Author: The Nack Daddy

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Of Semaphores & Nack Power

We’ve been enjoying all manner of hand jive at Chez Nack:

  • “When I put my hand on my head & hold up an index finger,” Finn informs us, “that means ‘Treacherous Idea,’ and when I hold up my pinky, that means ‘Nice-Guy Idea.'” You can guess which one he holds up most of the time!
  • Margot has taught the lads the phrase, “Who’s got two thumbs and…” So, out of the blue you’ll hear one of them ask, “Who’s got two thumbs [points to himself] and loves Thomas videos? This guyyyy!!”
  • The other morning Margot asked for various shows of hands (e.g. “Who likes Oat Squares?”). And in a moment we’d all raised our fists in a show of Olympics-style Nack Power!
  • Lastly—and maybe most interestingly—Finn has devised a system of “go” signals, each tailored to one of us. For example, to tell us it’s “go time,” he taps both fists to his forehead, then points both hands forward. My sign is the same, except that I’m to tap my nose, then point. Mom-O to tap her ears, and Henry’s to tap his chin. (You can see the boys demonstrating variations in the sequences below.) Weird, eh? And yet it kinda works: Before school I’ll fix Finn in my gaze, tap my nose, and point towards the Ocho. And away we go!

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Photos

Leonine Greetings

And a very good morning to you. 🙂

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Rockin’ the Beach

Begone, ye seagulls: Gaze upon young Finnster’s air “guitar” and tremble!

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Photos

The name’s Nack, *Finn* Nack

Double-oh-four. 🙂

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Babyslang Transient Witticisms

Transient Witticisms: The United Steaks of Apostles

  • Food:
    • “Dad-O, I wish we lived in the United Steaks,” declares Finn. “Leo & I just *looove* meat!”
    • “Dad-O, I don’t like McDonald’s pickles.”
      “But you like other pickles, right?”
      “Yeah, but McDonald’s pickles are made in China.”
      What??
    • Margot: (squeezing Henry’s toes) “This little piggy went to market. This little piggy stayed home.”
      Henry: “No he didn’t!”
      Margot: “He didn’t? What did he do?”
      Henry: “He went to Mojo Burger! And this one went to the pizza place!”
  • Hair:
    • “My hair got in my eyes, Dad-O,” reported shaggy Finn, “but I just put Leo on my head [he demonstrates]. He’s my hair clip!”
    • Finn, trying to stall bedtime: “Dad-O, here’s a deal: go cut off your whiskers & do your homework, then come back and cuddle with me.”
  • Science:
    • Halloween fun with the tots: Margot: “What if grandma & grandpa were ghosts?” Henry: “Nooo! They have to be humans! (Silly Mom-O.)”
    • Morning science questions: Finn: “Dad-O, why is Santa octurnal?”
      Henry: “Yeah, like bats & owls & apostles?”
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A Great & Terrible Discovery

Oh boy… During a little car washing yesterday, Finn was like the bone-tossing ape in 2001: he chucked a sodden paper towel towards the trash, but accidentally nailed the garage wall—where it stuck! Man was he excited, and it was “game on” from there. I smile & wince (“swince”?) as I remember making that same discovery with my cousins & friends. Oh, the wet, kinetic mischief that followed… Well, enjoy, my boy. 🙂

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Transient Witticisms

Transient Witticisms Music Edition: “Police Navidad” & More

  • G-Man:
    • “‘Steely Dan?'” Henry’s incredulous. “What do they steal?”
      Me: “No, ‘steel,’ like metal.”
      H: “Why do they steal metal??”
    • Hen, on hearing some hip hop: “Rap music?! Turn that off!!” He then cries ’til we give in & turn on Johnny Cash.
    • Henry is mashing up “Peanuts” with Peter Gabriel. “Shock the Lucy to-night!” he sings.
    • Henry’s midday requests: Some soup, Dave Brubeck, and a nap. #MyBoy
    • Henry asks me to explain a Taylor Swift breakup song.
      Me: “You’ll understand when you’re older.”
      H: “Maybe I won’t want to understand…”
  • Finnster:
    • “I can easily make this girl’s voice with my body,” says Finn of Ellie Goulding. “I can’t make that Axl Rose stuff, though.”
    • From deep within a pile of Lego forest police loot, Finn’s begun to sing: “Police Navidad!”
    • Finn’s singing his bizarre version of Rudolph: “…You might even say it blows!” (He calls the character “The Ol’ ‘Dolph.)
    • “Dad-O, when i grow up I want to be a policeman who acts like a ninja,” Finn tells me, “but not a bad cop like that Sheriff John Brown.” [from I Shot The Sheriff]
    • I hear Finn singing: “‘…so call me maybe.’ Oh Dad-O, that song gets stuck in my head! I sing it at preschool, I sing it everywhere!!“
  • The boys on “Dirty Deeds”: “AC/DC sound like pirates!” Of the Ramones’ “Sheena”: “These guys are old warriors! They’re berserkers!”
  • I imagine our always-underfoot kids singing like the Scorpions’ “Rock You Like A Hurricane”: “HERE I am!! (bom, bomp) FORM a human bar-i-cade!!”
  • The boys are becoming a bit “pants-optional.” I now sing to them some modified Beatles: “Hey! You’ve Got To Hide Your Butt Away.”
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Photos

OSHenanigans

aka, That Moment Right Before You Get Kicked Out Of The Hardware Store 🙂

Fortunately the patient staff at our local Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) are super good sports, and they let the boys & me kill plenty of time “horseando” (horsing around) with all manner of plungers, pipes, and more. Here’s a little gallery of our silliness from the other evening.

(Hat tip to our friend Tara for coining the term “OSHenanigans”)

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Tails from the Beach

“Look at my tail, Dad-O! I’m an awesome lion!!” 🙂

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Babyslang Transient Witticisms

Transient Witticisms: The Verbal & The Physical

  • Language:
    • “Dad-O, why is ‘Leonard’ part ‘nerd’?” asks Finn.”
      Yeah,” adds Henry, “and is ‘Peter’ made of poop? ‘Pee-turd!'”
    • “Ah-froot-erzayn, Dad-O,” Henry tells me. “That’s how fruit says Auf Wiedersehen.”
    • Finn: “What’s the English word for guacamole?”
      Margot: “Guacamole.”
      Finn: “What’s the Spanish word, then?”
      Margot: “Guacamole.”
      This is blowing his mind. 🙂
    • Finn explained family slang to his teacher today: “My dad calls me ‘sucka,’ and I enjoy it!”
    • “‘Damn,'” says Henry, quoting his mom, then explains: “She’s talking about a little wall that holds back water.”
    • Henry: “Dad-O, let’s give that road a hit!”
      Me: “…?”
      Finn, translating: “He means ‘Let’s hit the road!'”
  • The human bod:
    • I’m not sure the boys drew the right lessons from “The Little Engine That Could.” “Dad-O, we’ll grab those mean engines & pee in their funnels!”
    • Henry spies me from the bathroom, his eyes twinkling: “I’m gonna use my large intestine!” Thanks for sharing, buddy :-P!
    • We got an eyeful of elephant anatomy at the Oakland Zoo. “That guy must have a *really* big large intestine!” observes Henry.
    • Finn’s resisting independence: “I’m not gonna poop by myself at kindergarten, or in high school, or even in *college*!”
    • “I’m pretty sure I popped out of Mom-O as a 3-year-old,” says Finn, “’cause I don’t remember being a 1- or 2-year-old.”
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Can you spare a brother some bamboo?

‘Cause I’ve got a little panda to feed. 🙂

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Christmas Photos

Santastic Voyage!

You know what’s pretty great? A Christmas Eve visit from Santa Claus himself!

It happens that a certain Detective John Fahrney can pull some strings with the big guy (going back to solving the big eggnog heist of ’88, I think), and with his help we got a very surprising knock on the door. (I love Finn’s body language in the first photo.) Cousin Jenna was a bit apprehensive, but the Micronaxx took right to Santa, enjoying the cookies he brought, showing him to the Christmas tree, and reviewing the wish lists they’d sent him. Check out our little gallery from the occasion.

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Big G Christmas Photos Videos

Christmas: A White Delight

So, our guys have at last experienced snow!

Galena was blessed with a great mixture of snow (let’s say 8-9″ plus periodic reinforcements throughout the week) and freezing-but-not-freezing temperatures that kept things clean & fluffy throughout our stay. Thanks to our old neighbor Christy, the boys were outfitted with snowpants & boots, and they relished helping Grandpa shovel & helping me craft a snowman (“Beardo,” Finn dubbed him). We tore up the hills, too, packing in three separate sledding trips. Check out the frosty gallery!

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Big G Christmas Videos

Henry’s first sled ride!

We had some snowy delights with the lads today in Galena’s Grant Park. More (pics/vids as well as sledding) to follow soon! 🙂

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Christmas Videos

Ride of the Lights Brigade!

I’m delighted to say that the will-they won’t-they saga of our trying to ride Chicago’s Holiday Lights El Train ended in success last night!

Our friend Samantha had told us about the train a couple of months ago, and ever since then we were hoping we could catch it with the guys. It runs only on certain days, and the CTA doesn’t publish the exact times it runs until a few days ahead of time. We’d hoped to catch the train after our visit to the Murrays yesterday, but Henry got sick & we had to leave early. We thought our plans might be toast, but fortunately within a couple of hours he recuperated enough that we could drive to a different station & try again. We were all set to catch the 6:32 train (the last one of the night!), but then trains came & went with no sign of it. We were just about to give up hope when a nice family appeared alongside us & said that the train was running half an hour late. Thus we held our ground, and you can see the results below. 🙂

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Snowmen

Off we go to the actual snow! Chicago & “Big G.,” here we come. 🙂

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Miscellaneous

MicroCivics

Glimpsed at Pasitos the other day, it appears that the class has been learning about voting through the power of breakfast crackers. It looks like the boys abstained from voting; had they not, the Ritz victory would have been even more commanding!

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Miscellaneous

The Darn Cohaagens

Brutalizing!
Brutalando!
Brutalini!

A few months ago, the boys started smothering me in blankets. Maybe it was the lack of oxygen to my brain, but I thought of an Arnold Schwarzenegger line in Total Recall: “Come on, Cohaagen [the villain], you have what you want, now give the people air!!”—or as people like to render his accent, “Give deez people ehyar!!” From inside the stifling blanket pile I blurted out (in cheesy accent), “Come on, you little Cohaagens, give the Dad-O air!!” Man was that a hit!

Ever since then, the lads have been requesting “brutalizing” (or as they Spanglify it, “brutalando,” or in faux-Italian, “brutalini”), insisting that they be the Darn Cohaagens while I play Ahnuld. I try to get into the bathroom to turn on the fan (y’know, to give deez people ehyar), and they race around turning it off, then re-burying me in blankets. Ja, good times! 🙂

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Photos Videos

Christmas Dervishes

You spin me right ’round, baby, like a record…

We had a (surprisingly non-puke-inducing) ball taking the lads on all manner of rides at San Jose’s Christmas In The Park carnival. I’ve said it before, but man, what a godsend that Hen’s finally tall enough to accompany Finn, bombing through all sorts of pirate ships, cartoon houses, and more. Check it out:

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Videos Zoos

West Coasters

We spent a delightful day at the Oakland (or as Henry kept calling it, “Oklahoma”) Zoo, checking out lions, learning more than we might’ve wanted about elephants’ pooping (“He must have a really large large intestine!” noted Hen), and hanging out with the Wiggii. We all braved the semi-fearsome Tiger Coaster, as you can see here:

What started small a few weeks back is quickly becoming an addiction, and the guys are clamoring to check out the rides of the San Jose Winter Carnival tonight. Wish us luck!