Snow Day

Every block was a new invitation to make a snow man.

Oh, Barracuda!

Scene: The Living Room. We enter a discussion of the proper use of harpoons already in progress...

M: "...You can study live fish... Once I went scuba diving and I went down and looked at the fish and they looked back at me. And I saw a barracuda."

J: "I thought barracuda were mean."

M: "Oh, I was looking at the barracuda and it was looking at me (makes mean calculating face) and it was thinking, 'If you were a little smaller....'

J: (Plays air-guitar and sings a riff) "Ooooh, Won't you, barracuda!" (Continues a one-man air-band show)

A: "Ugh. (rolls eyes) You're being silly."

J: "No; it's a song by Heart. I'm having fun." (exits to bedroom)

A: (From living room) "There's no such thing as a heart song about barracudas."

M: (Bringing A into bedroom) "A, you're being rude to J, because there really is a song." (Fires up computer) "And this sort of thing is what the internet is good for." (Goes to YouTube)



M: (As a caption comes on and reads "Heart / Barracuda") "So A, I want you to turn to J and say, 'I'm sorry. You were right, J. I learned something today.'"

A: (grunts) "This music is too loud."

The Rum-Tum-Tugger...

Someone has been listening to Cats. A lot. He's now singing in his room, "If you give to me a sword, I would rather have a gun; if you give me a gun, then I only want a sword..."

Oh, how I long for the days of Henry Higgins and My Fair Lady.

Truck Day

A long time ago (I'm going to guess 2009) it was Truck Day in the Park. 

March 2010 Dinosaur

It's crazy how photos accumulate in the cell phone.

This is from March 2010.

A wanted to be a dinosaur, and insisted that the face painters give him big teeth and sharp claws.

Weekend Photos

Ike LaRue at work.















We're not quite sure what happened here... but this is the end result of when one kicks croquet wickets. M thinks this might have been caused by a wooden stake, but the original story was that a wire wicket somehow bounced off of A's foot and jabbed him in the forehead.










Making piratical valentines with various family members.

Ike's A's Typewriter

A has been asking for a typewriter.

For the last three weeks, when I would pick him up, he would say, "J, let's go to Goodwill and get a typewriter."  He really wanted a manual one, like the kind that my Grandmother had or like M's boss has (and which A has been allowed to play with during Christmas parties).

"I don't know, A," I said, "It's hard to find typewriters like that; and if it's more than $20, we'll have to think about budgets and stuff.  And remember, the last time you and M got a typewriter the M key didn't work and you had to take it back..."

Finally, I gave in.  We went and found a $10 typewriter.

On only a slightly different topic, we had a Pirate Valentine party today, and attempted to make Piratical Valentines.  A probably had too much sugar, got overstimulated, took a long nap and is still sort of awake right now.

He is happily channeling his inner Ike LaRue, typing "Dear M, How could you do this to me? This is not a school, it is a prison...."  He has changed every instance of "Mrs. LaRue" with "M" and "Ike" with "A." 

Just as long as he doesn't knot his sheets into a rope and attempt to climb out his window....

Art!

A saw a picture of a bicycle; the photographer had played with the shutter speed and a sparkler, so the bike in the photo was outlined in sparks.

If you look closely, you might be able to see A behind the chair.







I said we couldn't use a sparkler or a bring a bike into the house, but that we could make a similar picture.

I set up the camera on a tripod, and handed A an LED.








He traced the dowels of the chair.

We had a lot of fun, even if the flash did go off accidentally one time.










In slightly related news, A just got back from a trip back East. M and A were very lucky, they missed the snow storms coming in and going out. They had a lot of fun surprising an aunt (M's sister) who just turned 50.