Dominion of the Toddler

This will probably be a short post as not much has happened since the last post aside from Felix being sick which consequently led to not much happening. Though, with Natalie's help, Tru discovered the joys of indoor fort making. Ah, it brings me back to when I was a kid and we got to make "forts" out of discarded cardboard boxes behind the train station. I'm just kidding. Felix pretended it was a hideout from dinosaurs and alligators. At just the right moment we would leap out and shoot them.
I play on another softball team comprised mostly of coworkers. We are not very good but that is not what is important to this blog. Felix got smacked in the side of the head with a foul ball. Luckily it was off a bounce and it wasn't hard enough to illicit a cry, but I think if he remembers anything from that day, it won't be the homerun I hit left handed (no no no, stop, go on, thank you), it will be a ball to the head.
Felix made a new friend when he, Renae, and I had dinner at our friends', Kendra and Mike, house. Their son, Finn, is half Tru's age so, at this point, the difference was enough that they kind of did their own thing. What was unusual was that Felix took to Mike enough that he sat next to Finn on Mike's lap and had a book read to him. I think he even tried nudging Finn off his dads lap. Sometimes that boy is territorial even when it's not his territory. A few days later Felix's best friend, April, and her parents, Vala and Mike, came to dinner. Is it boys that feel they have to defend turf? Each time April picked up one of Tru's toys, he had to take it from her and first make sure it was one he felt she could play with. I don't remember Natalie or Megan being that way. Vala watches Felix often and she mentioned that when she takes them around other kids, Felix looks after April... or is this that turf thing?
With the sun out we told Felix he had to wear a hat. Since he was riding his loader, he insisted it had to be his construction hat.

Somnambulist

It's been nearly a month since the accident and Felix still remembers it. When we first head out he will ask me, or whoever is driving, to go slow. It's not bad and he doesn't appear fearful anymore, it's actually a nice reminder for me to take my time and to be safe. Last Friday Natalie drove Felix and me to the store. It was the first time since the accident that we had that same configuration. As we pulled out of the neighborhood Felix congratulatorily said, "Wow, Natalie, you're not crashing!"
We did have a very scary incident last Wednesday, it was actually the scariest occurrence I've had since Felix was born. At one o'clock that morning I am awoke by our dogs incessant barking. That is not all that unusual as the dogs will bark at anything that moves: cats, raccoons, people (though not the night my bike was stolen). So I'm a little irritated but I can hear Natalie at the front door talking to someone, so I remain in bed. A few minutes later Natalie comes into my room with Felix in her arms. He is freezing, his bare feet and hands are like ice. It turns out he got out of his bed and, I suppose, in a groggy stupor he walked across the house, unlocked the deadbolt, and left the house looking for Renae. Earlier that night Renae was sitting in the van on our driveway finishing up some work on her laptop. It seems like Felix was back at that memory and still thought Renae was there. He stood outside the passenger door(the seat from which Renae was working) crying for Renae. Our neighbor across the street heard him, though initially she thought it was her grandchild from another part of her house. She soon realized it wasn't and sent her son to look outside. Upon seeing Felix, Ryan, ran over to Felix and brought him up to our open front door and Natalie. I was so shaken by what could have been, I held him on my chest for at least an hour and I couldn't sleep the rest of the night. The next morning Renae bought a latch for the door that only we could reach. Our neighbor said Felix was probably out there for ten minutes.
On a lighter note, I'll retell a recent exchange between Renae and Felix.
Felix: "Mom, come play with me"
Renae: "I can't right now, I have to finish working"
Felix: "Mom, don't tell me that crap!"
Oops. Between the sneaking out and the sass it's like having another teenager in the house, which makes us miss Megan all the more.
To Megan in California- we love you and miss you.

Felix Costello the Attraction

A couple of months ago I set up my turntable. I am now able to listen to my vinyl records that have sat in my stereo cabinet for years. A couple of days ago, while listening to a piece of vinyl, Felix asked that I hand him the ukulele his Aunt Annie got for me on a trip she took to Hawaii several years ago. With the vinyl spinning and the souvenir in his hands, Tru turned in a Pete Townsend-like spectacle. I was in awe.

He also learned a valuable lesson about picking up his legos.
I don't know where he learned these antics. We don't have the MTV with the hippity hop or whatever it is that rots kids' brains nowadays. I can only guess that he learned it from watching his cousin, Joseph, play Guitar Hero.