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.)
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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! 🙂
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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!!”
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Slow-Mo Basement Destruction!
Okay, little Knievels, time to smash, right about… hang on… wait for it… now!! 🙂
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.
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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.]
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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. 😉
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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.]
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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. 😉
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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).
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Random goings-on, Facebook edition
It’s sort of belatedly occurred to me that our parents, not being Facebook users, haven’t gotten to see the random “Mobile Ephemera” that we’ve been uploading on the go over the last year & change. So, Mom(s) and Dad(s), if you’re up for seeing some fun bits (everything from Finn modeling Mom-O’s boots to chubby-legged Henry meeting dinos at the doc’s), check this out. (You don’t need a password or anything.)
For our Facebook-enabled friends, as Gilda Radner would say, “Never mind.” 🙂
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Animal hat
Heh–seeing this little cartoon, I had to think of G-Man:
The boy gets an endless kick out of putting progressively more enormous things (e.g. a new panda pillow that’s bigger than his torso) upon his head, looking at us with a smile, and proudly declaring simply, “Hat!” 🙂
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Area Tot Achieves Nirvana
Detecting “the Fruit of the Tollhouse” on my breath this AM, a bear-laden Henry started saying, “Cookie, cookie!!” As Margot says, “Double-fisting with bears, eating a cookie, and being held by Dad-O: it’s like a little guy delight sandwich!”
Here’s our happy fella moments ago:
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“Vaya con Leos”
With rainy weather setting in, we’re spending a lot more time in our semi-finished basement. Gazing up at various pipes yesterday, Finn asked, “Did Jason the Mason [a bricklaying pig from Richard Scarry’s world] build this house?”
“No,” I told him, “I think it was a bunch of Nicaraguan dudes.”
Finn paused for a second to think. “Did they drink the agua out of jars–pickle jars?”
“Uh, what do you mean, buddy?” I asked. “What jars?”
“Pickle-agua jars!”
I laughed my head off. Now Nicaragua will forever be the land of pickle agua, full of thirsty workmen slugging back jars of briny water. Maybe they’re big fans of “Delicious Pocket,” Finn’s phonetic rendering of neighborhood restaurant “Tlaquepaque.” And now that Henry has started imitating Finn & refers to his own Leo-style blankie as “Leo,” the Pickleaguans might with the boys a hearty “Vaya con Leos!” 😉
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Beeeooooww… BeBot!
Both Finn and Henry are big fans of the iPhone/iPad app BeBot–a simple little synthesizer that shows a little robot pitching back and forth as you drag your finger around, causing him to “sing.” Henry has taken to carrying me the iPad while saying, “Bebop, Bebop!!” Anyway, this morning Finn decided to be the BeBot, requesting that we play his cheeks to make him whistle:
[Hat tip to fellow dad Matt Strauss for turning us on to BeBot in the first place]
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One Last Halloween Photo
Courtesy of our neighbors Scott and Karen, who set up a Halloween photobooth on their front porch for all the trick-or-treaters. The guys were already coming down from their treat-induced sugar high!
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Micronaxx Geographic
Apropos of nothing, our boys decided to experiment with a little techno-body modification on Saturday morning. (This is why Mom-O shouldn’t leave us alone together. :-))
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Fireman Henry to the Rescue!
Here’s a fun shot of our G-man dressed up in his Halloween costume. He makes a handsome little fireman, doesn’t he?
Finny is trying really hard to be a “bad pirate” but darn it, he’s too cute to be a believable scallywag! Â Especially when “Arrrr!” is pronounced “Owww!” Â (click each photo for a larger version)
[Update from playgroup: Mom Ariel Kurtze reports, “”We had a very cute pirate at playgroup this morning! And a very sharing one too, he let Sabrina play with his scimitar :)” –J.]
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Marley Gras
Want to get a team of toddlers eating out of the palm of your hand? (Figuratively, I mean; they’re all too willing to do it literally.) Get ’em some Mardi Gras beads!
Finn, and Henry in particular, were so enamored of little Harper Hogarty’s bead collection that I started calling him “Jacob Marley” after the chain-dragging ghost in A Christmas Carol. Check it out:
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to capture shots of the three tots running a racetrack pattern, with Finn popping out to startle the little ones (“Surprise!”) and Henry trying to keep up (“Prise!”). It was high-speed hilarity. [Photo courtesy of Harper’s dad, “Papa Hog” Tom]