Fido Has a...

Spring has sprung! We've learned over the past couple of weeks that all of neighbors are still alive and well after the 6-month hibernation. The birds are singing, the days are getting longer, and we've fired up the grill. And finally we can play in our back yard once again. We stayed out until almost dark tonite and the sights and sounds made for some interesting conversation. The following, in particular, I think is worth sharing...

Me: Oh, there's Fido. Hello, Fido! (Yes, I often talk to dogs, even Fido, the old, overweight, annoying hound-type mix next door.)

Fido: (Nothing. Not even a glance in our direction. Maybe his hearing is going...)

Loic: Fido has a butt!

Me: Yes, he does. All dogs have butts, in fact.

Laurence: Yep, and all dogs have penises.

Me: No, not girl dogs.

Laurence (with a puzzled look of misunderstanding): What? Not bull dogs? Bull dogs don't have penises?

What seems like minute goes by, me laughing until my face hurt and unable to get the words out, until finally...

Me: I said, "Not GIRL dogs."

Laurence: Ohhhh! Right. Girl dogs have loo-la-las.

The rest of the conversation went in one ear and out the other. I could barely get past this. Who calls them that? Some girl in his class, apparently. The kid is in kindergarten. What's he going to come home with next?

I'll Have an Order of Chicken Lo Mein & a New Pair of Sneaks, Please

Loic is featured in this post. That kid has quite a natural sense of humor, and appears to be developing a memory to rival his older brother's. Backing up to about a year ago, the family was making our weekly visit to our favorite chinese restaurant, the Panda House. I can't say enough about the place -- amazing food, fast service, and the friendliest of owners. In fact, let me digress by saying that just a few weeks after Alastair was born, Bill came home with carry out and handed me a little red envelope, from the owners, he said. Inside was a crisp ten dollar bill! It's a gift for the baby, she'd told him, and on our next visit explained to me that you give money when a new baby is born to friends or family, to bring the child good luck. Honestly, I was blown away by the gesture. And this wasn't the first of it's kind...

Back to our visit a year ago...that evening the owner came to our table carrying a pair of sandals and asked if we thought they would fit Laurence. I said I thought so, and she explained that her father brought them from China for her son, but they were much too small, so she thought of us. Laurence was so proud and couldn't wait for warmer weather to wear his new treasures. Once summer came he would tell everyone he encountered that his sandals were from the Panda House. Eventually he wore the straps right off. But what a special gift -- sandals from China! Anyway, I said this was to be about Loic and it is...read on!

Sunday night we went to eat once again at the Panda House. Loic & I shared Chicken Lo Mein, which isn't at all relevant, but let me tell you, theirs is amazing! Afterwards we headed next door to Target to get a few things, including a new pair of sneakers for Loic. (He has a fine pair, but needed a 2nd since he seems to be able to find every mud puddle within a 200 yard radius of wherever we are, constantly leaving him with wet shoes. So the old pair will become his romping sneaks.) The next day we were getting ready to go to the grocery store and Loic asked if he could wear his new sneakers. Assuming we'd be puddle-free from here to there, I agreed. As I was tying them he said, "Are these my shoes from the Panda House?" I burst out laughing and looked up -- he was giving me that sly Loic look that he's perfected. Before I could answer he laughed and said, "No, they're from Target!" Oh, it felt good to laugh together like that, and I have his sense of humor and incredible memory to thank. Keep those moments coming, kid!

February 29

Laurence is really trying to understand time these days. From how long 3 hours is, to how many months until Christmas, etc. Yesterday he asked how many days until Loic's birthday, which is July 31st. I was explaining that we can estimate, because we know it's about 5 months away, and months have about 30 days...and there's where I got interrupted. I should have know that Laurence is NOT about estimating. "Well," he says, "some months DO have 30 days, but some have 31, and February has 28...except when it's a hopping year, because then it has 29."

More Good Stuff from the Table

A few of the recent conversations in our household....

This one over dinner tonite, which was meatball lasagna --

Laurence: Do meatballs come from cows?

Me: Yes, if they're beef meatballs they are made from meat from cows.

Laurence: But I thought cows only made milk.

Me: Well, dairy cows give us milk, beef cows give us meat.

Laurence: But why don't we get milk from all cows, since they all have those pink things that hang down?

Me: Umm....

And this one out of the blue the other day, no particular setting --

Laurence: All people in Oklahoma have mustaches.

Me: Really?

Laurence: Yes. I know they do. And some have cowboy hats.

Me: I see.

That's all I have time for right now...

Overheard at the Dinner Table

While I love taking the time to write my usual 2 to 3 paragraph posts, the additional person in this house, though small, has made using the computer beyond a few minutes at a time rather difficult these days. I feel like I've let so many questions and comments slip by that would normally appear here. So, here is my first of probably many short yet thought-provoking "overheard at the dinner table" (actually it's a dinner counter at our house) posts:

Mom, why do grandpas and grandmas seem to have skin that is too big for their bones? Mine is tanner than my grandpa's, and it seems to fit me a lot better.

State your Name & Age, Please

If you've seen Loic recently you've undoubtedly been asked the all-important question, "What your name?" He asks everyone he encounters, regardless of whether he knows their name or not. Strangers, friends, people on TV...they all get interrogated until they answer. And even then, he may ask again, just to be sure. In fact, though he knows BOTH of my names, Mommy & Jan, he asks me this very question at least 15 times a day. Life is all about names right now.

Last night as the boys were heading upstairs Bill says, "Goodnight Laurence. Goodnight Loic. Goodnight Cooper!" (My maiden name, by which he calls me frequently. Sometimes Cooper, sometimes Coop. No, I wasn't really going to bed, but this has become a cruel little joke between us since the baby was born and I have no true bedtime. Funny. Ha, ha.) Loic stops mid-stairway and says, "Mommy, Dad said, 'Goodnight Cooper.'" Though he's heard him call me this thousands of times, it was understandably puzzling him because of his recent obsession with names. Laurence chimes in before I have a chance, "Cooper was Mommy's last name before she married Daddy." "Oh!" was all Loic said. He was satisfied.

The conversation with Laurence took an unexpected turn, however. As he climbed into bed he said, "When I find someone I want to marry, how will I find out how old they are?" I told him this is something you usually discuss early on when you meet someone, but of course I had to ask him why this was on his mind. "Well," he said, "I DEFINITELY want to marry a girl younger than me. So, I will need to ask her how old she is first." Still not following, I said, "OK, but why?" Silly of me not to know...."BECAUSE I want her to have MY last name after we get married." What? But, I didn't pursue it any further. Maybe it's the sleep deprivation....nah, this is just life thru the eyes of a six-year-old.

It's a...

BOY! And BOY, do I feel remiss for not posting sooner to introduce our new family member, who is now 2 weeks and 1 day old! Hopefully you can forgive me...but after the backlash we received for not posting on Facebook until several hours after he was born, it seems doubtful. Anyway, I certainly have been intending to make my re-entry into the blogging world, but things have been a wee bit busy at our house. What prompted me to do so today is that a friend of a friend has apparently been missing my posts, which makes me feel pretty dern good! People I don't even know actually read my stuff. Thanks!

Without further delay, please help me welcome to this wild & crazy world, ALASTAIR ELLSWORTH O'NEIL, born on Wednesday, December 30, 2009, at 7:49 a.m. He weighed a whopping 9 pounds 13 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches long. Though I've been living in a fog since, I do realize now would be an appropriate time to post a picture. Here he is the day he was born:

No doubt there is some wonder about his name. 'Tis a mouthful, hey? We truly struggled with names this time around, especially boy names. Up until 2 days before he was born, we only had one boy first name we could agree on, and neither one of us was crazy about it. So, Bill had the brilliant idea of scouring his e-mail address book for work, 5000-some names from all over the world. Our top two boy names therefore surfaced just a day or so before he arrived.

Alastair is the name of a consultant Bill's company contracts with, who he first met when they traveled together to South Korea six years ago. He liked his name immediately, but we never considered using it until now. And I'm so glad we did! It's Scottish, and for those who need to know, means "Man's defender..."

Ellsworth was my paternal grandfather's middle name, but it's what most people called him. I've wanted to use it as a middle name since we started having kids, but it never seemed to fit just right. This time it definitely did.

We've certainly gotten plenty of comments on the name, and a few people have even said they like it. Some of the responses from people who learned of his name by phone the day he was born: "Oh...Wow!" "That's a mouthful!" "Huh." Other comments since: "Oh...Wow!" "That's a mouthful!" "Huh." Don't get me wrong, there have been some positive reactions, too. A few people have said it sounds regal, important, it's a name to live up to, etc. People had to expect a unique name from us, and unique is what they got. By far the most noteworthy response so far was that of one of Bill's co-workers. He wasn't holding his opinion back at all when he said, "Oh no! Why would you do THAT to him?" To us his name is just like him -- perfect.