Rose

Summer Vacation, Day 68: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Belated)

/ J. Thorp / Leave a comment

On Monday, Emma got sick to her stomach, Gabe got stung by a wasp twice in the neck, I wrote several more pages of a novel, Brendan battled his cousins on the Wii, and Trevor approached Jodi out of the blue to admit, “Mommy? Sometimes I don’t listen to you …”

We still don’t know for sure what that was about.

Headed to Mom and Dad’s today to see the horses, mules and longhorns, then from there to the lake and campground. Probably won’t blog again ’til Thursday at the earliest. Take care out there.

Summer Vacation, Day 60: The Wizard of Oz

/ J. Thorp / 4 Comments

Last night the kids wanted to watch a movie. It’s sometimes a challenge to get them to agree on a single flick – but our DVD player downstairs isn’t working, so we’re limited to the older movies we have on VHS.

Still they were going back and forth, so I said, “How about The Wizard of Oz?” Why, you ask? I dunno – maybe because Jacqui had been blogging about it …

“Yeah!” said Emma.

“Yeah!” said Gabe.

“Um – no!” said Trevor.

“You haven’t even seen The Wizard of Oz, Trevor!” I said, although Jodi’s eyes warned me otherwise.

“Uh-HUUUH!” insisted Trevor.

“Really. What did you see?”

“There were monkeys, and even they could fly!” he said, a big smile breaking across his face.

“Flying monkeys?! That sounds pretty cool! What else?”

“And there was a lion!”

“Was it a mean lion?”

“No, he was a nice lion – even there was a scarecrow!”

“A scarecrow, too? Was he scary?”

“No, and even there was a dog!”

“Wait a minute,” I said. “The Wizard of Oz has flying monkeys, a lion, a scarecrow and a dog? This sounds like a pretty good movie!”

Trevor, by this point was grinning ear to ear, and nodding along with his description.

“And even there’s a collection!”

“A collec … a what?”

“There’s a collection, and even he can move!”

“A collection that moves?” I asked.

“Even the collection has an ax, and even the ax can break wood!”

But of course: the Tin Man, a collection! “Well, Trevvy – that sounds like about the best movie ever!” I said. “Wanna watch it?”

“Yeah – let’s watch it!” he cheered.

Summer Vacation, Day 41: Birthday Boy!

/ J. Thorp / 2 Comments

Eight years ago yesterday, on her birthday, Jodi had an OB appointment, and the doctor had an announcement – the baby in her belly was bulking up fast and needed to come out. We were a only few days overdue, but all her measurements suggested that whoever was in there seemed content to simply expand. The doctor would induce the next day.

We postponed celebrating her birthday until after Gabe’s birth. He was 11 pounds 11 ounces, dwarfing his big brother’s substantial birth weight of 9-9. (Emma, incidentally, weighed a petite 9-5; Trevor frightened the hospital staff at 12-2.)

He’s eight. I can hardly believe how the time passes. Almost makes me want to run.

Summer Vacation, Day 39: Non-Stop Fun

/ J. Thorp / 1 Comment

Gabe turns eight on Monday, so last night he hosted a sleep-over birthday party. Bren went to a friend’s house, so it was our Gabe and his friends Gabe A., Jack, and Cole, plus Emma and Trevor. The boys were awake until around 1 a.m., and rose around 7. Ah, to have that youthful energy!

They left around 9:30, Bren came home around 10, and Bren, Gabe and I left at 10:15 for kung-fu class in St. Paul. (This is the first weekend in the last five or six that we’ve made it.) Then home again for lunch, then Emma and I left to get the oil changed in the Golf and finish birthday shopping for Jodi – hers is tomorrow. Returned from that in time to get ready for Bren’s final baseball game. They lost a great game tonight, 10-8. Well done, Radiators – kudos on a great season! Got home around 8 for supper; showers and baths and clean-up until right about now – quarter to 10 p.m.

Tomorrow looks like church, a special brunch for Jodi, gifts, yard work (a ton!), then a cookout at a friends place. Still haven’t gone fishin’. Still having a pretty good time.

Trevvy Logic

/ J. Thorp / 4 Comments

I could hide out under there
I just made you say underwear …
– Barenaked Ladies, “Pinch”

Our youngest, three-year-old Trevor, applies a certain, consistent logic to the new words he’s learning in order to figure out what they mean. For example, out of the blue he will proudly announce, “Mom, I know why we say toothbrush – because we clean our teeth with it, and because it’s a brush … toothbrush!”

He applies this equally to simple and compound words, so that the results are often unintentionally nonsensical and funny, e.g. “I know why they’re called suckers … because you suck on them, and because they’re ers!”

So last night we’re enjoying a small dish of ice cream, and he begins: “I know why we say ice cream … because it’s really cold, and because it’s cream – ice cream!”

“That’s right, Trevvy!” says Jodi, and I ask, “Trevor, why do they call it chewing gum?”

“Because you chew it, and because it’s gum!” he says proudly.

“And why,” I ask, “do we call it underwear?”

He stumbles a moment, working it through in his head.

“Because it goes under your pants,” he says, “and then it’s like it’s gone!”

* * * * *

Blogger’s Note: If you aren’t laughing, don’t worry – it took us a moment, too. Homophones are great fun, aren’t they?

Additional Note: On a mostly unrelated note, this morning, Trevor approached Emma, placed his palm on top of his head, and said, “Emma, this is how tall I am. I’m this tall!”