I know it's three weeks old but I'm finally getting around to blogging about Valentine's. This was Felix's first Valentine's Day at school and with Kelly's (Tru's good friend Charlie's mother) help he made "love bugs" rather than bringing cards. That is, of course, a tray of the love bugs in the picture. As Valentine's was celebrated at Felix's school on a Friday, I got to drop him off and pick him up. At school he made some kind of Valentine's headdress (pictured) that he had to wear for at least the rest of the day. Even when we went to Trader Joe's for our weekly shopping trip. (Felix waited very patiently to get to make that headdress and made a long beaded necklace with me at the Valentine party. He was a little shy with other moms that day but he was determined to get into one of the last spots open at that station. I was proud of his tenaciousness and patience. - added by RH 3/10/09)

Last weekend Felix visited his first art museum, the Seattle Art Museum, he liked it well enough; the lobby had Ford Taurus's in various states of a flip. I'm not sure why, anyway, Felix was amused by it. Here he is standing underneath one that is suspended from the ceiling.

As I probably mentioned before, Felix is really into dinosaurs right now. He is actually pretty adept at identifying various types of dinosaurs. Such is his love for dinosaurs that... well, here is the story: At around 5am the other morning, it's still dark and we are sleeping in bed. All of the sudden Felix exclaims, very clearly, "I'm pretending I'm an allosaurus". Because it was dark I couldn't see his eyes though I could tell he was facing me. I put my hand on him so that he knows I've heard him, he then raises his arm and has drawn his hand back with his fingers spread apart and curved as if to make a claw. I then do the same, but he didn't do anything else, as my eyes adjusted I could now see that he was still asleep. That whole scene was so cute, I almost woke Renae to tell her about it. Also, he said it so clearly I didn't even think that he might just be dreaming.

And finally, last week we lost a very dear neighbor. Dusty was 95 and lived in our neighborhood since it was built in the early 40's. (Felix and Renae regularly visited Dusty. At first Felix just feared this old man that required shouting in order to hear and always asked Felix if he was ready to play football but after some time he warmed up to him. When Dusty moved into assisted living Felix would make himself quite comfortable at his apartment and entertained a lot of the other residents. - added by RH 3/10/09)

After his death, Renae and another neighbor, Jennifer, were working on his memorial and got access to a lifetime of his photos, photos from when he was a baby in 1913, his time in WWII, the passing's of his first and then second wife, through his years in our neighborhood. He will really be missed. The below picture is from 1964, in front of his house, the house across the street from us. (This was Felix's first encounter with this part of the circle of life and it has opened up some questions for him but the hardest part for him was giving up so much of his time with me while I cared for Dusty and then helped wrap up things up after he passed. Hopefully things will settle down more now. - added by RH 3/10/09)

The Duality of Man

I saw a movie years ago where a Marine was being questioned by an officer on why the Marine's helmet displayed a peace sign and also the words "born to kill". The soldier answered he was trying to express the duality of man. Felix also expressed the duality of man, though he did it with a little more flair than the Marine had.
Every night Renae and I each take a turn reading to Tru. Usually Renae reads first, and then I come in and read until he falls asleep. The night this story concerns itself with, I read first. After reading about a half-hour, the norm for the first reader, Renae takes her turn. As Renae told me what Felix told her something that is one rich reward for parenthood. "Do you know why I love daddy?" Felix asks Renae as she lies down to read, "Because I just do." Renae soon begins to read and Felix interrupts her to say, "I really love daddy, mommy, I really love daddy". I wanted to cry.
The weekend before last, Renae, Felix, and I used our membership pass in it's last several days of validity to visit the Seattle Aquarium. We had a great time and ended our visit at the aquarium cafeteria. Felix is picky and didn't eat much. He had a hamburger that he didn't like. The hamburger was pretty good, but it wasn't what he was used to so he didn't eat it. Oh well. So we're driving home and Felix tells us he is hungry and that he wants to go to an "eating shop". We tell him he can wait until we get home. No! He wants to go to an eating shop. And to demonstrate just how much, he throws a tantrum. I really didn't want to hear it, Renae and I are trying to reason with him, explain his options, but Felix is unmoved. Actually he is getting very mad, he picks up and throws a book at us from the backseat. It was actually kind of funny. In the rear view mirror I can see him looking around for objects to throw. I'm kind laughing and thinking to myself 'Wow, he is really angry'. He's reaching for items but he can't get to them so he takes off his shoe and throws it. Bam! he got me, though only on my arm. It did kind of hurt though. Renae immediately turns back to him and sternly warns him to never throw anything at the driver. I think he realized he crossed a line. He settled down though he was still unhappy. As a reward for settling down, we took him to an eating shop. No we didn't.

Felix's new 'passion' is dinosaurs. Before I get into to that, I think I need to acknowledge the fantastic asset to society the public library system is. Anyway, after reading all the books on dinosaurs he wanted to see them at the Pacific Science Center. Here he is posing with a couple of feasting deinonychus's (I don't know if my plural is right).

He hasn't given up on space, however. He enjoyed a chance to sit in a replica of a Russian space capsule. Actually, I don't remember if it really was Russian.


And lastly, Renae made a little robot costume for Felix. I thought it was pretty resourceful of her, I was about to throw the box out.

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The holidays were a lot of fun with Felix. He really got into them this year. Each day he couldn't wait to open his advent calendar(s). One of his best friends, April, is Icelandic, so in our holiday traditions this year we included the 13 naughty little Icelandic Santas that come each day before Xmas Eve. These Jule Lads included such names as Door Slammer and Bowl Licker. It was really quite fun to explore a new cultural tradition and I think we'll keep it up. Felix enjoyed checking his boot each morning to see if one of them had left him a treat. (The only day he actually deserved a rotten potato, as is the tradition, was on Xmas Eve, and I just didn't have the heart to do it.)

His first gift of the holidays was a pair of Transformer shoes from his big sister Natalie. This was the year of the Transformers and the only thing he told Santa he wanted was an Optimus Prime. When Santa asked Felix if he might want some trucks or trains, Felix said, "No, just an Optimus Prime Transformer." Then on Xmas Eve his Aunt Susie gave him an Optimus Prime and a Megatron so he figured everything else was just extra from that point forward. Christmas morning he opened a large Optimus Prime from Santa, wrapped in Transformer wrapping paper even, and exclaimed, "I got two transformers for Christmas!" Well, when all was said and done he had 7 transformers and mom and dad are becoming experts at transforming these sometimes too complicated machines, repairing torn off legs, and sometimes exclaiming, "He wants to stay a car right now." His last gift was a transformer lunch pail from his big sister Megan.

We spent Boxing Day (the day after Xmas) at my moms house and opened presents there, including, you guessed it, transformers. Mom hadn't even intended to give him some licensed transformers at first, she got him a Handy Manny truck that transforms into a workbench, but when he happened to catch her showing me the back up gift Bumblebee action figure hidden behind her back, she caved instantly. Now came the 27th and Felix woke and went to the calendar and his boot looking for what he might get next. Sadly, he cried like any middle class American boy, "there are no more presents for me to open"...he is now focused on his birthday in March.

A River Runs Through It

That footbridge is in a park across the street from us, it crosses the once tame Cedar River. The water level is normally at least ten feet lower than what you see in the picture. While we were there we heard a loud bang as a rather sizable fallen tree slammed into the center supports you see. I suppose that is why the bridge was closed. The flooding in our area closed Felix's school as the river engulfed the road and driveway leading to his school. Luckily, the school itself was unscathed, though it created a lot of anxious parents until we found out.

A little over a mile down the river from us sits the Renton library. It straddles the river. We had a great view of the debris that got ensnared in the flood water's grasp.

However, the flooding could not deter the spirit of the holidays as the school holiday concert (delayed due to Seattle Snow Storm 2008) was held at a neighboring school. With the holiday break, the snow days, and then the closure due to flooding, it's remarkable the kids remembered their songs. Felix thought the occasion called for a collared shirt, he even asked for it to be tucked in. This was Tru's first concert and he was a little tentative, but he made sure he stood next to one of his best friends at school, Jonah, and he was fine.

Our Holiday on Ice

We had a pretty busy holiday season, on December 20th we got together with all of Renae's family in Seattle. That was the first day of Seattle Snow Storm 2008. I don't know if that was the title the media gave it but it probably was. It was dry when we arrived at the hotel at around noon, but by 9:00 or so that night we had about six inches. Felix loved it.

We did some shopping that day, we trekked through the snow to the Westlake Mall. They have this display were an image is projected from overhead on to the floor. The image projected is interactive, I don't know how it works but the kids loved it. Look at that homeless guy sleeping on the floor in the background. I laid a dollar bill on the ground next to him.

The next morning we braved the snowy/icy conditions several blocks for doughnuts. Felix had his favorite: powdered doughnut chased with chocolate milk. In all my years of parenthood I have learned that kids really like sugar.

By Christmas Eve we received even more snow. More snow than I have seen in this area in the 13 years I've been here. Our house is in a bit of canyon and we tend to get a little less snow than surrounding areas, about two inches less. But you can see how high it comes up on Felix.

Before I get anyone telling me how little snow that is, and how they routinely experience several feet of snow, please note that in Seattle we don't see that kind of snow. We see maybe a couple of inches a year. Remember, this snow fall was given a title by the media!

Christmas Eve evening we went to cousin Rooney's were Felix scored an Optimus Prime, a Transformer. Transformers are Tru's new passion. That is what we play now when we wrestle; we pretend we are Transformers. But Transformers are not the "begin all, end all", they do have their deficiencies, such as not shooting black arrows. I only know that because Felix will stipulate that before play- "I am Optimus Prime but one that shoots black arrows".

Tru's sister, Megan, came for a visit over the Christmas holiday. He was very excited about her pending arrival and had a lot of fun with her while she was here. Natalie also stayed a couple of days. I had my first White Christmas ever this year where I didn't have to go somewhere else.

Later on Christmas day, we had family and friends over and I managed to capture not one picture, sorry. But here is what it looked like from our front door Christmas morning. I shoveled our driveway with a little hand held garden shovel. Not really.
Lastly, I've included this picture from Dec. 26th of Felix with my hat on solely because I thought it was cute. We spent Boxing Day with Tru's grandma and grandpa in Mount Vernon.

King of the Potato People

A week ago last Thursday, Renae dropped Felix off at my work for the last half hour while she went to a meeting. I gave him a pencil and paper to keep him occupied and when he finished his picture he tells me "Look dad, I drew a picture of me". His first self portrait. Sorry my photography isn't very sharp, Felix is the little mass in the lower right hand corner. His aunt Lisa says that Felix is at the stage where he draws "potato people".
The next day Natalie came for a visit and Felix drew these creatures for her:

Xmas Photo Fun

Dana had this great idea to take a Norman Rockwell type photograph for our Xmas cards this year. Then, as he bitterly let me know last night, I took it over and become some crazy control freak! Surprise, surprise. Anyway, Felix was a little reluctant to wear the tuxedo I had found for him but his obsession for all things black won him over and he donned the suit and joined us in our home made portrait studio. Dana and I did our best to remain in character while Felix did his best to squirm out of the shot or grab at my 'nurses'. Luckily, we had secured my brother, professional photographer Tyler Wilbourne, to take the photos and we managed to get a few shots worthy of Dana's Big Idea. Here are a few of the rejects that I still adored. The prize winning selection will arrive in your mailbox next week.

Dana insisted I couldn't post the blog until the cards had gone out so I hope you are enjoying them now.

Prepping For Santa

This year we got our Christmas tree from Felix's BFF's grandmother's (did I use the apostrophes correctly?) tree farm. Charlie's mother has taken Felix there on days she watches him for us, so, being familiar with the layout, Felix was able to direct us to the perfect tree. This was our first year getting a tree without Natalie and/or Megan. We definitely missed them and the way they would name the tree before we hacked it down. Anyway, while driving out there we would ask Felix if we were going the right way. He'd look out the window, consider the terrain, and then inform us that we were not and that we had to turn around. When we did make it to the farm, upon pulling into the drive way, he did let us know that this was it. Later that day we saw Kelly (Charlie's mother) and told her how Felix kept informing us, when asked, that we were not going the right way and that we had to turn around. She thought that was very funny and told us that is because she always accidentally drives past the farm and then has to turn around.

As you can see, Tru is wearing a hooded sweat shirt. Apparently he decided to turn off his super-skin for the day, maybe it wasn't working, who knows. I'm just glad he wore something. Though I suppose I should just accept that he'll know when he is cold enough to wear a coat.

Renae and I had so much fun decorating the tree with Felix this year, he really enjoyed being a part of it. We figured out ways to have him involved in every part, from putting up the tree, picking which lights to use and stringing them, and then which decorations he wanted to put on and where. It reinforced something I've always believed: kids want to be involved and they want to be an active participant in their parents' lives, not just the other way around.

Why Does the Sun Shine?

This song has become a favorite of Felix's. He learned it from listening to Renae and me sing it to him. The day after I took this this little video I found the original version on the internet. It's by Tom Glazer, from and album called Space Songs, released in 1959. Some of you may know this song from a They Might Be Giants cover.

We spent Thanksgiving Day in Puyallup at Felix's Aunt Rachael's house. What you see him holding in the picture is about what he ate for Thanksgiving. Maybe not quite that limited, but he wouldn't eat any Turkey. I worry about the nutrition he is not getting due to his picky eating; he won't even eat a kids multivitamin. It's gotten to where I have to crush his multivitamin in his cereal without him knowing. He'll read this some day- I pulled one over on you, son. Renae recently purchased the book "Deceptively Delicious", it's the book Jerry Seinfeld's wife is getting sued over. I think it's misnamed, I think it should be called "Deceptively Nutritious". Wouldn't that make more sense? What is the deal with... Never mind.
Natalie gave Felix an early Christmas gift:

They light up when he walks and they feature Transformers. Awesome.

Felix Enters the World of Politics

I had planned a post-election post, but then... well things happen, or don't happen. Anyway, my intention with this blog is and has been for it be about Felix exclusively. Well, I guess I can't say that as Renae started the blog. I can say for my part, I try to keep this free of items that don't directly pertain to Felix, so I did grapple with posting anything regarding the election. But this election will affect Felix as the president-elect will be a very different president than the current tragic failure. Obama will be replacing a president who once bragged that he ran against peace and prosperity and won. That win gave W a mandate to deliver us from peace and prosperity, I guess. Mission Accomplished. In the wake of his disastrous tenure, Bush and his neocon ideology leaves America (including my son) two unresolved failing wars, the magic trick of turning the largest budget surplus into the largest budget deficit, the worst financial crisis since the 30's, a massive expansion of the national debt, a massive wealth redistribution that has created a wealth gap that rivals that of the Gilded Age, an impending depression, and Al Qaida stronger than before his presidency. It is an extraordinary legacy, one that all of us and, most importantly to this blog, my son will have to pay for.
On election day, Californians narrowly passed the bigoted Proposition 8. In what is surely just a coincidence, California is now on fire. Last Saturday, in cities across America, rallies and marches took place to protest that decision. We picked Natalie up from her party house in the U district and took her and Tru to Seattle's rally at Volunteer Park where an estimated 6,000 people partook. The march that followed would have been a little too much for Felix so we walked over to the playground. On the way Felix found a very special stick that he put in his back pocket. After about an hour or so of play and 1/2 mile walk back to the car, Felix realized he no longer had his stick. He was very upset and explained to us that the stick was "very important to me". Some of you may remember a post from about a year ago (Nov. 2007) that Felix assigns a back-story to sticks he has found; so we knew how important it was to him. We drove back to the playground- the playground surrounded by trees, in fall- and with Natalie's assistance, Tru found his stick.

On a lighter note, Renae got this idea to blow up pictures we took on our 2003 trip to Europe and frame them. While laying them out Felix came by and saw a blow up of a portrait type picture of Renae and me taken on a water taxi in Venice. He snatched it up, walked out of the family room, and said "I'm gonna hang this in my room". This is a picture of him slumbering soundly under that picture.

Halloween IV

Our Halloween began a little early. The Sunday before Halloween some friends of ours invited us to go along with them to the Pumpkin Prowl at Woodland Park Zoo. Apparently it is an annual event, and as I was told by a participant from a bygone year, it was pretty lame. I'm not sure what it was like the year they went, but I thought it was pretty cool, and more importantly so did Felix. Our friends, Kendra and Mike, have a near two year old son, Finn, and they brought the 5yo son of a friend of theirs, Gabe.

This is the best picture I was able to get of the three boys together, that's Finn in the hat, Gabe in the green, and our Trumie in the black hoodie. Sorry, I should have tried harder. Anyway, Finn is still a little young but Felix and Gabe had so much fun together running through the haunted-house decorated Zoomazium, looking at the hundreds of pumpkins the zoo had lining the paths, and collecting the various goodies being given away at the stalls.

Felix has reached the age where he is fascinated with superheroes, thus he chose Batman as his costume. Above you see him standing next to our attempt at a graveyard in our front yard. The skeleton lights up. Felix really enjoyed going door to door, though initially he was a little shy. At the beginning of the day we had rain, but a little before dark the sun came out. It evaporated the water on the ground and caused an eerie mist throughout our neighborhood, it was great. I tried to take a picture of the house, with the mist; this is what I got:

Felix at the Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend Renae and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in Port Townsend, the town in which we got married. Felix got to spend the weekend at his Aunt Rachael's, thank you Rachael. This post is not about last weekend, but the weekend prior; the weekend we visited the pumpkin patch. There is not too much to tell so maybe I'll load this post up with pictures. You'll notice our little Trumie is not wearing a coat, that is because we had beautiful weather for a Seattle October. Also because, as Felix told Renae, he doesn't need a coat because he has "super skin".


One last thing, Renae's brother, Tyler, is staying with us for a short while. Felix is enjoying having his uncle around. Tyler didn't come with us to the hunt for pumpkins and is not involved in this post in any other way. But how about some more pictures?


Those two (two, of course) little pumpkins Felix spent a lot of time selecting, they had to be just right. He also wanted to get some "big, little pumpkins", which means medium sized pumpkins.
Speaking of 'two', I just remembered a story from last Friday while Renae was working- There is a show on PBS that Felix enjoys called Wishbone, a show about a live action dog that stars as the main character in a retelling of several classic children's tales. He also has a new favorite color: black. As you know Felix likes things, he also likes to combine things he likes. In this case, while he and I were playing with some blocks and making a little dog kennel out of them, Felix went for the trifecta: two, black Wishbone dogs were the imaginary occupants of his kennel. He then expanded on his characters, they were a daddy and a little boy Wishbone. He also told me that there was a "mommy Wishbone, and a little girl Wishbone, and another girl Wishbone" he begins and looks me in the eye, slightly tilting his head and says mournfully, "but they are dead". But the daddy Wishbone and the little boy Wishbone had names: Dana and Felix. I was touched.

Felix's First School Portrait

Things Felix's Generation Won't Know

Roll down your window? Hang up the phone. The actions these terms describe are no longer relevant. (Well, we do still have a manual window in the Geo, which sadly has to be used to operate the door since the inside door knob broke off, but you get the point.)

Felix pointed to something the other day and I was very confused and couldn't make out what he meant for sometime. I was describing how the humidifier worked and he asked me what the mouse was for. I didn't figure it out until the next day when we played with tanagrams and he repeated the use of the noun mouse for this directional identifier. See the picture below, Felix doesn't call that shape the term we might use. He calls it a mouse. As in the cursor on a computer screen.

Why are Bad Guys Bad?

I see myself as a pacifist and yet I've got a boy who is obsessed with guns and shooting (well, "pewing" is the term) and Bad Guys. Felix sees bad guys everywhere. He pews them all day long, stomps them, runs from them or after them. There is definitely a love-hate relationship going on here. He wants to be the black spiderman for Halloween. The other morning on the way to school he asked, "Why are bad guys bad?". I was quiet while I struggled with the answer, wrestling with some inner-demons no-doubt, so Felix suggested in his let-me-quote-Mommy-voice, "Maybe we should get a book about that at the library today?" The librarian directed me to several books with titles such as: Patience; Tolerance; Kindness; and Why War is Not Good (which was a very touching and honest children's story). However, I'm still struggling with the question, as we all are really. Dana and I teased about it having something to do with conservatism and republicans...but I don't really think that. Perhaps the answer to that will be left to Felix's generation, along with our debt, bank bailouts and the disastrous affects of the Iraq war. Truth is, bad guys aren't all bad, good guys aren't all good, and until Marvel introduces the Not So Naughty Grey Spiderman, I'm just not sure how to explain that to a 3 year-old.