Halloween 2017
Greetings to all, and Happy Halloween!
Xavier's garden this year produced so many pumpkins, we were giving them away! Even so, we kept the bigger ones for ourselves.
Three of his pumpkins weighed in over 20 pounds, the largest being 24.5 pounds the smallest (of the 20+ pound club) 22.5 pounds.
We did not get all the carving out of the way last Monday after Rebecca got back from drill. Rebecca also needed to carve her pumpkin (she only hollowed it out last week). Once again, a family project the night before Rebecca flies out to Andrews AFB.
It's well we had a week to wait. Xavier's first choice (last week) for a carving was the newly added emoji Smiling Poop Emoji. I quietly hid that stencil away and he forgot about it.
We carved five pumpkins this year. An owl, a kitty face, a mermaid, a traditional triangle face, and a giant ant.
As Xavier has taken to watching the 1954 Black and White classic "THEM!", the pumpkin he carved last week was a "giant ant." (shortly after carving the ant, he decided to take the plastic awl and go Norman Bates with it)
It's hard to make out (I should have added another candle to it), but the shape is an ant. We took to calling the the Frankenstein Pumpkin because Xavier affixed a bunch of masking tape and what remained of his ant stencil to the pumpkin.
Xavier worked hard on the kitty. However, other amusements beckoned him. I would like to claim he carved the whiskers, one eye and nose, but he did not.
"Dad, will you finish it?" as he ran off to build another weapon to fight giant ants. The ears and one eye he can claim.
Trunk or Treat
Greetings to all.
This past week has been quite crazy schedule-wise and timing. Rebecca has been tapped for an ADOS tour and flies out to Maryland this coming Wednesday. So many things had to come together (and are still coming together!)
Xavier spent all of last weekend wanting mom to come home from her drill weekend so he could carve his pumpkins (we wanted to have a family project with the pumpkins). That's what we did Monday.
Friday we wanted to spend time together as a family before Rebecca went back east for three weeks. We planned on taking Xavier to a Trunk or Treat event at a church near his school. Unfortunately for Xavier, he came down with a nasty little stomach bug. Dad was the only person to leave the house Friday.
Saturday, we held our 2nd annual Ogden Hootenanny. No time to Trunk or Treat then.
A church up the street had its Trunk or Treat today, and we took full advantage.
Xavier had wanted to dress up like a dragon this year. We had designs on doing a home-made costume. I will refer you to the opening remarks about our schedule these past weeks. We ended up buying one off the rack.
Xavier did not mind. He liked his costume. No crying or fighting wearing the costume this year. In fact, this year he has really engaged in the whole Halloween celebration, right down to wanting to and helping decorate the house.
President Trump
Greeting to everyone.
Xavier and I headed for church this morning. This is Rebecca's Reserve Weekend, so he and I are "baching it" this weekend.
We had several bill payments to drop in the mail, so we took an alternate route to church, one which passed the mail boxes outside the Post Office. After dropping the mail into the box, we navigated the back roads to the highway.
It was not to long before we drove up behind a person who must have misread the 35 MPH sign for 15 MPH. And, of course, there was no way around this driver.
No need for Dad to get all worked up. Nope, I outsource my "road rage" to the back seat.
"Get out of the way, Pokester!" was one of Xavier's remarks, soon followed by "What's this guy's problem?"
I have no idea where he picks this stuff up. (that, by the way, is an sarcastic comment). He does have a nice flare to his commentary, I will admit.
As we approached the double-left entrance to the highway, I told Xavier, "Whatever lane he chooses, I'm getting in to the other one."
Which is exactly what I did. The turn onto the on ramp is gated by a light, so we had to stop and wait. We waited in silence for the light to give us the green arrow. The "pokester" was in the lane to our left, but ahead of us was a pickup truck. Flying in the breeze was an American flag well anchored near the truck's cab.
The silence of waiting for the green arrow was broken by Xavier's excited comment "Donald Trump!" as he pointed to the truck ahead of us.
I sat stunned, thinking there is no way I heard what I thought I heard. I asked for clarification. No, I had not misheard him. He saw the flag and somehow associated it with Donald Trump.
I must say, I had no idea Xavier even knew the name. Rebecca and I do not discuss the President much, with words either good or ill. Rebecca does, however, listen to the BBC news casts while fixing breakfast in the mornings. They often mention President Trump. This, we think, is where he picked up the name. How he associated the president with the American Flag is still a mystery.
I am still impressed with Xavier's understanding. In fact, I am a little speechless by it. It is sobering how much little ones pick up and how much they understand, even when you are not actively instructing them. They are little sponges absorbing so much of their environment. But beyond sponging, they process and work out understanding of their world themselves.
Truly, we are fearfully and wonderfully made!
Fall Leaves 2017
Greetings to all.
Although today's outdoors offered plenty of sunshine and warmth, Xavier chose to spend the day in the house. He played with his Tinker Toys, then settled into his YouTube video routine.
After about an hour of YouTubing, Dad (whose had been "dialed in" to the office most of the day) asked Xavier, "Do you want to play outside?"
That answer back: "No. I'm OK."
Looking out the window at the sunny day and the gentle, warm breeze moving through the trees, and the trees raining leaves, I rephrased my question. "Xavier, would you like to go outside and play in the leaves?"
"Oh Yeah!" came the exuberant reply.
Off went the TV; on went the shoes.
We found two rakes and soon amassed a pile taller than Xavier (who, by the way is 38 and 3/4 inches tall—he wanted to know how tall he was earlier today, so we found out).
Xavier then enjoyed time outdoors. He dug into the leaf pile. He buried himself in the leaves. He burrowed through the leaves. Later, he brought his heavy earth-moving equipment to bear on the leaves to move portions of the pile to other locations.
Xavier got some outdoor time, but so did Dad, who sat and watched him play.
Butterflies
Greetings to all.
This fall we have an unusual hatch of American Painted Lady butterflies. The past three weeks you see them everywhere across the city. Dozens of them flutter in and out of our gardens all day long.
I have not seen this many of this butterfly since the late seventies. Then we had a super hatch and hundreds filled yards all over the city. Not as thick this year, but still memorable.
Xavier and I played hide and seek this afternoon when I came home. I expected him to be napping (something now more rare than a large hatch of butterflies) as he woke up at 4:30 this morning. Instead of napping, we played hide and seek. After some time, we stopped to watch the twenty to thirty butterflies busy about one of the gardens.
Rebecca, for my first Father's Day (Xavier was still in the NICU), bought me two butterfly nets, a larger one for Daddy and a smaller one for Xavier (when he got older). I used to collect bugs as a child, and I had once told Rebecca of my hopes that one day I could collect bugs with my son. That inspired the idea for the gift.
Today, the gift given four and a half years ago—which had been hanging on a garage wall all this time—got taken off the hook.
Xavier and I spent a good thirty minutes catching butterflies and then letting them go. I showed Xavier how to be gentle with the net, and explained how delicate butterflies can be.
When he caught his first one, he smiled with delight. "I caught one!"
I showed him how to lift the net to let the butterfly have some room. We watched it flutter about, then we opened the net to let it go. Xavier ran all around the garden and porch area catching and releasing these creatures.
The number of butterflies diminished as the sun began to set. They sought to stay in the warmth of the sunlight. As the shade spread over our garden hunting area, we caught fewer and fewer. Now, the nets rest once more on their hooks in the garage, but tomorrow is another day!