Angry Eyes

Tuxie is the cat who adopted us 2 years ago. He used to belong to our neighbors (down the street) but they didn't like him much (and the feeling was mutual, as he didn't like them either). Anyway, he's a big cuddler and is enjoying his senior years with us. We're not sure how old he is, but we figure around 8 or 9. He is really great with Wolfie....and Wolfie likes him very much. But the other day Wolfie looked at Tux and said, "Why he not happy?" "What do you mean? Tuxie is happy." "No. He not. He not smiling. And he eyes. He have ANGRY eyes. Like this..." [and then he scowled in a hilarious way, narrowing his eyebrows.] It is now a recurring theme in our house...Tuxie and his "angry eyes." haha

Poopin' in the Pot

While his Opie is in town, Wolfie has decdied to poop in the pot for him. He rarely extends this courtesy to his Momma and Dada!

What Toddlers Dream About....

This morning Wolfie woke up, still groggy and half asleep, and whispered to me
"Momma, the Incredible Hulk....he not a monkey. He a gorilla." "The Incredible Hulk is a gorilla?" "Yes. He not monkey. He a gorilla."

Then he rolled over and went back to sleep.

Chips...I Like Chips

Wolfie's school put together a cookbook for the holidays. Here's his contribution:

I like chips, only polka dot chps.
Circle ones.
I eat yellow and black chips.
I drink white milk too.

Are You My Friend? You my friend.

Wolfie is prone to asking, “Are you my friend?” In my parent state of hyper sensitivity, I sometimes feel that he asks the question because he doesn’t have any friends, which is untrue. And I know he doesn’t mean it like this. (refer to hyper sensitivity).

This morning while driving Wolfie to school, he said, “Dada, you’re my friend.” And I replied, “You bet, Sweetie.”

I love my little guy.

MOMMA'S version of this story:
Wolfie rarely says "Are you my friend?" as a question. He says it as a statement. "You MY friend mama." And my (more optimistic) interpretation is that he is learning what friendship means. And exploring the idea of what it means to have a friend...or more than one. One thing, as a modern parent, that we struggle with is NOT wanting to appear as a braggart about our child. So in someways I feel like we downplay how awesome Wolfie. But the truth is he is a great kid. And he's actually pretty popular. There was one day when i went to his little school and the main teacher said "Wolfie is settling in so well. All the kids love him and so do all the teachers. He's such a sweetie." Then a fellow parent (who hadn't heard the teacher say this) said "Oh you're Wolfie's mom! My little girl talks about Wolfie ALL the time! He's quite the popular one!" And then literally another parent said "ooooh Wolfie's mom! We love Wolfie. And my boy always talks about him." I have to say I was beaming. Not because he's "popular" (although a little part of me loves that too) but knowing that people are responding to him because he has such a sweet and sunshiney personality. He's our little Golden Boy. And he IS our friend.

Mom and Dad Wax About Parenthood

I say No, No, No!

One of the most common questions of parenthood is, “What is he into?” This question usually comes in the form of an email or phone call before a birthday party. If it’s a boy, it’s usually trucks, dinosaurs and trains, depending on the age. And, for the little girls, it appears that pretty much all girls are into something to do with Princesses. I swear, it’s in their DNA.

These days, Wolfie is into Knights (Knights can easily replace trains, trucks or dinosaurs on the top 3 list), Dr. Seuss, Spiderman (he must’ve picked this up at school) and the Super Friends – respectfully, Superman, Aquaman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman and the Wonder Twins, who specialize in teenage matters. A character named the Black Vulcan (yes, he’s black) makes special appearances and seems to be a pal of Aquaman.

Like most parents, I can pretty much recite all of Finding Nemo and both Toy Story 1 and 2. They’re awesome movies that can be enjoyed over and over again. The Super Friends? Well, that’s a different story.

Like most people my age, I glamorize the super heroes, referencing them liberally and using them as pop reference points in polite society. However, after a good month of Super Friends episodes, I’ve changed my opinion on how I feel about them.

First, every Super Hero is useless except Superman. If I were in trouble and had access to call a super hero (this access appears to be as arbitrary or as easy as dialing 911 from a pay phone), I would definitely ask for Superman:

“Yeah, hi. Is Superman there? No? Do you know when he’ll be back?”

If Batman and Robin were to arrive instead of Superman, the conversation would probably go like this:

“Yeah, your utility belt and fancy ropes are not gonna cut it. Get Superman!”

The Super Friends specialize in certain aspects of Super Heroisms: Aquaman is the leader of the fish and is stronger than most. But he can only stay under water for an hour. So, he’s kinda like a small whale; Wonder Woman has some tricks and a fancy plane – that’s it; Batman and Robin have a cool car and are mortal - pretty much useless; and Superman has it all except for that kryptonite problem.

Not mentioned are the Wonder Twins, who fascinate me to no ends. First, they have alien attributes and just may be the inspiration for Amy Winehouse’s beehive and makeup.

Their sole Super Hero powers are the ability to turn into some kind of animal (sister) and, as far I can tell, water (brother), which includes ice and lakes; although, ice seems to be his preferred power.

What they actually turn into defies explanation. She usually chooses an innocuous animal like a gazelle and he just plain makes up things to go with ice: “Form of an ice strip; form on an ice cage.” In this scenario the Gazelle rams the the bad guy, who slides on the ice strip into an ice cage. You get the picture. Also, they have to touch to ignite their powers.

Not into the Wonder Twins. No, No, No!

Huffing With The Stars

While Wolfie was down with Pneumonia for almost 2 weeks, he was prescribed a myriad of medicine, one of them being a fancy inhaler called a nebulizer. I took this picture late in the day, as the sun filtered in through the blinds, causing shadows to cascade over his frame. I made it black and white to emphasize how pitiful the little guy looked. Upon seeing the photo, both Alex and my friend Tim mentioned Dennis Hopper’s character in Blue Velvet.

Salty Rules.

Listen. I know most kids are supposed to love sweets, but honestly? Chocolate is over rated. Gimme a pretzel or some chips anyday, that's what i always say!

Oh what a knight.

I just had pneumonia, which was really scary. But because I was such a brave little guy at the doctors, mama and dada got me some really cool Playmobil knights to play with. It was tough not being able to go outside or play with my friends for nearly two weeks, so mama went crazy and got me this big ol' castle on ebay. It took her forever to figure out how to put it together, but it sure is fun to play with!