Felix the Con Man

If you've read the previous post you will know that Felix and I alternate telling each other stories at bedtime. Tru loves when I tell him stories; he prefers it to being read to.  He will mention it on mornings in anticipation of the story that night- he just loves it. Which is great, I don't consider myself a very good story-teller but it pleases me that he is so pleased by it. An occasion where I really got to experience his delight was several weeks ago when I surprised him by resurrecting the character Mechanico, a character we came up with months prior. Just as it was looking grim for the protagonist, in sprang Mechanico. Felix, lying in his bed in the dim light, raised both arms triumphantly. But, as I am not a very good story-teller, I do struggle to come up with stories that won't seem like I'm being lazy.
Anyway, the point here is that Felix loves when I tell the stories, though he is not real keen on telling them himself. It is not unusual for him to tell me that it is my turn though he knows that it is not. Felix saw a problem; "I don't want to tell a story, but I have to tell a story in order for dad to tell his story the next night. How can I get around this?", he may have thought.
But then he had the answer! "Dad, how about we not tell stories every night?" He asked me last Tuesday morning, a day that would be his day to tell a story. I was really surprised because of how much he liked my stories. Upon seeing my surprise he elaborates, "How about you tell stories some nights, not every night, just some nights?"
"You will still tell stories, right?"
"Yes, but you will tell stories some nights"
"Are you sure?", I ask.
"Yeah", he says confidently.
Come bedtime he springs his trap, "Dad, I want you to tell a story tonight because it's some night".

Story Time

A couple of weeks ago we took a trip to the Pacific Science Center, which is right next to the Space Needle. The picture above is Felix taking a picture of the Space Needle. He was a little cranky that day but the picture was from a happier moment.
Anyway, every night, as we've done for years, Renae and I read to Felix. He goes through phases of things that interest him- space, dinosaurs, fiction stories, etc. currently he is interested in a nature encyclopedia. Over several nights he will ask me to read the same page due to finding a particular piece of information very interesting. About a week ago it was bogs and marshes because of the venus flytraps catching bugs. This week it's been termite towers and the fact that some termite soldiers will explode to block an entrance of the tower. He has also been fascinated with a passage in a dinosaur book that describes a twelve year old English girl finding a complete Icthysaurus fossil 200 years ago.
What is new, however, is that Felix and I alternate each night telling a story we've made up. Felix is also particular about the process; a story can not begin without the story teller asking the other what they would like in the story. With Felix, his requirements for my story have lately been a combination of these things: the moon, the Earth, a family, a little boy, light sabers, rock monsters, lava monsters, and his favorite- a spider-like robot named Mechanico. He also has a name for the little boy: Powerlane. I have no idea where he got that from. With those limitations every other night, it can become difficult keeping the stories fresh. But I imagine when he wants to hear something different, he'll ask for something different. A couple years ago I read that kids will watch shows, listen to songs, read books, over and over because they are saturating; they are still getting information from it.
What also seems to be relatively new is that Felix adores me. Yes, he has always loved me and wanted to play with me, but I could not compare to mom. Now, however, he opts to stay with me when mom goes somewhere, he asks for me in the mornings, on my days off we share bowls of cereal (he loves this), and from the moment I get home from work (excluding a break for dinner) we play until bedtime. There are times where it gets a little tiring, devoting my waking, non-work, hours to his attention, but it's so worth it.

Spiderman on Sugar!

Of course, Dana beat me to blogging. As is often the case, while Dad was busy blogging about life with Felix, I was in the midst of living in the moment with Felix. (Doh!) Felix wasn’t about to let me work on the computer, even if it was to tell loved-ones about him. Instead, when he saw that I too had pulled out the laptop, he quickly got between the computer and me and asked to play the writing game (Word). Among the various consonant laden illegible jumbles there were two very distinctly recognizable phrases “Cat and Hat” and “Dad and Mom”. To be fair, we switched roles halfway through the blogging competition. By then Felix was sick of mom and wanted only to engage dad in play. Dad, meanwhile was heavily invested in one of his many blog-rewrites so I had to wait to post my blog after his.

Felix is pictured here with his biggest admirer, Cinderella-April (you can almost see the hearts in her eyes) at the Active Moms And Tots Halloween Party that Grandma Peggie took him to. This was the year of true involvement in Halloween for Felix. He carved several pumpkins, almost totally by himself. He insisted on decorating (cobwebs everywhere) and had no fear of his own costume. He rearranged our garden graveyard many times, no longer too freaked by the zombie decorations. He had all the appropriate terms down, sometimes saying all parts of the script at once, “Trick or Treat. Happy Halloween. Thank you. Your Welcome.” I even heard him say to his best bud Charlie while waiting for a door to open, “Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat.” On Halloween night , he elected to go see a well-decorated house even though it was starting to sprinkle and when the rain came down heavier he chose to return home satisfied that he had collected enough.

When we got home he quickly removed his shoes and dumped his bag and said, “Now I get to eat my candy, right?” He has determined that peanut butter cups and tootsie rolls are his favorite candy, while Oreos still top his favorite ‘sugar food’ list. This morning's daylight savings extra hour was spent watching the scariest of Halloween scenes: Felix high on candy! He was drooling, running in circles, saying crazy things and generally acting like there is an impending crash involving tantrums and tears. (This is as far as I get in my blog as he has declared he’s going potty and my duty (pun intended) is to check to make sure he wiped properly.) Ah, the joys of motherhood.

Halloween V

I have just been informed that Renae and I will be having dueling blog posts as we both tripped over each getting to our laptops to blog about our Tru's Spiderman Halloween.
The days leading up to Halloween were wrought with worry as Felix was grappling with a cold and the threat of rain from the always looming rain clouds. Though even through the illness, Tru continued to show his excitement by decorating the porch with spiderwebs and spiders, and carving four of his own pumpkins.
Then, with the 31st upon us, Felix had conquered his cold and we spent the day in downtown Renton trick-or-treating the shops with friends Charlie and Clara, and enjoying a little carnival type thing with his friend April.
Our plan was to have Renae stay home to hand out candy while Felix trick-or-treated our neighborhood. But when Charlie and Clara stopped by for dinner they convinced us to join them in visiting cousin Rooney and trick-or-treating his neighborhood. The four friends, Felix, Rooney, Charlie, and Clara, had so much fun discerning the participating houses and eagerly running up to the doors. It was neat to see the camaraderie between these four in their mission to collect goodies. After about an hour, Felix wanted to get back to our neighborhood and hit some of those houses. We said goodbye to our friends and headed back home where Renae took him around.
The weather had been good all day, even a little warmer than past Halloweens; warm enough that our pumpkins were showing signs of mold days before they had in previous years. Though, as Renae and Felix were out, we got a bit of a downpour. I hurriedly blew out all the candles in the pumpkins, turned out our lights, and got in the car to drive around looking for them. I did find them when they were almost home, and by that time the rain had really subsided and they were fine. We can't complain, originally the forecast was for rain beginning at four o'clock, a little bit of a shower later in the evening was fine.
The next morning, Tru ate a bowl of cereal and then rushed over to his candy. He culled out the ones he didn't like and gobbled up a few of those he did like. Subsequently, we got to see, up close and personal, a sugar rush. Felix was literally running in circles in the family room, singing and saying non-sequiturs.

Cousin Ailbe and The Ways of the Ninja

On Monday, October 19th, Felix welcomed his new cousin, Ailbe Pippen Wade, into the world. His Aunt Susan delivered earlier that morning, and Tru met her that afternoon. Initially, he was very interested in seeing her as he sat right next to me as I held Ailbe. But he was apprehensive about touching her. Eventually cousin Rooney showed up with Grandma Peggy and Aunt Annie, and they kept each other distracted. But finally, one of my siblings has a daughter.
Also, as you see to the right, Felix's latest school picture is out. Renae scanned that picture and posted it on Facebook. That is where I took it from and may explain why, though I indicated 'medium', the picture is so small on Blogspot.

So, as Renae tells me, there are occasions where Felix accompanies his good friend, Charlie, to karate lessons. I think Rooney goes as well. I can only guess that that is where he learned his skills, though I'm quite sure they don't use sticks. Anyway, we painted the kitchen last week which is a remarkable accomplishment as that task was begun seven years ago. When we put on the addition to the house the kitchen was to be painted then but it was only primed. So for seven years we've had nothing but primer on most of the kitchen walls. With everything out of the kitchen and the walls dry, Tru took the opportunity to use the empty space as a stage and demonstrated Ninjaesque prowess.
There is also a heartbreaking story about rejection that Renae should really be relaying but I'll tell you what I know. Renae was volunteering at the school and had to look on as some older kids coldly rejected Felix's efforts to play with them which caused him a good deal of pain. When Renae told me about it, I had just gotten home from work. I was angry that someone would hurt my son like that, but they're just kids and they aren't tactful. Though he was home now and the moment had passed, I just wanted to hold him. It must have been awful for Renae who had to witness it. I love you, buddy.

Point Defiance

Last weekend we went to the beautiful Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma. As far as content, I prefer Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, but the view overlooking Commencement Bay upon entering Point Defiance Zoo is truly stunning. An exhibit Felix particularly enjoyed was that of the walrus. As you can see in the picture above, there is a giant window into the walrus tank. We watched four walruses cycle through the tank, they would swim far enough away we couldn't them on the other side of the tank, then they would rapidly approach through the mock rock formations and glide across our view up against the window. It was cute to hear the assembled kids ooh and aah as the walrus passed.

The other day, I busted out some of my old vinyl records. At first, Felix objected because he wanted to watch TV. More specifically he wanted to watch Pokemon. He found some old videos of Natalie's and Megan's in the attic. Now he's hooked. It looks like we will go through Pokemon all over again, though this time I will know more than my kid. Anyway, he soon started to enjoy the music, particularly Lloyd Cole and the Commotions' "Love Your Wife". So much did he enjoy it that he began to dance! Not bobbing up and down in the same place, but big swooping movements, it almost looked like interpretive dance. By the end of the song I had gotten the camera. He told me he really liked that last song and when the next song came on he began to dance again. Though he liked the song, he didn't like it as much as the other one and consequently tamed down his dancing. To that song is the dance that I captured.

And then, last Friday (I guess that would have been prior to the zoo), Trumie wanted a bowl of cereal, so he scaled the cabinets to get it. I was so amazed I ran and got the camera and then took him off the counter so that he would do it again. He was not happy with that. He threw a bit of a fit and felt it wasn't worth doing again. I apologized, explained what I was trying to do, and told him that I was wrong for doing what I did without consulting him. I really did feel like a jerk. Anyway, that seemed to console him enough. I should include this: when he first tried, he had his socks on. I saw him unsuccessfully attempt the climb and thought "there's no way". He figured his socks weren't giving him the traction he needed, so he took them off. I still doubted him. What a jerk I am.

The Trouble With Pickles

While visiting his good friend Charlie, Felix and his good friend came up with a story about a pickle. Charlie's old man, Daryl, provided much of the animation and expertise. Pickle Story 2 was narrated by our Truman.

Felix has begun full days at school. We were a little anxious about how he would take it, but, as Renae tells me, it was like he was just at school the day before. He seemed more at ease about it than Renae... until Renae experienced the six and half hours of time to herself. I have noticed a huge increase in something called "bon-bons" on the expense reports I make her submit. I kid, Renae works very hard in that time.
This past weekend we attended a picnic at Felix's school. The school has an impressive garden that Renae and Felix helped establish last year. Here you see Felix picking an ear of corn.We were able to harvest over 40 ears, which I think is pretty good seeing as that our garden yielded one ear. He also demonstrated his bar agility skills as he traversed from one end of the bar to the other using only his hands. He was very proud of that. This is something that he would not have even tried not too long ago. I was very happy for him.
After the picnic we headed over to a barbeque at, Felix's friend, Finn's house, where Finn's old man, Mike, had just completed an elevated deck with a fantastic view over Puget Sound (and surrounding neighbor's yards). It really is very cool, and as night fell, Kendra busted out some safe n' sane sparklers:

Felix's First Real Haircut

Usually, cutting Felix's hair has fallen to me... because I'm cheap. In actuality, it's because Felix wouldn't allow anyone else to cut his hair, though there are two exceptions: about nine months ago, our friend, Kelly, took her son and Felix for haircuts at one of those places that specializes in children with the barber chairs that look like trains, and before that, by his aunt Rachael. Both haircuts were terrible, sorry Rachael. So I continued to do a mediocre job until Renae said that she wanted him to have a "good" haircut for school (which begins next week). So after a little bit of "I don't want a haircut", I asked him again last Friday and he agreed. We walked down to our neighborhood barber (where I go) and Kelly (not the one named earlier) gave him his first "good" haircut.
Several weeks ago, Seattle made the national news with record high temperatures. On July 29th we hit 105 degrees, which I understand is the record now. The next week was a succession of 90+ degree days; which was great because the following week was my vacation and we were going three hours drive North to Vancouver, Canada to spend several days at the beach. Day one of my vacation we saw the bottom drop out; temperatures in the low to mid sixties the entire week. Not only that, after I can't remember how many weeks without rain, we got storms. The next week, the week I returned to work, we saw the return of beautiful weather as temperatures got to the mid-eighties and low nineties. It was perfect.
Anyway, our vacation became mostly a staycation, though we did still head up to Canada for some of it. We went to Vancouver's version of Seattle's Pacific Science Center (our membership got us in), and a visit to Stanley Park. We also trekked up to Capilano Suspension Bridge, which Renae and I took the girls to probably over a decade ago. Back then, the day we went was pouring rain and a crew was filming a scene for the TV show Sliders, staring Mr. Rebecca Romjin. Renae was nearly petrified crossing the bridge, she tightly gripped the rope railing while baby shuffling across the expanse. Jerry O'Connell and another actor from the series were behind Renae, amused by her terror. To walk across the Capilano Suspension Bridge was free back then. It is not free anymore, in fact it is now $30 a person. $90 to walk across a bridge Renae wanted nothing to do with anyway? Forget it.
As for Tru... he seems to be really excited about discovering that some numbers added to either the same number or a different number, makes an entirely different number. "Daddy, daddy, three plus two makes five!"
Yesterday, Natalie was over spending time with Felix and asked him if he wanted to watch anything, he answered "anything you want, kid".

Jobs, Chores & Under-employment

It has been too, too long since I posted. It is hard enough to get time to work on the computer and keep my business going, but time to post all of the many changes and events in our lives is too much to ask. However, I'm recovering from eye surgery and found it affords me just enough visibility to see what I'm typing, but not enough to work with numbers and be a functional bookkeeper, thus, you get an updated post!

We've had a busy summer, Felix and I. My work has slowed enough so that we are spending a great deal more time together. While dad has been working away we've taken off to Ocean Shores to help celebrate Grandma of the Century winning Postmaster of the Year. We also spent a good deal of time in Puyallup jumping on the trampoline, heading over to NW Trek and viewing lots of baby animals this year. We've made the most of the $3 theater nearby and we've hung out at the water park, the lake, and the river. Felix is learning to ride his new bike and plays often with his new Lego sets. We've had play dates and baking days. We have been to carnivals and Seafair. Enjoy this picture of our jedi at the Torchlight Parade.

In the spirit of Maria Montessori we've been working on more independence from our little man. I've been encouraging him to learn how to handle all of his personal hygiene in the bathroom in anticipation of full-day preschool in the fall. We're still working on that. I've also put my foot down and refused to assist him in dressing anymore. He didn't approve of that change and so tried out a new term he must have picked up, "Mom, you're fired." Apparently, he sees my job as helping him get dressed and if I'm not willing to do that than I might as well leave. Hmmph. If only that qualified me for unemployment.

Anyway, he's also taken on some chores around the house. We decided them together and they are:
sweeping (spreading the dirt around)
mopping (sloshing water around)
raking the leaves (like when do we ever do that?)
feeding the dogs (well, almost regularly)

He does, however, take full responsibility with the chickens. He spends a great deal of time in the coup, harrassing, I mean taking care of our pullets. He follows them around the yard for free range time and can gather them up when it is time to put them back. He's diligent about watching his hands afterwards. He really cares for those little gals.

In Utero

I came across this picture on my computer and realized that we never posted it on the blog. This image of our then yet to be named, Trumie, is from 12/8/04.

Felix and the Dark Side

Quite a bit has happened since the last post so where to begin? Let's start with Star Wars. I don't recall if I've mentioned before that Felix has discovered Star Wars and after several viewings of each of the movies, he has identified himself with Anikan Skywalker. His fondness for Anikan came despite Felix knowing that Anikan becomes Darth Vader (sorry if I ruined the movie for anyone). Though, in the end I suppose, after killing millions of people, causing untold suffering, Darth Vader, with his dying breath, made peace with his son. So he was a good guy after all. Anyway, my point is... what I'm getting to is that Felix found some of Renae's makeup, took it to the bathroom, and applied it to his jaw, chin and above his lips. Very pleased with his appearance he turned to Renae and told her "I look just like Anikan Skywalker". I am now editing this in: With Renae's help, it has occurred to me that it may not be apparent why Felix thought he looked like Anikan. You might remember that, after pod racing, the bottom half of Anikan's face got dirty where the top half was protected by goggles. That's what Felix was referring to.
As most of you already know, we have chickens; and to help Felix better understand chickens Renae picked up a book about them from the library. The other night while reading that book to Felix, we came across a page with a picture of a hen with three chicks under her wing and three chicks in various places on the page. As I was reading that page Felix interrupts me to say "Two threes is six" And then more confidently, as he became sure he was right, he adds "Three plus three is six". I thought that was pretty cool seeing as we haven't gone over anything like that with him. And as we are on the topic of chickens, follow this link to a pretty funny video of Felix trying to catch a chick: Okay, I can't get the "insert link" to work, so just cut and paste this link into your browser:
http://thedynamicchickens.blogspot.com
Last week Renae went garage-saling (a verb in the 'burb) and came across a boss Spiderman bike with training wheels, and just days before that Felix was asking for a bike. Anyways, I wasn't there when he first got to ride it but Renae did take several short videos and I was able to see him progress from being very tentative to very comfortable. As he excitedly told me when he got home, he was very pleased at how much faster he could go on this bike compared to his trike.
One last thing I almost forgot; Felix had been sleeping on a mattress on the floor. We were afraid that he would accidentally roll out of bed onto his hard wood floor. He asked us for a bed frame the other day and now he has one. He is very happy with it, and has managed to sleep the whole night in his bed a few times since we put it in.

Folklife and Chickens

We had a beautiful Memorial Day weekend here in Seattle, and after spending Saturday gardening and preparing for the arrival of chickens , we spent Sunday at the Seattle Folklife Festival. Natalie met us down there and we also kind of celebrated her 21st birthday which was the following day, so we couldn't celebrate with booze.
It is now June 2nd, I have been trying to get this post out for over a week, and much has happened in that time... well, some stuff has happened in that time. First, though, I'll finish up with Folklife Festival- Right as we walked in, Renae spotted a stand where kids (I suppose adults too) could build little wooden boats. For $2 you got some basic supplies like a rudimentary keel, some dowels, nails, string, cork, and some other things I can't remember. Anyway, Felix loved it and was so proud of the boat he built. He drilled the hole for the mast, attached a plastic sail, nailed a couple of corks that he said were seats, and nailed nails around the edge of the deck and wrapped a string around them to define the edge. As proud as he was you would think we'd have a better picture of it... but we don't.
The boat was really the highlight for him, but he did get some time in on the drums. A close second was the fountain, though he would not get wet. There is a steep concrete ramp that slopes down to the fountain that Felix kept running down; it scared me every time he did. I tried to place myself in his path to slow him down or stop him if he tripped, but he kept going around me.
So the big news is that our chickens have arrived. You can see them by following the "Los Pollos" link to the right. He is still unsure about holding them, but he will pet them. He has thought up several names though can't seem to settle on one he likes enough. But I will cease with the chicken talk as it all can be found by following the link.
One last thing I thought was very funny: Renae and Felix were lying in bed the other morning when Felix turned onto his belly and asked Renae to rub his back, as she did Felix groaned out "oooohhh yeah ooohhh". He then asked her to scratch his back, "oh yeah, yeah, that feels good".

Mr. Greenish Thumb

Not unlike getting chickens, putting in a vegetable garden was something we talked about for years and are now finally getting around to doing. I built a 32 square foot raised bed a foot high, and borrowed a truck to haul in a cubic yard of a topsoil and compost mixture.
Felix and Renae got it started a couple weeks ago by planting about a dozen beans or so in an egg carton. Felix was careful to remember to water his little seedlings most days as they sprouted on our window sill, some days he needed a reminder. He used a squirt bottle that he would often turn on the dogs. Last night he saw to a successful transplant of most of those bean sprouts. Last week we planted many of the plants that are in there now. Felix was initially eager to help but lost interest pretty quick. His favorite part was turning on the water. This week though, he was much more engaged. Perhaps because they were his babies. We also got him his own little shovel- sometimes that's all it takes.
Look at him; so self satisfied as he surveys his work.

Rockin' the Suburbs III

About a year ago I watched a show on PBS called 49 Up It was the latest iteration of a series that began 42 years prior as 7 Up, a documentary of several seven year-olds. The filmmaker returned every seven years to film these people and document how their lives unfolded. By 49 Up, some of the subjects had declined to further participate and one woman, who said that this would be her last, said something that stuck with me- she said that having her life documented in these seven year increments depressed her and that she has gotten very anxious upon the approach of the next episodes. With a few exceptions, many of the participants exuded a malaise about their lives and having them chronicled this way.
This, of course, gets me thinking about Felix's blog. I so appreciate the technology that allows me to so easily record and share with others my perspective of my sons life. I enjoy rereading past posts, and remembering things that I might have otherwise forgotten completely. But as he grows older, becomes more sophisticated, learns to read, and understand himself through others, he may not like having so much of his life detailed in cyberspace by his biased father. I'm probably being more wistful than is necessary; I hope so. I love you, Felix.

I was asked by a friend to play drums in a band comprised of people who don't yet know how to play instruments. I agreed. So far, this is the fruit of my decision:Thankfully, during the addition to the house, we had the good sense to have all the walls of that room insulated. The first time he played I had him put on the headphones and explained that that is to protect his hearing. He is so conscientious that when he feels like playing, he just goes into the room, puts on the headphones, and bangs away.

Pachycephalosaurus

Straight up wrestling is not Felix's favorite. He will ask to wrestle but it will turn into some other type of combat that includes some kind of gimmick, such as becoming a transformer, or busting out his lightening powers, maybe picking up a toy hockey stick and using it as a gun. As for myself, I'm generally not a fan of the gimmicks. I don't get a lot of cuddle time with Felix and had hoped to use wrestling as a ruse to sneak in a hug. Tru saw through it until he (unwittingly) and I developed a wrestling game were the point was to wrestle the other one down and kiss their head or cheek as many as you could get in. It's one of his favorite games now.

Another game he came up with is "Pachycephalosaurus". About two weeks ago, while wrestling, Felix suddenly declared that he was a pachycephalosaurus, he lowered his head, got a running start, and speared me in the chest. I was not expecting it and he seemed very pleased with himself. It is also now a favorite game of his.

Getting to know more family

My biological dad flew up from Augusta, Georgia to spend 10 days in Seattle after 25 years away. We've been keeping in touch over the phone for the last ten years and he finally had a chance to come for a visit. Dave's son, Josh (19), joins the Navy next month and wanted to see Seattle and visit all the local family before his 4-year commitment. His daughter Hannah (17) was on a mission trip to Haiti and so couldn't join us but there is hope that she'll be up here in the next year.


I was telling Felix about them as we circled the airport drive to pick them up and Felix asked if his Uncle Josh was a he or a she, and when I said he, Felix asked if his hair was like Uncle Tyler's! Then he asked if he would chase him like Tyler does. At first he was so deadpan I wasn't sure what he meant but then I remembered the way Felix last taunted Tyler into chasing him down and tickling him. I wasn't sure what to say. Dana, the girls, and I had met them all in Florida some years ago and my shy teenage bio-brother, Josh had said only a handful of words to me then. Luckily, he surpassed the previous total of words just on the way home and we all got well acquainted. Both Grandpa Dave and Uncle Josh took to their roles very well over the next week as everyone got to know each other. Felix relayed all his vast knowledge of dinosaurs and transformers to a fresh set of ears (thank goodness, as mom's brain was melting from Felix's recent non-stop motor-mouth). They played and snuggled over books and Grandpa even held a few babies when the AMAT group met at my house for the monthly Toddler Baking Class. I thought these two bachelors would have culture shock when 9 moms, 9 toddlers, and almost as many younger siblings arrived but they seemed right at home. The biggest culture shock might have been the fact that we recycle so diligently here and we actually believe that global warming is real! Guess we are a bunch of conspiracy theorist nuts! (I'd like to think that we converted them to environmentalists and that they'll take it home and it'll spread like a virus across the South, but then I think they'd be hoping I'd be saved by now and that didn't happen over this trip either!) All in all, it was wonderful and Felix and I were both pouty and sad the day they left.

Easter 2009

As was requested, I've included a picture of Felix with his haircut a-la Dana. The "professional" haircut left the back of his hair stepped straight across along the bottom and over the ears with no tapering, and the top of his head choppy with tufts of hair at different lengths. I could only do so much with the Bettie Page bangs she'd given him.
This year Felix really got into decorating eggs. We had eight different colors and also some tactile adornments- such as spider legs that an egg could lay in. We also had one of those wax crayons that coloring won't adhere to so anything you write or draw will appear after coloring; Tru wasn't too into that. He preferred dropping the eggs into to the different colors and making new designs to which he would state "how cool is that?".
Felix was eager to see what the Easter Bunny had brought him Easter morning but he patiently lied in our bed, waiting until mom and dad where ready. This was our first Easter morning without Natalie and/or Megan which was a little sad, but it made for a pretty relaxing morning. Natalie did come down later in the day, and our usual hosting of Easter dinner for both sides of our family and some friends, didn't work out this year, but Aunt Annie and Susie and their families did come over.
This past week Renae's biological dad, Dave, and her brother, Josh, came up from Georgia for a visit. I would tell you all about it, but I'll leave that to Renae. I will say that Felix was pretty bummed when they left.
The video below was shot by Renae while I was at work. I can only speculate on what was happening but I thought it was cute so I posted it. I didn't know if Renae would.

Vanity Hair

A couple of months ago Felix asked that we allow his hair to grow out; he wanted it longer like a couple of older boys in his class (one, coincidentally, is also named Felix). Though Renae and I didn't like how his hair looked, we let him choose how he wore his hair. But what became apparent was that Tru has phased vanity into who he is.
A couple of weeks ago our friend Kelly took her son Charlie to get his hair cut, and Felix, who's hair was fairly long by then, tagged along. Somehow Felix was convinced to get his hair cut. He told me later that he just didn't want it long anymore.

The pictures of him grooming are just before the haircut. He had it in mind how he wanted to look. By the way, the haircut they gave him was terrible. It looked like the haircutter's only goal was to shorten his hair. Upon seeing the sloppy job done I had mentioned out loud that it just would not do and fixed it myself. It looks much better and I openly congratulated myself on what a good job I had done. But as for Felix's vanity- I just don't know how that happens.

Half a Post

I'm only including the above picture because... well, who doesn't like a picture on a blog post? Actually, there is a short story I meant include in the last post but forgot, and who knows if I would have remembered it for the next post.
A couple of Saturdays ago, while Renae was in New York, Felix asked me if the following day was a school day. I informed that it was not to which he elatedly exclaimed "Yay-hoo", while raising his fist in the air. I then crushed that glee and let him know that the day after that would be a school day, to which he somberly expressed "no-hoo" with a weak, half fist-pump.

While Mommy's Away

Within Tru's first year of life I got this supercool idea to include my sleeping infant in a film of camera gimmickry. Two years ago I remembered it and went to post it when I discovered that I lost the tape. I figured it was gone forever until just the other day Felix's grandmother had included the short on her Facebook page from a file I emailed her soon after I made it. I now present the long sought secret video that proves the supernatural:
Renae is currently enjoying a vacation in New York City. That leaves Felix and me to fend for ourselves. In seriousness, I have been looking forward to this because I don't get a lot of love when mommy is around. And then, as my luck would have it, I caught a cold. I felt well enough except that by Saturday it really hurt to talk. Playtime was a lot of me trying to communicate and respond to Felix with hand gestures and whispers, and trying to alleviate his frustrations with my lack of enthusiasm.
Sunday I felt much better and we headed to the Burke Museum at the University of Washington, where we met up with Tru's pal, Finn, and Finn's parents. We had never been there but I told Felix that there was a casting of a full mastodon fossil there that he became very excited to see. The mastodon did not disappoint... however my picture will. Very soon after this picture a very nice gentlemen told us to cease with the taking of the pictures.

We sneaked (spell check is telling me 'snuck' is not a word) in another shot. I got Felix standing next to a casting of... I guess the equivalent of an apatosaurus radius, I don't know what names they ascribe to dinosaur bones. They're probably the same, huh? We also saw an allosaurus which I got wrong and Felix got right. As we approached it I asked him what he thought it was and he pointed out that it had longer arms (longer than T-rex) and three fingers on his claw-hands so it was an allosaurus. I said "I don't know, it looks a little small for an allosaurus". I checked the little placard and Felix was right. I should have listened to him, he dreams about being an allosaurus.
Afterwards we went to lunch at Schultzy's and Felix got a hot dog he didn't eat because it had a little black on it. And after that we spent some time with sister Natalie at a park before she went to work.

Alright, I'll try to wrap this up. It is true that I got Felix a camera for his birthday and this is a picture he took with that camera. It is one of many, many pictures he has taken... with his camera... not mine. Besides, Felix is really pleased with the picture he took.
And lastly, the picture below was taken by Renae before she left. I don't know a lot about what transpired, or where the class was, or who else was there, I do know this, though; I asked Felix if I could bring that picture to work and hang it in my office and he said no.

"This is a very nice gift you and Dad got me."

Four! 4! Four years old! How did it go by so fast? He is so grown up. Here he is in his class today handing out treats to his friends and then showing the book he donated to the school in honor of his birthdays . It was the sweetest thing. Each kid said either "Happy birthday" or "Thank you" and he had to say "You're welcome" 24 times. He was concerned because his best buddy at Montessori is Jonah and the entire time Jonah was in the bathroom so he missed everything, including the song/dance Felix got to pick to do, Skip to My Lou. (See video below.)

Then, after school (while I went to Dusty's memorial service at the VFW) he went to Chuck-E-Cheese with his best friend Charlie and his family (thanks Kelly). He had a blast, got more transformers and won pirate gear (for next year's Seafair parade) and was glad to find that Natalie was waiting for him when he got home. We ordered pizza and breadsticks, his favorite meal apparently, and watched WALL-E after opening his presents. Ahh, the presents. I'm a little embarrassed at how the pile of presents this year resembled Rooney's. We'd been setting things aside for several months and then Dana still had to run out and buy Felix a...digital camera. (I'll let Dana explain that one in his next blog.) Anyway, Grandma Peggie sent some dinosaurs and a great dinosaur encyclopedia to settle all those conflicting facts in out-dated library material and Natalie got him a dinosaur book with a 3-D model he (we) can put together.

After eating 3 mini brownie cupcakes he was finally ready for bed and when I left to get Natalie to read to him he said he would just look at the stars on his ceiling (from the solar system model I got him) while he waited for Natalie, and then my little man, so sweet and polite said what is music to my ears, "This is a very nice gift you and Dad got me." What an angel. I'm just as spoiled as he is.