the ladder with me looking over his shoulder, Finn remarked, “Bunch of letters right there.”

“Yep,” I said, “W-E-R-N-E-R.  That spells ‘Werner.’  Or maybe,” I said, cueing up an over-the-top German accent, “it’s ‘Vurh-ner.”
“No!” said Finn. “Not Vurhner!  Dad-O say the wrong thing!”
“Dad-O said the wrong thing??” I asked, kind of taken aback.
“Uh-huh.”  Then he turned to look at me slyly and said, “Vurhner.”
“Vurhner?” I repeated.
“No, no Vurhner,” he said, turning away again. “Finny no say the wrong thing.”

And thus concludes today’s performance of Nack Family Aerial Playhouse. 🙂