Q. What’s possibly our most fitting Yiddish word ever?
A. “Naches” (pronounced “NAKH-es”), meaning “Emotional gratification or pride, especially taken vicariously at the achievement of one’s children.”
We might have to rename the blog “Micronaxx & Meganaches.” L’chaim! 🙂
Our friend Maria once gave us Tickle Monster plus a pair of “tickle mitts.” On her recent visit, though, bare hands–with an assist from Henry’s “Bushy-Tailed Menace”–got the job done:
I have such fond childhood memories of partying with my Murray cousins, roughhousing on air mattresses (which we pretended were giant butt cheeks–don’t ask) and so much more. I was therefore especially delighted to get our lads partying with Sarah Murray, her friend Chernoh, and little Patrick Mahoney (Liz’s son). We all worked up a real sweat “brutalizing” the guys, turning Patrick & Finn into burritos, and trading aerial attacks (Crocs, Thomas hat, slipcovers–you name it). Here’s a little taste:
Later, back at Grandma & Grandpa Nack’s, the guys climbed the staircase and said, “We want to fire stuff down, like we did at Chernoh’s house!” Here’s to many happy returns.
During her recent visit, our friend Maria told us about her backyard being overrun by “squeasels” (squirrels & weasels). Finn got into showing off the squeasels in his shirt–then going after Maria’s. Check it out:
The bad: Getting stuck stuck on a frozen tarmac in Germany.
The good: Opportunity to make a video for the lads! 🙂
Now, please be forewarned that the following clip is going to be totally uninteresting to anyone over the age of 4 or so. I share it, though, just as an example of the experiences one can now capture & share while away from the fam. I love that I can shoot footage of ships in the Hamburg harbor, or of myself skiing, or whatever, then share it so that Margot can show the guys over breakfast. “These are the days of miracles and wonder,” sang Paul Simon; I couldn’t agree more.
First, a few background details:
Finn uses a little wagon in the basement to transport his big cardboard blocks back and forth to the “quarry” in the far corner.
We read a lot of Babar books, which contain fascinating, arcane details like getting “vigorous rubdowns with alcohol and soft brushes” when one is cold.
Baby cousin Jenna has been discussed as being too small for quite a few activities.
We overheard Finn sticking up for his little brother at Bouncyland the other evening, when a 5 year-old was trying to tell him that Henry was too small to jump in one of the bounce houses.
Now, the story, verbatim, that John overheard Finny reciting in the basement yesterday morning while playing:
“I have a son who’s about 20 months. He keeps wanting to come to the quarry with me, but he’s just too small. Maybe he can come in 5 months, or 7. His name is Alcohol. He’s at my home with the mom. Her name is Beagle. My name is Sir Bobbiter.”
I’d hardly call G-Man a bold kid. He’s the guy who, for example, fears that house cats are going to eat the PJs off him. This explains my surprise & delight when he spied Danny the Dragon walking around Happy Hollow, cried “Danny!,” hopped down from my arms, and chased down the big green guy. Go Hen go! Check it out:
During our Galena trip we were delighted to meet our new niece/cousin Jenna Nack. Here’s a gallery of her hanging out with the Micronaxx plus various Murray cousins.
“That sign means ‘No Coyotes’,” declares Finn. “And ‘No Fries’!” adds G-Man. 🙂
Dubuque’s National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium gave G-Man some face time with quite the startling face:
From today’s visit to the Santa Cruz butterfly sanctuary, pure Goonie-being-Goonie, as unprompted as it is bizarre and endearing :-):
What–if this is even possible–is better than playing with a fleet of toy farm vehicles? How about playing with the real vehicles?
On Sunday Uncle Ted escorted us to visit his friend Tommy Moser’s farm. Our guys were delighted to explore a couple of big tractors (turns out Finn’s an Allis-Chalmers man) plus a truly massive combine. Our visit to the chicken coop yielded a bucket of eggs we’ve been enjoying every day since, and Henry got a little freaked out regarding “mad cows” (as in “angry,” not as in “Bovine spongiform encephalopathy”!).
Here’s a gallery of photos, plus a video showing the egg-grabbing good times:
Breaker breaker 1-9, this here’s Rubber Duck and… well, I’ve already exhausted about 90% of my CB/trucker lingo. In any case, we really put the “N” in “TNT” (Ted Nack Trucking) yesterday: the boys & I spent the day on Uncle Ted’s big rig, traveling through Iowa to collect a trailer & then heading on to “The World’s Largest Truck Stop.” Here’s a little gallery of photos. I’ve also boiled our 7-hour adventure down to two minutes:
As a little bonus, here’s how Henry & I passed a few miles on Uncle Ted’s sleeper. I’d apologize for the jiggly camera work, but even this doesn’t capture quite how loud & shaky it is inside a truck!
Greetings from “Big G”! We arrived in Galena on Saturday after a journey on which the boys did great. (Well, check that: on the plane I pretended to call Grandpa Nack and tell him that the boys hadn’t fussed at all, but Henry interrupted: “I did some fussing!” Not much, though.)
We’ve had a ball so far, meeting baby cousin Jenna, visiting Tommy Moser’s farm (much more on that soon), and especially playing with Uncle Ted’s old farm toys. The lads are in seventh heaven learning about hay balers, manure spreaders, and more. (Parental bonus: I’ve never seen them so self-entertaining! They keep making a beeline to the sun porch–er, “crop area”–and barely note whether we’re there.) Here’s a brief glimpse of the action:
Let us hereby turn our basement rec room into a wreck room! 🙂
Margot kitted out the guys with a full assortment of paints, glue, cotton balls, pipe cleaners, and other goodies this past weekend, and they’ve been doing some messy “basementing” ever since. Check out a few portraits of the artists as very young men.
The sight of our lads gleefully engaging in low-speed chases around the kitchen island makes me think of this old Far Side cartoon. (Every so often I play the role of the hunted butterball. ;-))
Thanks to our buddy Matthew for supplying some stick-on mayhem! (Henry was napping but got into the spirit later via some forks.)
Know many dentists where your child would be greeted with a family bear hug from the dentist and his wife? Me neither–but I’m happy to know one. 🙂
Yesterday Finn accompanied me to Dr. Vandi’s office for his first official checkup & cleaning. You might remember that the Doc has been a figure of some intrigue for ages: at 18 months Finn liked to pretend to visit Dr. Vandi, and a year ago he got big mileage from playing with dentist’s masks sent by the Vandis. The boys are equally famous around the office, with Mrs. Vandi following their adventures via the blog & Facebook.
Long story short, Finn nailed the visit! He was a champ about getting his teeth X-rayed, biting down as the camera whirled past. He was even a little annoyed with my explanations: “I know it’s an X-ray, Dad-O. It’s like the Curious George story, where George swallowed a puzzle piece…” Finn (and Leo) particularly liked getting a tour of dental implements from hygienist Charles (who, it turns out, hails from a country where real lions live in the forest; hat tip to Ghana!)
Check out our little gallery, plus a couple of clips of our boy in action. Now, here’s hoping Henry stays cool & calm (sans chocolate raisin) during his visit tomorrow!
A “mondegreen” is a misheard lyric or phrase–for example, Jimi Hendrix wailing “‘Scuse me while I kiss this guy” (instead of “kiss the sky”). Â Small children are of course masters of this art, and here are some recent entries:
G-Man isn’t quite to Finn’s level, of course, but he’s getting there: This weekend he overheard me telling my friend Matthew about the window glass, and he asked, “Is there a drink in the glass?”
[For more examples, see previous.]
