Choo-choo-chaboogie

The mystery has been solved.  The train set is from Mose’s godparents, Carolyn and Kennan.  And what a present it has been.  Which is not to undervalue the numerous and various presents given by friends, family, and even ourselves.  It’s just that Mose has some kind of choo-choo mania that cannot be explained, was completely unexpected, and seems boundless.  Carolyn and Kennan hit the jackpot.  For now.

The train, like so many good things in life, is a source of joy and pain.  When it’s good, it’s great; when it’s bad it’s the end of the world.  Pulling his little train along the track is like being in heaven.  Having a train derailis being sent to a lower plane of hell.

Yesterday morning, Mose woke up and the first word out of his mouth was “choo-choo.”  Edie asked Mose if he wanted to give me a morning hug and he said, “no. Choo-choo.”  Oh to be second fiddle to a wooden train set.  But today, I was able to intercept Mose on his way to the train and was granted a hug that smacked a little of noblesse oblige.  But hey, I’ll take it.  Any Mose hug is better than no Mose hug.

While Mose’s ardor has hardly cooled, I am happy to report that his last words as we put him to bed tonight were not “choo-choo” or “train” but “cookie store.”  The world is returning to balance.

Dancing with the Stars

Tulane celebrates graduation each year with a party for its graduating seniors, the families, faculty and staff.  Called “Wave Goodbye,” there’s lots of free food and music.  This year they had Bonerama, a local “brass band eclectic” group (although without lead man Mark Mullins, it seems to me that Tulane got shortchanged).   Be that as it may, Mose and Elio had rockin’ good time and danced up a storm.  I think they might have gotten more attention than the band.

As the evening wore on the kids wanted to get closer to the music.

Dog days of spring

As you can see, I’ve gone on a little video spree, getting both old and new movies up on the blog.  Edie was in Washington, DC all last week, and so it was just Mose and me.  We had a great time, but with Edie back, I could actually think about a little video editing, uploading, and entry writing.

The weather’s been gorgeous here–low-to-mid 70s–with a breeze and blue skies.  We’d love it to last, but know summer is just around the corner.  Even last Friday it was just a little more humid than usual and Mose was already showing signs of the heat.  He’s a sweaty boy–just like dad.

Anyway, coming back from school the other day we were running a little late.  Edie decided she’d walk the dogs while I played with Mose in the front yard.  Mose had other ideas:

On our way back we encountered one of the only downsides of spring: the arrival of the buckmoth caterpillars.  These spiny nasties look soft and nice enough, but their furry outsides are really hundreds of needles of filled with poison.  No fun for anyone.  That they often drop from the oak trees they prefer to munch upon just adds insult to (potential) injury.  The kids learn quickly, however (and hopefully not from experience), to look but not touch:

Two year olds eat dirt

This truth should, perhaps, be remembered as we struggle with fancy parties for our toddlers.  They like the fun, the kids, the toys, the cake, the ice cream, and the like, but could probably care less about style, decor, and ambiance.

The video, below, isn’t so much a Mose video (although he’s in it), but rather a hilarious (sorry Tamara, but it was funny!) birthday cake disaster at their son Reed’s second birthday party.  It was funny, Reed is cute, and the cake was good.  And we laughed.  What more could you ask for.

You can catch a glimpse of the cake as it was meant to be around :06-:08 and again at :18-:19 in the video.  And then…wait for it…wait for it…

Riding a puma at the zoo

Oh if only you could actually do this.  And not get bitten or mauled.  (Do no try this or you’ll end up like the woman in Berlin who jumped into the polar bear enclosure: badly bitten and issued a citation for trespassing.)

But one can safely imagine a joyous version of these events at the carousel, although it, too, can be scary for a two-year-old.  Mose chose to ride the puma–perhaps it reminded him of a giant Frank–but about halfway through the ride wanted off for the safety of the unmoving bench.  Still, it was damn cute while it lasted:

Reading that makes you nuts…or at least bananas

Mose has a number favorite books, but certainly at the top of the list is Richard Scarry’s Longest Book Ever! (which sometimes is confused with the world’s longest book, but isn’t even close).  The book’s nearly tragic hero is a hungry gorilla name Bananas Gorilla, who just happens to be both mad for bananas and hungry.  You can imagine the confusion when his primary physical need is tied to his first name and we start the book by learning about “Hungry Bananas.”  What?  How can a banana be hungry?  Oh, it’s the gorilla who’s hungry.  And his name is Bananas.

Whatever.  Mose loves it, and so we love it.  And here, for our faithful audience, is part two of our train play:

Sweet dreams

Mose awoke very happy this morning. He was lying in his bed, looking up with a wide grin on his face. After picking him up and getting a good morning hug, I asked him, “Most, did you have good dreams last night?”

He smiled at me and nodded “yes.”

“What did you dream about?” I asked.

“Car,” he said ad he smiled. Mose loves cars.

“Do you always dream about cars?” I asked.

“No.” Big smile.

“What else do you dream about?”

Bigger smile: “Cookie!”

Morning loquacity

Mose and I were playing with his little train set this morning and he was showing off some of his new verbal skills.  Nothing quite as fancy as yesterday’s, “Elio. I’m sorry.  Water cup.  Head,” which translates to: “I’m sorry that I poured a cup of water on Elio’s head in the bath last night.”  Still, I’m kind of impressed that he knows that we have two dogs and what their names are (although “Hannah” comes out as “Ah-ka”).

More Mardi Gras

Slowly but surely I am actually getting these videos up. Who knows, maybe I’ll get the photos posted too.

Here, Mose and Elio, toward the end of the Thoth parade, are ready to delve into some brownies. Or are they?

Then, on Mardi Gras day, we relaxed for a bit above the chaos. As we watched the throngs below, up rolled a mobile drum kit, players and “dancer.” The crowd was enthralled, and so was Mose. Well, enthralled enough

A Mardi Gras experience

Not much to do with Mose (although he does appear briefly at the end of this video), but I wanted to capture a bit of the fun and mayhem of Mardi Gras day for us and so took a walk through the throngs in front of the R-Bar. About halfway through my wanderings I encountered my friend Brooks. I continued to film as we talked and then moved on.

In case you don’t quite hear it on the video, while talking to Brooks a woman comes up behind me and asks if she can spank me. Not sure if it was my goat costume or the beer. Then near the end of the video she came up behind me again, but this time I got to capture the actual spanking.

Happy (post) Mardi Gras!