Tuesday, July 31, 2007

For The Love

Gamble's very expressive, and we're trying to find alternatives to help him express frustration in a positive way. He hears people around him expressing their feelings, and wants to do the same.

Recently, he's been saying "Oh, for the love..." in exasperation. Of course, when I heard that, I kept saying "Oh, for the love of Jeff!" so now he says it all the time. I can find only one reference to this online, attributed to Moe Szyslak.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Latest Bad Guy

Today in the car on the way home:

"God is the mostest magnificent bad guy."

Where Gamble gets this stuff is beyond me.

Random Babble

This morning at 3:30, Random was fussing enough that Nicole went to her. When she walked in, she heard Random say clearly, "Baby... Hungee..."

Yesterday, I could swear she said the world "girl" as she was lying there kicking her little aquarium to start and stop the music. I repeated it, and she said it again, sounding more and more like "guhhhl".

Eerie coincidences? Overactive parental imagination? Either way, it's too cute not to write about.

Poole's Tragic End

On the way home from baseball practice today, Gamble started off by telling me and Nic's dad that the first Poole had died.

"What?!? Why?!?" This is an increasingly common response to things he says.

"Well, he died, because he became a bad guy."

I think I know what he's talking about but I dig a little deeper. "Gamble, how did Poole get to be a bad guy? He's a good friend of yours"

"Well, he was really sad and then he died."

Oh dear, I guess I didn't see any of this coming. He continued, "It was because God made the Jackals, and that made him so sad that he just died."

What I'm most impressed is how this short conversation integrates so many of the things that he's had on his mind lately. He occasionally asks about God, the Jackals are all the people in the world that we don't like (especially traffic), his best imaginary buddy Poole is semifrequently present, he's been talking/worrying about dying lately, and of all things, he understands that extended and extreme sadness can turn an otherwise good guy into a bad guy, who often dies in the end.

You know, like Count Blumiere turns into Count Bleck because he lost his love Timpani in the Wii game Super Paper Mario? Right?

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Gamer Style

So Nicole was doing pictures last night, uploading them to phanfare, and I was sitting down in my little floor-rocker, playing a little "Sonic the Hedgehog" on the Wii virtual console. We heard a familiar bump, bump, bump down the steps.

The sound is reminiscent of Christopher Robin dragging his chubby little cubby downstairs behind him.

Gamble comes around the corner and sees me playing, and he lights up. "Daddie! What are you playing?!?"

"I'm playing 'Sonic', Gamble. We play it at your haircut place." Cool Cuts 4 Kids, way the hell out in Algonquin. They have a Thomas table, there are three stations with Gamecubes for games, and while the kids get their haircuts, they can watch DVDs or play games. He loves going to get haircuts almost more than going bowling. And most recently, he's been playing Sonic there.

"Oh yeah? Ok, well I'm going to watch."

Keep in mind it's about 10:00 p.m. What could I say?

"Uh... Ok."

So I played a little bit, and he kept yelling to dodge the bad guys, avoid the hot lava, generally prompting me to thank him for his sound advice. I loved it. At this point, I noted that he was doing the peepee dance.

I told him to go to the potty, and he told me that he didn't want to miss anything, so I had to pause the game.

While he was gone, Nic looked over to me and said, "Well, you wanted a gaming buddy. Looks like you got him."

Well, maybe not forever, but for now, I'm going to enjoy it.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Dying of Thirst

So I've been watching a lot of Man vs. Wild on the Discovery Channel. So sometimes Gamble watches with me. It's a survival show, so sometimes the topics turn that way.

We were talking about the idea that you need to eat and drink to live. I pointed out to Gamble that you need to have food, but that you can survive for a week without it. I pointed out that without water, you wouldn't expect to last three days.

I was tucking him in the other night, when he looked up at me very seriously and said, "Daddie? I'm going to die tomorrow."

"What? What makes you say such a thing?"

"Well, Daddie, I haven't had any water for two days, so I'm going to die."

I had to explain to him how many things water is actually in, and that he was, in all likelihood, not on the chopping block for the following day.

Sigh. I forget how literal they can be.

Friday, July 20, 2007

I Don't Do Poopie Diapers

I'm pretty busy, these days, so Nicole's sending me quite a few stories to put up here.

Yesterday morning: "So Gamble, Mommie is going to be home late tonight so it will just be you and Random."
G: "But Mommie, I am too little to stay by myself."

Finding this cute, Nicole ran with it.

M: "Oh, but Gamble, you are four now. I think you can handle it."
G: "But, Mommie, I don't know how to mix up a bottle for Random."
M: "Well, what if we left it sitting out pre-measured and you could just add it to the pre-measured water."
G: "Well, I suppose that would work, Mommie... But what about the diapers?"

Impressed by his thinking ahead, I told him that we would lay those out too. Adimmantly, he agreed that if we could lay it out, he could change her diaper but very matter of factly said "I don't do poopie diapers."

M: "What? Why not? Don't you want to help your sister if she has a poopie diaper?"
G: "Yes, Mommie. Of course! But that is when you will need to come home."

Pointing North

Overheard in the car this morning (or would have been, if anyone had been there with them)

Gamble: Mommie, you are going North.
Mommie: Wow, Gamble! You know about North, South, West, and East?
G: Sure do. You are going North.
M: Actually, Gamble. I am going East.
G: No, Mommie. You are going straight, and so you are going North.
M: Well, Gamble. That is true sometimes but sometimes, like now, I am going East.
G (Indignant): No, Mommie! You are going straight and so you are going North. It's okay, Mommie. You just haven't learned that yet.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Forehead Stickypants

Occasionally, Gamble really gets us good. This time, it was Mommie's turn.

I can't recall how it started, but Gamble started saying "Forehead Stickypants" as a name for something. He was dancing around all over the place and repeating it.

Mommie was amused. "Hey, Gamble. That's a really funny name... 'Forehead Stinkypants'... HA!"

Gamble didn't hesitate. "Ok, Mommie. I'll just call you that from now on."

Luckily, he soon forgot, and Mommie does not have to retain the sticky, stinky moniker.

Feeding Time

Random is now on solid foods. It's a testament to how much I've been focused on other things that I've not mentioned it here until now. She's been on solid food for a few weeks now.

We started her on rice, and the first day she was not happy with it. Not at all.

The second day, however, she couldn't get enough. She ate as fast as she could, and she had both her hands up, trying to grab the spoon to shovel the rice into her mouth.

She continues to eat the rice for lunch, but at dinner time, she now gets to start up veggies. For the past week, she's had green beans for dinner, and she loves them!

This week will introduce peas or carrots, depending on what Nicole wants to give her.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Dancersize

Gamble had a free Dancersize session this past week, and he really enjoyed it. The problem is that we've currently got him in JungleBus (next two months, courtesy of Nic's folks for his birthday), and don't want to overload him with stuff.

When asked, he said he really enjoyed Dancersize.

"Why?" asked Mommie.

"Because I get to dance. And then I get to size!"

Monday, July 2, 2007

Poole the Phoenix

Just before bed tonight:

"Daddie? My friend Poole is up past the sky."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, that Poole died. There's a new Poole. He's the same, except the first Poole died. He flew up into outer space."

I personally think that his theology lessons are getting mixed up with his astronomy lessons in a "hey-your-chocolate's-in-my-peanut-butter" Reese's kind of way.

Kim

Ok, and if having an imaginary friend named Poole who's never around isn't bad enough, Poole's friend Kim is a riot.

Gamble told Nic's parents the other day that Kim was both a boy and a girl. "You know," he said with confidence, "a transformer!"

But no, that's not the kicker. I was talking to him the other day and asking if Kim went with Poole to baseball practice.

"Nah," he said. "She doesn't have hands."

"What? Why not?"

"Well, Daddie, she got bit by a mosquito, and then she went to the doctor and he cut off her hands."

I was always warned my children would be a handful, but I'm not sure I expected this from a four year-old.

New Motions

Well, Random is now using both hands to pull Nicole in for kisses, and she's now holding her bottle in both hands.

This, as you may imagine, is a blessing. You'd never think of having a free hand as being such a treat, but it can be.

Also, when she's hungry, she starts tenting her hands as if reaching for a bottle. She's so cute, and so amazing to watch.

Play Ball

So although he didn't get Batter Batter Baseball for his birthday, Gamble did play a lot of baseball on Saturday. He demonstrated himself to be a little slugger, so we enrolled him in Tee Ball.

He starts Thursday.

The only real potential issue I see is that he likes to hit the ball, but not off the tee. He said he likes it pitched to him. We'll have to see how it goes.

Watch this space.

The Age of Aquarium

Almost 5 months.

That is to say, she's stopped the satanic growling, but she still sounds like a little aquarium...