Thursday, December 20, 2007

He Stands Uncorrected

It is Christmastime, my favorite time of year. It was 9 years ago that Nic and I started dating, and even then, both of these wonderful children were not even eye-glimmers.

Gamble's been going through a rough stage of defiance and boundary definition. He is clearly trying, struggling, and really wants to be a good boy. Most of the time, he doesn't even seem to care that it's Christmas, and he's not spooked by the idea of not getting presents.

Sometimes, however, he is concerned.

Before they left for Ohio, Gamble and I were talking about being good for Mommie while he's gone. He said he wanted to be really good.

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, because otherwise I'll get bacole."

"Uh... Buh-cole?"

"Yeah! Bacole. And I don't want Santa to bring me a bacole, so I'm going to be a very good boy."

"What are you saying, Gamble? Bacole?"

"Yeah, Daddie. If you're bad on Christmas, Santa's going to bring you a bacole."

Ah. I get it. We keep telling him that if he's not good, he's going to get a lump of coal. Except I'm pretty lazy sometimes, and I probably say "lumpa-coal"...

I didn't correct him. I've corrected him too often. How I miss him saying "buggage."

Merry Christmas, everyone! Hope you don't get a bacole!

Monday, December 10, 2007

Whistler's Daughter

Sometimes it's hard to tell just what kids like. And sometimes it's not.

Random likes it when I whistle. Has for over a month now. You can really tell that she likes it, as she lights up and smiles so big when I whistle, usually along with one of the music toys in her crib.

That's weird, too. I figured that most people find whistling annoying (except the whistler, that is). Or maybe she just loves her Daddie!

Random Ran-ta Santa

Well, she didn't run, but if she could have, she would have.

We took a family trip to the Woodfield Mall this weekend. It's not far from our place, and is insanely busy this time of year. A long time ago, our band Lost Dog wrote a song called Parking Lot about this kind of craziness, and it's always a treat to see it in action.

You never know exactly how a baby's going to react to Santa. I mean, he's a big guy, and very iconic. Random loves her Baby Einstein Christmas video, so she's seen plenty of his image. That, and you're handing her over. She's leaving your company, if only for a minute, to be held by a stranger.

But we were unprepared for her reaction. She could not take her eyes off Santa. She was utterly agog. Transfixed. Looking up at Santa with her eyes smiling.

Which is okay for her, but it made it tough to get a decent picture... We did it, but she only looked away for a second or two at a time. When I did finally take her from Santa, she wouldn't look back at him. I don't know why, but either way, I think we made her Christmas season.

This year, Santa is making a special visit to the baby girl only. He's visited the boy cub for the past couple years running, and this year, the girl cub gets an exclusive Santa glimpse. I think based on her mall experience, it will make her Christmas.

Manicure

Random's nails grow really fast. They grow so fast that Mommie has made the check for long nails part of the bathtime routine. The funny thing really was that the first time she went to do it, Nicole held her hand out for Random's hand.

And in one precious, perfect gesture, she put her hand out. Not like a baby, but in a dainty, girlie way. She didn't reach out - she presented her hand for her manicure.

I almost didn't believe her. Tonight, I left the boy at the dinner table and went in during bathtime for baby girl. As I watched, she put her hand out, and Nicole clipped two of the nails. She got distracted and dropped Random's left hand to talk to me.

I watched in disbelief as Random extended... her right hand. Could have been lucky, but could she have known that Mommie wanted her other hand?

They know more than you think.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Will

With the newest child upstairs cooking at the moment, I thought I'd tell a quick story:

We were browsing through the videogame section at Target, G and I.

We do that a lot. Most games are too old for him, or too complex for controlling, but he continues to ask to play them. He prizes his game time with Daddie, possibly above everything else, and he’s currently in the mode of finding out about the characters in the games he likes. He’s into almost everything Mario or Pokemon at this point.

So we’re browsing the games in Target, and he’s saying something. As usual, I’m partially listening, and he keeps talking about someone named Will. “Daddie, what’s that game? It’s for Will.”

And, of course, I have no idea what he’s talking about, so I tune in. “And that’s another game for Will. And that one has Mario and Sonic. It’s the Fi-nal Count-DOWWWWNNN!” he finishes, singing almost at the top of his lungs. This cracks me up so much that my brain realizes who he’s talking about.

Up in the upper right corner of each game case is the “Wii” logo. Gamble reads really well, but sometimes, it’s obvious he’s cheating, trying to fit words he knows in after a few letters. Once I figured this out, I corrected him, and now his cute little tendency to talk about Will games is gone. Bit of a shame, actually.