Surprise produce for the G-Man:
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Handlebar Star
“For those about to shave (in ~10 years)… we salute you!!” 🙂
True to form (and genetics), our lads coin a lot of new words and phrases while going about their daily business. Here’s a little sample of what they’re talking about these days:
Side Managers: noun. Each guy chooses a side of the shopping cart to hang off of, while (of course) reaching out and touching EVERYTHING in our path as we wind through the aisles.
Frescals: noun. Somewhat indeterminate. Applied to lots of items at the grocery store, and pronounced with super-zesty rolled R’s, while being the most interesting side managers in the world. “Frrrrescals! You’re a frrrrescal! That’s a frrrescal!”
Scalliptions: noun. Also indeterminate. Applied to many items, people, behaviors, and actions. “These scalliptions are making me thirsty! Watch out, I’ve got a scalliption reserved for you!”
Itsy-bitsy-bitey-bo: phrase. Finny’s re-styling of some of the lyrics from Lorde’s “Royals” song. I believe the real lyrics are “it don’t run in our blood.”
Hom noms: noun. Crackers or cookies. Onomatopoetic – this is the sound a kid makes while eating delicious snack food.
Banana butts: noun. Describes the very tip at the bottom of the banana which sometimes has a grayish/black spot inside. These remain uneaten by Nacks under the age of 6.
Onesies, Flatties, Granules: nouns. Descriptive names of various small Legos. Onesies are the cubic Legos with one raised bump. Flatties are the ones with no bumps that are used to finish off a surface smoothly. Granules are the zillions of small, round Onesies that populate my carpet.
Safetying-off: verb. Erecting a barrier to prevent someone from getting too close to a dangerous area. The boys like to use yarn, traffic cones, and cardboard blocks to “safety off” suspected danger zones in the backyard, basement, or living room.
Standpoles: noun. the vertical piers that support bridges. Mom-o, my bridge is going to collapse because I can’t find a tall enough standpole!
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Micronoogler
“Dad-O, I hope you make a lot of new friends at Google,” Henry told me every day my first week. I shall try indeed, my son. Meanwhile, here’s the little guy rocking the crazy propellerhead “Noogler” (as in, New Googler) beanie I was issued:
Bonus, via our neighbor Chris:
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Cheaper By The Dozin’
G-Man, as seen through Mom’s-Eye View at Target this afternoon. 🙂 (Amazingly he maintained his deep nap from car to cart.)
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Of Gummi Bears & Treachery
Is it still a conspiracy theory if you know they’re out to get you?
The boys have started to delight in (hilariously loudly) whispering little plots to one another, generally having to do with some pending attack on Dad-O or gambit to score forbidden treats. Here, after they’d twisted my arm into buying them some Taco Bell schlock, I overheard Finn whispering, “Hey Henry, let’s pour fiery sauce into Dad-O’s brain to make him go bananas!” In a similar vein they’ve taken to attacking my “six” (aka butt—”six” being fighter pilot shorthand for one’s six-o’clock position). Most amusingly, when I bust them (to their delight), they invariably claim, “Oh, we’re just talking about gummi bears & tasty snacks.” Snacks, my butt! 😉
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¡Día de Bigotes Locos!
Early morning scene: Mom-O & her eyeliner getting Finn suited up for Crazy Mustache Day at school. 🙂
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Finn gives Henry “the silent treatment”
🙂
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Playing hooky at the Lego store
Hey, there’s something to this temporary quasi-unemployment thing. 🙂
We had fun exploring the driftwood-laden New Brighton Beach (which we’d somehow missed all these years) with the boys’ preschool buddy Clark & his dad Alex a couple of weeks back. Here you can get a glimpse of them constructing a “Beach ranger station” and burying their amigo. 🙂
Beach ranger station:
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Talking Trash
“Dad-O, I’m making Henry into a superhero,” says Finn, attaching a garbage bag “cape” to his bro. “He’s Trash Man!” 🙂
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Headlamp Champ
A boy & his flyin’ lion.
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Captain Underpants, readying for takeoff!
🙂
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MOGI v. KOBIs
It’s not news that John is known as KOBI in our house (King of Bad Ideas). For example: “Hey kids, let’s use yarn and duct tape to make ‘tripwires’ and not tell Mom-o until she hits one and lands flat on her face in the living room!” or “A fistful of cookies right before bedtime? What could possibly go wrong?”
[Hey man, they *start* this stuff; I just greenlight it. 😉 –J.]
And now the boys have gleefully adopted their own KOBI moniker (Kids of Bad Ideas): Using a glue stick to hang posters on the wall? GREAT IDEA! Jumping up and down on the nice couch? You bet! Bringing sandy, muddy toys and sticks into their rooms for playing? Bring it on! Peeing in the trashcan? Why, certainly!
I am the lone, battle-hardened MOGI (Mom of Good Ideas), up against three hearty, persistent KOBIs. The fact that everyone remains alive, relatively unscathed, and our house is still standing tells me I must be doing something right. Right?
[Yeah, and the house continues to pulsate with hilarity, so we all play our parts, eh? 🙂 –J.]
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Small Sirs, Big Sur
What a day! Here’s our little chronicle of following Bixby Creek down to the sea, digging innumerable holes, frolicking with Bruce’s dog, and just generally cooling the heck out. 🙂
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A perfect day
Saturday was just unbelievably lovely. Here’s a quick peek:
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Spin for the Win
We had an absolute blast exploring Big Sur yesterday, visiting my friend the photojournalist Bruce Haley & family beneath the Bixby Creek Bridge. We’ll share photos soon (I took a *ton*). In the meantime, here Bruce’s wife Deborah shows our fascinated boys the spinning wheel she uses to make yarn:
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Wakey Wakey!
The view from my pillow, 6:47am. (Yes, those are my legs.) 🙂
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Beholding Grandpa’s old typewriter
Margot’s dad recently sent us his trusty old writing machine, and the boys have been fascinated. “Many an essay has been written on that!” notes Auntie Laura. “Grampa has had that since he got his Bachelor’s at CU.” Check it out:
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“Li’l peeps can roll, man…”
When Grandpa Liggett would pout as a boy, his parents would warn him, “Watch out, or [farmer neighbor] Nicholson’s cows will come sit on that lip!” I know few kids poutier than Henry, so the cows have quickly become a central piece of family lore. In the shot below I was teasing grumpy Henry at a bowling lane in Colorado, combining ball-as-cow imagery with memories of Jesus Quintana from The Big Lebowski. Enjoy. 🙂
