Micronaxx

Both guys have been singing up a storm these days. I’ll often hear Henry bust out fragments of the ABC song (“A B C D… play with me”–talk about concise!), and I’ll frequently catch Finn making weird little mash-ups (“Bob the Builder, done dirt cheap!!”).

Now Finn has, just like his nutty parents, started spicing up his dialog with little song fragments. Both boys love Fireman Sam, the theme song to which includes the line, “Keeps it cool & calm.” Yesterday as I chased Finn through his room threatening to gobble him up, he wheeled around, threw up his hands like a Jedi knight projecting the Force, and declared, “Keep it coooool & caaaalm!!” It was such a genuine little moment of laugh-panic, I was floored (literally) and haven’t stopped chuckling since.

How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child. — King Lear

“You know what I was thinking today?” asked Finn as we walked away from our first baseball game.
“Uh, what?” I asked, kind of taken aback. (I’d never heard him initiate that kind of question.)
“You say too much silly stuff, Dad-O. It’s a bunch of jibber jabber.”
Now I was really surprised. “Well, I’m just trying to be funny, bud. You don’t like it?”
“I like it,” Finn replied, trying to humor me, “but… it’s just not cool to listen to.”

And thus a very small fist landed in my solar plexus.

Later in the tub, I broached the issue again.
“You don’t like it when we joke around, Finny?”
“No,” he shook his head. “It’s just too nonsense-y.”

Now, I’m sure that anyone who has kids older than 3 will say that this is about the mildest rejection/rebuke one could experience at the hands of one’s child. Still, though, “the first cut is the deepest,” and it’s hard to hear of one’s uncoolness–especially from such a young guy!

Not to worry, though: Finn’s with me in the gazebo now, firing off streams of jibberish and proudly declaring, “That’s Spanish! I’m talking like a baby speaking Spanish!” There is no escape from the old man’s weird undertow. 🙂

John has been away in Germany all week, so I have been solo-parenting. This sometimes means that the guys get to watch a little more TV than normal because it lets me get a few things done around the house either before I leave for work or before the kids go to bed. They’d watched a couple pre-bedtime episodes of “Mighty Machines” (so Mom-o could clean up the kitchen and get laundry going without stumbling over toddlers!), a program they really enjoy. Basically they’re 30 minute-long shows about various gigantic vehicles in action–in mines, at airports and fire stations, in forests, and at cement plants. To say the guys love Mighty Machines is an understatement.

Last night, our last solo-mom night, Henry had already gone to bed, and Finny approached me.

F: “I want to watch Mighty Machines before bed!”
M: “I don’t think so, buddy. It’s pretty late, and besides, you’ve watched a lot of TV this week already. I think we’ll skip TV tonight.”
F: “But I want to watch TV before bed every night like you and Dad-o do.”
M: Speechless. Sort of ashamed, and embarrassed! Thinking about what a lame role model I am! Seriously reconsidering my TV-watching habits!

BUSTED.

Boy oh boy, there are a lot of decisions being made around our house these days. Mr. 3-year-old Finny is testing out boundaries like it’s his job (which, I suppose, it is!). Never shy with an opinion, he’s started experimenting with if/then statements as well as linking together completely disparate ideas or actions. Here are a few examples:

“I will get out of bed now, but I want to stay in my peej (pajamas) for a little while. I will get dressed after breakfast.”

“If Henry’s going to play with my ice cream truck, I’m not going to go into the kitchen with you.”

“I am going to play with my legos over here, and you should go into the kitchen and clean up.”

“First, I am going to eat my banana chips. Then I will eat my toast, and if I am still hungry, I might want a little yogurt.”

“I want to play in the backyard, so we should skip bath tonight.”

He’s also still quite interested in freestyling when it comes to his bedtime routine. This has evolved to a regular little ritual. Finny and Dad-o do “talk a little bit,” then he and I do our song. After I say goodnight and leave the room, Finny gets up, goes to the bathroom (even though he just did that at bathtime), then goes back to bed. The other night he took it a few steps further and after a few minutes of overhearing him rustling around in his room, I opened the door to find the bathroom lights on, his bedroom lights on, his bedroom door open, and him standing in the middle of the rug, seemingly trying to decide what to do next! We settled on a minute of backrubbing, followed by his committment to staying in bed.

A recent cosmological discussion at Chez Nack:

Me: “Did you have a good weekend, Finny?”
F: “Yeah!… Are the days hooked together?”
Me: “Yep. The days & nights hook together like train cars.”
F: “Yeah! And they’re pulled by a big engine–a Sky Engine!”

Not to be left out, Henry pointed at a very diffused sun & said, “Look like… big truck!” So now maybe we’ll have a great debate of prime movers, Sky Engines vs. Sky Trucks. 🙂