Wednesday, November 14, 2007

What happened here?

There once was a time when Calvin's sweet little not-so-on-pitch voice was a joy to hear...



Fast-forward another year and a half and it's a slightly different story. He gets pretty worked up about the whole process. I think Noah's face is classic.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Things I thought I'd never see: Part 1

It only took 3 years and about 4 months to see Calvin finally at a loss for words. A few months ago Calvin accompanied me to the very prestigious Great Clips so I could get my hair cut. The highlight of his experience was easily the big bowl of suckers by the cashier. The answer to the old tootsie-pop question about how many licks it takes to get to the middle... - the answer is exactly $9 worth of hair technician's work.

Today I made the trek back to be made presentable, again with mini-me at my side. He chattered the whole way in the car about which color sucker he was going to pick out and how 'yummy' it was going to be. We got inside and his eyes fixated on his prize. In an effort to keep him preoccupied, I told him that he couldn't open his lollipop until it was my turn to 'get my itchies off.'

Some random guy walked then into the salon, checked in, grabbed a sucker, and sat down a few seats away from Calvin - who, now aware that there had been a breach in protocol - pointed his finger at the perpetrator and exclaimed that 'he was being a bad boy because he wasn't waiting to eat is sucker.' As the guy laughed and said something about being sorry for setting a bad example, the girl who was just finishing her haircut paid and walked right out the door. Calvin about lost it. 'DADDY, DADDY she didn't get her sucker!' He had jumped down off his chair and started to chase her towards her car before I was able to grab him and tell him that not everybody wanted suckers. He was stunned, and just sort of stared off in disbelief. The incident reminded me of a stand-up routine I had heard of Jerry Seinfeld on a kid's perception of Halloween.



Calvin got his sucker (neon blue), and I had the pleasure of seeing - for just a moment - Calvin completely speechless.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Proud moments in fatherhood

Calvin is special. This feeling was reaffirmed when we arrived to a local Halloween party and saw the other children in their costumes. Girls were either princesses or fairies, and all of the other little boys were superheroes, cowboys, pirates, various animals, or pro-athletes.
Then there was Calvin... the giant snowball.



We still haven't a clue where Calvin found this inspiration (especially after a long, hot summer), but he was adamant about his decision. RB and I tried our hardest to sway him, offering a cool new cowboy hat, light saber or pirate's sword if he would reconsider - but his mind was made up. A preview of things to come occurred at gymnastics a few weeks ago:

Calvin was sitting in a circle with the 10 other children in his class. This was the final day of gymnastics, so all the parents were invited to sit inside the gym as well. Before every class his teachers ask a question that all the kids answer in turn and today it was, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" Knowing our son, I was definitely curious about what Calvin would say. After hearing the first few responses, "doctor," "singer," "fireman," ... repeat ... I assumed that he would follow and pick one of the apparently popular answers. Calvin's response- as usual- caught me and everyone else off guard as he stated,
"When I grow up I'm going to be a giant snowball."

After making sure they had heard him correctly and waiting for the suppressed laughter from the other parents to stop, the kind teachers both smiled and wished him luck.
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Luckily, Noah doesn't talk. That meant that we could make him anything we wanted. Given his figure, complexion, and uncontrollable sweet tooth, we both decided that he would make the perfect Hansel (unfortunately there was no Gretel to go with him).

We're pretty sure he liked our idea.

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One of Calvin's costume stipulations was that he have actual snowballs to throw at people. After much debate, he finally accepted the fact that it was impossible that they be made of real snow.






This is a special sweater- given to RB as a baby from his Grandma Jones from when she lived in Norway.

(Our sweet little Hansel would only sit still if he had a grape in his mouth.)


Apparently snowballs don't travel well in car seats.


The Halloween party's costume parade was an especially enjoyable time. As the superheroes, fairies, and Calvin marched by, we tried not to laugh and wondered what he'll have in store for us next year.