Wednesday, January 28, 2015

darn that Gollum!

Finishing up the final Lord of the Rings movie last night, both of us quite emotional. Finally that pesky Gollum gets his and we are both relieved.

A few minutes later, all is calm, a bit of time to reflect before returning to the Shire.

"I'm sure glad Smeagol got dead!" he says.

"Yup," I say.

He was a bad guy!

Yup.

He was a mean guy!

Yup!

He was a son-of-a-bitch!

"Jude?!!"

"What?"

"You can't say that. Where'd you hear that?" Was there swearing in Lord of the Rings? At school? We maintain a healthy awareness of swearing, but neither of us is perfect. We do not tend to say SOB, however; somehow it is more fitting of our elders.

"Honey... you'll get in trouble if you say that... not here, but in school and stuff, okay?"

"Okay! I didn't know!"

"Well, where did you hear that?"

He doesn't know. Can't remember. Jesus, honey, where? Who says that anymore?

"The Princess Bride, okay?!"

Monday, January 26, 2015

another one at 6:35 a.m.

This morning, snoozing on my bed while I got ready to go downstairs with him. I don't look my best in the morning.

"Mama? Why do adults have chins that go out like this?"

He pantomimes the thing we adults know and fear well, pulling on his face to add another chin.

"Oh, gosh, honey. You are killing me."

"Well... why do they?"

"Oh, I don't know honey... lots of reasons..."

"Oh."

I flash back on the other night when we are watching Lord of the Rings and during one of the many mayhem scenes where everyone is running and screaming, he points to a rather endowed woman with long blonde hair, and well, that kind of chin. "That woman looks like you, Mama!"

I play dumb. These are quick scenes filled in by depressed extras, out of workers in Hollywood. I know the look. "Oh that one?" I say, pointing out the more yogic looking blonde, a bit more fit.

"Nope. She's gone now."

"Oh."

Back to this morning. I hope for the best. "Does Mama have one of those adult kinds of chins?"





"Honey? Hello?"


zombies on keys

I love discovering his budding sense of humor. Before bed he was messing around with the music box, while I did some work. I quite enjoyed listening to Silent Night repeatedly while I worked.

















After putting him to bed, tidying up. I'll leave it like this. Much better. Sleep in Heavenly Peace, Friends. :)

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

"you sound like another lady"

Walking home from the creek around 5 pm, talking about the weekend. I tell him I have to be around animals. "But not the zoo, " I say.

"Like parrots?" he says, always on to me, more so than I am at times, which I feel mixed about.

"Yes! Parrots! Parrots!" Admittedly, I say this with the enthusiasm of one of our mom friends who is known for her enthusiasm and unrelenting support toward all little ones. Still, it is heartfelt. I DO want to see parrots again; why didn't I think of it? It's brilliant! "Parrots! Yes, Jude!"

"You sound like another lady," he says.

What do you mean?

I don't know. You sound like another lady. You don't sound like you.

Who? What lady?

"I don't know," he says, "just another lady," to which I laugh, remembering the time when he was four and I took him to the Delles and we stopped at a tourist shop where I tried on a cover-up that was pink and floral and rather short and when I came out of the bathroom wearing it he goes, "Wow. You look like a lady!"

But then my laugh. He says it sounds like another lady's laugh.

What lady?

"I don't know. Hey Mama. So this thing on MineCraft..."

So... will the real lady Mama please stand up? What is he saying, that I'm a phony? That the real Mama is less cheerful? What am I, Mama Grinch?

I suddenly picture myself at home in curlers in an old bathrobe, neither of which I own, moping.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

"Can we watch?"

We went to a baby shower for good friends on Sunday eve. "What's a shower?" he wanted to know, of course, as we busied around getting ready.

Absentmindedly is no way to answer questions in a hurry, but it is the law of the land around here. "What's a shower? Oh. you know... you go give presents and celebrate the baby being born... Now, where did I put the tape?"

As an aside, last summer we walked into the birthing barn at the State Fair and just happened upon a calf being born. Mama Cow's water had just broke so our timing was perfect. An hour and half later, the calf was born. We watched the entire thing and it was quite an unexpected memory, very moving, we'll never forget it, etc. The whole thing lasted about two hours, which happens to be how long I told Jude we'd be at the baby shower.  So... naturally:

"Oh, so you mean we're going to go watch?"

"Watch?"

"The baby borning?"