The 6yo mic drop

I'm often up before everyone, getting a little work in before the family awakens. LJ is usually the next one up and he often joins me as I grade papers or get a jump on emails (for a theoretically less interrupted day). This morning, he came down to the office and sees me responding to emails as I catch up from a week of travel and limited e-communications.

LJ - Papa, why do you type all the time.

me - Well, my work sometimes requires a lot of typing.

LJ *matter of factly* - Hm...maybe it's a health problem.

...to which he gets up and walks off. I think that was the 6yo equivalent of a mic drop. I really wonder if children have any idea how profound their thoughts often are.

"And with that, I just have two more words to say...Obama out."

A breakfast prayer for the homeless

Little Jeremiah helping at the local food bank.

This morning's breakfast prayer comes to you courtesy of Little Jeremiah and his big thoughts:

"Dear Lord, please be with the homeless and help them find more and more change on the ground so they can buy food and be well. Amen."

Amen, little man. Amen.

Papa's silent prayer to the heavens after hearing this: "Please let this boy keep his heart and help me continue to protect, support and strengthen it." Then a mental note to talk further with him (and his sister) about different ways of helping others.

I am in love this little guy's big heart.

This guy...

Exploring at Garden of the Gods

Exploring at Garden of the Gods

Ninja turtle man stalking animals

Who do I want to be when I grow up?

Art by Jaroslaw Blaminsky

While snuggling in bed this morning I asked our son who do you want to be when  you grow up? I like to ask these questions once in a while to get a peak into their minds.  His response "I want to be an Indian".  I said "you mean like Cloud Dancing on Dr. Quinn?"  He said "yeah...or maybe a Sheriff".  Okay...so both strong men with a tender side who stand up for injustice.  Nice to know who my son see's himself becoming. 

Astronauts

Underwear helmets? Water immersion landing suits? Special water landing vehicles? Electronic transmissions between ground control and Astronaut Zero? The rough life of kid astronauts and their parents (via text messages)...

Wrinkles and a "crazy" appendage

Kids say some of the most truthful (and funny) things.

Case in point. Last week while having a conversation with my daughter over dinner, she mentions that the great grandmother of a friend of hers at school just passed away at age 102! I say something to the effect of wow, that's pretty old for a person. She lived a long life and must have seen some pretty amazing things in all those years. To which Finn - with a far off contemplative look in her eye - says very matter of factually, "Yeah. She must have had a LOT of wrinkles."

And one of my recent faves...while our little man was getting into his five-point harness car seat the other day, Cat hears him struggling and getting frustrated, followed by a very huffy grumble/growl/moan, "Aarghh!" She asks him whats the matter and he says - with a scowl on his face and frustration in his voice - "I can't get my seat belt buckled! My penis is doing crazy things!"

How can you NOT love that kind of brutal honesty from kids?! :)

Holding my son's hand

My boy grabbed my hand  in church this morning and said he wanted to hold it...like this. I leaned over and whispered to him that I loved it. He leaned over, smiled big, and said he did, too. I love being his father...

Gone fishin'

Yep, that about sums it up!

This morning, at about 615 in the wee hours of the morning, Finn springs out of bed and, after a brief snuggle, asks to work on her spelling (she's always most creative first thing in the morning). I say sure, why not?! She disappears around the corner for a moment and I hear the click of the cupboard doors opening, some rummaging around, something that sounds like a bag of hundreds of little, muted clicks and scrapes. I wonder what the heck she's doing. Moments later, she comes determinedly around the corner, strides over to the table and plunks down the Bananagrams bag.

What Google thinks "Giiveakruzo" is...

At this point, brother is very into whatever it is sister's doing - it doesn't really matter what she's doing, he wants to be a part of it. They spill out the letters on the table then decide they don't have enough room to work so put them all back into the bag and set themselves to work. Little man throws himself wholeheartedly into working on his spelling (apparently he knows Russian?!) and spells out, in a very orderly manner, "Giiveakruzo" which means...well, I couldn't really understand what he very animatedly described to me that it meant. But that's OK because, in his mind's eye, it was totally profound (see another recent post on that, here). A quick Google search yielded the Russian translation for Robinson Crusoe. Given that epic adventure story, it wouldn't at all surprise me if in his breathless excitement and animated description, he just told me the whole thing in those 40 short seconds - that kid was on fire!

Speaking of which...

An early morning of spelling with Bananagrams.

The first thing Finn spells out is "The house is burned down" and I can't help but take pause after seeing it. Say what? How's that again? She smiles sweetly up at me, excuses herself from the table, skitters off back around the corner only to return a moment later with a pad of paper and a pencil - she's going to write down what she spelled out and take it in to show her teacher (and let me tell you, she's beaming with pride at that moment!). After satisfying herself that she transcribed her sentence correctly, she picks up her letters, places them back in the bag, mixes them all up (to which she appears to get great enjoyment out of) and draws out another handful. She puzzles over them for a moment, then starts spelling out something. She doesn't have all the letters she needs so I hear her bartering with LJ for some of his letters. It almost (aaalmost) descends into a sibling brawl but somehow, they right the ship, agree to the terms of their exchange, and both are once again satisfied. A moment later, Cat asks her what she's working on and she says, quite resolutely, "Finn is going fishing."

Alrighty then! Guess this girl knows her mind!

Given how much she's already expressed her love of fishing, I have a feeling we'll be seeing or hearing more of that phrase from her over the years.

Fish on...

The night fishin sheriff

 I hear little man making noise in his room long after bedtime so I go in and find...sister passed out, a lamp on, a measuring tape under the edge of his covers, his cowboy hat tossed in in the corner of his bed, his sheriff's badge and belt at his feet, his bow and arrow half unstrung, the arrow string tied around his knight's helmet, and a little boy peeking out at me from under the covers. He says to me, in ever so soft a voice and with a glint in his eye and a slight smile on his face, "I'm fichin (fishin), Papa."

What's a fisherman Papa to do?!

I half-heartedly scold him, turn out the light, tuck him in, kiss him on his head and tell him I love him. As I was typing this, I decided to check back in on him. In a matter of less than five minutes, he has totally sacked out but the butt of his 'fishing pole' is tucked under his back while the tip is still hanging, line and all, over the edge of his bed...still fishin.

That's enough to warm a fella's heart.

Moon Fishin'...and Jesus

From Dreamworks Animation

This morning my little guy comes to the door of my room at o'dark thirty and whispers, "Papa, I see Jesus fishin' outside." In a fog I say something to the effect of "huh?" He, hearing my confusion, asks to come in and snuggle and show me what he's talking about. I agree and he climbs up on my bed, standing at my head and looking out the window. He proceeds to whisper that I should join him in looking out the window at the quarter moon where Jesus has, apparently, been fishing all night...but I need to be very quiet so I don't scare him away. I rise to my knees, peer out the window at the waning crescent sliver of a moon and it looks beautiful in the clear night sky filled to overflowing with stars, the faintest of light starting to color the sky a deep, dark blue. Jeremiah says to me, "See Him, Papa?" I do not but that's OK. He does. And in his mind, that's really all that matters right now. I'm just glad I got to share this little moment with him.

The crinkle in the sheets

LJ at my office earlier in the day.

Have you ever heard your child's bed crinkle when tucking them in? I'm not talking about the sound of the wet-protection cover. Or books on the bed. Or fresh lined dried sheets. I'm talking about a real, authentic snap and crackle.

I just heard it.

And it truly startled me. Not because it was a foreign sound. No. Not at all. In fact, it is quite a familiar sound. Rather, it was shocking because the sound was so out of context. Much like seeing someone you vaguely know but only ever in a certain situation. Then you see them outside of that context and they look very familiar but you're not sure quite why. And then it hits you. That sort of startling.

So I investigated. Upon investigating found - tucked between his sheets, between his blankets, under his pillow, tucked beside his bed and the wall, tucked in nearly every nook and cranny of his bed - Fall leaf after Fall leaf. Everywhere. 

And suddenly, like a bolt, I remembered how earlier in the day he'd come running up to me and told me how excited he was to find Fall leaves everywhere while on a morning walk with mummy. He'd said to me, with such a proud look in his eyes, that he'd collected them and I had remembered wondering at that moment what he did with them, but hadn't asked. 

Holding this handfull of Fall leaves I'd gathered from his bed, I turned around to look at him and the biggest, beaming, "I'm so proud of myself" and "I told you I found the leaves" smile bathed his entire face. It was truly remarkable to behold. Rather than chide him for having leaves in his bed - as my first inclination was to do - I just gathered him up in my arms, hugged him tight, and told him how truly proud of him I am. (I'm choking back the tears right now just remembering it as I type this). He is truly a remarkable person.

Some fall leaves from little Jeremiah's bed.

LJ and his cousin David!

Coloring on the tables during a man date for lunch at Block 15.

Ready to tackle a day at school!

The fellas.

Proud of his cubby and lunch box.

Eatin' oxalis (clover) atop Mary's Peak.

Cousin Emma, Mummy, and little man!

The warrior in pre-school

Jeremiah's first day visiting his new classroom. He wore his armor and brought his sword, charging yelling into the school. Then promptly took off his armor, grabbed the toy cell phones, climbed on the horse, and says nothing to anyone. As we were leaving, he put back on his armor and mounted his steed. That's my boy. First day shyness will be gone in no time, is my guess...

Caught!

So little man gets sent to his room today for a timeout. And, as most kids are prone to do, he likes to push the barriers. For LJ (little Jeremiah) when he's sent to his room, this usually means coming out into the hallway as far as he can with his toes still hanging just over the edge of his doorway - which in and of itself is pretty funny (and cunning).

But today, he tried a whole new tactic.

Today, after depositing himself into his room, loudly and with much protest, he became silent for a few minutes. And for you non-parents out there, when your normally noisy child is quiet, it's a pretty safe bet that something is up and you should check on them. Granted, some of the time he's just busying himself with creativity, but most of the time - yes, most of the time - he's up to no good. And today was no different.

So I hear sister, sitting in the living room, whispering very quietly something about "you're supposed to be in your room, little man!" which is followed by the pitter-patter of little footsteps - running on his tiptoes, which sounds distinctly different - through the living room, down the hallway, skidding around the corner, and back into his room...followed by silence.

At this point, Cat and I exchange smiles and a knowing glance and I use a loud commanding voice and say, "Jeremiah, you are supposed to be in your room!" To which he pauses - you can almost hear his mental wheels grinding away - and says..."But you didn't SEE me, Papa!" Oh. My. Goodness. It has begun! A game of wits. Truly he has a dizzying intellect! I love it!

As Cat says, that child is going to give us a run for our money!

Nurses that deliver mail?

Today after little man's two year appointment, Cat mentioned that she liked having a male nurse since it shows our children that it doesn't matter your sex, anyone can do anything. Finn was quiet for a moment then piped up - "You mean, a nurse that delivers mail?" Kids say some of the most wonderful things...

Woodcutting Day

 

There's nothing quite like a day spent out in the woods. And this particular Saturday was no different. Our good friend Dan S. joined us for a day of woodcutting in the Oregon Coast Range outside of Nashville up on the Siletz River. Little Jeremiah wasn't feeling so good so Finn and I were going originally going to be the only ones going besides Dan. But just before Dan arrived at the house, we all decided we didn't want to spend the day apart so we hurriedly packed additional food, supplies and a couple of toy trucks and out the door we rushed, excited for the day's adventure. Four hours later, we had cut, split and loaded two cord of seasoned alder, the kids were exhausted, and Dan's and my backs were tightening up (guess we're not getting any younger!). 

The fellas...just before our backs tightened up! ;)

Enjoying sitting on the wood pile.

Dan and I both had additional things we needed to get done so we all headed home around noon to unload and stack the wood and take some ibuprofen (wink). Little man couldn't stand the thought of me working out in the garage stacking wood without him so he did his best to help with the afternoon's work...and I was proud! :) All in all, it was a wonderful family day together and felt so rewarding knowing that we were putting up wood to keep our family warm next winter.

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Finn and Jeremiah Ride Horses

Finn had a chance to show her brother how to ride horses...they both had a great time!