nothing says Christmas like a train and a tree

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

enjoying the san francisco summer

... which has finally arrived.

birthdays rock

what else would we have but a train-themed party?

http://www.pingg.com/view_announcements/amq5s3g8xa4zzt4ah

artist at work

Luke has been reading this lovely book about two hamsters, Max and Mo, who live in an art room at school. One day, Max and Mo make apple prints. So, one Saturday morning recently, Luke and I made apple prints, too. We had a blast making art in our pajamas, and Mama then had a lot of fun cleaning up (seriously!). Next time, I think we'll keep our art projects in the kitchen, which is a bit easier location for washing up. Here's a 1 minute video of the artist at work.

musings from the back seat

Luke [seated in his car seat, musing on his future]: When I am, maybe, 30 years old, I am going to get my son.
Mama: Just a son, or will you have a daughter too?
Luke: A daughter, too. But before I get my son and my daughter, I am going to meet lots and lots and lots of girls. No, I am going to meet ladies. And I am going to ask each one their name, and I am going to find out which one is the sweetest one. Then I will ask her to marry me. And then I will get my son and my daughter.

wordless wednesday

old married couple

On Tuesdays, Luke is at home with his long-time nanny, Jackie, and his best friend, Sophia. Sophia and Luke met at the playground when they were about 1 year old, and Sophia immediately took to Luke. He was indifferent, but happy to let her adore him. As things turned out, Sophia and Luke ended up in the same preschool (the first one, which wasn't a great fit for either of them), and that's how I met Sophia's mom and we strategized to keep the two kids together and get them into a new school. Now, after more than a year of sharing a nanny, hanging out at each other's houses, and going to school together, they are fast friends. Only, the nearly four-year-old concept of friendship is like an old married couple that loves to bicker, but can also be incredibly sweet. Witness some of the exchanges from this morning:

Jackie: Sophia, I need to brush your hair.
Luke: Jackie! Let me do it. Sophia, can I brush your hair? I'm really gentle!
Sophia nods, and Luke brushes her hair, carefully going up and down with the brush, thereby creating some massive tangles!

Luke: Hey, Sophia! Let's play! Let's jump on the beanbag!
Sophia: Not now, Luke! I'm reading ...
Luke starts jumping, trying to get her attention, and Sophia studiously ignores him.

Luke: (singing) pokerface, pokerface, pokerface ....
Sophia: I am NOT a pokerface!

There are endless complaints about one another to the nearest adult (Anne! Luke isn't listening to my words!), yet they follow one another from room to room. They know what tweaks each other and delights in doing it. Luke pretends to poke or push, and Sophia will squeal with complaints. Sophia will ignore Luke until he's just about boiling with frustration.

Kidlets. I love 'em.

muir woods

Luke's school is closed this week, and Jean-Max is taking over to cover the gaps in childcare. Today (Monday) and Wednesday will be "Dada and Luke" days. Today, the boys are hiking at Muir Woods, and I just got this sweet little message that they're having "so much fun." Look at my boy with his impossibly long legs ...!

overheard

Mama:  Luke, are we still going to visit Lucky No. 7 today?
Luke: Why do you ask so many questions? You're driving me coco loco with all these questions. I need some quiet time. No talking, please.
Mama: Okay.
Luke: I said no talking! Sshhhhhhhh ......

the silverton

For those who would like to sing-a-long with Luke:

[falsetto] The Silverton shoveling coal .... hear the whistle blow ...

She was born one summer like in 18 and 80 and 1
She was a beautiful daughter of the D&RG
and she weighed about a thousand ton
It was 45 miles through the Animus Canyon
so they set her on a narrow gauge
She drank a whole lot of water and she ate a lot of coal
and they called her the Silverton
The Silverton train!

luke is tired after all that jumping on the bed

backseat singing & driving

Luke has always been pretty chatty when we drive, offering lots of stories, songs, and commentary. Yesterday was pretty hilarious, and here are two exchanges from our morning drive to/from our day's adventure:

Luke singing to himself ...

It was 45 miles through the Animus Canyon, so they set her on a narrow gauge.
She drank a whole lot of water and she ate a lot of coal, and they called her the Silverton
[falsetto voice] the Silverton train!

Later on, as we were exiting the freeway:

Mama, there's a lot of traffic. I have some advice for you.
My advice is to change lanes.

[I change lanes, and not just because my backseat driver suggested it.]

You see, Mama. My advice was good advice.
There's no traffic in this lane!

wordless wednesday

riding the rails

One of Luke's favorite things to do is ride the train at the Redwood Valley Railroad. It's a small "scaled" version of an 1800s era narrow gauge railroad, located in Tilden Park in Berkeley. For the past two weeks, on Thursday (my day off work), Luke and I rode the rails together. Here's a one-minute video of our train joy, courtesy of my new toy.

overheard

Luke: I have two electric trains that like being pushed, and three electric trains that don't like being pushed. How many is that?
Mama: Ummm, is that, maybe, 12?
Luke: Nooooo .... Twelve is 10 plus 2. 3 plus 2 is 5!

takes after nana

Here's a quick video of Luke ordering his hot chocolate. This proves the argument of nurture vs. nature: Luke may not have Nana's genes, but he is clearly her grandson. (Love you, Nana!)

cute lunch

Luke's pediatrician told me that few kids actually eat their lunch at preschool and not to worry about it. But, of course, Mama worries, so I have been trying to dress up Luke's lunch to make it more appealing. I found these very cute bento style boxes at the Japanese Target (so nick-named by me, because they have tons of inexpensive Japanese housewares), as well as a variety of cute little toothpicks, food separators, and cups for holding small portions. Here is the result: the cutest lunch in the world!

The box stacks, and has a felt/elastic band to hold it together. In the top part: cereal bar, a cup of raisins, broccoli and cheese, crackers, and a few chocolate chips In the bottom part: cup of raspberries, and a heart-shaped open face sandwich with flower toothpick flag.


I am having way too much fun trying to outdo myself with the lunch cuteness!

heart of gold

An oldie but goodie. This is a video clip taken by Nana at Thanksgiving last year, during Luke's "world tour" cover of Neil Young's "Heart of Gold."

overheard

"I"m going to pick up the train with two hands, and hold it tight. But not too tight, because then it would break. Calamity!"

transitions

My best friend passed away on May 28, 2010 after a long and fierce battle with metastatic breast cancer. Most often when talking about someone who has died of cancer, you hear the phrase, “… and she finally lost a long battle with ...” For Karen, I think of it another way. She was a fierce warrior, she made peace with the cancer while they co-habitated, she beat it into submission as long as she could, and then she finally “won” and left it behind.

Karen was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001 and with metastatic cancer in 2004. Last May (2009), it was clear that her health was getting much more precarious. With the loving support of Jean-Max, I made the decision to spend as much time with her as I could while I could. Between May 2009 and May 2010, I was able to see her 12 times. That’s about four years worth of visits packed into one.

Karen moved into a hospice residence in mid-April. On May 26, Karen asked our dear friend Venus, who was at her side, to call “everyone” and tell us that “things were getting rough.” I got my call on the morning of May 26. Through a series of small miracles, I was able to arrive in Massachussetts about 36 hours later. By the time I arrived, Karen was in a dreamy, halfway place, partly because of the very intense pain medication she needed to take and partly because she was getting ready to … transition … I suppose is the best word for it.

Karen’s family was a family of choice, and her inner circle was at her side for this final journey. We came from all over: some friends were already in Massachussetts, two of us came from California, two came from New Jersey, and her sister from Indiana. I was the last to arrive, and it was clear that Karen was waiting for me.

We spent a last day with Karen, praying, listening to music, eating together, holding Karen’s hand, and enjoying every moment with her and one another.

Later that evening, while most everyone was eating dinner in the family area of the hospice house, I went back into Karen’s room and laid down with her. Her breathing was so ragged, and something just felt different. In between tears, I whispered to her that I was so sad only because I didn’t want our time together, as we have always been, to be over, but that I also knew we would always be together, just in a different way. I whispered that she once promised me that she wouldn’t leave me unless she knew I would be okay. I told her I would be okay. Somewhere in the middle of this, she softly and gently stopped breathing. When I finally pulled back to look at her, she was gone. It was the damnedest thing. Her body didn’t look any different than it had just a minute before, but she was gone. Her body really was like, and no more than, a set of clothes.

In her last moment, Karen gave me such as gift. She knew that I needed to hold her hand as she passed away. I desperately needed to know that people don’t just disappear, and I needed to be with her through every single breath and then through the ceasing of breath. It was so clear to me afterwards that everyone in her inner circle needed something different. Some of us needed to be next door, I needed to be with her, and, for Karen’s great love, she simply didn’t want his last memory of her to be of her dying.

Because I live so far away, I didn’t think it would be possible to be with Karen at the moment of her passing, but she made it happen. Even as she was struggling with the fear of the unknown, the pain, and the sadness of dying, she thought of me. I am humbled beyond words that she would relax into the unknown in my arms. Words are inadequate to express how deeply I loved her and how deeply I was loved by her.

PS: I will return to the usual, and lighter, topic of my posts (e.g., Luke love) soon.

overheard at dinner

From our dinner conversation tonight .... Luke declared:
"I'm big on milk, small on milkshake [aka, yogurt probiotic drink].
I'm big on chocolate, small on cereal.
I'm big on waffles, small on zucchini."

we now interrupt your regularly scheduled program

... to let you know what Mama has been up to. That's me, on the right, graduating from Mills College on Saturday.

potty haiku

Delightful boy pees.
Standing up. In big toilet.
Poop there? He says no.

sent from wireless handheld • please excuse typos

slice of life

Setting: Friday morning, as Luke and I are getting ready for the day (me for work, him for school). In Luke's room, I'm trying to entice him to come over and let me put his pants on. He's distracted by the very cool new fire station he got for Christmas.

Luke: Where's the fire hydrant?
Mama: I don't know. Where did you put it?
Luke: [Moving over to the fire station, shaking his head, letting out a big sigh] Sophia. I told her to put it back. [Shaking his head] She doesn't listen. [Puts the fire hydrant back where it goes, and comes over to me to finish getting dressed.
Mama: [Trying to stifle the laughter]

wordless wednesday: summertime at the zoo

thanksgiving crafts

As part of our Thanksgiving festivities, we created pine cone birdfeeders. The idea was to "share the bounty" with the birds. Pop-Pop and Nana kindly collected pine cones from North Carolina and shipped them out to us in advance of their visit. Mama and Luke bought the birdseed, and then we all sat at the "kid's" table to mash shortening into the pine cones, roll the pine cones in birdseed, and tie on a loop of twine. We had a lot of fun mashing, smashing and rolling, and then hanging the bird feeders outside. Fun, that is, until I started feeling itchy. It turned out that the birdseed had peanuts in it! Who knew?! I had to dash inside, take a full shower, put my clothes in the wash, while Pop-Pop and Nana got all of the peanut-birdseed out of the house, vacuumed the rug in the garage (so as not to spread peanut dust) and basically disinfect everything. It was quite the drama!

wordless wednesday: portrait of the artist as a young man

our imaginary menagerie

I am seriously overdue with sharing our news, and will be getting caught up -- promise! And, the best way to start getting caught up is simply to start.

We have a wonderful menagerie of imaginary animals (all created and named by Luke) living with us these days:

• Carl Wilson, the peacock, to whom Luke throws imaginary bread crumbs
• Louis Armlance, the kitty cat, who also happens to be a cousin of Louis Armstrong
• Norbert (last name unknown), the dragon who just joined the gang

Norbert sits next to Luke at meals, and I've been laying out a placemat and plate for him (Norbert, that is). And, yes, Luke's imaginary animals have last names as well as first names!