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We spent Christmas Day at home this year. Nick didn't sleep on the Eve, so we had to work around him all night. At 3:30 AM I directed him back to bed until morning. "Go back to bed, don't touch anything until your mother wakes up at 8." "OK, I can wait until 6." "No, I said 8." He received Grandpa's old Lionel train from the 1940s (which I couldn't get to work, but he did.) That somewhat made up for the Train Show we went to earlier in the month, where he spent $140 of his own money on a used train that was broken in 10 minutes. But he did shop carefully, and it was an unfortunate situation. (He knows questions to ask guys at these shows, I have no idea.)
This month's edition of things Nick says.
I tell him, "Nick, you need to sit down and eat your meat." His reply: "Because I won't get any pudding?"
"You know what they should make? Slushies that are beer flavored. A Beer Slushie." (It was a creative month, his mother thinks they should make skin-toned band-aids. I see Oprah just thought of those at the same time.)
We took the boys to a SkyZone, bowling, and still they had more fun in the Costco where they could crawl around in the tire section. Nick found a pair of sunglasses he liked, and says, "All I need now is two gold teeth and a jacket and I'd be a Dopplegangster". (I assume that's like a gangster's twin?)
I saw "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" twice, taking Nick the first time. He didn't like it, thought it was dumb, too much violence (he prefered Spaceballs, which he watched half dozen times this month). Of course it's not nearly as violent as Jurassic World or Sharknado, but his reasoning is, "those aren't real." Brandi's observation: "How is it that Kylo Ren has perfect hair when he removes his helmet?" Along the lines of head usage, I was trying to explain to Nick where a country would be on a globe, in the absence of a globe present, he reaches for my head, pretending it's a globe. Yes, the arctic is where there's no hair.
New Year's was a bummer with the Michigan State loss to Alabama. But I enjoyed the trip to Indy for the Big10 Championship earlier in the month. Nick missed staying in the Indianapolis Train Depot, now a Crowne Plaza hotel. I stayed in a train car converted to a hotel room. I've been more involved in the MSMR program at MSU, attending their graduation, mentoring students, and lecturing more frequently.
Pictures this month from Christmas in Temperance, and our week in Atlanta, (I also got up to Asheville and Athens during this trip) and finally in Cincinnati.
- Jason
Nick had blood drawn for the first time, which was an adventure to say the least. "You did NOT tell me about this!" he yells, as the needle draws closer. Four of us holding him down, and him screaming, "Band aid, band aid, band aid!" with technically no blood in sight. Then it's over, and he says, "That wasn't bad at all." And this scenario played out... twice.
Lots of nature this month. Had a day at the playground with Collin, over the school, where the boys wrestled on the ground more than played on the swings. They are very evenly matched in size, with Collin just one year younger. They are different types of strong. Then, a day at the Crosby Gardens, where we almost lost a plastic dinosaur and had a disaster of emotional separation (but the dino was recovered... a camouflaged-colored dino, on the ground in a park full of leaves.)
This was Nick's month of "independence". We had the first snowfall of roughly four inches, which he was excited to shovel. And we also had him riding the vacuum (which we compete for... the new ball vacuum is awesome.) He's beginning to recognize more regularly the need to earn some money, and getting his work done. He wants to show others, and announce his independence. Which goes well until he begins announcing, and I'm the one doing his work, then we clash.
As Nick begins to more seriously about 'the other gender' and related topics...
- At Thanksgiving dinner, he reaches across the table to close his mama's dress, explaining, "You need to cover those, Mama." The dress wasn't that provocative, but he's extremely protective of this mother (a good thing.)
- "Mama, there's a hole in the soap big enough and round enough for my p_n_s! No joke! Come take a look!"
- And a girl at school in the other third grade class tried to kiss him on the playground, which resulted in an 'altercation'. It's a good lesson in learning boundaries, which Nick is still figuring out. "Just listen to my side of the story," he yells at his mother, after two hours of trying to sort out the details.
Pictures behind this link.
- Jason
Nick has a hard time hanging onto his iPad... he keeps losing it for days and weeks at a time when he can't get his work done, or doesn't listen to his mother. As an example, he jumps from his laptop and yells, "I'm so mad at this damn game!" Then, "I probably shouldn't have said that, should I?" And I proceed to take away the iPad. Shortly thereafter, he runs over to me snapping his fingers to get my attenion. "Whoops, probably shouldn't have done that, either." Away goes the iPad. He lived more than half of October without it.
We played hoops at the school one day, seeing if he's any good at basketball. Nope, not so much. (He might make it as a shooter, but not a ball-handler.) We also biked over to the school to practice skidding out his bike tires. While there, we played a Nerf war with a kid we met. I'm not convinced that's Nick's strategy of absorbing all the enemy's bullets with his head before firing back is the best plan.
And then we did Halloween. Grandpa grew him a pumpkin, like every year, but this year it was nearly too big to move. Nick drew a dragon on one side, and Grandpa drew the Disgusting Slob on the other (a character from the TV show "Crashbox"). In a role reversal, Mama was the Shark, and Nick was Sherlock Holmes. His first choice was James Bond, but we couldn't resolve a suitable costume prop for Catholic school (gun? martini glass? girl?) This was a good year for collection, out on the streets in Temperance for almost 90 minutes, and a solid bag-full of candy. (And the usual antics... charming the old ladies for more candy.)
Pictures here from October, including a trip to Long's Farm with Jack.
- Jason
Brandi sends me a text one afternoon, from a conversation with Nick: "So let me get this straight, Mama. Daddy left his donations inside you and you became pregnant, right?" "Well, I'm gonna go to my room now. For various reasons." We think he was watching videos on squid reproduction.
After more than a year in Georgia, he now pronounces "there" with about three syllables. Same with other words. Wonder if that will ever dissipate.
Lots of activity this month in the athletic arena. He's getting better at playing FourSquare (the kids game, not the geo-fencing App). He's in Catholic school, that's a must. He blew his first bubble from gum... after spitting like ten pieces across the room in trial-and-error, and lots of spit on his mother. His diving has improved greatly... got his first '10' score from Grandpa (don't think I ever scored that high). We played catch for over an hour one evening with a baseball until he was exhausted and frustrated, but he improved. One evening he asks Mama, "I want to pass the pigskin around." "So what does that mean?"
We went to the Tigers game on a Sunday, and convinced Grandpa to join us. It was a perfect afternoon (crappy team, lousy game, huge loss, but great weather, and we had like $80 in food vouchers). He got to run the bases after the game. We got him a Daniel Norris jersey, hoping the young pitcher we acquired from Toronto is a star (I grew up with Morris, maybe Nick can root for Norris.)
A few pictures this month.
- Jason
I lost patience one evening, tired of watching nature shows and train documentaries. I told Nick we were watching one of my shows, so I brainstormed something we could both enjoy. I settled on Petticoat Junction, figuring steam trains and three pretty girls, why not? He woke up the next morning, and watched several more episodes. We also watched Counting Cars, and he latched onto the idea of a Yenko Nova. Most of the time he's on YouTube videos of things I don't understand, lots of nature. I try to ask questions and show interest, but most conversations end like this: "What are head crabs, Nick?" "They're similar to face huggers, Dad." I can at least follow the videos about Deloreans and Shelbys.
We're pulling away from a school visit and we wheel into a Penn Station Subs. Nick grabs a train in the back seat to take in, and I tell him he's too old, to leave it behind. He says, "I think the people inside Penn Station Subs would appreciate a train." I relented, he won that one. He doesn't always win, though. He was upset one evening from losing his iPad, and he yells from the tub, sobbing, "Life is so challenging!" So true.
The first day of school arrived in mid-August, third grade at St. Joseph in Sylvania. We attended the evening for parent introductions, sat at his desk (where his mother proceeded to organize its contents), and observed where he sits in a pair next to a girl named Dylan. Well, that was the first week... he's moved twice since then. He made a good first impression on his new teacher, as he was seen escorting a woman down the hall to her classroom. He's performing fine in his academics. We did catch him intentionally missing words on his spelling test several weeks in a row. If the kids get a 100% grade on Monday, the teacher assigns them more advanced words. He solved that right quick, by missing one word every week on Monday. He got caught by misspelling 'dry'. Says he picks an easy one so when he has to re-write it six times, it's done quickly.
Other adventures included the Monroe County Fair, Myles' birthday party with a huge water slide, and he helped me wax Mama's car. Lots of visits to our favorite Mexican restaurant, which he calls "the mummified Bob Evans." It's a remodeled (modified) Bob Evans building.
- Jason
