Friday, June 30, 2006

Proof that Guyhood is Genetic

Logan and I were playing around with his trucks and cars earlier today, and being that we're both boys, the playing naturally evolved into crashing the trucks into each other at high speed. Not just crashing, but a contest to see who could crash best. We can't just destroy, we have to be competitive about it. Crashing Tonka trucks, Cold War arms race. Same thing.

Anyway, so where was Liam in all of this? Watching intently, of course, clapping and yelling out "Waaaooooo!!!" every time the trucks collided. How awesome is that? I don't even have to teach them, they just know.

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Random Snippets on a Birthday

So, it's my birthday, the 32nd so far. It'd be nice to get out and do something special, but given the ridiculous 95-degree heat and the fact that I've been out of town all week, and kicking back to some World Cup and playing with the boys today sounds pretty okay.

Logan had a tee ball game today (he's actually starting to enjoy them), and on the way we somehow go tto talking about baseball and softball. I think he was asking something about whether girls played tee ball. I told him maybe, but they also play softball.

"Dad, what's a softball?"

"Well, it's kind of like a baseball, but bigger. You know how big a grapefruit is?"

"Yeah."

"Well, a softball is about the same size as a grapefruit."

"Ohh, okay."

Silence for a minute from the backseat, then:

"What's a grapefruit?"

---------

After we got home we played a game of "Sequence, but a different game than regular Sequence". Logan is big on inventing his own games, most of which are constantly re-written as the games progress. This one was no different. We started playing what was basically checkers, but with the little Sequence chips as checkers and cards laid out to make the board. Apparently you were supposed to jump over four of the other person's chips to get them out.

So we're playing, and Logan and I are basically trading jumps. He made a rule that you can move your playing piece three spaces per turn. Until, of course, he needs to move four.

"Actually, Dad, I can do this -" he moves his piece across the board to jump one of mine - "because actually, you can move your pieces as much as you want."

"What? I thought you told me you could only move three spaces." He did tell me this, not that I care all that much.

"Yeah, I must have forgot to tell you that part," Logan says with just the barest hint of apology. This phrase would sort of become the theme for the game.

So we play some more, and he wins. He requests another game, so we set it up. This time I'm savvy, and jump out to a 3-1 lead. Hey, I want him to have fun but I'm not going to coddle him.

He looks at the board for a minute and then says "But look what I can do, because actually, you can have three turns at a time!" He moves three of his pieces to jump over mine, and wins 4-3.

"I must have forgot to tell you that part."

Someday I'll win, but only if he decides to make it a rule that I get to.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Having a Ball

Last week, we enjoyed an unofficial summertime kick-off when the Barlands came to visit us in St. Charles. Cousins Jack (4), Logan (4), Alex (almost 2), and Liam (1) had a blast at the St. Louis Zoo, a bubbles and sidewalk chalk session at the library, a local playground, The Magic House Children's Museum, and Grant's Farm. They also spent some time in our subdivision pool and in the sprinkler in our backyard. Fun, fun, and more FUN!

Only a couple of activities are captured in these photos (and Liam tends to be the featured subject just 'cause he was so darn cute at The Magic House). I suspect you may find more pictures on the Barland blog before too long.




Mood Music