Categories
Miscellaneous

An ideas man, on the can

“I have an idea,” reported potty-dwelling Finn last night. “The idea is, maybe when a kid is sitting on the potty, the mom and dad can just take off, and then the kid can shoot some poop or pee into the potty, and then after that he can put a foot stool up to the sink and just climb up to the treats and *haaaup!*, eat one! The kid needs some privacy–that’s the idea.”

Good suggestion, lad. Now we might want to consider hanging one treat (a chocolate-covered pretzel) on a little hook by the sink, such that “the kid” could climb up and help himself to just one treat. (Maybe it could be like a “take a penny/leave a penny” dish: “take a pretzel/take a pretzel.” :-))

Categories
Videos

Two Tots Named Teeter

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):

Categories
Photos Zoos

Gettin’ Buffaloed

The other day we took the boys to Woolaroc, a former ranch/wildlife preserve of an Oklahoma oil baron, which is now a local attraction. There are plenty of indigenous and exotic animals to see, a fantastic Western art and artifact collection, as well as some vintage oilfield vehicles like fuel trucks and aircraft. Here’s a little gallery of our adventures. Henry, of course, went running after the big orange fuel truck on display and was just dying to climb aboard, while Finny was fascinated with the oil pumps, the 3-story high observation tower, huge stoic buffalo, and kid-sized old-west style playground. His enthusiasm for the old west has now resulted in him “jailing” us (the “bad dudes”) for offenses such as stealing lion blankies and stuffed monkeys, even though we’ve been framed by our local pint-sized sheriff!

Although the kids’ petting zoo was not officially open, our dudes did manage to get a little face- and fur-time with a few goats, sheep, and chickens. One of the great things about Woolaroc is that the wild animals are just roaming around freely on the grounds, and so we got some great close-up views of buffalo, deer, and elk from the car as we drove through. We even got to see some zebras, an ostrich, some llamas, and a zonkey (zebra + donkey, which looks like a zebra that just hasn’t bathed in awhile!).

Categories
Babyslang

Chinny Jipasaurus and the Baby Quail

We have a lot of fun goofing around with words at our house, and Finny is not only a willing participant, he’s often the instigator of new phrases and word games. Utterly out of the blue, he renamed himself Chinny Jipasaurus while we were horsing around one afternoon. The name has stuck, and Chinny Jipasaurus has come out to play several times over the last few weeks. He even named his brother Hinny Jipasaurus!

Other personas and characters are often adopted by Finny. Lately he’s been a quail, running around ululating behind us, or from under tables or behind furniture. His favorite game right now goes like this:

— F: “Can you say ‘Where did that quail go’ Dad-o?”
— Dad-o: “Hmm…I seem to recall there being a quail running around here. Have you seen him, Finny? Where did he go? I haven’t heard him in a while.”
— F: (a little bit put out) “I’m the quail! doodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle!”
— Henry: (getting in on the act with a fainter, higher-pitched tone) “doodle-oodle-oodle-oodle-oodle!”
— Dad-o: “Hey! There’s the baby quail, too!”
(repeat)

He’s been downing a lot of unusual “birdseed” as well: square birdseed (mini-wheat cereal), meat birdseed (self-explanatory), and round birdseed (Cheerios).

One last bit of language fun: Yesterday, when John and Grandpa Liggett took the boys to a big aquarium, they saw sharks, stingrays, crabs, turtles, otters, and beavers. When John asked Finny what he liked best about their visit, Finny replied “I liked the stingraisins!”

Categories
Christmas Photos

S’mores n’ More

We’ve been having lots of tiny “OK” adventures. I’m typing this quickly between visits to the Oklahoma Aquarium & a Mexican restaurant. With the help of some new puffy jackets, we’ve been exploring the yard and neighborhood, after which we cooked up s’mores in the fireplace. Here’s our gallery.

By the way, I’m trying something new with our galleries: instead of creating Flash & HTML versions that live on this site, I’m hosting the photos on Flickr, meaning that they should be viewable everywhere (including my parents’ TV). If you run into any problems with the new setup, please let me know.

Categories
Christmas Photos

Christmas 2010: Joy to the Squirrels

Merry Christmas, everyone! We’re chilling (literally, the rare times we venture outside) with Margot’s folks. Both guys were brilliant travelers (note to self: leg-stretching layovers are kind of a great thing), and as you’d imagine we all had a ball opening presents today. I especially enjoyed an early morning exchange with Finn:

“Do you have to go to work today, Dad-O?”
“Nope, I’m hanging out with you guys!”
“Oh NO!!”

Ah, what beats unconditional appreciation from one’s child? 😉 Being kind of zonked, I’ll keep things brief and will just share our photos from the day (HTML). More to come, I’m sure, as our adventure continues.

Previously:

Categories
Videos Zoos

And Around We Go

Our man Finno is a born wheelman–at least when it comes to holiday carnival rides. Little Henry has to put on some inches before joining in the action, but boy will he be ready when the time comes. The video below combines two rides–one at the Zoo Lights in Oakland, the other at the SJ winter festival. Enjoy!

Categories
Christmas Videos

“Super Dizzying”

Okay, I have to admit two things up front:

  • One, this video could easily appear in a collection called “Portraits in Unwatchability” or “Experiments in Motion Sickness.”
  • Two, despite all the spinning, not all that much really happens.

So, you can’t say you weren’t warned. 😉 The other night we took advantage of some (rare) clear weather & took the lads to San Jose’s Christmas in the Park, a little set of carnival rides & holiday displays. The guys remain too little for ferris wheel rides, giving Finn a chance to practice his “glower” face, but we had a good time on some carousels, “bumpy cars,” and the spinning ballon-car ride you see here. Hen was a cool customer as usual, and Finn did well until then end when, Margot reports, he remarked “I hope it’ll be stopping soon!”

Categories
Videos Zoos

Zoo Lights!

“Neither rain nor cold nor gloom of night will stay these cherubic buddies from the swift enjoyment of their date with the zoo…”

After our first attempt got rained out a week earlier, on Sunday evening the Nack Pack rallied & met up with pals Bettie, Quade, and their folks Tara and Andy at the Oakland Zoo. Here you can see us enjoying the groovy nighttime zoo train, sighting a wallaby & a Macy’s-float-sized Henry face. 🙂

Categories
Halloween Photos

Shower cookies, colander hats, & more

Our picture-taking time has been a bit limited lately, but we’ve gathered together some good odds & ends into a little gallery (HTML). And check out Finn making a literal “holy cow”!

Categories
Videos

A Crunk Car & its rider

Nice: Playing Gulliver to a pair of Lilliputians.
Nicer: Getting a smooch from one of them. 🙂

(A crunk car, by the way, is a little Dr. Seuss vehicle. Historic bonus: Finn riding on my back around the same age.)

Categories
Videos

Four-on-one: Dominic vs. Henry

At our little neighbor Charlotte’s birthday party on Saturday, Charlotte’s four-year-old little bro Dominic had fun romping around with Henry. Let the good-natured scaring begin! 🙂

Categories
Miscellaneous

Little guys & great heights

Our guys are working on sharing, and inevitably we hit some bumps in the road. Earlier today they were in the sandbox, and after filling up a bucket, Finn lifted it onto a flat spot on our grill–near head height for him. Henry made a beeline for it, and when I attempted to help him reach it, Finn said, “No! I put it up there so that little guys wouldn’t get it!”

Later in the day, Finn was playing with Margot’s curling iron–a practice she’s nixed as he’s liable to break something. I explained the situation, and thinking I’d cleverly reference the earlier bit, I said, “I’m putting the curling iron up high so that little guys can’t reach it.” Finn shot right back, “But I can reach it very easy!!”

Categories
Videos

Slow-Mo Basement Destruction!

Okay, little Knievels, time to smash, right about… hang on… wait for it… now!! 🙂

Categories
Halloween Photos Videos

Halloween Leftovers

Like a good zombie, our Halloween pix just won’t stay buried. 🙂

We’ve uploaded just a handful of photos (HTML) plus a little video showing our trip to the huge pumpkin patch at nearby Uesugi Farms. Note Finnbeard trying to master how to “glower,” later turning Henry’s felt candy bucket into a makeshift fez.

Categories
Photos Thanksgiving

Turkeys with a side of Nuts

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We Nacks big and small had a fine turkey day. Dad-O started off the festivities by trying to stuff one of our little turkeys into our actual turkey (see pic in the gallery), which was met with lots of laughs.

Then we all headed out to the park for some sunshine and fresh air, since we were granted a rain-free, warmish day. The guys had a blast collecting acorns and playing in the sand. Henry was busy investigating the acorn “hats” while wearing his own acorn hat, and Finny was busy being the “pizza boss”, patting wet sand into a little tray-like container, and then “serving” us sticky clumps of sand pizza. G-man (dubbed “pizza boss baby”) got in on the action, and needless to say, both guys got totally wet and covered with sand in no time!

On the way home we passed by a pile of gigantic maple leaves, which were quickly put to use as wings by Finny in an effort to fly home rather than ride in the wagon. After nap time, it was time for the big dinner, and everyone found something to enjoy. Henry went nuts for the cranberry sauce, Finny for the gravy, and John and I for all of it! Enjoy the gallery (HTML) of today’s events!

[In the park we searched for in vain for a water-transferring container until Finn announced, “I have a great idea!” Without elaborating he took off running towards the fountain, produced an empty Doritos bag from the sand (it’s a classy park), and began filling it with agua. He also enjoyed chasing off some packs of pigeons, saying, “I don’t think they expected a pirate to attack them today!” –J.]

Categories
Miscellaneous

The Areas of My Expertise

Just now in the basement, Finn asked me to tell the same story (about how Grandpa Liggett had sealed up the cat’s old escape hatch) again and again and again.

“I’m a little tired of talking, buddy,” I said. “How about you tell the story?”
“No, you have to do it. I’m not the storyteller!” he protested.
“But why not?” I asked.
“I’m not the expert!!”

Update: Later in the evening, he spied me getting set to push Henry around the basement in a little wagon & said, “Can I do it?? I’m the expert!”–before proceeding to bonk the little guy (gently) into a wall. Apparently expertise is a fairly vague concept. 😉

Categories
Videos

Geronimo!!

We’ve been hard at work upgrading our unfinished basement, with the goal of turning it into a super-fun rainy-day playground for the guys. We bought some big cardboard blocks that are good for building into towers and smashing into with a Big Wheel (or just a toddler running full-steam into them), and we’ve got all the Thomas train tracks set up.

The most exciting addition is the inflatable “Jump-O-Lene.” It’s a toddler-sized trampoline/bounce house/demolition derby ring where the guys can get their ya-yas out with gusto. To wit, the following video! Good times abound!

[The vid finishes with a duet of sorts between me and Finn, singing our custom version of Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak.” We sing about a “stroob (strawberry) break,” where in “The dad & Finn & little G-Man are gonna run around.” –J.]

Categories
Miscellaneous

Not entirely clear on the concept

Lately Finn’s been throwing around some more advanced words (e.g. out of the blue: “I’m not going to have a meltdown today”), and I’m kind of charmed when he doesn’t completely grasp the details. A couple of recent examples:

  • “Safekeeping”: Finn likes to hide important objects (particularly Leo) in obscure, often dicey spots, ostensibly for “safekeeping.” Combinations of fragility & precariousness (right by the front door, etc.) are especially popular. “I’m putting your iPad in the sink for safekeeping, Dad-O!,” he proudly declares.
  • “I wouldn’t mind…”: The little guy is so kind & patient as to “not mind” if you were to do just what he wants/asks. “I wouldn’t mind if you made me a bunch of bacon, Dad-O,” he says. What an accommodating fella. 😉
Categories
Photos

Paging Tiny Dr. Vandi

Finn-O & Mrs. Vandi from our dentist’s office have a long-distance mutual admiration thing going on. She gets a kick out of the blog, and for a long time he’s enjoyed pretending to go to Dr. Vandi’s office, bringing them sandwiches (bits of blue electrical tape), etc.

Recently we kicked things up a big notch, as Dr. & Mrs. V sent home a treasure trove of floss, toothbrushes, and–oh yeah–little surgical masks! Check out our aspiring dentist-in-training as he gives me a cleaning (“You’ve got some dirty teeth, Dad-O!”; thanks for noticing, bud ;-P) in this little gallery (HTML).