SuperFly

(Please disregard the bit about there being no photo for this post. The camera was found in Megan's disaster of a bedroom.)

I have some bad news: no pictures this post. We can't find our camera. This is unfortunate for I had what I believe to be a very cute picture of Felix posing with his SuperFlys on. At times Felix will fancy himself a superhero, he will actually say that he is a superhero and strike poses. He does not have any costumes so I imagine he pretends he is wearing one, honestly, I don't know, but Natalie got an idea to help spur an imagined superhero Hermes. She tucked tissue into the tops of his socks giving them the appearance of winged sandals. He called them his SuperFlys, and flitted around the family room demonstrating his super speed. It really was very cute, it's too bad you can't see it.
We are transitioning Tru to his bed, and it is going very well. My goal was to establish somewhat of a routine where, at around 8:30, we would lie him down in his bed and read some books together and maybe he would drift off to sleep. It hasn't quite worked out that way in that he has only drifted once since we started this about a week ago. But that is okay, the first night I tried this with him he didn't fall asleep. I told him that it was bedtime now, and that I was going to read in my room, and he was fine with that. He already had his little night light on, and after I left, he turned on his moon reading light above his bed. After a few minutes, I peeked around his door frame and saw him lying in bed looking at a book. This is exactly what I wanted to happen. The next night, Renae tried and wasn't quite as successful. He cried when she tried to leave. I went to relieve her and I was able to comfort Felix as he picked up his jar of little plastic animals. He will still come into our bed in the very early morning. But I don't mind. I liked having him sleep with us for as long as he did.
If and when we find the camera, I will post his SuperFly picture.

The Mouth on that Kid

Alright, a few weeks ago Renae was supposed to blog what I thought was a very funny story, but she still hasn't gotten to it, and I have an even funnier story that I wouldn't be able to blog about because it would overshadow hers, and be out of order. So I will tell hers and then mine.
Felix is at that stage where nearly everything you tell him, he replies with the question "why?". I don't want to discourage his curiosity so I answer as best I can, though at some point I usually end up saying that I don't know. I have found what I think is a good solution; after he asks why a couple of times, I will ask him why does he think. Sometimes he considers it and forms an answer himself, other times he'll say that he doesn't know and then drop it. About that three weeks ago, Renae tried this tact and got a completely different response. When she asked Felix why he thought whatever it was they were discussing might be, he responded, "No mommy, I say the whys".
Now on to my story which took place about an hour ago. Last Saturday night I "won" some cookies at my company holiday party. So tonight, Renae went down to her sister's for a little while and I thought she took the cookies with her. Just about an hour ago Felix asked about the cookies and I told him that mommy has them in her car. Our little Truman then says "Damn it, mommy". I try not to give it any attention, hoping he'll soon forget about this phrase. "Damn it, mommy", he says and I wonder if he is trying to get a reaction. He then looks up at me and reassuringly says, "Daddy, you can say it too. Damn it, mommy", as if I wanted to say it but wasn't sure if I should. I tell him, "I don't like to say that, I don't think that word is very nice." To which he offers, "Then I'll say it for you, Daddy. Damn it, mommy."
On to other things. I was playing around with Felix's hands and noticed something a little odd- I think he is double jointed in his thumbs. I wasn't sure if that was the case or if perhaps all or most little kids thumbs will bend that way. So I go to check Felix's cousin Rooney's thumbs and he freaks out as soon as I touch his hands. So I still don't know for sure, but I think Trumie is double jointed.

Santa Claus is Coming to Felix

Here you see Tru enjoying the warmth of a blanket he received from his great-grandmother from Chicago. This year was a pretty special Christmas for us in that Felix was completely aware of what was going to happen. He was excited about the prospect of receiving an item from Santa that he specifically asked Santa for. Can you guess what he asked for?
The night before we asked Felix if he wanted to leave some cookies and milk out for Santa. So he carries them out to a little table we have near the fireplace and then after a moment of consideration, asks us if we should provide something for the reindeer. So we put some carrots on the plate as well. But Felix is not done yet, of the two cookies on the plate perhaps, he reasons, Santa needs only one of them.
I'm sure many of you had already reckoned, Santa had imparted unto Felix a backhoe. To help us distinguish his new favorite backhoe from his others, he refers to it as his "Santa backhoe".

The Imagination of Felix Truman

Our little Trumie thought that we needed someone to guard our back door and decided that it would have to be him (nobody else would do it). What a guy. Anyway, something I meant to blog about several months ago, but kept forgetting to, is my realization that Felix had developed an imagination. When it first occurred to me, he and I were playing with some of his blocks building a little house. He said that we need a door to keep the cat out (we don't have a cat) and that the cat's crawling his way over so we have to put it up right away. Eventually, as he told me, oh no! the cat was now crawling on me. I had to wrestle it off and he suggested we run away from it. As we were hiding from the cats (it had become several now) I noticed one crawling on him. He clutched it and then threw it on to me, giggling "now it's on you". What a weasel. Since then we have wrestled as alligators, eaten like squirrels, been squirrels that have eaten alligators, and have been in several different situations.
He has allowed us to pass.








As it has been awhile since I last posted, I'll throw in some seemingly unrelated pictures. See if you can guess what they all have in common. I'll reveal the answer in the comments section.


Not only has Felix developed an imagination, he has also developed quite a mouth. A couple of weeks ago while Felix was atop Renae, she asked that he stop doing something, she doesn't remember what it was, when Tru grabbed her face in both hands, looked at her and said, "Honey, don't talk to me that way". The other day, I was in the living room telling Natalie and Renae some story in an animated way, Felix comes strolling in and demands "Hey, settle it down". And the anecdote I'll leave you with happened a couple of days ago, and I have no idea where he got this phrase as we would never say it to him. Truman is over at his little table and chair in the kitchen when he kicks over his chair and says to himself "I kicked over the chair". Renae, who is nearby and overhears him, asks him why, and he answers "Maybe I'm not a good listener".

"He will miss his mommy"

While Dana was at a class, I took Felix to soccer practice on a beautiful autumn day. We parked a ways away from the field and enjoyed the walk through the dry crunchy leaves. On the walk back to the car after practice, Felix picked up a stick that he wanted to bring home with us. I suggested we leave it with its other trees instead (reluctant to start the inevitable habit of bringing home every rock, bug, stick, etc. found). Felix was matter-of-fact in his desire for the stick to tag along, so I acquiesced. However, within a few blocks he expressed concern that the stick would “miss his mommy and daddy” and was insistent that we return to reunite it with its family. Not feeling in any rush, I humored him and circled back. Unfortunately, when the time came to relinquish said stick to the earth, Felix changed his mind. So once again I exited the park on our way home. By the time we got to the light, his regret in not returning the stick had become full force whining. By the freeway, it was whaling, and by our exit, it included tears. I had no desire to repeat the drive only to fail at negotiating the stick out of his hands again, so I continued on, hoping he would get over it quickly. There was no persuading him - we returned home, stick in hand, tears streaming. “It will miss his mommy and daddy. They will miss him. Go back. Go back.” As I cuddled him and helped him ease into a nap, he tucked the stick into bed next to him, still expressing concern that it would miss his mommy and should be back in the park. It was on his mind still when he woke but forgotten by the following week’s practice. The picture above is with Felix's best friend, April.

Halloween III - Felix's Revenge

Felix celebrated his third Halloween and I can't believe how fast this is going. Last year I thought, "Felix may need another year or two to really appreciate Halloween, I can't wait until then", and then it's here. He loved Halloween, we had so much fun. He'd knock on doors, say trick or treat, take the candy, and thank them and leave. We gave him a bag that was too big, so we carried it for him most of the time. When the door was answered and as he said trick or treat, he had his outstretched hand with his clutching fingers giving the 'gimme' motion. Anyway, that Halloween I wistfully spoke of last year has come and gone. As you can see above, Felix was Peter Pan, or Robin Hood, or Link, or an elf. Whichever he was, he was adorable.


Before we get too far into Halloween I will share with you what I think became a cute picture. It was a Friday, a day that most of my stories with Felix take place, and he tells me that he wants to work on stuff. So he grabs his bucket of toy power tools, puts on his goggles, has me put on goggles, and then drilled some stuff while I sawed stuff.
Alright back to Halloween. Here are a couple of pictures at the pumpkin patch. It may look familiar to some of you. Rooney was there with Susan a couple of weeks ago.

And here he is carving pumpkins:
Just before we took Truman out for trick or treating we were trying to take pictures of him when he got this idea that he wanted us to take a picture of him from behind. We asked him to stand still and I can see him thinking and then he says "take a picture of my back" and he turns his back to us to take a picture. And to make sure we were, he'd look back at us while turned around and say, "okay, take a picture".
I still don't know why he wanted that picture, and it wasn't in lieu of taking a frontal picture, he just wanted a picture from behind.
Here he is with his haul. We took some of it, actually, we took it all and I gave it out at my work. And before I get a bunch of comments about how I stole his hard earned candy, I'll tell you that Felix doesn't care for candy too much and he didn't care that we took it. He does like chocolate though, as long as it is just chocolate.

Felix in Chalk

These pictures were sent to me by Felix's uncle, Tyler. Unfortunately I don't really know the story behind these other than the photograph was taken by Tyler and the drawing is from that photo, chalked in San Luis Obispo by someone I don't know. Tyler was going to email me the tale of how this came to be; perhaps he'll leave that in the comments.

It tickles me that my sons portrait was captured in a street-chalking in a different part of the country be someone that doesn't know either of us. My thanks to that woman.

Return of the Sockeye

This past weekend Felix and Renae went to Albuquerque New Mexico's Hot Air Balloon Festival, and we will have a great post on that once we get the pictures from Tyler. But prior to their departure, Felix and I took a walk down to the Cedar River to watch the salmon returning to spawn. If you enlarge the picture to the left, you can read about the life cycle of the Sockeye salmon. The area we walked to (which is just across the street from our little neighborhood) is a park up against the river. You can walk out onto a foot bridge that connects the park and the parking lot over the river, but Felix and I found a hidden path down to the river. It was pretty neat observing the fish that close. When salmon would splash about in the shallow water, Felix would point at it and shout "I see the fish" or "the fish is splashing". It was really cute.
Our walk to the Cedar River was the Friday before Felix and Renae left for Albuquerque (they were gone from Saturday until this last Wednesday), and as much as I like spending time with Renae and the family as a whole, I really enjoy my Fridays alone with Felix.

Part of the Chase Crew

Felix and I had a wonderful time in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the annual hot air balloon festival. My mother and grandmother are regulars at 'the Fiesta' and have asked us to join them many times before. It seemed Felix was at just the right age and I had the technology and flexibility to take my work with me so had no fresh excuses this year.



Felix was quite the trooper the entire trip, from the long plane rides to the early mornings out on the freezing field waiting for balloons to fill and the air to warm up, to long hot car rides chasing balloons, and finally to get some breakfast and then go sight seeing before going to bed just in time to get up and do it all over again. He would cling to me, and often to Grandma, without saying a word, hardly showing any expression but taking it all in.

He was fascinated and exhausted at the same time. His only melt down happened to be a big one, he scratched my eye in a tantrum and I was left in severe pain and blinded until we got back to Seattle. (They had a wheel chair for me at the airport and put me through a separate security line.) The pictures hardly do justice to the panoramic views and truly awesome sight of so many balloons in flight at once.

Cake

I finally got around to clearing the memory card on my camera and came across pictures from when we went to the zoo last May. I had intended to compose a post of this but I.. uh... was busy with... well, it was a long time ago so I'm sure I have a very valid reason. But, because it was so long ago I have forgotten exactly what happened that day. I will try my best to remember, though details are a little sketchy:Here is a picture of Felix with the leopard he wrestled. Not out of anger, but in playful fun. It was a new program the zoo had put together to get kids more in touch with nature. Of course the leopard was declawed, missing all it's teeth, and under a fair amount of sedation, but his fur was really soft. Felix kept pulling his tail and the leopard didn't mind at all. Kudos to the zoo, they've really trained him well.
A peacock also caught the fancy of young Truman. The peacock didn't do much other than block our entrance into Zoomazium. Well that's it for our trip to the zoo back in May. But as a bonus, I've attached some random pictures that span from May until August-





You may remember a similar picture of Felix but with the goggles on top of his head. I forgot to include the one where he is wearing them.

Perhaps Renae suggested that I include pictures of her with Felix. Yep, maybe.



A recently discovered picture of Felix at the beach and Trumie enjoying a Dove ice cream bar.



Felix and his buddy, Rooney, gossiping over yogurts, and, if you look closely, Felix in a running stride (both feet off the ground).



A blog post can be metaphorically described as a dessert: you have the frosting or the pictures, and the bready part or the text. We tolerate the bread part because we lie to ourselves that that is the healthy part, it's bread, it justifies the frosting. But that is what we really want- the frosting. And that is what I give you with just enough bread so that we can still call it cake.

Never too late?

I logged on tonight and realized that I have several drafts that were never published. I'm going to publish them now and hopefully you'll still find the stories relevant and entertaining.

May 2007: Sleep, Sleep, Sleep
May 2007: The Windy City
June 2007: Toot Toot Tooing

- Renae

Felix Truman Simpson?

This is what Felix looks like Simpsonized. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have of little Tru this post. I've been very busy at work this month and have had to put in overtime. That has not left me much time to snap pictures. Sorry.
Before I forget, my uncle Kevin and Aunt Fran took a trip to Napa Valley and toured Mondavi Winery. They sent me this picture though I'm not sure why. I did my best to decipher this code but the best I could come up with is 'iron 59', whatever that means. I'm not sure why they thought I would know it's meaning, I'm not some kind of Rosetta Stone.
Anyway, Felix has made up a word. I'm not talking about some gibberish, or a couple of cute, nonsensical syllables thrown together to describe something he doesn't know or can't enunciate. Outside my bedroom window is a cherry tree that spiders love. Consequently, we will often get a spider making a web in the window frame. So Felix, Renae, and I are sitting on our bed watching this spider make her web. Felix really gets into watching things like this, he points at it, asks what's it doing, makes comments about it. This time, after she had been busy for a while, the spider stops for about 30 seconds or so and then starts up again. Felix got very excited and told us, "Look, he's spideying again". Spideying, as in 'to spidey', is the new verb invented by Felix. That is not to be confused with Spiderman's goofy little nickname that is too juvenile for a grown man, or the adjective that describes his radiogenic senses. Sorry webhead (a more age appropriate nickname), it's Felix's.