To celebrate Finn & Henry’s first day of preschool, we grabbed burgers & headed to Lowe’s to check out play equipment. Little did we expect to see–and get to ride–the 13-foot-high, 19,000 pound Monster Kool Bus. It’s a 1956 school bus atop huge tires with 25-inch rims. Check out our wild ride!
You can see Finn start to beam, and amazingly the only upset was when Henry realized the ride was over. Now when he sees the video he says, “I crying, ‘Do it again!'”
Our in-bus video doesn’t give a complete sense of the crazy spinning sensation we got. Here’s another video (from a different location) taken by someone else:
We capped off the adventure by getting the each guy one little monster school bus toy. They’ve been popping wheelies ever since!
Oh, and parents, the bus will be at Lowe’s through July 6th, 2011 (weekdays 4-9pm, weekends 10am-9pm); 5 bucks per person.
Yesterday was the boys’ first day of preschool at Pasitos! Clearly our soft-pitch sales job this past week worked, because they were up earlier than usual this morning and raring to get to school. Bags and lunches were packed, paperwork was in hand, hats were donned, buddies were grabbed, and we were off by 8a.m.
I had planned on 2 things today: 1. Hanging around the classroom for quite awhile this morning to ease the guys’ transition from home to school and downplay the drama, and 2. receiving one or more phone calls that Henry or Finny were crying inconsolably and one of us needed to come get them (we were warned this is fairly common during the transition period). What a surprise that neither plan came to fruition!
As I finished up the paperwork and stashed the boys’ belongings in the appropriate cubbies, both boys were already very busy playing and chatting with the teacher. I stuck around for maybe 10 more minutes, then gave each boy a smooch and took off–it was clear they were doing just fine! The phone never rang with a call from Pasitos, so we figured the day must have gone well. I think John and I were actually more nervous/worried about school than the boys!
When we arrived to pick them up, they were playing outside, and Finny ran to the gate, so excited to see us. His voice wavered quite a bit when he said “I’m so happy to see you!” It was a thin line between crying and smiling, but I think he was just really overwhelmed with how relieved he was when he saw us. Henry was holding Ollie and playing ball, and was also very happy to see Dad-o strolling in.
The teacher assured us the boys had a good day. Both had napped and played well. She also remarked that Henry didn’t like having his diaper changed (no surprise to me, I guess I should’ve mentioned that!), and that he ate a lot (I guess he really took advantage of snacktime!). At some point Henry started crying pretty hard for Ollie (we tried to talk him into only having Ollie at nap time, but I guess he didn’t want to give him up upon waking). Finny stepped in and told the teachers what Henry wanted, and once they handed Ollie to him, he was fine. “Ollie saved the day,” she said.
So all in all, a very good first day of school, and I think the boys are looking forward to going back. Just now as I was putting Finny to bed, he said “I don’t understand Spanish yet. I think I will learn Spanish when I grow up to be a man. In about a week or so, I’ll be grown up and will learn it then.”
Update: Here’s our little video recap with the lads:
Finn’s become quite adept at wielding a hose & ladle. The rest is wet, wet history:
(Incidentally, the video would make you think we’ve been enjoying warm weather, instead of endless unseasonable gloom. I mean, I do enjoy a good cashmere sweater, but I probably shouldn’t be able to wear it in CA in June!)
From very early on Margot & I have noticed Henry being a weirdly strong little kid, giving powerful hugs & often trying to climb up things like sinks. Now he’s taken a shine to pulling wagons–often alongside Finn, but just as often containing Finn. One recent evening each one grabbed a wagon & hauled them all the way to the park (nearly half a mile away), and the other day Henry managed to pull Finn some chunk of that distance on his own. Check out the brawny man in action:
We all had a ball cruising the Avenue of the Giants following Margot’s half marathon, just listening to Henry’s mind being blown as he tried to count redwoods: “3! 2! 6! 10!… 3!!” We’ll have more photos to share soon, but in the meantime, behold Margot’s surgical piloting of a large German car through an even larger redwood:
Downside: Our sewer pipe went haywire, necessitating some expensive driveway surgery (“Double Double, Toilet Trouble!” as Finn declared).
Upside: The boys got a bay window seat to jackhammering plus a garbage truck PLUS a scooper truck! Great morning for tots, or the GREATEST morning?? 🙂
Ever since, the boys have been playing “busy workers” as Henry says. “I’m Adam!” the little guy proclaims, while Finn adds, “I’m Uncle Louie!” (I enjoy imagining my own Uncle Louie being their jackhammering hero.)
Finn was rocking some major hat hair this evening, and we compared his ‘do that of a horned owl. He wanted to inspect it one more time before it got washed away, and as we lacked a mirror, I fired up my phone’s video camera. Check out the results, including a rhythmic bead-popping duet (sort of the lowest-key Stomp performance ever):
On Saturday the guys and I took our lives (or at least our wrists & butts) in our hands and headed to a nearby roller rink. As Margot was busy with her half-marathon training, I wasn’t sure I could wrangle the guys on my own (on skates, no less!), but I’m glad we gave it a shot. Little pals Bettie, Quade, Cyrus, Hazel, Dillon, and Rachel, plus some little sibs & their parents, were in attendance, and we ended up having a ball.
Here’s a very tiny gallery of photos, plus a clip of Henry & Hazel’s air hockey table dance:
Henry & Grandma Nack enjoyed playing a little peekaboo during our visit to Happy Hollow. I just wish I’d been a little quicker on the draw & that you could more easily see & hear his cackling. 🙂
We had a terrific time celebrating Finno’s Big 3 a couple of weeks back, and now that the sugar crash has worn off, we can post our little photo gallery and a video from the birthday train ride!
When the guys spied the Happy Hollow carousel, Henry instantly did his “pitch horizontal in your arms & do the breast stroke” routine saying “Horsies! Gato! Touch it!!” And so we did, having a blast all around (no pun intended).
We have a long, proud, and hilarious tradition of “meedgit houses“–grown-up leg prisons used to ensnare hapless & guffawing kids. Just as I battled my dad thirty-odd years ago, Finn tested his strength when my folks arrived:
When it comes to physical daring, our big guy tends to take after his dad, being cautious maybe to a fault. That’s why I was so pleased today when, after a little hemming & hawing, he agreed to ride the roller coaster at nearby Happy Hollow park. Despite its small size, I started having flashbacks to age four, when a treacherous “kiddie” coaster was so intense that it blew my mom’s contact lens right off her eyeball! So, how did Fearless Finnster do? You be the judge:
Who loves giant multimillion-dollar “toys”? We do!!
During our long journey home from Oklahoma, it was marvelous to find the big people-movers in the Phoenix airport. Newly fueled up on French fries, Finny was ready to blow off some serious steam, and the long moving sidewalks were just the ticket. I thought of one of our favorite Babar stories, in which the clown monkey Zephir performs “Chase of the Magic Hat.” Check it out!
Ever since Margot visited Hamburg last fall, we’ve been talking with Finn about the tunnel under the harbor (see previous). Last night my colleague Jan was kind enough to take me for a visit, and I recorded a little travelogue for the guys. Fair warning: The video may be crushingly dull for anyone over the age of 3, though I’m told it’s been a hit with the target demographic. 🙂
Hen’s little personality is coming out more bit by bit as he explores tiptoeing, causing (play) vehicular mayhem (“Dump!! Oh NO!!”), dancing, and more. Here he shakes a leg (and a book) with Harper and her newborn brother Tiernan:
Something tells me that baby Tiernan Hogarty, glimpsed briefly here slumbering peacefully despite the hijinks nearby, is in for a laughter-packed upbringing at the hands of his mom, Sarah. See what I mean:
Oddly enough, it wasn’t til this past week in Oklahoma that our lads got to experience the power & pageantry of teeter-totter riding. Here they are in action, throwing in a special bonus performance as a couple of quails (per an earlier post):
And now, a scene from the bathtub the other night:
