Friday, March 26, 2010

Most elegant afternoon with pretweens

Its cold again. I should be used to it by now - the off-again on-again relationship that Seattle has with spring. Now we're budding, now we're scraping ice off the windscreen. Now we're planting summer seed, now we're wondering weather the early blossoms will make it through the night.

Wren has been miserable with the onset of rain. He dislikes the experience of water falling from the sky. What's there to like about being WET and COLD. He is very un-local in his appreciation of the barrier of an umbrella which prevents all contact. By contrast, when I suggested Josh take a raincoat to work today in anticipation of watching the first Seattle Sounders game in the cold rain, he said "I have a hoodie."

Frost is similar.

As we waited for the school bus this morning, Wren crying in his raincoat, me in Gortex, Frost stood oblivious in a long sleeved t-shirt.

"Where's your coat?" I asked. "Its pouring."

"Oh, I like it like this," he said. "Its in my backpack."

For the record, Tara walked to work in the rain and had to have Fred deliver her dry clothes to school. It was that wet.

Now the boys are playing a game with Po from Kung-fu panda. Wren was given Po for his birthday and it is a favorite now they have seen the movie. The boys work out big attacks to do on Po, inspired by Po's famous resiliance. He is thrown to the ceiling, tied up in string, thrown down the basement stairs and bowled over with a ball.

In the background I can hear the sad strains of Nouvelle Vague singing God Save the Queen. I love rainy days. The rain provides a backbone of stillness against which everything else [read screaming games, yards of tape stuck to things, shoes thrown on the table, clothes discarded in sodden heaps in the corridor, shouts of "DUDE DUDE YOU HIT ME IN THE FACE"] is tolerable.

Frost has just changed the ipod to play his favorite song, Black Eyed Peas - I gotta Feeling - followed shortly no doubt by Bright Eyes - Road to Joy.

Frost will be a tween before I know it. When does tweenagerness begin? He's clearly pretween now.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Video of Wren Jumping into hammock

Now processing on Youtube. Will be available soon.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Slips of tongue

Wren has been using his increasingly large vocabulary and coming up with many strange expressions. Here are some recent phrases that have me smiling:

"I am pawning" - cutting plants that are too big in the garden and cutting up dirt.

"We must go to TOYS OR US!" Sure does feel like toys vs parents.

"Mummy, mummy. I just remembered the dreams we dreamed. Do you remember? Member we were fighting big robots?" Does Wren think we share our dreams if I am in them? I am confused but it has a strange logic to it.

This afternoon Wren told me a lie for the first time. He had some pill bugs in a tupperware that he was going to keep "as pets". He took them into his room but came out to the garden to tell me that there was a big mess in his room.

"What happened?" I asked, when I saw it. Dirt and water were smeared across the carpet.
"FROST did it." he said.
"But Frost is at school," I pointed out.
"He did it before he went away," suggested Wren.
"Hrmmm" I pondered, looking at the spilled earth, the water, the second tupperware in which the unfortunate pill bugs were now swimming.
"I think you put water in there and then you tried to pour the earth out into the water and some fell on the floor. Is that right?"
"Don't say that!"
"Why did you pour all that water in?"
"You said that we must give them water!" [I meant a little moisture not a few cups... but.. my bad]
"Its ok, we will help the pill bugs and put out some water and let them go...."
"NOOO, they are my pets!"
"Ok, you can keep them a bit but please don't make up stories and tell me a lie about what happened. I won't be cross if you tell me the truth."
"NO. Now I am MAD because YOU say THAT!" Wren glowers at me with arms crossed over his little chest. Turning away fiercely.
"I feel MAD!"