May 17, 2014

Spring Piano Recital
All the things are wrapping up...end of school, end of sports, end of music. Nicco had been practicing his recital songs diligently for a month or so and was ready to proudly perform for his parents and the other guests at the recital. The trouble with Nicco's dad is that he works on Saturdays, so I asked his teacher if Nicco could be first so that in case Patrice didn't have a big window in the morning, he could come, watch his kid, and sneak out. She accommodated my wish. At 10:00 sharp, I got a call from the Daddy saying he didn't see any cars at the church building. I told him we were parked in the back. He had driven all the way around the building and saw no one. Then I realized he went to the wrong building. He was a good 15 minutes away. He hurried and was sure that he would miss Nicco's performance, but the event was nice and casual and we weren't the only ones with schedules to work around. Mrs. Marcy shifted the performances around so that everyone was able to see their child perform. Hooray!

He did a great job, as expected.

Nicco gave Mrs. Marcy a bouquet of startingly bright and colorful flowers that he chose himself. She said, "It's hard to believe colors like this occur in nature!" I said, "I'm not sure they do!"

 

The show went on for about an hour. It was definitely an hour well spent. I love watching my kid do good things. 

May 11, 2014

Mother's Day
I was banished to my room behind closed doors to talk to my Mommy while my two boys prepared a top secret Mother's Day surprise for me. When I was allowed out, the Jeep was loaded, but I couldn't tell with what because of the blanket there, hiding the goods.

My child relegated me to the back seat because he's the boss of music. He chose special songs, just for me. Big Gun and Back in Black...Ah, just what a mother wants to hear on her special day. AC/DC. (?) I thought we had a Beethoven channel...

See that view there? What you see is dust. From all the wind. It's hiding the mountains. Which is where we were going. We went anyway, 'cause we're hard core.

The boys kept their eyes peeled for a decent spot to set up...somewhere private and protected from the wind as much as possible, but not too far. We had to get down the hill in time for the afternoon concert! (Beethoven, by the way).

We had a lovely picnic. My guys are just the best. Nicco said we should do this at least once a month.
After lunch he climbed on the rocks until it was time to pack it up and head back down.

He kicked up his feet in the back seat for the return trip.

I tried to take a picture of the off road near nose dive...I really should have hopped out to get the full effect. You just can't tell how steep the rock is from my picture. It's steep.

We got back to the house with just enough time to wash up, change clothes and head out to the Beethoven's 9th symphony concert. It was really great. An amazing performance. I cried, because that's what I do when I hear Ode to Joy. Nicco fell asleep in the middle number. At intermission I teased him a bit for his nap and he said, "I wasn't really sleeping. Just resting my eyes. You don't need your sense of sight to listen to music." True, but the snoring gave him away. (wink)

I could not have asked for a better day, or better boys to have made me eligible to be celebrated on Mother's Day. They're my favorites.

May 9, 2014

Quail Babies


Every spring I eagerly anticipate the hatching of the quails. There is always at least one family in my neighborhood and there is almost nothing on the Earth as cute as a line of fuzzy chirpy balls of quail following their Papa around. We've only had one successful family hatch in our actual yard. The other years, we've ended up scaring the nesting mamas away, frightening them into abandoning their nests.


So imagine my giddiness when the Frankie girl was running back and forth between our two patio doors in a frenzy and I heard the cheep cheep cheep of a dozen (A DOZEN!!!) quail babies in my own back yard.

There's a baby, following a daddy!

Some more babies, under the wood box.

all those babies! by the tree

so many babies exploring.



These three little puffballs ventured away from the family and into the grill area and close up by where Frankie was watching them. So stinkin' cute!

Poor Frankie. She was desperate to get at them.

They made my day, those little fuzzy babies. It's too bad Nicco missed them...they have not returned. Yet.

May 4, 2014

OV Swim Races






We have this world class, Olympic quality aquatic center practically right in our back yard and I'm thrilled whenever Nicco has swim races there. This particular meet was a long course meet, meaning the lanes ran the 50 meter length of the pool, rather than the 25 meter width. Nicco is mostly accustomed to swimming 25s. He was nervous about the 50s because he doesn't like doing flip turns...too much pressure. Especially in the backstroke. He hasn't quite mastered his stroke count coming into the wall on his back to time the turn just right. He was happy when I told him there would be no flip turns, but somehow, there seemed to be an invisible wall at the 25 meter mark. The kids all slowed down at about that point. Long course, it turns out, is long.




We skipped the 8:00 warm-ups, since Nicco would only be swimming three races, starting at 11:00. I wanted him to get his little body wet and ready to jump in, so I took him to the splash pad. Then I had to remind him he was here for races.

He got some pre-race pointers and a pat on the noggin from his coach

Then dove on in for his first long course breaststroke race.

"That was hard-core!" he said. I believed him.

(It was a bright, beautiful day!)

I love the water in this picture as he pushed in to the wall.

His cap pulls his hair. That's one reason why I made him get wet in the splash pad.

Wet hair doesn't stick and pull as much.

My boy isn't the fastest racer, that competitive drive has not quite kicked into a higher gear, but he has great form these days. I think that's good for him, to develop his stroke technique, then when he decides he can swim fast, he'll be efficient at it.

I'm always proud of my little fish. He works hard, even when he'd really rather just play video games.

May 2-3, 2014

Miscellany

• My new favorite thing is belting out Bohemian Rhapsody in the car with my small buddy, in the excellent style of Wayne and Garth. Party on.

• Yesterday when I picked Nicco up from school he told me, "I had a tough break. Literally. I fell flat, FLAT, on my stomach. My digestive system stopped working and I couldn't breathe because my esophagus didn't want to open. And it happened at break."
  
  I was really proud of him for using "literally" correctly.

• My child is being stubborn about the school project he put off until the last day. (I know. Wha? Stubborn? Procrastinating???) I told him he can't have lunch or any electronics until the writing part is done. "Do you want me to DIE???" he asked.
  
  No, child of mine, I want you to do your work. Survival is just a motivational tool, darling heart...

• I am reading Just So Stories to my Best Beloved and tonight we read about how the leopard got his spots. It mentioned the zebra in the stripy shadows turning from gray to black and white. Nicco said to me, "Like real animals see. Real animals don't really see color, just black and white. Like zebras. And T.V. before 1984."

May 1, 2014

The Garage Project, Continued


Patrice is industrious, ambitious, hard working, and in all ways amazing. To me. He hardly ever rests, even on his days off. He usually only rests if he's on a Caribbean beach, so he hardly ever rests. Anyway, his latest home improvement project was to build locking storage cabinets in the garage. He had a friend help him out one day, then spend a few hours after work every day for the next week or so with help from his small buddy. Nicco loved the project. He called it his clubhouse. With two stories and a basement. And a kitchen (?). He planned to sleep out there.

They finished all that hard work, my boys, and the Daddy is very pleased with the result, as he should be. The kid is not quite so pleased. The locking doors make his high rise apartment less accessible. Not to mention the fact that all our storage items are --get this-- back in storage. No more room for playing clubhouse. If only he had a tree house or something...

It's a nice improvement. When I think about it, I'll probably take a picture of it all finished.

Mother's Day

I remember a story I read years and years ago about a young woman, recently married who found a magazine article that said couples should schedule regular talks to discuss, truthfully and candidly, the habits or mannerisms they find annoying in each other. The theory was that if the partners knew of such annoyances, they could correct them before resentful feelings developed. The idea made sense to her, and her husband who loved her dearly hesitated, but agreed. At their first discussion, she went through her list of his annoying habits and mannerisms, the only one of which she can still remember being the way he ate his grapefruit. He peeled and ate it like an orange! Who does that??? After she was finished with her list she told him it was his turn. He looked at her with loving kindness and said, “Well, to tell the truth, I can’t think of anything I don’t like about you, Honey.” She was flabbergasted and ashamed of her own nitpicking. She learned  marriage could be sweeter when she didn’t focus on her husband’s faults. This experience made her aware early in her marriage that husbands and wives need to keep in perspective, and usually ignore, the small differences in their habits and personalities.

We all come from different backgrounds. My husband and I happen to also come from different countries, cultures, languages, and religious backgrounds. This has not made our marriage or raising our child difficult because we recognize that our differences are just that--differences, not faults, and we love each other.

I am grateful every single day for the loving support Patrice and I give one another in our family. We are good parents. Not perfect, but the perfect parents for our child. I am grateful every single day for the one person I love most on this earth to be by my side, not judging, not criticizing, but loving and supporting me, as we raise our boy.

Motherhood isn't just a monumental responsibility, it is an enormous portion of my identity and again, I am grateful every day for the approval and support of the only person whose opinion really matters to me. He makes me a good mom, and we have a happy, healthy, bright, kind, good, loving, friendly, clever, funny, and otherwise perfect for US child to validate our efforts.

 

 

I'm so happy, blessed, and thankful for the two boys who made me a Mama.

April 12, 2014

Spring Garage Purge

The Daddy and I went through our bins in the garage last night. We do that every once in a while, like every 5 years or so. I was digging through some memories and I found the envelope which held the massage gift certificate with the phone number and club where Patrice would be if I decided to ditch my other friends and meet him to listen to his Brazilian friend's band on the night he first asked me out on a date, 13 years ago.

I told him I probably would not, I was going out with friends. Doing what, he asked. Oh, dinner and a movie probably, I said. Come afterwards. My friend plays until 2:00 a.m., he said. Okay, but probably not. I said. Here's my number and the name of the place, just in case. Okay, I said. Just in case. But probably not.

I didn't go, but I held on to that envelope. Just in case.

April 28, 2014

Daddy's Day Off
Patrice always needs a break. He always needs a vacation. He wonders why he's always worn out and tired. It's because this is the kind of thing he does on his day off:

At least he had help.

Nicco climbed in, on, and around the shelves. He made plans to eat and sleep there. He called it his own high rise, with a basement, first floor and second floor. I told him he could sleep out there to get ready to visit Japan. I think the shelving units built by the Papa are roughly the same size as the typical apartments in Tokyo.

April 28, 2014

Face of Boe

This lunchbox note, courtesy of my dear friend who wants me to finish strong, (the end of the school year is near!) was 100% Nicco approved. I made him laugh. Success. Four more weeks to go.

April 27, 2014

Nicco's Big Ride
The plan was for the boys to get the helmet on Thursday, then take a short ride on Friday, then a longer ride on Saturday, then go for the Big Ride with friends on Sunday morning. Thursday and Friday worked out as planned but Saturday was windy and rainy. I had to put my foot down. No riding the bike with the small boy on the back on wet roads. Wet roads = no motorcycle for Nicco. No. N-O. So we just stayed home and enjoyed a family game night indoors.


Sunday was the big day. The boys packed the bike, got all their proper gear, and headed out to the little airport café for breakfast and plane watching. After breakfast, the plan was to ride through the cactus forest of Saguaro National Park (or before breakfast...anyway, the cactus forest was part of the plan.)

They went and took my heart with them, leaving me to wallow in anxiety. They finally called from about 50 miles away to check in. All was well. Nicco said his butt hurt, but he was having fun.

When they came home, Nicco still loved the motorcycle. The daddy said he could see him "flying" in his mirrors. As much as it makes me a nervous wreck, I'm really glad they have this thing to do together. But still. I'm a nervous wreck.