Playdough Dinner with LOVE!

Don'tcha just miss playdough? The smell the feel & the way it would linger under your fingernails for weeks esp if you came from a large family & didn't get your nails cut that often.

I was deeply impressed by the imagination of my not terribly artistic 5 year old man. This is no ordinary pile of play dough. This is a full course dinner he made for me choosing what he thought was my favorite foods. And he took time explaining each thing to me in GREAT detail. And I will in turn explain to you in great detail because apparently that's what mothers do at times. So that is what I shall do. READY?

(Snail looking thingie) Cinnamon Bread roll, (flat thingies, riddled with holes) sourdough flatbread, (pile of business) mashed potatoes with butter, (long skinny thingies) lady finger biscuits, (little marble thinga-ma-bobs) cucumber/tomato salad, (balls in crumpled up tissue) apple cinnamon raisin muffins.

Ain't that just the sweetest thing? If I coulda eaten it I woulda!

It's that Man's Birthday AGAIN!!

Random thought on about my December Man Child!

Once upon a time a very round mommy gave birth to a very round baby. To be sure, no one knew why a 10 day early baby could look quite so huge. At 4.2 kgs (9.2 lbs) the midwife had too much fun snapping pics of the "biggest umbilical cord" she'd ever seen & a placenta nearly 2 kgs. (4.4 lbs) that she desperately wanted to pass around to all present. :)Did the kids gather round and adore his TINY little hands & feet?.....well....they gathered round alright to observe the time honored tradition of "Baby goes kuro-goma paste poo through 3 layers of clothes & pees on mommy & onlookers" while kids are scard for life & will never spawn.

Did we intend to make him look like a giant egg-head? No we did not but somethings just can't be helped. The round fat baby was at his best when he was in a loud room. Where the action was, there was the Travis also. Watching the action was alright until he was about 3 months, then he had to BE the action as well....and things got a bit more complicated.

One fateful day at 6 months he was standing, we were in denial. 7 months, he began to walk. I pretended I didn't notice & prayed it was just a phase. Well.......you know how that goes. Next thing you know he's climbing the stairs.

There came a moment of Revelation for me when he was 10 or 11 months & we took a walk to a park more than a km away. He ran there and (I wish I was joking) but he ran back as well with short breaks where he'd collapse & sit on the ground for a moment & then get back at it. It was one of those moments when you try not to make eye contact w/ your husband & inevitably when you do, you're like, ".....YOUR SIDE OF THE GENE POOL!!"

At this point we also looked into a toddie leash. (We never did do it, couldn't get him to hold still for long enough)

Story that comes to mind when I think of his pre-walking stage: Seeing Benny trotting through the hallway with 6 mo old Trav sliding along with him becasue he's clutching so tightly to his fur & just won't let go. This is the "Chicken Smile" phase. If you get it, you get it. Don't get me started on the 'fro, though. He will probably never live it down & when he's 19 over the hill, well-meaning friends of mine will go, "Hey Trav, I remember you, give us a Chicken Smile?"

Story that comes to mind when I think of his 1's: Us running around Walmart looking for him in a half panic. He's on the other end oblivious, running around with two rolls of wrapping paper in his hands like baseball bats.

Yeah, there's that Chicken Smile again. (BTW, whose gonna step forward & claim rights for thinking of that title? Elaina?)

This is the kid that my friends would always tell (sadly) true, bizzare stories about & sigh wistfully, "I'd just LOOOVE to have a kid like Trav". (Strangely, when I'd offer to send him over for the weekend I never did get any takers). If it weren't for this Mark-in-law, we'd still be rebounding from pent up energy left over from his TERRIBLE (and by that I DO mean TERRIBLE) two's. Mark is responsible for teaching him to sumo wrestle, pillow fight, ride a bike with one hand, jump off the top bunk & play "Extreme Tickle War". I owe you one, man!

Don't ask me why, but if I was to sum up his 2nd year in one incident it would be this: I come into the dining room and a certain "Gene-ious" is sitting on the table, bowl of instant ramen in hand, psychotic look of glee on his face. My son is running around the table full speed, hair & fat little body wet with sweat & without a shirt.

"Gene, what are you doing to my son?"

"Shush, shush.....he's almost at 60......Come on Travster!!.....YES!! 60!!!"

Did he do it 100 times, I'm afraid he did.

The secret to keeping a guy like this busy? Changing it up! If it's a challenge, he's on it. If he can't do it yet, you're off scott-free for at least a 1/2 hr till he figures it out.

Is he just about the action? No way! He's bound to be anything & everything when he grows up. And I'm not about to tell him he can't. To name a few he's been:

- break dancer, cook, skateboarder, Lightning McQueen, bobsledder, baseball player, Michael Phelps, contemporary dancer, naked drummer, ballet dancer, Steve Mcnair, compulsive duster & sweeper, basketball player etc etc etc.....Truth be told, I was always a bit afraid of having a high action kid, I'd look at other parents with energetic kids & subconsciously think they were doing something wrong. And in case you look at me & think that, you're probably right! But, I'll never look at the "happy kid" in a family like that again. Honestly, If I tell you I'd take your hyperactive boy or crazy tomboy daughter for the weekend.......I do mean it! :)

The Donuts of My Life & The Little Hole that Needed Two Staples!

Ashley says things just “keep happening” here these days. Thank God, most of them have been donuts & even the hole was a fairly small one.

Let’s start with the donuts of the week, shall we?:

Josh & I got to go take a peek at Uncle STEM’s new MV production down at the dock with some Fast & Furious cars. Here’s Hunter REALLY drolling over one! It was jolly fun to see friendly faces & shiny cars doing fun things. This donut was one of those really fat puffy donuts with artificial colored “happy” sprinkles.

The next donut was one for Travis, Ryan & Ashley. They got to model kimono’s & tux’s/gowns for “Shichi-go-san” day. There were some great pictures taken that I shall get ahold of soon. Till then Aich & Ambie can snicker at Dear Husband’s pics. Awww…but don’t they look cute! This donut I believe was one of those sort of twisty ones with a honey glaze.

There was a fancy dancy donut also where mommy spent all day preparing the donut & gathering ingredients for the donut whilst giving the kids school & mopping up Hunter-bunter’s drool trail. She put much love & effort into making a list of gourmet donuts for her dad to choose from so that he might have a nice Birthday dinner, and he did indeed choose the most difficult to make donut. The one that was stuffed with butter & chives, rolled, battered & deep fried. (I must clarify to you that I am talking about a metaphorical donut, in reality the meal I prepared for my dad was “Chicken Kiev”). In the end the only people who enjoyed the metaphorical donut was my Dad & the rest of the adults. The children do what they normally do to donuts, woof them down & ask for seconds, except they couldn’t ask for seconds because of my devious plan to heap their plates to overflowing & then give them extra soup & focaccia on top of it. Nya ha!!! (was that one sentence?)

But I’m forgetting the point. And that is that there was a hole. A rather small hole I admit but it did get us to be concerned & focus on the donut of our life. This hole took place when by the account of Travis, (who is both a bold & brave 4 year old) he decided to walk the cement wall in the middle of “Mark’s Discovery” Park with his eyes shut. He fell & it his temple & the back of his head, & though we got the bleeding to stop & initially it looked like with some pressure & keeping it wrapped up it might be OK, after about 1 hour (I imagine as the skin began to stretch & dry, we did indeed discover that he did have a small hole in his big head. After some prayer & thought (AKA. Squimish-to-holes-in-the-head husband taking a look) decided that we didn’t want to “keep our eye upon that hole” & promptly took him to the Doctor to get two staples in the head! Travster thankfully was happy about the whole affair. And even had to be repeatedly reminded of why he was going to the doctor because he just seemed a little too thrilled. From the lovely nurses washing his hair (don’t ask me why), to the nice English speaking doctors question of “Is it OK if it hurts?” he enjoyed his first major doctor’s visit. Daddy was with him & they prayed & as simple as that it was done.

Well, all’s well now. And we are milking it for all it’s worth. Our older ones have had a much needed sober moment. Our adventurous little man has something that we can remind him of if he’s feeling to adventuresome. And we parents through trying to forget all about that hole, have remembered all the many donuts the Lord has given us in our lives. And we are convicted that if we are faithful to praying over & for our 6 little donuts that we will not need to have any more holes.

The Last Birthday Cake of the Year

Here's Travis' 4th B'day cake. It was the 2nd Lightning McQueen cake I had to make. Although I abhor encouraging the whole obsession with one particular animation character I couldn't help it with this cake. I've only had to make 2 "decorated" cakes this "birthday season". So I was willing to take it on. The two girls opted for pies for their birthday. Lani, raspberry cheesecake & Ashley, Lemon Meringue. So that made my job a lot easier this year.

I'm really not one for originality when it comes to cakes. Take for example this one, c/o Fay (I'm assuming) look at it. It's a virtual movie set. Check out the car wreck, in the middle. Pure genius. Well, in any case.. Hat's off to all mommies who juggle Birthday hysteria & cake decorating too.
All I can do is the-color-by-number-type cake. Well, in any case, he liked it. Thank God I have black food coloring from the US.

Note to all concerned mothers: Don't ever let your little 3 year old hyperactive boys watch a movie that says "I AM SPEED" for it's opening line. You & everyone else you live with will regret it.

Flo, look what your comment made me do!

As I was making dinner today I was listening to Steve’s new album & rather than getting into the grove of it like I should have been, I found myself (motherly person that I am) previewing, (is that “pre-listening”) to it for Travis. Flojo-Mojo did just pose the question to me, “ Has Trav has heard Steve’s new album yet”. You see, birds of the same zodiac sign….fly in a……. shape resembling a pair of weight scales?? (Hmm…Bygones) OK, what I mean is, I have been giving that topic some thought all afternoon. Is Steve really good for my son? Well, as I type, my deluded son at this moment indeed banging on two pink containers & using two pink plastic ice-cream scoopers as drum sticks & he is carrying on a conversation with me that goes something like this:

Travis: (sings in a soft sweet voice with concerned eyebrows) “Do or dieeeeee, that’s our cryyyyyyyy aiiiiiiii” Mommy, who sings “Do or Die”? Is it Steve?
Mommy: (typing) No, Travster that’s Chesco
Trav: Oh, Chesco, the one that sings BOB?
Mommy: No, he produced BOB, but Abe sang it
Trav: Who’s Abe?
Mommy: You don’t know him he’s Iven’s brother
Trav: Does Iven sing a song?
Mommy: (clickty click, sigh) Maybe Trav
Trav: You know mommy, I did use to be a niddle tiny baby, so tiny I was dis tiny, dat I was not a big man. But now I am big because I wear sweaters nike Steve & play guitar nike Jesse, right?
Mom: (No answer)
Trav: Mommy, Steve’s drummer is Momo, right?
Mommy: SIGH!!! No, Trav, TOMO, not Momo, momo is a peach.
Trav: Mom, dats funny, Tomo is not a peach.
Trav: (Screaming) DO OR DIEEEEEE, THAT’S OUR CRYYYYYYYYYY. You set us FREEEEEEEEEEE. (glasses on top of stereo break)

I try to stay away from using the really low propaganda tactics like: “Steve can sing really well because he eats his ingen” or, “Steve goes to sleep at night so that he can have enough energy to scream”. But I do like the thought that unlike secular stars of the music world, my son gets to meet & hang out with his role models and will quickly see that Steve neither eats his ingen nor does he go to sleep at night, in fact, he probobly only screams because he doesn't go to bed at night.

To wrap this up here’s a wonderful “Etch & Sketch” masterpiece that I drew for Trav. It is obviously, none other than Steve. I personally think it would have made a lovely CD cover for Heavenly Music, Right? Note the attractive goatee & stratigically messy hair? Come on, do you know how hard, it is to draw on one of those things?
Poor Steve, I know he’d cringe if he saw this post. Well, that’s not my fault he’s the one who decided make music that 3 year old Travsters like.

Numbers of the day

- 10 mouths fed
- 9 year old girls with convincing arguments of why they shouldn’t have to…..
- 8 braids I fixed on my daughters braided head
- 7 is what time I almost started my Word time
- 6 6 & 6 is the song Travis has been singing all day
- 5 children were just put in bed.
- 4 hugs I’ve gotten today
- 3 loads of laundry, which I did with inspiration.
- 2 meals that I did with mediocrity, & not deciding till the last minute Libra style
- 1 letter of apology that I wrote today to a friend that was way way overdue
- 0 kids with broken bones

Thing I’ve done today that I hope I won’t have to do again tomorrow (WARNING: excriment story follows):

Today Travis stepped in what had to be the biggest pile of poo on this side of Chiba. No doubt by a champion Great Dane with a healthy digestive system and his consciousless master. Did you know that there is a 50,000Y max fine that you can receive for leaving your pet-poo around? At least here in Chiba! Maybe a better incentive like having the owner wear special shoes with poo smell imbedded would motivate. Apparently he stepped in it just because “I could not see if dat was poo, so I did step in it to check & it was really poo…..waaa…..I have poo on my shoes…Unco Mark!!” I took care of the unpleasentries & oh how I wished shoes were disposable along with his socks & pants (I kid you not) or that I could say his shoes were falling apart anyway, but NO they weren’t falling apart in fact they are fairly nice, or – er, were fairly nice. Yes, if you need your shoes covered in something, anything, ask my son. I guarantee a stellar performance. I hope to God he doesn't have this same attitude about other things in life, "But Mommy, I just wanted to see if dat was really a cliff & so I did fall down du cliff". Sigh!!

Mr. Trav Trav

My dear Son Trav will be 3 tomorrow. Whew! If you know him you'll have to agree with me that this is a major feat. He was my largest baby (4.2kgs) & 10 days early. Certainly the most active (from the womb) and adventuresome. Heck, I mean this in the best of ways but he's a Sagg, that should say a lot. He's great with figuring out any kind of equipment. He's curious & likes to experiment with things he finds, very active & gets into no end of trouble. Off the top of my head & to name a few, in the last month or so he's:

- Locked himself in the ofuro to squeeze out the toothpaste he doesn't like
- Drawn on the walls
- In hopes of a bath smeared himself with conditioner & filled up the bath
- Cleaned the toilet & surrounding area with the plunger
- Plugged & washed his own slippers in the sink after peeing on them
- Put Deodorant on every inch of his body
- Cracked his own eggs
- Stuck cars in the CD player

Travis is constantly has something that he's obsessed with & the obsession changes on a VERY regular basis. Observe: From the time we came to this house a mere 3 months ago, he's gone through the following very serious obsessions

- Blue's Clues (Can't get enough of Steve, dutifully answers every dumb question Steve asks)
- Beginner Bible Video (Must watch the opening song & all the following corny songs)
- pretending everything flat is a skateboard (Rule of thumb if it has wheels ride it, if it is flat jump on it till it breaks)
- guitar obsession (pretend everything is a guitar & jump on mommy's bed with it)
- Steve (STEM) obsession "Mommy I want to nisten to Steve music, du Enaina song"
- Present obsession coming out of the "STEM" phase & passing quickly into the "New Worlds to Discover" phase. This one is particularly scary as he walks around the house going, "So what's wrong with 666? Listen to this" or "Now I'm going to introduce you to Jennifer we're going to sing the next song together". I REALLY thought we were done with the whole "New Worlds" dance steps but obviously TIV is here to stay!!!

Well, there's too much to say about this little nut but I'll keep it short. I'm so grateful to the Lord for protecting him. He's had so many accidents but no real long lasting damage. He's not hurt anything or anyone too badly, so that's nice. And above all, though he's terribly wild & has boundless energy he is still (at times) a very loveable & gentle man. And honest too, YIKES! "Mommy, I just hit Erika, nike dis" (Shows me exactly how) "Mommy, I just dropped du cup out du window, nike dis" (Shows me how he deftly hurled the mug out the window) When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, "Umm I think maybe candy." ????? I tried again "Mmmmm (mumble mumble)" "What did you say Travis?" (Big silly smile)"Maybe I want Moneys" OK, one last time, "Is that it, Trav?" "Ummm....I just want a happy birthday".

Now that, I can try for. Happy birthday Trav Trav! We nuv you!

PS. Sorry no pics looks like Blogger is having some outage problem)