How to Create a Cautious Driver

Initially I wasn't going to blog about this as it is neither a humorous story nor an anecdote about the latest phase of Tru's development. But as this is a chronicle of Felix's life, I thought that perhaps the discovery of this new emotion should be detailed here. The catalyst was a spectacular single-vehicle car crash that, with Natalie at the wheel, took her, Felix, and me into the right barrier twice and then across five lanes of moderate traffic until we came to a stop across the left two lanes after bouncing off the center divider. Luckily no one was hurt, and I still can't believe we managed to involve no other cars.
The new emotion Felix discovered was apprehensive fear. After the crash I asked Felix if he was okay. He told me, "Yeah, I'm okay". I asked him several times, and each time he gave me the same answer in a calm why-you-ask manner. I thought that maybe he wasn't aware of what happened. Renae came to pick us up and on the way home I witnessed how very aware he was of what happened. When we got up to about 40mph on the freeway, Felix, in not a hysterical tone, more of a somewhat panicked tone, told me that I was going too fast and then asked if I could slow down. I couldn't without impeding traffic so I pulled off the freeway and took surface streets home. For him that was an improvement but he would still alert me when he thought I was going too fast. It is very disconcerting to hear your child so fearful.
It is now a week later and the trauma seems to have subsided, though today he did ask if we were going too fast as I brought the car up to speed upon entering the freeway. As for Natalie? She will never drive again... I'm just kidding... on the square.

I'll bring us to another topic and give us all a chance to wipe our eyes. We have had some pretty crazy weather here in Seattle this last week. The picture above was taken last Saturday when we had temperatures in the low 80's. This Saturday, today, we had this:










Yes, that's snow on the ground, and yes, Felix should be wearing a coat but he refuses. What are you going to do?

My Highest Aspiration

As you may have noticed over the years, I'm a bit of a control freak around my house. I'm the nag who once offered to bake a batch of cookies for anyone in the household that would voluntarily replace the toilet paper roll when necessary. I decorated my bathroom with a handmade mirror that reminds users to hang their towel and wash their face. There is even a note on the fridge that has reminded the girls for over a decade that they should rinse their dishes, not put the knives in the dishwasher, close the cupboard doors...you get the picture. Well, I may be barely able to pull the rest of the world together but I'll have you know that my son, my beautiful three-year-old son, has made me so darn proud. (Tears welling up, deep breath.) We were playing in the yard but he ran inside to go potty (an accomplishment in and of itself!) and while he was in there he saw that the toilet paper roll was empty, and HE GOT A NEW ROLL TO REPLACE IT! Peace has been restored to the universe. I have hope again. All is not lost. I've done something right as a mom.

Rockin' the Suburbs - Redux

The ax-man is back! As you may remember from quite a while ago, I've been teaching Tru all I know about the guitar, and I'm happy to say he knows about as much as I do now.
Though it's only been a month, it seems like it's been a long time since I last posted. For Easter, Felix received a bunny made by his great-grandmother Morse. Actually he opened it early, I forgot about Easter and I thought it was a late birthday present. After he opened it, he scooped it up and said over and over, "It's so cute. I love it." He sounded like a commercial.
What else has happened? Felix has quit nursing. I know some will say that he should have been weaned a long time ago. Well, he wasn't. He refers to his mother's teats as nurses. A few days ago he bursts out in a little song he came up with- "Nurses, what a beautiful word." That was the only line he sang. I don't have a picture for this.
The other day while driving back from our Friday Trader Joe's trip, Felix asked me what his good friend April was doing. I didn't know and told him so. He then asked if that is where we were going. I replied by asking, "You miss April, don't you?" He said, "No, she misses me". What a thoughtful guy.
I would leave you with all the details of his ice skating antics but I can't. I wasn't there and sometimes it's like getting a Republican to admit a mistake to get Renae to fill me in on Tru's adventures. Anyway, I can only imagine the exploits with this picture: