She Said, He Said

Joseph did not want to take a shower this morning.  He fought me every inch of the way. 

Me:  "Come out of the shower, drama king."

Jojo:  "Ok, drama mama!"

Conjunction Conjunction, What's Your Function?

It was a(nother) cold and rainy night as we drove through the streets of a Columbus suburb.

Christian: "What really freaks me out are old ladies who are bald-headed like Grampa."

And Gaby chimed in: "Or old lady BUTTS! Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" (Gaby's favorite word is still 'butts'.)

Jojo's song ended our drive home: "Butts! Butts! Butts!"

P.S. Anytime we read stories, they never miss the conjunction 'but'.

P.P.S. I'm beginning to wonder if the hearts on Gaby's graffiti bathroom drawings were actually butts, not hearts.

A Tale of Three Pumpkins

It was a dark, rainy night....muuuuwhawhawha...and the boys wanted Daddy to carve their pumpkins.  Gabriel wanted a "ske--wee one with eyebrows."  It also need to have two "teets" at the bottom of its MOUTH. 

 

Jojo gave his best pumpkin face for Daddy to use on his gourd.

Christian wanted the most elaborate pumpkin with a tiger face and stripes.  So Daddy drew the picture onto Christian's pumpkin.  When it was time to carve, he was very careful to carve out the stripes and around the eyes and nose.  I think the stripes were connected to the eyes, which were connected to the nose, which was connected to the mouth....

I heard Daddy giggling and knew that something had gone terribly wrong.  Christian exclaimed, "What happened to the pumpkin?!  Where's the face?" 

Gaby decided to label their pumpkins, but Christian prevented Gaby from writing his name onto his.  He didn't want credit for the "pumpkin hole".  Last night Christian told Nana and Papa that his pumpkin looks "ri-di-klee-us".  I think it's funny how Mike tried to distract Christian by showing that the stem 'lid' could still be removed like a normal pumpkin. Another great feature of the faceless pumplin is now your hand can be viewed through the cave as its candle is lit. The pièce de résistance didn't impress Christian, either: the placement of a tiny ceramic pumpkin within the gaping hole.

Christian walked in on me as I was downloading these photos and he asked, "Are you sending the pumpkin hole picture to someone?"  It embarrasses him to even have the pumpkin on the front porch.  

Bathroom Graffiti

It was a(nother) rainy day and Gaby was bored.  He had the bathroom and Mommy's makeup to himself.  One person's paraphernalia is another's drawing instruments.

I saw what looked like a drawing on the !*&! pedestal curtain.

Oh. My. Gosh. It looks like lipstick.

I checked my lipstick.  Gaby -- I knew immediately who to blame -- had used my favorite lipstick for his drawings.  Oh, but there was another drawing on the shower wall.  This I didn't take pictures of because by now I realized he had used my mascara and eye shadow for that piece of artwork.  He also decorated Jojo's hair with my hairspray.

My initial wave of anger slowly gave way to curiosity about those pictures.  Who are those people, Gaby?  That's me and Jojo, and that's Christian over there.  Are you and Jojo hugging?  No, we're not hugging! We're walking together.

I texted the evidence to Mike and, of course, he laughed and commented, "At least they're happy pictures."

And they are!  Look at the hearts, the whimsical drawings.  They are indeed happy depictions of his feelings, perhaps.  Or of his love for his brothers -- I'm getting carried away now. 

I was reminded of Randy Pausch. I never met him, but he was the type of person I would've liked to have known, and I know I would've learned much from him.  He gave his last lecture four years ago at Carnegie Mellon University, and I always remember this:  a photograph of his childhood room. His parents let him draw and paint on the walls of his room.  Two paintings that struck me were of an elevator door and a secret passage to Venus. Here's a video of his sister showing Randy's room.

In Randy's last lecture, his childlike demeanor and wonderment come through as he talks about his dreams.  And what dreams this Ph.D. had, many of which he achieved.  The heartwarming talk can be seen here.

Gaby doesn't take himself too seriously and I am glad that he and his brothers don't -- this in an age where we're supposed to be uptight, education fussbuckets because that is what is valued more than anything. I want them to value learning, yes, but also beauty, friendship, and dreams. Dreams are worthwhile, and that's what Randy teaches.  It's the journey of reaching our goals that is the most important part of learning, not just learning for the sake of a degree or Ph. D.  Watching the movie 'Rudy' the other night reminded me of this, too.  Rudy was on the mediocre end of the spectrum in comparison to Randy's natural academic abilities. And Rudy met lots of brick walls, which, Randy says, are there for a reason. Both had dreams that were probably not within the realm of their natural abilities, but their determination led them to places they never believed they could get and inspired countless others.  But I digress.

Gaby's a pretty smart kid, but he is also imaginative, creative, oh so funny and, at times, frustrating.  After I got over my anger and asked him about the drawings, I praised his work and reminded him to ask for paper, crayons, watercolors -- whatever -- when he decides to work on his next project.

Taco Man

The other day Gabriel heard me speaking with Tio Alberto on the phone.  Gabriel later gave me his impression of Spanish being spoken:

"Do you have a taco?"
"Yes, I have a taco."
"Do you have a taco?"
"Yes, I have a taco."
"I'm the taco man!"

His inflection was pretty accurate.  Later in the week he told me that a person who was dressed up in a taco costume was at school.  It didn't make sense to me either.  But I still had to ask his teacher.  Remember how Christian's 'small camera' story back in kindergarten was lost in translation?  So, I took my chances when I confirmed with Gabriel's teacher the upcoming parent-teacher conference.

Hello!

That time is good for me!

Gabriel was running a fever yesterday, so I'll keep him home today. I've left word with the attendance line.


Thanks,
Elena


p.s. Was there a 'Taco Man' at school?

Yesterday I told Gabriel that I'd written to Mrs. W to ask about the 'Taco Man', and that's when he and Christian told me that they were just joking.  I still haven't heard back from Mrs. W.

I blame Mike -- he always tells the boys tall tales.  Like when he told the story about how their Latina mama met their dad.  Or how he tells the kids to go along with a joke to pull on their mama (see 'comments' in the story below.)  Oh boy.

I
should've
known.

Blessing of Pets

Today our pets were blessed by Fr. Dan for the feast of St. Francis of Assisi.  There was quite a menagerie of animals: a bearded dragon, all sorts of dogs, some cats, a bird, frogs, a turtle, and Jojo's panda bear that he brought along.  Lucas, Jumpy, and Climby all did well, although Lucas became quite chirpy and some other dogs were yappy.  Two big black dogs began growling at another dog, but things went smoothly other than that.  Christian enjoyed talking about his firebelly frogs with some interested people -- and we thought he was shy.

There was a lady holding a box that I assumed must've been a creature quite small.  I asked her what she had and her eyes welled up.  I asked if it contained her deceased pet's ashes, and she showed me a picture of her shih tzu that she'd had for 14 years. She said she never thought she could become attached to a dog, and the loss still stings.

I commented my surprise at becoming attached to our little bird.  Who would've thought?  A dog or cat I could understand, but a bird?  I love Lucas and everyone who meets him falls in love with him, too.  He has such personality, and he talks constantly. I haven't quite warmed up to the frogs yet, but they are cute.  I don't mind holding them and listening to their high pitched squeaks occasionally. 

I held up Lucas for the Holy water.  And then Fr. Dan blessed Jojo's panda bear -- Mike was unable to get a photo.

Christian speaks animatedly about his firebelly frogs to his captive audience.

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen


P.S. -- Daddy caught this fish, according to Christian.  Christian said that Mike reached into the water and pulled it out!  The real story is there were some fishers at a dam who offered to cast their net and catch a fish for the boys. Quite a catch.