huck blog

ladybugs

October 31, 2006, 2:26 pm

Happy Halloween!!!

Both our elevators are broken and Huck only napped for 30 minutes today and Troy made his own costume!!!

SCARY!!!

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a day

October 26, 2006, 10:26 pm

Today Huck chased squirrels at Fort Tryon Park, and a few times I actually let out a gasp because I thought he was about to be attacked. He pushed his baby stroller and smelled flowers and chased squirrels, and then we went to the playground and he began playing with his tiny friends and I began talking to those tiny friends’ moms and next thing I knew he fell down really hard and hurt himself. I scooped him up and carried him to the bench and blood poured out of his mouth while my sympathetic friends quickly gave me baby wipes and Starbucks napkins and reassured me that he would live. While the blood poured out of his mouth he cried and cried and then screamed, “RED!” because he’s just a little bit obsessed with naming colors. He ended up with a big fat lip and some blood on his sweet coat, and ever since he’s been pointing to his lip (and sometimes his nose) saying, “Boo-boo” real sadly, which I’m sure will continue for at least the next three months.

He lived.

And now for a whole bunch of Huck news. Really, you should get very comfortable if you're going to keep reading.

Seemingly overnight he has figured out how to speak in actual sentences that make sense. More than once today he stuck his dirty, sticky hand in my face and said, “Clean it off.” Other recent sentences include: "Kiss it!" and "Take it off!" and “I want the keys!” and “I want the leash!” and “I want milk!” Nineteen month olds are very bossy. But cute!

Lately I’ve taken to singing little ditties to Huck like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Ring Around the Rosie, Row, Row, Row Your Boat, Till There Was You, Blue Moon and Rockabye Baby. My bossy little caveman likes to request songs, and sometimes he’ll interrupt one to ask for another. He even combines them occasionally and requests, say, “Ring Around Boat.” I am always game for trying new and interesting versions of old songs.

I’ve been watching Huck make connections like crazy these days. He’ll be looking at a book, notice something like a camel, and then excitedly jump up and find another book with a camel in it, all the while screaming, “CAMEL! CAMEL!” This goes on all day long and is very fascinating for Mommy.

He also likes to take two of his ladybug toys and press them up against each other, jiggling them around sweetly and saying, “Dancing!” And the other day I was reading him a story when I realized he was distracted because a “bumblebee” was “biting” him. Oh, did that “bumblebee” make him mad! His poor little hand was full of “bites” and I had to keep kissing it. He either has a striking imagination or we have an imaginary bug problem.

Much to our surprise, Huck knows the difference between basketballs, baseballs and footballs. And sometimes soccer balls. We’re convinced he’s going to be a world famous athlete one day and we’re not going to have any idea what to do with him.

It's true that Huck is quite verbal, but sometimes he sounds even more intelligent than he is. If you aren’t listening very carefully, for instance, you may think he already knows the alphabet and can count very high. If you do listen carefully, however, you will discover that he is singing a very mixed up version of the alphabet song that goes something like this: “A, B, T, A, I, A, A, I, E, E, W, X, Y, B, H, C, C, K, A.” And he is counting something like this: “One, dos, two, two, seven, eight, thirteen, eleven, two, one, two, dos, two, thirteen, cinco, seven.”

When we’re at the playground I always ask Huck if he wants to sit on the bench next to me and eat a snack, and he’s always very excited to do this. Lately he’s been beating me to the punch and shouting, “Mommy, bench! Mommy, bench!” Only he doesn’t pronounce the “n.” I find myself trying to top his voice and yell, “You want to sit on the BENCH with Mommy? BENCH? BENCH!” Then I laugh nervously and look over my shoulder to make sure everyone understands that my precious caveman is not calling me a naughty word.

He’s sleeping right now and we’re about to join him. Paps went to the doctor today and found out he has a pinched nerve in his elbow, causing pain in his wrist, and possibly it’s because of the way he sleeps at night with Huck in his arms. A swollen lip, a pinched nerve, fast mommy heartbeats, a terrible adrenaline rush, hundreds of hugs and kisses and pictures ... such is a day in the life of Huck and his parents.

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some non-huck news, but with pictures

October 22, 2006, 4:25 pm

This weekend Troy and I have been acting like playwrights, thanks to The Mercy Plays. Our short play UNCLE has been performing at Center Stage Theatre downtown and last night we got to sit in the audience and watch our friends Shannon and Dusty dazzle everyone with their brilliant performance as Bonnie and Joe. Our dear friend Shana directed them, and it was dreamy. I mention this in the Huck Blog because I realized the other day that he is the reason we wrote this play in the first place. It was last winter and Shannon, who was also artistic director of The Mercy Plays, encouraged us to write something. Since neither of us were in any hurry to go out and rehearse something every night, we decided to write a play and enjoy the luxury of letting other people do all the work.

And while we were sitting back relaxing last night, our film CHALK was playing in the Austin Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature Film. And it looks like we're finally getting a distribution deal, meaning the movie will be in theatres in 2007, followed by a video/DVD release. The details are still being figured out, but we are pretty excited. I mention this in the Huck Blog because CHALK is the technical reason he exists.

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dinner conversation with a caveman

October 15, 2006, 8:42 pm

Last night during dinner Huck handed me his pizza crust and said, "Help, help." I asked him what he needed help with exactly and then he got very serious and said the following:

"Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, horsey, neeeeiiigghh!"

Then he smiled real sweet-like and took the pizza crust back.

[ 3 comments ] ( 48 views )

six days

October 11, 2006, 1:27 pm

Huck and I survived our six days in Kansas and Nebraska without Pappy T, but we sure did miss him. We think from now on we'll take family vacations together. While away, Huck became even more verbal and began putting together awkward little sentences. He also gave my parents very sweet names that he came up with on his own. My mom is Little Grandma and my dad is Big Grandma. One morning he woke me up saying, "Big (pause) Grandma! Little (pause) Grandma! Go (pause) See! Mommy (pause) Up!" Well, all right then. Here's Huck with his grandmas:

And Troy's mom, Na-Na, came to play with us one day, too! She brought Huck a very gross life-like lizard that we lovingly named Judy. Thanks, Na-Na! Huck also got very close to a real live frog (thanks, Big Grandma!), played with rabbits in the yard, became extra obsessed with ladybugs, rode many pretend horsies and one pretend elephant, almost touched a caterpillar and talked to an orangutan at the zoo. So much wildlife in Kansas!

Here's Huck with his cousins Kayla, Megan, Lauren, Noah and Lily, his Aunt Lori, Aunt Jeni and Uncle Nathan in Nebraska City, where we all joined together for a family reunion. As you can see in the first picture here, Huck loves to throw apples.

Uncle N8 taught Huck how to sound like a turkey, and he's been working on it ever since. Thanks, Nathan! Here's Huck and Noah in the pumpkin patch ...

And here's Lily taking very good care of her baby cousin.

Thanks, family, for taking good care of both of us!
(and special thanks to phil and krishna, too!)

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19 months ago by pappy T

October 7, 2006, 2:17 pm

it's the 7th of october! that means huck is yet another month older and wiser.

of course, so are his mommy and daddy. we are now another thirty days older and wiser in our parenthood. and if we have learned anything, especially on this particular 7th of the month, it is this:
being together is better.

huck and mama went off to the Land of Ahs (aka Kansas) while I stayed behind to mind the store. it was a practical decision and it seemed like a good idea at the time. and hey! i'm having all kinds of fun "baching it" and jonny calls me from kansas and keeps me updated and huck gets on the phone and says, "daddy! daddy!" and it's all good. and mindin' the store has it's place and all that, and huck getting to spend time with his grandparents is great! but as far as this daddy is concerned, even a boring, old, regular day of huck and mommy is better than the best day of store mindin'. so, i'd like the next couple of days to go ahead and hurry up so i can hold m'lady and sonny boy in my arms again.

here's hoping that pappy T never has to spend another lonely ol' 7th without his jj and huckleberry boy.

[ 4 comments ] ( 41 views )

my child's hood

October 1, 2006, 9:08 pm

The other day Huck and I were swinging together at the playground and I saw a six year old boy who I quickly recognized as the son of one of my friends from Austin. I haven't seen him in about a year, seeing as how he's so old now, and I was really enjoying watching him playing with his friend. And I began to feel dramatic when I realized I was witnessing part of his childhood happen before my eyes. He will most likely grow up to remember that playground and all the fun he had there, maybe even walking by as an adult and pointing it out to friends as a special place, as we all do when we go back home. I saw his mom a few days later and told her about my stalking ways, and she confessed that she enjoys stalking Huck on this very blog.

Anyway, it all got me thinking about childhood and how much I liked mine and how much I hope Huck likes his. I think he does so far. He spends most of his days pretty happy, surrounded by so many people who love him like crazy. Over the past few days I got to watch a lot of these people love him and there's nothing sweeter to a mama's heart. Here's a few of Huck's beloveds: Betty, Amanda and Kadin. Oh, they make him so happy!

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