superflatmonkey

Enjoying Boulder

So we've been in Boulder for a few days now and we are having quite a lovely time. 

Rowan got his hair cut today, and it is quite lovely. He even managed to retain some of his curly locks, which is fantastic. 

London was able to go see the Cirque du Soleil with his Neepa, Grandma Boodles, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Claudia and his cousin Aaron and he had a great time! Neepa got him a mask and he simply loves it.

We have been eating quite well, going to Luciel's, LarkBurger, the Westend Tavern, and so on. 

Looks like it is time for dinner—more great food from Nick and Willy's. More later. 

Kindergarten Graduation

Today was London's last day of Kindergarten. Man, that went fast. I am really impressed with how much he has grown as an emotional being over this last year and the depth of his friendships reinforces my love for our little piece of the Northwest.

He had some great teachers—Angela and Mrs. Tursi—that he will miss. Angela is moving on to Ithaca, NY, but Mrs Tursi will still be around next year, so that will be nice.

Hobo Picnic

So because there was this Mother's Day tea, they had to do something for Father's Day, right? Of course. Well, they didn't have to, but it sure was nice. I think that our neighborhood is really uncommon in that the fathers are really active in both the school and the community. Most of us work from home so we are as available to be parent helpers as the mothers are. 

Anyway, we had this hobo picnic on Monday the 8th of June for all the fathers and I think that all 23 of us were there. That really is nice to see. 

Interestingly about London's school, Llewellyn, is that it is right next to a giant funeral home/mortuary/mausoleum compound. Yes, compound. it is huge and old. Palatial, but in a creepy Don Quixote meets Edgar Allen Poe kind of way.  So as we were walking past this facility on our way to the park for the picninc—that is 4 kindergarten classes, 100 kids—a giant truck pulled up and started unloading caskets. 

Good fun.

He is growing up so fast. 

**That present you can see on the table in front of London was my Father's Day present. It is a beautiful stepping stone with his handprints on it. 

London's Sixth

So London is now six. Pretty cool. The whole kindergarten thing and whatnot, well it's just amazing. 

But as we live far from our larger family groups, mine mostly resides in and around Tampa, FL and Sarah's mostly in Colorado (we're in Portland, OR) we haven't had much in the way of birthday parties—certainly nothing large or fancy, 4 or 5 kids, tops. 

But with kindergarten came a friends, lot's of them, and they all live in the neighborhood, which is a very cool thing that I didn't have growing up. Anyway, we had to invite them all. There is a lot of pressure involved in this mostly because London wanted to have the party at our house. Already we had gone to parties at pools, gymnastics centers, OMSI, etc., so we had to make it as cool as that, but in our house. 

I think we pulled it off OK. The theme was Star Wars, as that is all London cares about right now, so we decided to make Jedi cloaks and lightsabers for all. That is a bit of work.

Luckily I found that kids of this age are very series about hitting each other's lightsaber as opposed to going for the kill, so we really had no injuries, which might be a minor miracle. 

I made the lightsabers out of fluorescent light tube covers, which I just stumbled across at the Lowes. I trimmed them down to an appropriate size with the garden pruners (I don't have a lot of tools), duct taped the first 8 inches (black duct tape), filled the tube with various things to get color (the best choice was rolled up strips of construction paper), and placed the caps back on. They were wonderful and quite strong!

Sarah made the cloaks out of squares of thin brown or black cloth (they got to choose) that were then safety pinned in such a way as to provide the young jedis with a hood. 

Anyway, great time. Lots of kids. 

I Think London Grew 2 Inches Last Night

Seriously. He's 5 years old so, naturally, he has jeans that are size 5. And, like everyone else, I assume that if there is to be any growing that growing will happen sometime during the bedtime hours of March 29 as it rolls into his birthday morning. That makes sense, right? The jeans are size 5.

So imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to find two inches of white socks were jeans should be. He wore these same jeans yesterday! So clearly I was right on the belief that the growth will happen overnight, but I was shocked to learn that I must have been remembering his birthday wrong all this time. Well, I think we're still going to celebrate it on the 30th of March, just because we are used to it now. 

First Day of Kindergarten

So today was your first day of kindergarten and you woke up excited. 

You walked down the hall without a stitch of clothing carrying both King Frog and Wario yelling for me to get up. When I opened the door you looked at me with a big smile and said, "I'm going to need to have lots of fruit for breakfast so that I can have energy to play and play and play."

We went downstairs and I cut you up some apples and a banana and poured you a glass of milk. 

Your mommy quickly came down, she had gotten up early to shower, and we talked to you about how you were feeling. All excitement, no fear. I was afraid, then, that you would be disappointed that there wasn't going to be as much playtime as there was at your preschool so I tried to gently point out that it was school and, though very fun, there was learning to be done. 

"Oh daddy, don't be so silly," you said with eyes that shone with anticipation. I gave you a hug. 

We drove up to Llewelyn because we had all the supplies. First we went into the cafeteria to buy your lunches and then we went to put all you supplies in the bins (community supplies). Still thrilled.

Then we went out on the playground to wait for the bell. There you went bravely off to play but there was trepidation in you looks. 

The bell rung and you came up to me and we walked in together and when we hugged goodbye I could feel your heart beating so hard and fast that I didn't want to let go of you, my dear sweet boy. But you went and sat down and we went outside and spied on you through the windows (with half or more of the other parents). 

Sarah and I didn't know what to do with ourselves so we went on a run, a run which just happened to go up by your school.

Then we went to the market and bought the stuff to make you your favorite dinner, oh, and a cake.

When we picked you up you looked sad, disappointed and tired. True, it had not been as much fun as you thought it would be.

You didn't really like group time or the amount of time you had to spend in it and you had an uncomfortable period in which you felt lost outside.

I ask, "Did you miss us?"

And you said, "I really, really did. Especially when I was lost outside. I just wanted my mommy and daddy so much."

Shit, right? That goes right to your heart. 

Anyway, it turns out that they ushered you out to the playground when you were done eating but your teacher wasn't there and you didn't recognize any of the kids. I'll talk to your teacher tomorrow to change that until you are more comfortable.  

But when we got home you and I played and played right up until bedtime. That was nice.

A Last Goobye

I have to be honest here, I am having a very rough day. You see, this is London's last day of preschool. And every day when I dropped him off he would give me a hug and a kiss and then go wave to me out this window. I mean every day. No friend or teacher ever prevented this ritual of ours. There will be other rituals, sure, but it doesn't make the loss of this one—the sudden and blinding realization of the loss of this one thing that meant more to me than I can express—any less poignant. Okay, that was bad, but there's more.

 Today London got up and painted his body to resemble a Kyoshi warrior. This is how he left this morning, full of life and excited to see his friends. 

But as the day progressed his heart began to break (he drew me a picture of it so there is simply no doubt) as he realized that this was it, that he wasn't coming back to this school, to these friends, to this life he has known for so long.  Notice the pensive gaze in the picture at right.

This is part of life for both myself and London. I get that. But it hurts to see him hurting. My heart aches to see him in a general sadness that he simply cannot express. 

But then we went swimming and had ice cream and, though that didn't fix everything, it does give us that requisite happy ending that is supposed to end all blog posts. 

Monhe

Well, I guess it is important that we document the alter egos of our son. This is Monhe and she is 12. She is also a nurse. At the museum. 

Thursday, August 2, 2007 at 09:28 PM

We went to the Dairy Queen last night so that London could use the free ice-cream coupon he got from talking to a park ranger at Seattle’s Ballard Locks.

London had ridden his bike there so I stayed outside with the bike as Sarah and he went in to get the prize.

The line was long. The day was hot.

I watched him as he held so tightly and so proudly to that little ticket. There was something about that scene that just filled my heart.

london3

I found this in my journal. How time flies.

>>>>

Every day is so precious; it makes me sad when they end.

Today, after I got home from work, London and I went to the market and got some milk. We talked along the way about all the things we saw.

He points to the chestnuts on the ground and says, “wetsnuts.”

He points to the flowers and says flower. I put him so that he can smell them and he says, “nice.”

He likes to point put airplanes, ants, and bicycles and when you talk about the wind he leans in close to your face and blows – like the wind.

He also enjoys flirting with all of the girls at the market. He is quite a regular now and certainly has his favorites.

At the market London wanted a plum (num).

We had a good day. Today Sarah put up a video of London doing the Hokey Pokey on the web site. It was a huge hit at the office.

After dinner, I gave London a bath. That is always fun – or, at least, has always been fun so far. Then we brushed teeth and went out to look for the moon. It wasn’t up yet,

It was a good day. It was a very good day.