Yesterday at breakfast Xander said, "Where's my best friend Bailey?"
Aw.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Nick's Playtime
Xander has wanted to get into Nick's toys so bad since I put them out. Most of them were Xander's toys at some point but he has FAR outgrown them. One would think. He wanted to play with Nick's (Xander's old) animal blocks when I said it was Nick's playtime, so I let him get them out with Nick.
I said, "Nick, aren't you lucky that Xander's going to play with you!"
Xander handed him a few animal blocks. Nick held the zebra in two hands for a while--very cute. Then he started putting it in his mouth and dropping it over the side. I guess Xander made an executive decision that Nick wasn't playing right. He told Nick to just watch him. Now he is playing with all the blocks entirely on his own in front of Nick's chair. As Nick fusses now and then, Xander says, "Nick, you watch me."
Time for Mommy to let Nick play in a little bit different way. Off to the bassinet with the mirror, still his favorite.
I said, "Nick, aren't you lucky that Xander's going to play with you!"
Xander handed him a few animal blocks. Nick held the zebra in two hands for a while--very cute. Then he started putting it in his mouth and dropping it over the side. I guess Xander made an executive decision that Nick wasn't playing right. He told Nick to just watch him. Now he is playing with all the blocks entirely on his own in front of Nick's chair. As Nick fusses now and then, Xander says, "Nick, you watch me."
Time for Mommy to let Nick play in a little bit different way. Off to the bassinet with the mirror, still his favorite.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Sir Pants and Sir Reddy Still Don't See a Mirror, But They Learn About Cleanliness
Just as Sir Reddy was about to turn around and let himself tumble all the way back down the stone stairs because it would be easier than continuing to climb, they reached the top of the castle. There was a door.
"I will open the door," announced Sir Pants.
"Yes, of course," said Sir Reddy faintly. He was still trying to breathe and his legs were shaking from the long climb. "Aren't you going to knock first?"
Sir Pants thought for a minute.
"Yes," he said. "Here I go."
Sir Reddy said, "Aren't you tired at all?"
"Yes," said Sir Pants. "It doesn't matter. Don't let your body fool you. You are perfectly fine."
"But my body is saying that it's about to sit down," said Sir Reddy.
His legs buckled and Sir Reddy caught himself by slapping his palms up against the cold stone wall of the stair way.
"Oh well sit down then, by all means," said Sir Pants.
Sir Reddy's body collapsed on the floor into a position that looked a little bit like sitting, only it was lying down.
The door opened.
Sir Reddy gasped. "Sir Pants, the magician knows we're here even before you knocked!"
Sir Pants glared at Sir Reddy. "Only because he heard us talk to each other outside the door."
"I'm not a he," said the magician.
Sir Pants and Sir Reddy stared at the figure standing just inside the door of the room at the very tip top of Castle Caraway. They could tell it was a magician because of the long shapeless cloth draped all over it and the tall conical hat that slumped over on top of its head. It was a dark material, either navy blue, or gray, or black, or a dirty brown, or something else that was dark. The hair coming from the magician's head was wispy and long as it should be, but it was hard to tell what was hair and what were other things that had gotten caught in the hair. Sir Reddy thought he saw a tiny china bowl up near the shoulder area and Sir Pants was in the middle of counting spider webs, although it was very hard to do because the webs were partly made out of the magician's hair and so they were all sort of connected.
To be continued...
"I will open the door," announced Sir Pants.
"Yes, of course," said Sir Reddy faintly. He was still trying to breathe and his legs were shaking from the long climb. "Aren't you going to knock first?"
Sir Pants thought for a minute.
"Yes," he said. "Here I go."
Sir Reddy said, "Aren't you tired at all?"
"Yes," said Sir Pants. "It doesn't matter. Don't let your body fool you. You are perfectly fine."
"But my body is saying that it's about to sit down," said Sir Reddy.
His legs buckled and Sir Reddy caught himself by slapping his palms up against the cold stone wall of the stair way.
"Oh well sit down then, by all means," said Sir Pants.
Sir Reddy's body collapsed on the floor into a position that looked a little bit like sitting, only it was lying down.
The door opened.
Sir Reddy gasped. "Sir Pants, the magician knows we're here even before you knocked!"
Sir Pants glared at Sir Reddy. "Only because he heard us talk to each other outside the door."
"I'm not a he," said the magician.
Sir Pants and Sir Reddy stared at the figure standing just inside the door of the room at the very tip top of Castle Caraway. They could tell it was a magician because of the long shapeless cloth draped all over it and the tall conical hat that slumped over on top of its head. It was a dark material, either navy blue, or gray, or black, or a dirty brown, or something else that was dark. The hair coming from the magician's head was wispy and long as it should be, but it was hard to tell what was hair and what were other things that had gotten caught in the hair. Sir Reddy thought he saw a tiny china bowl up near the shoulder area and Sir Pants was in the middle of counting spider webs, although it was very hard to do because the webs were partly made out of the magician's hair and so they were all sort of connected.
To be continued...
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Sir Pants and Sir Reddy Still Quest for a Mirror
As they climbed the stone stairs, they passed someone else. This someone was called Prince Pastepot, and he was Princess Pieplate’s younger brother.
“Hello!” he said to Sir Pants and Sir Reddy.
“He…llo,” said Sir Pants and Sir Reddy. They had to pause a bit because they were running out of breath after climbing all those stairs.
“What are you going to do?” asked Prince Pastepot. He was a very curious boy.
“We…’re go…ing to…” began Sir Reddy.
“Oh,” said Prince Pastepot. “Guess what I am going to do!”
“What…” began Sir Pants.
“I’m going to a birthday party!” said Prince Pastepot. “Guess what I’m going to give the birthday boy?”
“What…” began Sir Reddy.
“I’m going to give him this collage I made all by myself!” said Prince Pastepot. He held up a paper that was covered with strips of different colors of paper and large globs of paste.
Then he ran away.
Sir Reddy looked at Sir Pants as if to say that Prince Pastepot had trouble paying attention, too. Sir Pants looked back at him as if to say that he had noticed. They kept walking.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Sir Pants and Sir Reddy Quest for a Mirror
Sir Pants and Sir Reddy stood around a lot. Part of the job of being a knight was to stand around guarding things. It took up a lot of their time.
People usually don't realize how boring it is to stand around guarding things until they have to do it themselves. When Sir Pants and Sir Reddy discovered how boring it was, they put their money together and bought a book that they could read out loud to each other to pass the time. It was called Frog and Toad Together. In it was a story about being brave. Frog and Toad looked in a mirror to see if they looked brave. Sir Reddy and Sir Pants thought it would be a good idea to look in a mirror to see if they looked brave. People were always telling them they looked brave, but they weren't even sure how they did it. If they could find a mirror to look in, maybe they could find out what looking brave was and how one went about doing it.
"What is a mirror anyway?" asked Sir Reddy. He asked because Sir Pants knew a lot about how things worked. Sir Reddy only knew a lot about how flags worked. To be precise, he knew a lot about how his flag worked. It had a heavy pole that Sir Reddy had to prop against his body to get just the right balance and it waved in the wind or whenever Sir Reddy had the energy to move the whole ensemble back and forth.
Sir Pants shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. But look at the picture. There are two Frogs and two Toads. Maybe a mirror is something that makes one person into two, and two people into four."
"It doubles things," suggested Sir Reddy.
"Yes," said Sir Pants. "Maybe it doubles things. How did you know that word?"
"Well," said Sir Reddy, "when Princess Pieplate asked me if I wanted one big piece of pie or if I wanted her to double it by slicing it into two pieces, I told her right away I wanted it doubled. Two pieces of pie are better than one piece of pie."
"Well, actually..." said Sir Pants, but he let the words trail off when he saw the indignant look on Sir Reddy's face.
'How could anyone ever think that two pieces of pie are not better than one piece of pie?' Sir Reddy was thinking. 'I'm not sure I can even listen to this.' He opened his mouth to say something.
"Never mind that," said Sir Pants quickly. "We want to find a mirror, so who is the best person to ask for help?"
"Princess Pieplate?" said Sir Reddy.
"I suppose we could start there," said Sir Pants doubtfully. "I was thinking of the magician up at the top of Caraway Castle, but we will probably pass Princess Pieplate on the way."
As soon as two more knights came to take up the guard, Sir Reddy and Sir Pants started up the winding stairs to the top of Caraway Castle, which was the castle they had been guarding. They did pass Princess Pieplate on the way. Princess Pieplate was on the way to nearly everything. She loved to bake pies so that she could pass them out to everyone she met. As she passed pies to people, she stopped to talk to them to find out any news they might have. Then she passed that news on to the next person along with her pie. It was a hobby of hers, and really the only thing she did at all. After bringing the magician up at the top of the castle one pie a day for many months, she had gathered a lot of useful information. The magician had told her she wanted to be a journalist. When Princess Pieplate asked what was a journalist, the magician said, "Well, you'd have to be born in the twentieth century at least, and even then you could end up as a nosy parker instead." Princess Pieplate asked many, many more questions about all this but in the end all she really got out of it was the word. Journalist. What a beautiful word it was.
But this has almost nothing to do with Sir Pants and Sir Reddy, who were still climbing up stone steps that spiraled upward until you could get dizzy just by looking up.
To be continued...
People usually don't realize how boring it is to stand around guarding things until they have to do it themselves. When Sir Pants and Sir Reddy discovered how boring it was, they put their money together and bought a book that they could read out loud to each other to pass the time. It was called Frog and Toad Together. In it was a story about being brave. Frog and Toad looked in a mirror to see if they looked brave. Sir Reddy and Sir Pants thought it would be a good idea to look in a mirror to see if they looked brave. People were always telling them they looked brave, but they weren't even sure how they did it. If they could find a mirror to look in, maybe they could find out what looking brave was and how one went about doing it.
"What is a mirror anyway?" asked Sir Reddy. He asked because Sir Pants knew a lot about how things worked. Sir Reddy only knew a lot about how flags worked. To be precise, he knew a lot about how his flag worked. It had a heavy pole that Sir Reddy had to prop against his body to get just the right balance and it waved in the wind or whenever Sir Reddy had the energy to move the whole ensemble back and forth.
Sir Pants shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. But look at the picture. There are two Frogs and two Toads. Maybe a mirror is something that makes one person into two, and two people into four."
"It doubles things," suggested Sir Reddy.
"Yes," said Sir Pants. "Maybe it doubles things. How did you know that word?"
"Well," said Sir Reddy, "when Princess Pieplate asked me if I wanted one big piece of pie or if I wanted her to double it by slicing it into two pieces, I told her right away I wanted it doubled. Two pieces of pie are better than one piece of pie."
"Well, actually..." said Sir Pants, but he let the words trail off when he saw the indignant look on Sir Reddy's face.
'How could anyone ever think that two pieces of pie are not better than one piece of pie?' Sir Reddy was thinking. 'I'm not sure I can even listen to this.' He opened his mouth to say something.
"Never mind that," said Sir Pants quickly. "We want to find a mirror, so who is the best person to ask for help?"
"Princess Pieplate?" said Sir Reddy.
"I suppose we could start there," said Sir Pants doubtfully. "I was thinking of the magician up at the top of Caraway Castle, but we will probably pass Princess Pieplate on the way."
As soon as two more knights came to take up the guard, Sir Reddy and Sir Pants started up the winding stairs to the top of Caraway Castle, which was the castle they had been guarding. They did pass Princess Pieplate on the way. Princess Pieplate was on the way to nearly everything. She loved to bake pies so that she could pass them out to everyone she met. As she passed pies to people, she stopped to talk to them to find out any news they might have. Then she passed that news on to the next person along with her pie. It was a hobby of hers, and really the only thing she did at all. After bringing the magician up at the top of the castle one pie a day for many months, she had gathered a lot of useful information. The magician had told her she wanted to be a journalist. When Princess Pieplate asked what was a journalist, the magician said, "Well, you'd have to be born in the twentieth century at least, and even then you could end up as a nosy parker instead." Princess Pieplate asked many, many more questions about all this but in the end all she really got out of it was the word. Journalist. What a beautiful word it was.
But this has almost nothing to do with Sir Pants and Sir Reddy, who were still climbing up stone steps that spiraled upward until you could get dizzy just by looking up.
To be continued...
Sir Pants Tries to Tell A Story
Sir Pants said to Sir Reddy one day, "I want to tell you a story."
Sir Reddy said, "Great, great." He waved his red flag at a passing bird. Sir Reddy was quite proud of his bright red flag because it was new and not faded like the flags of lots of other knights he knew.
Sir Pants sighed. Trying not to use a whiny voice, he said, "I don't think you're really listening to me."
"Yes, a story, great," said Sir Reddy. He was still waving his bright red flag at the bird. It did not show any sign of stopping to admire his flag. But maybe if he waved harder, it would come back to take a look.
"I want to tell you the story of how I got to be this bronze color all over," said Sir Pants.
"Hello!" shouted Sir Reddy.
"Hello," said Sir Pants, but Sir Reddy was not talking to him after all. Sir Reddy's face was pointed straight up at the sky.
Sir Pants sighed again. "I have to go get my lunch very soon, so I'm going to tell you the story now. Please pay attention to me."
"Okay," said Sir Reddy. He smiled at Sir Pants to encourage him to go on.
Sir Pants said, "Once, I was a little boy."
Sir Reddy looked back up at the sky. If he squinted his eyes, he could just barely see a black dot in the sky that was the bird. It had flown very far very fast. It didn't seem to think much of Sir Reddy's new red flag.
"...and my papa said there was no way to get another one and I would have to do without," said Sir Pants.
"Oh, that's too bad," murmured Sir Reddy. He realized he had missed part of the story. He had no idea what Sir Pants was talking about.
Sir Pants frowned.
"Why are you always frowning?" asked Sir Reddy. "We have the best job in the world. We dress up in armor and wave flags around and get free meals and everyone thinks we're pretty neat. Just relax and enjoy it. I always do."
"I don't always frown," said Sir Pants, looking sad.
"To me you always look mad or sad," said Sir Reddy. "You should smile more."
"Easy to say," said Sir Pants.
"Hard to do?" guessed Sir Reddy.
"No, actually," said Sir Pants, "it's pretty easy to do. I smile when I'm happy."
"I guess you're not happy now," said Sir Reddy. "Your forehead has lines in it."
"No, I'm not very happy now," said Sir Pants. "I wanted to tell you a story about my bronzeness but you didn't listen to me. I asked you to pay attention, but instead you paid attention to the bird flying by."
"Oh," said Sir Reddy. "Yes, I paid a lot of attention to that bird. It didn't pay any attention to me, though." He frowned.
"You see," said Sir Pants, "you are frowning yourself, now."
"Yes," said Sir Reddy. "I didn't like it when I couldn't get the bird's attention."
"And I didn't like it when I couldn't get your attention," said Sir Pants.
"I'm sorry," said Sir Reddy. "I don't want you to be unhappy. I want you to be happy. I didn't pay attention to you today, but I'll never do that again."
"Let's not get carried away," said Sir Pants. Then he smiled.
Sir Reddy said, "Great, great." He waved his red flag at a passing bird. Sir Reddy was quite proud of his bright red flag because it was new and not faded like the flags of lots of other knights he knew.
Sir Pants sighed. Trying not to use a whiny voice, he said, "I don't think you're really listening to me."
"Yes, a story, great," said Sir Reddy. He was still waving his bright red flag at the bird. It did not show any sign of stopping to admire his flag. But maybe if he waved harder, it would come back to take a look.
"I want to tell you the story of how I got to be this bronze color all over," said Sir Pants.
"Hello!" shouted Sir Reddy.
"Hello," said Sir Pants, but Sir Reddy was not talking to him after all. Sir Reddy's face was pointed straight up at the sky.
Sir Pants sighed again. "I have to go get my lunch very soon, so I'm going to tell you the story now. Please pay attention to me."
"Okay," said Sir Reddy. He smiled at Sir Pants to encourage him to go on.
Sir Pants said, "Once, I was a little boy."
Sir Reddy looked back up at the sky. If he squinted his eyes, he could just barely see a black dot in the sky that was the bird. It had flown very far very fast. It didn't seem to think much of Sir Reddy's new red flag.
"...and my papa said there was no way to get another one and I would have to do without," said Sir Pants.
"Oh, that's too bad," murmured Sir Reddy. He realized he had missed part of the story. He had no idea what Sir Pants was talking about.
Sir Pants frowned.
"Why are you always frowning?" asked Sir Reddy. "We have the best job in the world. We dress up in armor and wave flags around and get free meals and everyone thinks we're pretty neat. Just relax and enjoy it. I always do."
"I don't always frown," said Sir Pants, looking sad.
"To me you always look mad or sad," said Sir Reddy. "You should smile more."
"Easy to say," said Sir Pants.
"Hard to do?" guessed Sir Reddy.
"No, actually," said Sir Pants, "it's pretty easy to do. I smile when I'm happy."
"I guess you're not happy now," said Sir Reddy. "Your forehead has lines in it."
"No, I'm not very happy now," said Sir Pants. "I wanted to tell you a story about my bronzeness but you didn't listen to me. I asked you to pay attention, but instead you paid attention to the bird flying by."
"Oh," said Sir Reddy. "Yes, I paid a lot of attention to that bird. It didn't pay any attention to me, though." He frowned.
"You see," said Sir Pants, "you are frowning yourself, now."
"Yes," said Sir Reddy. "I didn't like it when I couldn't get the bird's attention."
"And I didn't like it when I couldn't get your attention," said Sir Pants.
"I'm sorry," said Sir Reddy. "I don't want you to be unhappy. I want you to be happy. I didn't pay attention to you today, but I'll never do that again."
"Let's not get carried away," said Sir Pants. Then he smiled.
By Car, Boat, and Train
Grandma visited from Thursday night until yesterday morning. It was wonderful. Xander played monsters, dragons, knights, and pirates with her about eight hours a day. Now he has new phrases and ideas that he got from all that play with Great-Grandma. Nick loved her. When she first held him, he looked at her for a minute uncertainly, almost cried, and then decided to smile instead. The rest of the visit he just watched her adoringly.
We went to downtown Jacksonville one day she was here and took the riverboat taxi across the St. Johns to the huge downtown library. We had coffee, browsed an interesting book shop that had lots of old editions of children's books, took a tour of the children's section in the library, listened to Xander read his daddy some words out of books he had never seen before, and then took the overhead train back to the car. On the way, a fire engine pulled up next to us and the firefighters got out to help an injured man in the plaza. It must have been Xander's best day ever. We never heard a peep from Nick, but he didn't sleep the whole time.
We went to downtown Jacksonville one day she was here and took the riverboat taxi across the St. Johns to the huge downtown library. We had coffee, browsed an interesting book shop that had lots of old editions of children's books, took a tour of the children's section in the library, listened to Xander read his daddy some words out of books he had never seen before, and then took the overhead train back to the car. On the way, a fire engine pulled up next to us and the firefighters got out to help an injured man in the plaza. It must have been Xander's best day ever. We never heard a peep from Nick, but he didn't sleep the whole time.
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