Categories
Miscellaneous

Ant-tastic!

A few weeks back on my work blog, I shared the intriguing work of Dr. Walter Tschinkel, a Florida “entomologist and myrmecologist” (i.e. bug-studier) who makes fascinating sculptures by pouring hot metal down anthills. The boys really enjoyed watching the video about his techniques:

Independently the guys have enjoyed being superheroes, giving themselves new names each day (“I’m Rain Man!” “I’m Bat-Saber, and I defend bats!”). I suppose it was inevitable that these worlds would collide. “My name is Dr. Ant Colony,” announced Finn the other day, “Y’know, like that Walter Tschinkel.” 🙂 He & Henry then began debating whether ants poop & pee.

Well, this being a small world, I asked the actual Walter Tschinkel! He was charmed to hear about his local fame, and he sent the boys a bunch of info & photos. “Adult ants only eat liquids,” he reports, “so their poop is kind of gooey and wet.” I’ll spare you the other gross (i.e. kid-delighting) details we learned.

Oh, and one more thing. A few days later, we had the following exchange:

Finn: “How are pipes made?”
Me: “Well, I suppose someone melts metal, then forms it into shapes.”
Finn (proudly): “You know who’d do that? Walter Tschinkel! He uses an old garbage can!”

Categories
Videos

Froggy Double Shot!

I might adopt Audi-style nomenclature for Henry, dubbing him the “H3L” (as in, “Extra Long Edition”). His finally having breached the 3′ mark lets us at last enjoy things like Happy Hollow’s “Froggy Double Shot” (our mash-up of its real name, “The Frog Hopper,” with that of the enormous Beach Boardwalk “Double Shot”). Here our guys fly around with the little Wiggii:

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Photos

Rain Men!

Wow, talk about brilliant timing: No sooner did new rain boots arrive for the guys & Mom-O than we got our first really big rains of the year. So, are we going to let the weather keep us cooped up all weekend? Heck no! We suited up & got our splash on, with Finn taking particular interest in “dam breaking” (aka removing leaves from drains) with Mom-O. The guys enjoyed hearing about how Grandpa Nack had raced newspaper boats down the gutters of Galena, and they liked watching various “boats” (notable leaves) head for the drains. Check out a little gallery from this morning’s mayhem.

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Photos

Tranquility, with a side of puke

Oh man… It’s 12:47am the night (morning?) after who-knows-how-many days of little Henry doing his best impression of a two-ended Mt. Vesuvius. Actually it’s not quite that bad: it’s been just a few days, but having just scraped up another night’s load of barf from his bed, I’m a little spent (yet now too wired to sleep).

Earlier in the week Henry acquired a cute little panda we named Peter. As Hen sleeps on his big n’ beloved Panda Bear, he’s decided that Peter is Panda Bear’s kid, “and the Ollies are the moms.” Just now when I dashed into his room, I found that everyone had gotten pretty yucky. Hen was distraught: “I puked on Peter’s parents!!”

Ah, but that’s the thing of it: “When I puke it feels like not fun,” Henry said in the kitchen (as I scrubbed off the animals), and yet these little moments can have their charm. We love the lads so much, and we can bond through a little humor & enjoy pulling through the rough patches together. And now, having said that, let’s get past these bugs and get some sleep!

Categories
Photos Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Leftovers

The Liggetts took off this morning after a nice weekend full of “sword” fights, tree-decorating, and Team TALB. Check it out.

Categories
Videos

GrandpaCycle!

Finnster & Mr. L. enjoyed some most unusual “bicycling” (and more) this morning. Check out their antics below. (It kinda reminds me of “Grandpa vs. Dr. Chaos,” aka the far chubbier 1-year-old Finn.)

Categories
Photos Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

My folks, aka “The Geeps” (a permutation of “GP”s for grandparents), are in town for a long Thanksgiving weekend visit. They’ve only been here a little over a day, and the boys are having a total ball with them. They’re sleeping on the “hideout bed” in the TV room, which Finny loves to prepare at the end of the day (inflating the air mattress is involved).

Grandpa and Dad-o took the boys to the park today – Finny showcasing his bike riding and Henry his Big Wheel riding. We also did a little craft project, making felt ornaments as we waited for the turkey to cook. And both my parents are excellent at reading stories, so the boys conscripted them into covering almost the entire Curious George canon, along with several other tales.

They rounded out today with pumpkin pie, some horseplay with Grandpa, and a two-man Dad-o and Grandpa version of TALB tonight, which involved a pilgrim, a lion, and a turkey. Let’s just say things didn’t look good for the turkey. Here’s a little gallery of events.

Categories
Photos

Glovin’ from the Oven

Our scissors-wielding lads have been cutting up a storm—and cutting, and cutting, and cutting; they’re now well acquainted with the terms “confetti” and “sweeping.” I always worry that they’ll blind or stab someone, so we try to enforce smart scissors-handling, requiring the guys to carry them blades-down (or by the blades). I guess that wasn’t quite enough for Finn, though: the other day he popped onto the back porch, gripping his scissors in Mom-O’s oven mitt, as you can see here. “Dad-O!” he proudly announced, “Now I can run around with scissors!!” Well, something like that, son. 🙂

Categories
Videos

Boastin’ some coastin’

At long last Henry has surpassed the all-important 36-inch mark. Why all-important? Because that’s when a guy gets eligible for a whole lot of rides!

Hen had been patiently waiting for his chance to ride the fancy Pacific Fruit Express Family Roller Coaster at Happy Hollow. Despite being a bit peevish in general, he’s always done well with this kind of mayhem. For example, when he was two we took the boys on the Monster Kool Bus, and Henry wrapped up the ride by saying, “I crying, ‘Do it again!'”

Today we found that Henry’s tall enough to ride the coaster with a grown-up, and Finn’s old enough to ride by himself. Let the wild coasting begin!

For comparison/retro fun, here’s how Finny handled his first ride some 18 months earlier:

Categories
Babyslang Transient Witticisms

Transient Witticisms: Sewage plants, buttcheeks, and fuhgeddaboudit

  • “Dad-O,” says Finn out of the blue, “I think New Yorkers speak a language called ‘New.'” Cue discussion of ‘fuhgeddaboudit,’ ‘badabing,’ etc.
  • “Dad-O,” whispers an excitedly conspiratorial Finn, “when it’s just boys around, let’s say ‘buttcheeks,’—just not when Mom-O’s here.” (“Yeah, buttcheeks!!” adds Henry.)
  • Half asleep on his feet, Henry uses the bathroom & says “Auf Wiedersehen, pee pee.” Endlessly surprising, these guys…
  • “Dad-O, why is it a sewage treatment ‘plant’?” asks Finn. I explain that auto plants make autos, etc. “Oh,” he says, “so the sewage plant makes poop!” 
  • Homophonic fun with the big guy: “‘Dye’? Does it go into your clothes and make the grayness, like, die off?” Well yeah, kinda!
  • Finn claims the sitter let them watch “Pee-pee-est Kids.” Took me a sec to decode: ah, “PBS Kids”!
Categories
Photos

Found art with G-Man

Henry ambles past an unintended (?) dribble-painting in Oakland last Saturday:

Categories
Babyslang

The New Western Canon

Finn’s recently taken an interest in “writing books,” his at-school technique of stapling together a few sheets of paper, then scribbling down some random marks. The other night he took me on a tour of his oeuvre:

“This one,” he said, pointing at a blob-covered set of sheets, “is called ‘Donde Estan Los Dots?’ And this one”—a bunch of lines—”is called ‘Donde Esta El Sharp Thing?’ And this one,” he said with great pride, pointing at yet more randomness, “is called ‘The Terrifying Pig That Split Me In Half With A Cross-Tie.'” I’ll admit, I did not see that last bit coming. 🙂

Categories
Photos

The Hen Crows At Midnight

As I left my cab & ascended the stairs at 9pm tonight, I was shocked to see a little face peering out at me:

To my surprise, Henry didn’t come out to see me. I entered his room & found him behind the blinds, coolly maintaining his vigil.

“Hi, buddy. Er, what are you doing?”
“I’m just looking out my window. I’m watching some cats.”
“Oh, okay…”
“And some bikes. One went by before you got home.”
“Gotcha, gotcha… So, are you going to get some sleep at some point?”
“No, I already got some.”

Henry Nack: Keepin’ His Own Counsel Since 2009 🙂

Categories
Photos

Catching up with Charles

Never before has a kid been so excited about going to the dentist! For several days leading up to his appointment last week, Finny had been anxiously awaiting the trip to Dr. Vandi’s office. He loves seeing his buddy Charles, one of Dr. Vandi’s hygienists. And Charles loves visiting with Finny just as much!

Charles is originally from Ghana, and on Finny’s previous visit, he told Finny that lions (and other exotic animals) live in the wild there, just wandering around on the plains. Needless to say, Finny was beside himself. He told Charles all about his constant companion/blankie buddy Leo, and asked all kinds of questions about Ghana – which Charles was only too happy to answer. Charles was also very obliging and let Finny examine all the dental implements he’d be using that day – the little water jet, suction tube, and motorized tooth cleaner. He showed Finny how everything worked and let him press some of the buttons and pedals.

At the end of the last appointment, Charles promised he would either bring Ghanian currency or stamps to Finny’s next visit. And last Tuesday was the day! As promised, Charles was there bearing Ghanian stamps to show Finny, and once again let Finny examine the various tools around the dental chair. He even let Finny wear his special glasses with a little headlight! And Charles got to meet the infamous Leo. Here’s a little gallery of photos.

Categories
Photos

A Chilly Gaze

I see you, suckas. 🙂

Categories
Haircuts Photos

Shock & Faux-Hawk

Nothing, it seems, brings out our boys’ inner hambone like a trip to Barber Tom’s (well, that plus the sugar rush from a fistful of suckers). I snapped this shot of Hen while getting my own ears lowered:

Previous silliness:

Categories
Miscellaneous

Walk This Way

“It’s not amazing that adults make children,” I’ve heard it said, “so much as that children make adults.”

Today I took the lads to Santa Cruz for some good times at the beach boardwalk. They were generally great, but just trying to keep them around & unflattened by crowds can get wearying. Their “predictably irrational” approach to walking—endless weaving & start-stops, seemingly perfectly coordinated to be out of sync with each other—inevitably grinds on a parent’s nerves.

Thus after 4+ hours we found ourselves leaving Marianne’s Ice Cream shop, and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel—or more specifically, the door to the child-securing implements in the Ocho. As I towed Henry towards the door, Finn kept jerking in front of me, causing my cow-catching hand to keep grazing his head to urge him forward. Cue the following conversation (in front of some biker chicks):

Finn: “Dad-O! I hate it when you poke me like that! Just all, blah blah with your hand!”
Me: “I know, dude, but why can’t you guys just walk like a normal person?? Just head out in a direction and keep going.”
Finn: “But I like to walk like this! [proceeds to demonstrate weaving, pausing, etc. in front of me]”
Me: “I know!! And see, it just really wears out a grown-up, and—”
Finn: “But that’s just The Life Of The Kid!!”

…at which point, the biker chicks started cracking up, and so did I.

“You know, Finny,” I told him, “I’ve never been a dad before, and you guys have never been kids before, so we kind of have to teach each other patience, okay?” Okay, he said. I think we’ve got ourselves a deal.

Categories
Halloween Photos

Microghouls & Trainwrecks & Cowboys, Oh My

Happy Halloween from the Micronaxx! The boys loved sporting the excellent Thomas & Mummy costumes Mom-O created (with slight assists from Dad-O), both at preschool & while trick-or-treating. Young engineer Hen did become kind of a train wreck at school (kids touching his fragile costume, etc.), but both guys were sugar-fueled champs as I led them in neighborhood candy-gathering. (No set of stairs is too daunting to haul one’s train costume up, as long as there’s that sweet, sweet lucre at the top.) Here are some shots from the occasion, plus a video below.

Categories
Halloween Photos Videos

Riders on the Hay

Man, I should work as a sheep in a pumpkin patch petting zoo: I sure know how to get fleeced! ;-p Actually I had a ball taking the lads to nearby Spina Farms Sunday while Margot was in class. We rode the little train, climbed aboard ponies, and jostled around in a hay wagon with our pals the Wiggii. Sure, the proprietors know how to soak you for a few bucks, but it sure buys a lot of tot-delight.

Here’s a little gallery from the proceedings, plus a couple of clips:

Categories
Halloween Photos

Bat-Shirt Crazy!

The boys have had a bat-tastic week: Nanny Yvonne bestowed these super-fun bat shirts on Finny & Henry the other day, and at “Bats at the Library” in SF, our pal Reen set them up with new wing’d amigos “Leobat” & “Olliebat”! (<--seen here adorning the boys' heads) Thanks so much, guys!