Dragon Tale

Above all...dignity.

Last week on Father's Day Kiernan went to see a play, a production of a show called The Legends of King Arthur performed by the excellent Creative PlayGround. Legends was written by a good friend of mine named Karen Hardcastle and it tells the tale of the important symbols in the lives of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. There are three actors in the show, and those three actors play a variety of parts. The actor playing King Arthur just plays King Arthur. The Guinevere actress plays a couple of parts. The actor playing Merlin plays Max the Dragon and Sir Sagamore, in addition to Merlin.

Above is a picture of the Merlin actor doing his Max the Dragon bit. As Max the Dragon the actor must recruit a couple of kids from the audience to act as his tail. One of the hallmarks of Creative PlayGround shows is that audience participation is not only encouraged, it is vital to the success of the show.

The week previous to this Kiernan had gone to see the Creative PlayGround production of Ferdinand the Bull, one of my favorite of their plays. Kiernan has seen this play every year since he was born. He has a copy of the book with cast signatures from each production to prove it. On the occasion of that show, last week, Kiernan elected not to participate. He was not interested in volunteering. I understood this completely. I don't like volunteering for stuff in public either. For an actor I can be fairly shy. While he is quite a showman, and much more socially apt than I am, he does have a shyness that shows up from time to time.

I was delighted when, this week, he expressed interest in participating in the show. I assured him that playing part of the dragon tail, while an important part, would not require him to do a lot. So he said he'd like to do it. When the time came to volunteer he was rarin' to go.

He did a fantastic job.


[PIC NOTES (top to bottom): 1. In the middle of the Max the Dragon scene. 2. Preparing to go on as the tail of Max the Dragon with another audience member. Her name was Rebecca. There is a fairly long scene as a young Arthur woos a young Guinevere while Max and the tail kids wait offstage. A couple minutes into the scene Kiernan said, sotto voce, "Come on. Come on. Let's do this already." 3. Max the Dragon and tail making the entrance. 4. After the show with the cast. Aaron Hendry as King Arthur. Elizabeth Tobias as Queen Guinevere. I never got the name of the goofball playing Merlin. If you look closely you can see the three important dinosaur companions Kiernan brought to the show.]

Someone to Watch Over Me

Kiernan called me in for one last time tonight. I heard him over the monitor calling for a kiss and a hug. How do you refuse that?

I went in and gave him the kiss and the hug and told him I loved him.

"Daddy, will you watch over the house all night long?"

"Yes. I'll watch over the house all night. I'll watch over your room too."

Kiernan: Daddy, you only need to watch the doors. Because they have to get through the doors to get to my room.

X: Okay. I'll watch the doors and listen all night long.

K: But what if the mailman gets in?

X: The mailman? They don't come in the house. And anyway they don't work at night.

K: Why not?

X: They just don't. Besides, they're at home with their family. Looking over their own kids.

K: How does the mailman have kids?

X: They just do. They're people.

K: What do their kids do during the day while they are delivering the mail?

X: Well, either the Mommy or the Daddy...


Yep. It took me that long to realize I was being played. Actually, to be fair, the first question was a sincere one. And so sweet. But past a certain point he did realize he had me on the hook and could keep me in the room for longer if he kept going. He caught on to this far before I did.

Yeah, yeah, I know. He'll only get better at this. That's okay. The knowledge that he looks to me to keep him safe at night makes it worth it.

Tunnel Time

Open the pod bay doors, Kiernan.

Kiernan and Wendy met Kiernan's friends Nicholas and Veronica (and their older brother William) for a playdate on Friday. After that Kiernan and Wendy went out to lunch at a semi-popular local eatery. Kiernan chose the restaurant based on the fact that it was offering crappy little plastic cute movie tie-in toys from the film Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Normally movie marketing has little impact upon Kiernan, but he's hitting a dinosaur phase right now particularly hard, and a lot of the posters from that show feature a dinosaur on them.

At first Kiernan really took issue with this. I think the first time he saw a billboard he asked what kind of dinosaur was on the billboard. But almost immediately after that he said something like, "Wait a minute. Weren't Wooly Mammoths alive during the Tertiary Period? Dinosaurs weren't alive in the Tertiary."

Okay. I'm not sure that's exactly what he said. But while it sounds impossible for a four-year-old to say something like that, the following is a direct quote from the other night after I put him to bed. He only gets to call us in two times after he goes to bed. Sometimes he uses these calls for a drink of water. Sometimes all he wants is a "hug, kiss and I love you". On this night he used his second call to ask me,

"Daddy? Were there plants in the Tertiary?"

When the kid gets into something, he really gets into it.

So while he doubted that the dinosaur appearing on the billboard made any sense, he still became fascinated with the movie. Eventually we showed him a trailer online and he immediately fell for the characters. When Wendy was out and about with him he saw a billboard advertising the animal character toys included with kids' meals at a restaurant. So he wanted to go there for lunch.

Those people who market stuff to kids. Not dumb. Evil? Perhaps. Dumb? Nope.

Anyway, Kiernan got some play time in at the little play area at the restaurant and Wendy took these pictures. I liked the series and thought I'd post them.

[PIC NOTE: Kiernan took the picture of Wendy.]

Continuity

I'm starting to see something in Kiernan that gets me pretty excited, but will probably call to mind the phrase "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree" for a few of you, and not in a charitable way. This will probably be accompanied by an eye roll.

First off, here's a scan of a page and a half from one of Kiernan's Magic School Bus books. [Again I hope a C&D order is not in the offing.]


Again, this scan is across two pages. The line down the page indicates where the page break is, so these pictures are on two different pages.

One day as we read this, Kiernan stopped me and asked, "Daddy, why are Ms. Frizzle's earrings different colors? They are green on this page and yellow on that page." [It should be noted that I can't really tell what the real colors are because I'm terrible with colors. Kiernan nailed the colors, because he rocks at colors. A point I am very happy about and which I will explore in a later posting.]

So look at the picture above. Click on it to expand it if you have to. Ms. Frizzle's earrings are indeed different colors.

Now consider this scan from another Magic School Bus book, The Magic School Bus Gets Baked in a Cake.


In this instance we see Ms. Frizzle taking off and student character Dorothy Ann (D.A.) featured prominently in the foreground. In the upper part of the picture, sort of in the background, we see the Magic School Bus hovering overhead. The other students are looking out of the bus. You can see Liz, the class lizard, in the driver's seat.

As I have said in previous posts, the stock student characters in the MSB books are readily identifiable through physical traits and characteristics and wardrobe. D.A. is known for doing research, and she is blonde. Ralphie, for instance, wears a green shirt and a red baseball cap backwards. You can see him through the driver's window of the bus, standing to the right of Liz and waving.

Now look to the window to the driver's left and behind the driver's window. The window is partially obscured by the side view mirror of the bus. Notice anything in that window?

That would be a blonde girl in that window. That would be Dorothy Ann.

One morning shortly after getting this book Kiernan pointed this out, asking his mother, "Mommy, why are there two D.A.'s?"

I'm pretty good at catching discrepancies like this, but I never would have noticed this.

One more. Although this isn't really about a discrepancy. This is something else. And should really kick in the eye-roll.


As I have written previously, when we read these books the procedure is for the adult(s) to read the main text of the story on the page while Kiernan reads the dialogue bubbles over the heads of the characters.

In this instance we were reading this book as his pre-napping book. I turned the page to the page pictured above as Kiernan leaned forward to gather his stuffed animals (or dinosaurs, or squids) and to arrange his blankets. I finished my section, and without looking at the page, even once during this reading, he said,

"Oh no! A field trip to outer space!"

As always he did this in his perfect Arnold voice. At first my mind didn't catch what had happened, but as I turned the page it clicked. He had said the dialogue from memory. Perfectly. Exact words and correct character.

He does this a lot. He's got a whiz of a brain for words, for the exactness of writing. He loves to watch Magic School Bus videos and if there is a difference in how something is said, he nails it. Yesterday we were reading The Magic School Bus Gets Ants in Its Pants. Near the end of that story the Magic School Bus and the anthill are in danger of being wiped out by a mud slide. I read the following line from the story text:

"'Forget the movie!' said Arnold. 'There's a mud slide!'"

Kiernan stopped me and said, "In the show Arnold says, 'Mud slide!'"

"What?"

Taking a deep breath as if to give him the patience to deal with the denseness of his father he said, "Here Arnold says 'There's a mud slide' but in the video he just says, 'Mud slide!'"

"Oh."

That was it and we moved on. He wasn't complaining, just pointing something out.

So, after all this, my only logical question has to be...

How long do I have to wait before I can watch the Star Wars films with him?

Picture For This Day

Today is Father's Day, and while I'm thinking of my own fathers, and, of course, my son, my mom's father in particular has been on my mind today.

I've been going through a lot of old boxes this week, trying to eliminate clutter and clean up. I came upon this picture from 1991. The occasion is commencement at William & Mary. The picture was taken by a reporter documenting the fact that my grandfather was going into the Old Guard (the fiftieth reunion of his graduating class) on the same day that I was graduating.

Williamsburg, VA
May 19, 1991

Picture For This Day

Breakfast. Drawing rainbows. He's nuts about R.O.Y.G.B.I.V. right now.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Picture For This Day

Eating lunch the other day at his drawing table. Kicking back with Meow Meow Kitty Cat and a good book.

There is something very special about watching him read during a solitary meal. One of life's enduring pleasures. That feeling of handing something small, yet valuable, down.

Tuesday June 16, 2009

Business Management

Gammy was here for a visit last week. It was a quick visit. Kind of a direct action, come to think of it. She dropped in, took care of things, and headed back out. Why? Just because.

She let us know a couple of weeks ago she wanted to visit for a couple of days and goof off with Kiernan. And she did just that. It was a huge help. We got to tackle (or, rather, start to tackle) a major project (cleaning out the garage so we could eliminate the storage unit we rented when we were trying to sell the house last year). Also we got to go out to a movie (The Hangover: weird, funny, vulgar...recommended if you can handle naughty words). She got to play with Kiernan. Kiernan got high-octane Gammy time.

In addition to her work as Gammy, Susan also holds a position as Business Manager with Wendy's consulting company, 2Teach. She's been a huge help in this capacity, doing such things as making travel arrangements and reconciling invoices. Things I'm terrible at and Wendy is just too busy for as a full-time mom and a full-time ed. consultant/professor.

One of the things Gammy did when she was here was take Kiernan shopping. On the occasion of Kiernan's recent oral surgery, Grance and Gammy sent him five dollars. They told him that Gammy would take him shopping for a toy on her next visit. When she was here the two of them went off to Big Lots.

While they were there Gammy taught Kiernan to look at the prices on the toys. She helped him figure out what he could afford for his five dollars, and what he would have to pass up. Apparently he was great at this. He picked up some item of interest. Gammy informed him it was priced at seven dollars. He put it back without comment.

They didn't have a whole lot of luck at Big Lots, which is a store that scares me. It emboddies the term "Bazaar" for me. I don't even know what that term means in reality. Because for me all it means is "scary shopping". The kind of place where if you ask for help finding a specific product the people working there will shrug and then laugh at you.

On their way out, Kiernan found the squids. And that is what he chose to buy with his five dollars. When he showed them to us he identified them as "Marine Squids". He loves marine animals right now...especially sharks.

He loves these squids. How do I know this? He won't go to bed without them.

Good times.


[Pic Notes: The day Gammy had to leave was Trophy Day for Kiernan's tee-ball league. I took Gammy to the airport and Wendy and Kiernan went to pick up potluck items and headed to the ceremony. Beforehand Kiernan agreed to pose for Gammy in his uniform. The Marine Squids had to be present, of course.

The middle picture is a random shot of Kiernan learning to work something called a Bongo Board (I think) with Gammy. This is what happens when you clean out your garage.]

A Caution for Carnivores

A random snippet about dinosaurs from tonight's dinnertime conversation.

Kiernan: I'm sad that Archeopteryx and Ramphorhyncus died off.

Daddy: Why?

Kiernan: Because they weren't meat eaters.

A slight pause. And then.

Kiernan: I'm glad that Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus died off.

Daddy: Why?

Kiernan: Because they were meat eaters.

Buddy Day

Last week Kiernan had a special event at his new school. Technically it's not his new school yet, but it will be in the fall when he starts Kindergarten. The event, as you may be able to tell from the sign, was Kindergarten Buddy Day. Kiernan and a bunch of his future classmates all showed up at the school in the middle of the day and were given a tour of the school by one of the kindergarten classes.

I've been pretty nervous about this new school. Not because there's anything wrong with it. Not at all. It's got a great reputation and Wendy has done a lot of work with the school. It's pretty close to the house and is located in a nice neighborhood. The thing that's been hard for me to adjust to mentally is how much bigger it is than his old school, CSUN Lab School.

The new school isn't big by the standards of normal city schools. It actually seems to be a pretty manageable size. It's just the comparison that has me spooked. The lab school is tiny. It feels safe and intimate. Kiernan and I have gone onto the campus at his new school a couple of times during the school day to deliver forms or pick up forms and I've just been struck by how many more kids there are, and how old they look next to him. It's an elementary school, so of course the older kids will look older. Duh. But as I carry my little boy on my shoulders to deliver immunization records (or whatever) and these bigger kids run and yell and bang into each other I feel a lump in my throat.

I had an epiphany the second time we went to the school. I suddenly flashed back to my first days at new schools when I was a kid, and how weird and nervous I sometimes felt going into a new situation. And I suddenly thought about my parents. It never occurred to me that they were probably nervous too. Nervous for me going someplace new. Especially when I transitioned from the small private school in Colorado to the large public high school in Virginia.

I don't remember them showing me that they were nervous. Maybe this was because they all worked in various schools and simply weren't nervous the way I am now. I doubt it. I think they were just doing what parents are supposed to do. Being confident so I would feel confident. Or maybe I was just oblivious to their feelings the way kids sometimes are.

Buddy Day was great for a number of reasons. For one, I could see for myself what Wendy had been trying to tell me to set me at ease, that the kindergarten classes are somewhat segregated from the rest of the elementary population. They have separate play areas and lunch times, so they won't be in danger of being trampled by the gigantic older kids. Also, the teachers seemed pretty cool. This was my first chance to meet any of them as I missed the orientation night on account of Kiernan having swim class.

But the truly cool thing about Buddy Day was watching Kiernan interact with the kindergarteners and teachers. He jumped right in. We were there but it became apparent that our presence there was really more for us than for him. Aside from checking in with us a couple of times to point out something or make a face he seemed pretty oblivious to the fact that we were there, hanging back and observing. When he needed something or wanted to ask a question, he reached out for one of his buddies--in particular this very active little dude named Buck--or asked a teacher. This was so great.

I'm not going to say I'm not nervous anymore about the bigger school, with all those bigger kids. But I've got a calmer feeling about it now. I know he'll do fine.


[Picture Note: The second picture shows him on a playground structure after Buddy Day was over. The third is just after that. I let him run around and play for a bit as Wendy had to go and do something at the school office. In this third picture he has met up with a couple of random guys from some other class. I have no idea where they came from, they just appeared from around the corner and Kiernan went over to them and they all started talking and doing stuff spontaneously.

I've got better pictures from that day, but I don't really know these kids yet so I'm not going to post them. When I can I like to get permission from parents before posting pics of other kids. I thought these two guys were far enough away in the picture so that it's not that big of a deal. It's kind of a random shot, but I like what it says about him.]

Picture of This Day

Kiernan went to see a production of the play "Ferdinand the Bull" with his friend Sam today. They both had a pretty good time.

Later, as I got him ready for his nap, I climbed up to the top bunk of Kiernan's bunkbed to read him a story. This is a naptime ritual. I opened the book he had chosen, The Magic School Bus Out of This World. Kiernan read off the list of characters from the title page, and then I read the first page.

All of a sudden he turned to me and threw his arms around my neck and said the following, completely out of the blue...

"You did a good play today, Daddy."

'Made my day' doesn't come within a galaxy of covering it.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Essay Question

"The Magic School Bus" is the only thing Kiernan wants to watch on television right now, and just about the only thing he wants to read as well. He loves those books and loves watching the stories. He totally gets any differences in the video adaptations of the books, too. The show is just a half-hour show on Discovery Kids, and as with any adaptation the writers take liberties. When they make changes he notices but he doesn't really care. If I use a slightly different voice for one of the kids from one reading to the next he's all over me. But those tv writers can get away with just about anything. Also, he can watch the same episode over and over again and not get bored. He will watch an episode and ask to see the exact same episode again immediately.

Watching the same video over and over again. Weird. I have no idea where he gets that.

We were sitting at dinner the other night, talking about the Magic School Bus. We started talking about our favorite characters. His favorites were Carlos and [I think] Tim.

"Who is your favorite character, Daddy?"

"Hmmm. I really like Dorothy Ann."

"Why?"

"I like how much she reads. And I like how she does research." Dorothy Ann always has books with her during the field trip adventures. She is always reading up on the situation at hand, and forever helping out by informing everybody on what she has read. Her typical way of beginning a sentence is, "According to my research..."

Kiernan replied with, "I do a lot of research too."

I nodded. Then I said, "But my very favorite character is Arnold."

"Why?"

"I love how nervous he is. And how funny he is. I just think he is funny. Plus I love the way you do his voice. That's my favorite."

Kiernan thought for a moment. Arnold is the naysayer in the group. He is constantly nervous during the adventures, wishing the trip could be over and they could be back at school or back at home. He's something of a complainer but in an endearing sort of way. Kiernan's voice for him really is perfect.

Finally Kiernan said, "Daddy? Do you think Arnold thinks he is funny?"

I was taking a sip of wine at that moment and I swear I nearly did a spit take. Do I think Arnold thinks he is funny? Seriously? You're four. What the heck are you doing asking me an essay question? Sheesh.

What I said out loud was how much I loved the question and then I asked him what he thought. I believe we left the question mostly unresolved. I was just caught in this space between being flummoxed by and being proud of his insight.

Here's another picture of him watching the show.

Totally Awesome Pictures For This Day...Dude

A couple of entirely random pictures for today. I can't really explain why I'm posting them beyond saying I love them and I want to.

First here's a picture of his foot:


I have no idea why I took this, much less why I'm posting it. We were watching tv and I decided to take a couple of pictures of him because he's just so freaking beautiful. And then his foot caught my attention. So...voila.

Also...good luck with this...


Last week he started drawing up the names of the people in his life. He would write names and a little message, often accompanied by a picture of jellyfish (he's into marine life too right now). Many of you probably received these in the mail this week.

This is a scan of the one he did for me. He did it on his own while I was getting dinner ready one night. He did this without being prompted in any way. He just all of a sudden approached me with this little note.

It's hard to make out because the scan is crappy and the spelling is inventive and the 's's are backwards. But what it says is, "DADDY IS OSOM".

I think you can figure it out from there. At the bottom he writes, "TO DADDY" but it's hard to see the 'Y' because it's in yellow.

This reminds me of my brother, Mason.

When Mason was just a wee toddler I came to visit my dad and Sandi. They were all excited to show me how Mason could say a new word. After a bit of prompting Mason said it.

"Tha."

Well...that's what I heard anyway. What Sandi and Dad told me he was saying was "trash". He had learned to say the word trash. They were very excited about this. At the time I was pretty unimpressed, and being an arrogant and sarcastic doofus in his early twenties I goofed on this. "Trash? He just said 'tha'!" I doubt I even noticed their reaction.

Of course I get it now. I've thought about this moment often over these four and a half years. And seeing my son express to me in writing that I'm osom brings it back again.

Oh...incidentally...Kiernan thinks Mason is GRAT.

Picture of This Day

Reading his new Magic School Bus book--The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive--which he received from Sandi and Pap-Pap today.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Picture For This Day

"Look Daddy. I think that is a green ant!"

Monday, June 1, 2009

Picture of This Day

Running across the field as we try to find our practice diamond for tee-ball.

At once I find this picture charming and heart-breaking.

Monday, June 1, 2009