I Hope None of These Are Recycled

The scraps of dialogue are piling up....

*****

Tonight, during a thunderstorm.

Felix: Oh! Oh! I saw lightning, my happy daddy! Daddy, I love you, but I just saw lightning.

*****

On the roof, we see some birds swooping around us. Felix is interested in bringing them home to our apartment. Some discussion follows about the difference between wild birds and domestic birds. I explain that, even if the birds wanted to come home with us, we can't have birds because cats like to eat birds. Felix thinks that's really bad of them.

Keir: Well, we like to eat birds, too. We eat chicken.

Felix ponders the logistics of this.

F: Do we just put the chicken in the oven and cook it for a long time until it's chicken?

*****

K: Felix, do you remember what "recycle" means?

F: Yes. That means, "Throwing it in the garbage."

*****

Felix is very interested in directions, N, S, E, & W, and sometimes even the positions in between. He says things like, "Look, Daddy, there is a sprinkler to the north!"

*****

Everyone's a critic.

F: Sesame Street is quite not the favorite. Let's watch Curious George.

*****

Cosmo is talking, too, and talking, and talking, and talking. Over the past month he's had a real explosion of speech and is using lots of complete sentences. They're not quite as quirky as Felix's. He says thinks like:

C: Mommy, look at me! Mommy, look at me! Mommy, look at me! Mommy, look at me! Mommy, look at me! Mommy, look at me! Mommy, look at me!

Marya: I see you, Cosmo.

C: Mommy, look at me! Mommy, look at me! etc. etc.

Also, "I do dat." "I do it." "I do it all myself."

After engaging in a particularly messy or loud or ornery bit of mischief, he gives an angelic smile and says, "It's funny!"

He'll hide under a blanket or sheet and say, "Where are me?"

More examples coming soon. Frankly, both of them talk so constantly that it's a challenge to get anything down on paper....

Felix's Birthday Picnic

School Boys

Happy Birthday Felix!

Sheboygan, WI

Bike the Drive

A few shots from the annual event 'Bike the Drive' when for an entire dreamy Sunday morning Lake Shore Drive is open only to vehicles without motors.

Heavy Stuff

This is one of those conversations that made me feel choked up, and also worried that it would give Felix too much to worry about. But the lack of trauma is pretty much summed up by his final word.

Felix: When I was a little teeny tiny baby, I rode the Orange Line all the way to the end and then the Brown Line. That was in 1988.
Keir: 1988? You weren't even born yet.
F: 6028.
K: 6028? That hasn't happened yet. That's a long long time from now.
F: Will you be dead by then?
K: Yes, we all will.
F: Why do we die?
K: It's kind of like taking turns. We get a nice long life and then we have to die so other people can have a turn. If nobody died, the earth would get too crowded.
F: Will they ever come alive again?
K: We don't know, but we don't think so.
F: Huh.

Bad Dreams and Elusive Thoughts

Trying to tiptoe out of the kids' room.

Felix: Daddy, I'm having a bad dream.

Keir: You haven't even fallen asleep yet. You can't have a bad dream if you're not asleep.

Felix: ...

Keir: What are you dreaming about?

Felix: I don't know.

(Brief backrub ensues. Keir tries to leave again.)

Felix: Daddy, I'm thinking about...I'm thinking about...I'm thinking about...I'm thinking about...

Keir: ...

Felix: I don't know what I'm thinking about.

That's Just Weird

Felix, sitting sideways in his chair and exploring my armpit with his toe:

F: I could just dig in there and make a home there . . . it's warm and cozy.

*****

A budding environmentalist:

F: They shouldn't cut down too many trees for two reasons: one, because birds need to live in them. Two, because trees need to live. And stay standing.

*****

In bed, gazing lovingly at his tram engine.

F: Toby is just dreaming about Toby. And I am dreaming about Percy.

*****

Admiring the new train gear.

C: Look at that train track is.

F: I am just so happy and next Christmas when Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Wolf come I will be just so proud of them for giving us a diesel train and track supports.

****

On the bus after school.

F: Holy crap! We're almost to Lawrence.
K: Felix, don't say that.
F: But at Josh and Jenni's house, Sarah said "Holy crap!" just to be funny.
K: Well, I don't want you to say it. (Sounding lame even to himself.) Try saying something else, like "applesauce," or "horsefeathers" . . .
F: Poopy. Poopy.

The Chatterbox Cafe

Felix, of course, gets more ink here because he speaks in complete sentences. But Cosmo's been talking a lot more, too, and I've been meaning for awhile to document some of his words and phrases. The only problem is that every time I write down a list of things, I don't get it posted in time, and a week later he's got a whole new line of gab.

A few weeks ago, the list looked like this:

a knocka over (the item was knocked over)

eh milk (I would like some milk, please)

Como (Cosmo)

Como's (Cosmo's)

too much

doo dat (I want to do that, too)

talking bout? (what is the nature of your discussion?)

doing? (please explain your actions to me)

But today, even though he still calls himself "Como" (not like the lake, but like "Kah-mo"), these words and phrases have become phrases and simple sentences. Moments ago, he came in and asked, "What are you doing, Daddy?" And he'll ask, "What are you talking bout?"

Sweetly, when he wants to be carried, he still demands that we, "Carry you." And he shows inclinations toward a career as a professional athlete by referring to himself in the third person: "Hurt Como's head!"

Sometimes Cosmo will sit in his room playing or reading and just talking away. When Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Wolf were here, they called it "the Chatterbox Cafe." Felix remembers that--just the other day, he told me, "Cosmo's in the Chatterbox Cafe!"

You'd Think They'd Have Those in Chicago

Overheard this morning.

Cosmo: Crush my bones.
Felix: Mommy, Cosmo is telling me to crush his bones.
Marya: I don't think he really knows what that means.
Felix: Cosmo, we can't crush our bones because there is no crusher around here.
Cosmo: Crush my bones!
Felix: We can't crush our bones because THERE IS NO CRUSHER AROUND HERE.

(For the worried, this has something to do with some dialog in the Thomas the Tank Engine movie--the bad train tells someone he'll crush their bones, or something like that....)

A few recent (vertical) pictures

Yes. Yes it is.

Just now.

Felix: Daddy, I turned on the light in the hallway all by myself.

Keir: Yes, you're tall enough to do that now, aren't you?

Felix: Yes I am. Look: the light is on.

Cosmo's first day at Park View

Fun in Minnesota

Cosmo's last day at CCC Daycare

Fancible Felix

Already?

Keir: Felix, stop saying "stupid."

Felix: I'm not saying it, I'm just talking about it.

*****

I don't remember the dialog for this, but one day recently Felix described to me how Cosmo left his picture behind at school, and I asked if Felix saved it to give it back to Cosmo, and Felix said, no, he took and and wrote his own name on it.

That may have been the same day that he described arriving "all wound up" so he "got right to work."

*****

Wha--?

F: This morning on the playground, I was just happily playing in the morning sunshine...(mumble, mumble)...despicable.

*****

Honestly, I don't remember what he was describing.

Felix: The colors and sparkles inside were fancible. That means beautiful. They were so beautiful that I called them fancible.

*****

Putting his foot down.

F: I'm not going to eat this dinner that I'm eating.

*****

Keir: What song do you want me to sing first?

Felix: "Holy Grooooooound."

K: (singing) Fare thee well, my lovely Dinah

And a thousand times adieu

For we're going away from the holy ground

And the girls we all love true

F: (interrupting) Daddy, the girls that I love true are Roshni and Paula.

*****

How will these poor people know where to get off the bus?

Marya: Felix, do you want to eat your goldfish?

F: No. I can't do two things at the same time--I can't announce the stops and eat goldfish.

*****

The end of a rough day.

K: Felix, I love you more and more every day.

F: And I just love you more and more, too. And Toby [the Tram Engine] loves Mommy and Cosmo.

(a moment later)

F: Toby is learning "Holy Ground." He already knows "Jug of Punch" and "All for Me Grog."

*****

I'll have to put audio of these songs up. Felix is starting to sing them along with me and it's just...precious.

Happy Birthday to Me

At Cosmo's first second-birthday party (last Thursday, at home, with just the four of us plus Grandpa Tom), Cosmo insisted that we sing the birthday song to him three times--and then sang it a few times himself, for good measure. Here's one rendition:

Happy Birthday, Cosmo!

I See London...

Recounting a recent interaction between him and his friend, Roshni:

F: I said, "I see London, I see France, I see Roshni's underpants." "Ha, ha, ha" Roshni guffawed.

*****

Last night Felix was playing Chutes and Ladders by himself, and was becoming frustrated:

F: Everytime I get to 93 I have to go down the chute to 73. I don't like to go down chutes. This should not be a game of chutes; this should be a game of just ladders.

*****