at the bus stop this morning

Mama?  Do you sometimes take the alley back home after I get picked up by the bus?

We usually walk down the street to the bus stop, but when we have trash or recycling, we go the alley. I usually walk back home on the street and wave at the bus when it goes by, but sometimes I take the alley because I don't want to run into people on the sidewalk or deal with street noise, etc, that early in the morning.

Sometimes I do, honey.

Why?

Oh, I don't know...  It's—

It's quicker?

Well, no, it's not quicker... it's quieter...

Oh. Why else do you take the alley?

Well... sometimes I just want a different route. Or sometimes I like to walk around the block.... something different. It's a nice time to take a walk.

Which way are you going to walk today?  he asks.

I consider maybe that Jude would prefer the consistency of me waving to him and the bus when it goes by.

Which do you prefer I take, honey? When I wave I can't really see you, but I just wave knowing you'll see me.

I can see you, Jude says.

So would you prefer I walk down the street and wave, honey?

You could take the alley, he says.

In Lunds way too late on Saturday night

Tired, wet, hungry, caught in the thunderstorm at Ren Fest.

Mama wants candy. First potty breaks. Our friend Debmama grabs a cart, as though we will be here a while. We are all exasperated.

"Where the heck is the candy aisle?" i ask after several loops around Lunds.

"Why don't you look it up on your cell phone?"

cops

Noticing a flashing cop car parked in front of the lamp shop across the street, "What's he doing there?"

"I'm not sure honey... maybe looking at lamps."




"Mama, he's still there. Why's he still there?"
"Hmmmmm.... not sure honey. Maybe he went to get a coffee...? Police like coffee..."

"Wouldn't it be funny if a police car will come by and tow the police car?"

zombie season

Returning to one of his favorite topics, along with a growing interest in "what animals we come back as" when we die...  We are driving during this one.

"Mama, zombies are real you know."

"So you say, honey."

"Yeah. Dada has seen one and so has Noah."

He remembers everything the elders say about zombies, no matter how metaphorical, like the zombies Dada talks about where he works. The ones who work in the basement or the laboratory.

"I think zombies are stuck. People who are stuck after they die because they don't know what kind of animal to be next. So they're stuck dead."  I'm paraphrasing. He likely said it much better, but that was the idea.

My son, the shaman.

Down in the Valley...

This morning, still in a dream state, 6ish am:

"Mama, I had a dream at Dada's the other night that a tree across the valley fell down and landed between Dada's house and Gus's house. It broke the fence."

"Huh. The valley?"

"Yeah, across the street and in the valley. "

I didn't give him the word he was looking for. Valley is so much more poetic. Let alone delve into any symbolism.

He went on. It was a tree about as big as the Elm they had to chop down in their yard last month. A huge elm that provided shade for three houses. We were all sad in different ways. From separate houses.

I did say, "wow, that's quite a powerful dream. Was it scary?"

No. Of course not. Mama. He doesn't do scary.

"Well, Jude," I did say, "it's sad to lose a tree."

I did not say: sometimes when things are too sad (scary, happy, etc) to talk about they come through in our dreams.

He'll make his own sense of that in time.


Sad is also that yesterday one of the teachers at his school died following a horse accident. I wonder when he comes home today how/if we will talk about this. The school is very good about handling these things, also encouraging us to honor our child's feelings (no talk, yes talk, tears, no tears, etc).

Maybe I can tell him to look for this teacher in his dreams tonight.

Furniture Envy?

Mama?
Yea?
Did this house come with the stove and the refrigerator?
Yeah.
Did this house come with the doors?
Yeah.
Did it come with the floor?
Yeah. Most houses come with basic stuff like that.
Did this house come with the blue couch?
No. I bought that.
How much was it?
Not very much.
Did this house come with those lights?
No.
How did they get there? How did they get there and then work when you turn the switch?
Ask Dada. It's not that hard, but it involves wiring and stuff.
What did this house look like without all the stuff in it?
Just like this but without the furniture.
Oh. Did this house come with that door stopper thingee on the wall? (the thing so the door won't bang into the wall).
Yeah.
Why?

At National Night Out

Last night we went to NNO at the neighborhood next to ours and crashed their party because we don't have one in our little condo here. I wanted Jude to make some friends around the block his own age and turns out there are dozens of boys and girls his age, not to mention nice parents to go along with them.

Jude ran around with the boys for a few hours, the way boys do.

I awkwardly socialized with the grown ups who were all very nice, but you know, they don't know me and vice versa...

But what does Jude care about all that? He was so high on fun with the boys that as we were leaving the party he made sure to inform one of the adults, the man who first greeted us, that "I'm getting the Star Wars Death Star Lego set for xmas."

The man was good humored.

"Just in case you were wondering..." I said.

God, I love his quirks!