It's Julie's birthday tomorrow, so since she has been the one most frequently encouraging me to continue blogging, I am posting tonight for her. This in spite of the fact that I am in Day 2 of a low carb diet, and it is kicking my butt tonight. I was successful losing weight this way last year, so I am confident it will work. But the first few days, as you leave behind all bread, pasta, potatoes and sugar -- my precious, sweet sugar... Excuse me.
Ok, I've composed myself again enough to resume. I'm eating my after-dinner grapefruit and feeling much better now. You never realize how sweet and satisfying a grapefruit can taste until you're eating it instead of a brownie, ice cream and cookie dough sundae. Mmmmm, sundae.......
Sorry, back again. Can you tell that food is dominating my train of thought tonight? How about we switch to some Braden stories instead?
Today at Shelley's Community Bible Study chapel service, the children of all the women who attend the Bible study sang at the end of the service. Songs included "This Little Light of Mine" and "My God is so Big, so Strong and so Mighty...". Got it on video tape, and I have to say Braden was equal parts precious and hysterical. He did not sing much during the early songs, but had hearty applause at the end of the songs for those who did. On the two songs mentioned above, he did get more involved, especially when the hand gestures which went along with the singing got more and more exaggerated. He has been singing "My God is so Big" at the house, almost certainly because he likes the gestures which go along with "big", "strong" and "mighty".
Bedtime now requires reading a very busy book called "Night Sounds". This book has a page on the right hand side which describes a nocturnal animal, and opens upwards to reveal a picture of the animal and a more detailed description. On the right side is a picture of the animal hidden behind a flap which you can pull open, and a color-coordinated row of buttons along the bottom which makes the sounds each particular animal makes in the wild. The book features Coyotes, Bullfrogs, Katydids and Owls among others. Every night when we get to the owl, Braden recites the "Great Big Owl" story from the Gymboree tape. His version goes something like this. "Uh Great Big Owl. With long pointy nose. Pointy ears. (Growling)Claws for toes. (Not growling anymore.) He lives high duh tree. When he looks you. He flappa duh wings and says 'who, who, who'." When Shelley or I tell him the story, we cup our hands in front of our mouths to make "who" sound louder. Braden, when he tells it, place his hands flat on each cheek to say "who". Cracks me up.
His other favorite bedtime ritual is to recite the "Three Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree" story - also from Gymboree. (My apologies to Jeffrey if you are reading - I realize you have an irrational discomfort with "Gymbo the Rhythm-less Clown", but this is my baby we're talking about!) Braden's version of the song: "Three little monkeys swinging duh tree. Teasing Mr. Alligator 'catcha me' - 'catcha me'! CHOMP! Two little monkeys," etc... No part of the song gives him quite the pleasure as bringing his left hand down from above his head to his right hand while growling "CHOMP"! But anyone who knows the song could have guessed that part.
Finally, he has developed an obsession with throwing things over the fence. Doesn't matter which side of the house, front yard or back, side yard right or left. If he has something he can carry, and has the thought flash across the front of his busy little mind, he sprints to the nearest fence and tries to throw his payload over it. Upon completion of this devilish task, he usually turns around and asks "where toy go?", like he has no idea he just chunked it into one of our (fortunately) patient neighbors' yards. This behavior is irrating with only one redeeming element. Whenever we are in the house, in the car, at a restaurant - anywhere - and we ask him where something went, the answer is invariably the same. Example: Me, at Jason's Deli: "Braden, where is your fork?" Braden: "Over duh fence!" Everything in the universe which is temporarily misplaced is reported by Braden to be "over duh fence". Often, if we are home, and we can't find what we are looking for after searching a bit, we will make the rounds in the backyard, looking into the neighbor's yards to see if maybe, just maybe....
Austin is starting to show signs of spring fever, which is understandable given that we are four months into Spring here in Houston. He is loving baseball (mostly playing 3rd base) and enjoying the long evening sunshine with his friends across the street. Getting him out of the bed in the morning is another matter altogether.
That's going to about do it for now. We are looking forward to Dad and Mom coming for a visit next week, with Mom getting her "Longwood Mother's Club" card renewed, and Dad getting dragged out to another Astros game to sample America's past-time and the best bargains for food and beverages in the Southeast corner of Texas. (My favorite "Dad quote" from the last Astros game we went to: "That was a good bbq sandwich, but not five dollars and ninety-five cents good!") Honestly, can't you just hear him saying it?
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
4 is the Loneliest Number (Part II)
Austin, Shelley and I went to Lubbock, Texas this weekend for the Texas State Destination Imagination tournament. Elementary through High School age kids from all over the state, including the Rio Grande Valley (about 18 hours by car!), were there representing the various regions from which each was sent as a winning team. Austin had four teams from his elementary school who competed at the State competition, which was held on the surprisingly good-looking campus of Texas Tech.
We put Austin on a bus at 5:00am Friday morning, then got a hot cup from McDonalds and hit the highway. Next, we dropped Braden off in Granbury (Jamie and Jeff were going to keep him but Jeff's Grandfather died in New Jersey and they were there for the funeral). Braden, suspecting something was askew, kept asking "where Jamie go?", with his palms turned up and a wrinkle across his forehead. How can someone so devilish be so utterly charming at the same time?
Anyway, we got to Lubbock about 3pm, then waited for the bus to arrive closer to 5. After a quick visit, the kids got back on the bus and the parents followed to Tech, where there was a "pin exchange" for team-members at the United Arena (Bobby Knight's classroom). There were easily 1,500 kids on the floor of the arena, each with pins from their region to exchange with pins from other regions, as a sort of "social mixer" as well as collection opportunity. I could not believe the degree of seriousness with which some of these kids/sponsors took to this activity. There were people with hundreds (100's!) of pins of every shape and size, from multiple states and years. Austin's prize collection was a Fort Worth region pin set, which featured a stagecoach with spinning wheels, and three different colored horses, all attached to the stagecoach or each other by a thin chain. Austin did not want to trade any of the pins he had left by the time he needed just one horse to complete his collection, so he went to the wallet and made a girl a cash money offer for her horse. That boy is going to be an investment banker or a corporate raider someday, I just know it!
The next day Austin's team ("The Crazy Craniums") had to compete in an "Instant Challenge" at 10:20am. This is the event where the team is brought into a room with several judges, who present the team with a complex challenge and give them a few minutes to discuss and come up with a solution, then present their solution, then answer questions about their process and presentation. Every team in the elementary school age group (I'm guessing about 150 total teams) gets the exact same challenge, so they cannot discuss the nature of the challenge until the event is over. I am sorry to say that I have not yet asked him the details of the challenge. Suffice it to say, the team thought the challenge was much more difficult and complex than the regional challenge. Still they felt like they did ok.
Then we waited around on campus until 3:30 for their prepared challenge presentation. (This was the radio program they created with sound effects, set, costumes, etc...) They nailed their presentation, each one doing their part terrifically with no missed lines or cues. Everyone of the parents and kids were very excited to have them do so well and, frankly, to have it behind us.
Dinner on campus at Flatlanders (good bbq, bad shrimp, 2.5 stars) then on to the United Arena for the awards presentation. Out of 64 elementary teams which had the same prepared challenge presentation, Austin's team finished in 4th place, which meant they got a medal, but did not qualify for global competition to take place in Knoxville, TN in May. The kids were happy and the parents were thrilled!
The crazy neighbor across the street has a 5th grade daughter on a team from Hamilton who won 1st place (1st!) in the State and will be going to global competition. It is the first time I have ever seen our neighbor cry, ("crude tomboy" being a simple description of her, "borderline personality disorder" being the clinical definition) and I have to say it was very touching. The kids were absolutely ecstatic, and it was quite thrilling to see a team from our school win it all.
We were all exhausted, but got up at 5:30am on Sunday to drive back to Granbury to get all of Mama Hen's chicks back together in one nest as early as possible.
Austin got a certificate and a trophy from the school to go along with his medal and is about to get caught up on lost sleep, as are we all.
Fourth place was a very good showing for the team's first trip to State competition, and though the team was disappointed they did not win the right to go to Global competition this year, they are convinced that they will do better at State competition in Corpus Christi next year and go on to conquer the world. If this group of kids stays together, I have no reason to doubt them.
We put Austin on a bus at 5:00am Friday morning, then got a hot cup from McDonalds and hit the highway. Next, we dropped Braden off in Granbury (Jamie and Jeff were going to keep him but Jeff's Grandfather died in New Jersey and they were there for the funeral). Braden, suspecting something was askew, kept asking "where Jamie go?", with his palms turned up and a wrinkle across his forehead. How can someone so devilish be so utterly charming at the same time?
Anyway, we got to Lubbock about 3pm, then waited for the bus to arrive closer to 5. After a quick visit, the kids got back on the bus and the parents followed to Tech, where there was a "pin exchange" for team-members at the United Arena (Bobby Knight's classroom). There were easily 1,500 kids on the floor of the arena, each with pins from their region to exchange with pins from other regions, as a sort of "social mixer" as well as collection opportunity. I could not believe the degree of seriousness with which some of these kids/sponsors took to this activity. There were people with hundreds (100's!) of pins of every shape and size, from multiple states and years. Austin's prize collection was a Fort Worth region pin set, which featured a stagecoach with spinning wheels, and three different colored horses, all attached to the stagecoach or each other by a thin chain. Austin did not want to trade any of the pins he had left by the time he needed just one horse to complete his collection, so he went to the wallet and made a girl a cash money offer for her horse. That boy is going to be an investment banker or a corporate raider someday, I just know it!
The next day Austin's team ("The Crazy Craniums") had to compete in an "Instant Challenge" at 10:20am. This is the event where the team is brought into a room with several judges, who present the team with a complex challenge and give them a few minutes to discuss and come up with a solution, then present their solution, then answer questions about their process and presentation. Every team in the elementary school age group (I'm guessing about 150 total teams) gets the exact same challenge, so they cannot discuss the nature of the challenge until the event is over. I am sorry to say that I have not yet asked him the details of the challenge. Suffice it to say, the team thought the challenge was much more difficult and complex than the regional challenge. Still they felt like they did ok.
Then we waited around on campus until 3:30 for their prepared challenge presentation. (This was the radio program they created with sound effects, set, costumes, etc...) They nailed their presentation, each one doing their part terrifically with no missed lines or cues. Everyone of the parents and kids were very excited to have them do so well and, frankly, to have it behind us.
Dinner on campus at Flatlanders (good bbq, bad shrimp, 2.5 stars) then on to the United Arena for the awards presentation. Out of 64 elementary teams which had the same prepared challenge presentation, Austin's team finished in 4th place, which meant they got a medal, but did not qualify for global competition to take place in Knoxville, TN in May. The kids were happy and the parents were thrilled!
The crazy neighbor across the street has a 5th grade daughter on a team from Hamilton who won 1st place (1st!) in the State and will be going to global competition. It is the first time I have ever seen our neighbor cry, ("crude tomboy" being a simple description of her, "borderline personality disorder" being the clinical definition) and I have to say it was very touching. The kids were absolutely ecstatic, and it was quite thrilling to see a team from our school win it all.
We were all exhausted, but got up at 5:30am on Sunday to drive back to Granbury to get all of Mama Hen's chicks back together in one nest as early as possible.
Austin got a certificate and a trophy from the school to go along with his medal and is about to get caught up on lost sleep, as are we all.
Fourth place was a very good showing for the team's first trip to State competition, and though the team was disappointed they did not win the right to go to Global competition this year, they are convinced that they will do better at State competition in Corpus Christi next year and go on to conquer the world. If this group of kids stays together, I have no reason to doubt them.
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