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.