The Sound of Silence (which never happens here), The Smell of Thunder

This afternoon as we emerged from the minivan to gray skies, I said to Cody, "Do you know what that smell is?"

Cody: Yes I do. [pause] What is it?

Me: That's the smell of rain!

Cody: Does rain have a smell?

Me: Yes! Sniff! [We do.] THAT is the smell of rain.

Cody: Does thunder have a smell?

Me: Um, I don't think so.

Cody: Yes it does have a smell. I SMELL THUNDER!

Me: You do? What does it smell like?

Cody: Sniff! [We do.] THAT is the smell of thunder.

Calm Down Places of the Rich and Famous

SLL bought Cody a Superman book a few weeks ago and when she got to the part about the Fortress of Solitude, she explained to him that it was the Man of Steel's calm down place, where he goes whenever he gets frustrated or has a tantrum. Cody liked this very much.

This morning Cody had to spend some time in his calm down place (his room, with Bidi and Henry Walden). Afterwards, when all was better, we were talking about what a great job he did calming down. I asked him if he remembered where Superman's calm down place was. "The Fortress of Solitude," he replied. And then:

JVL: Did you know that Batman has a special calm-down place, too?

CJP: Yes.

JVL: Do you know what it's called?

CJP: I do. [pause] What's it called?

JVL: It's called the Batcave.

CJP: The Batcave?

JVL: Yes, it's a very special calm down place that Batman goes to when he gets frustrated. Batman gets frustrated sometimes.

CJP: Does Spiderman have a calm down place?

JVL: He does.

CJP: Where is Spiderman's calm down place?

JVL: Well, Spiderman lives with his Aunt May, who is a very kind lady. And he has his very own room in Aunt May's house, just like you have your very own room. And when Spiderman gets frustrated, he can just go to his very own room. Just like you.

CJP: Does Iron Man have a calm down place?

JVL: Oh yes. He has a special room in the Avengers Tower. And Reid Richards, Mr. Fantastic, goes to his lab in the Baxter Building whenever he needs to calm down.

CJP: Does Pop-Pop have a calm down place?

JVL: I'm sure he does. I think his matchbox car is his calm down place.

CJP: What about Granny's calm down place?

JVL: I'm pretty sure Granny's sewing room in her basement is her calm down place, where she has all of her thread and fabric and her sewing machine.

With this, Cody was finally satisfied and allowed the conversation to move on.

Baby's Got Blue Eyes

And beautiful hair...

And the cutest smile ever. We can't remember the last time we saw her sit down. No crawling ever; she just traipses around the house all day. Doing laps. At this rate, her thigh chunk will be nonexistent soon (sniff, sniff).

We can't believe our baby will be a year old in less than 2 weeks!

"Something there is that doesn't love a wall"

....well, it's not my boys. Today's project: digging out part of the yard and building a garden for Mommy! As ever, Cody is proving extremely helpful.

De-Weeding

Daylight Saving Time wreaked havoc on Cordelia-bird, and she's been skipping her morning nap all week. Today we got her back on track, but then her afternoon nap was off. She finally passed out at 1:59. Cody, naturally, woke up at 2:04. One of those days...but it meant we had a big chunk of time just for us. We decided to work in the yard. We bailed out the sandbox, and then Cody announced that he was on a mission to pick up every single stick in the yard and put them in the trash. (Awesome!) I got my gardening gloves and started weeding. And then this conversation ensued:

Cody: Shannon, what are you doing over there? (He has taken to calling me "Shannon" almost exclusively lately. Whatever.)

Me: I'm weeding, buddy. See all these little weeds that have sprung up in the garden? I'm going to get rid of them so they don't crowd out the flowers.

Cody: Then why are you weeding?

Me: What do you mean?

Cody: Don't you have to de-weed the garden?

That sound you hear is stunned silence. I mean, isn't that kind of remarkable? Not only conceptually--because he's right, it is logical that "weeding" should be like "seeding the yard" or "fertilizing the garden"--you're adding something. And it struck him as nonsense that "weeding" would apply to removing something. But it was the verbal part that caught me off guard--I was so impressed that he had the concept but also had the language to express it. Well, made up the language--logically. This kid is so awesome.

Glasnost

It's not a competition. Except that it is.

For the last week or so, every day when I come home from work Cody asks me, "Dad, did you finish writing your book?" And every day I sadly inform him that no, I have not finished it, and that I probably won't finish it until Christmas.

On Tuesday, the exchange took a slightly different form:

CJP: Hi Daddy! Did you finish writing your book?

JVL: No buddy, I didn't. It's going to take me all year to finish it. I'll finish writing it just around Christmas time.

CJP: Bidi finished writing her book!

JVL: She did? I'm so glad! I'm proud of Bidi. Writing a book is really hard. That's why it's taking me a long time.

CJP: Yes. It was really hard for her to write it. Because she doesn't really have arms. But she did it anyway!

JVL: [hangs head in shame]

Catching Up, Part One Million

Yeah, so it turns out this having two kids time really cramps my blog style. (It did not help that all four of us got the stomach flu the weekend before last -- and I will not blog about the heartbreak of that, but am going to try to block it out.) And poor Cordelia -- Cody's every toe wiggle was chronicled...but she started walking two weeks ago, and where's her star turn? Time for her to have her own post.

As usual, she didn't really try to walk. She just got up and did it. At 10 1/2 months. She looked a little like Frankenstein for a few days, but she's looking more and more like a bona fide toddler now, and almost never condescends to crawl, unless she really wants to chase Cody. The first time it occurred to him to escape up the stairs, she paused at the bottom, looked at me, looked up, cocked her head defiantly and then scaled the staircase. In one shot. Thirty seconds max. Didn't look down. I couldn't believe it...and will have to get out the baby gates again. It's amazing how their personalities are just here, and set, so early. She is feisty, determined, stubborn, aloof, decidedly not a pleaser like Cody, and incredibly happy and sweet and clever.

Here she is, after having walked across the kitchen to greet Aunt Kelly last weekend. She's awfully pleased with herself. (Kelly was pretty stoked, too.)

And in the meantime, her hair has gotten crazy. Here are some highlights from the past couple of weeks, including some from a fantastic visit with Granny and Pop-Pop this past weekend! And lots of pictures from the park -- we are so looking forward to spring!

Behold the hair.

This is my serious face. I wear it a lot.

But don't be fooled. I wear this face a lot, too. I'm a really cheery baby. You know, as long as I'm getting what I want.

Watching Duke with Pop-Pop, and channeling his beach hair.

Wait. Where's Cody?

Phew. There he is.

Everything is just so much more awesome when Cody is with me. See?

(Look at their little matching crossed ankles : )

Or Daddy. Daddy's awesome, too. And let's not forget about...

Sunday in the park with Granny.

More to come. Cody'll get his own. Preview: Current obsession is The Sound of Music. (It will not surprise you to know that the second time we put it on, he looked quizzically at me after Julie Andrews's opening solo and said, "Maria reminds me of someone." When I asked who, he said, "Mary Poppins.") Several of his stuffies have been renamed from Mary and Bert (Mary Poppins) to Liesl and Gretl. He told me he has quite the crush on Liesl, and sings to her (she is in the form of an elephant) "I am Cody, Cody John Paul, I'--ll take ca-re of you."

Cody Cutie Pie

Cordy at play

And eating berries, too. : )