Yesterday morning at 3am, the guys headed off to their hunting trip in western PA. For those of you who object to hunting, don't worry, I'm sure no deer will be hurt on this trip. This particular group of hunters has not come back with anything in about 7 years and I'm sure DHs lack of experience will not improve their lot at all.
Even so, we were not willing to let this trip go without a fair amount of ribbing. DH is taking a lot of gruff from the hunting party because this is his first trip and they feel the need to haze him. They are approaching his hazing in a rather adult way that can't be described on this blog. But they are very much making him the butt of their jokes, so to speak.
We, however are taking the Save Bambi approach. And so on the night after Thanksgiving, after a spaghetti and clam sauce dinner with the neighbors and our Kansas relatives, we plotted and laughed and came up with a few prime ideas.
The next day, Marianne and I headed out to see the Westcott House in Springfield, OH and on our way, we stopped at Centerville's own brand new Christmas Tree Shop (don't you just love a bargain?). Our aim was to pick up a few deer-related decorations to use in our plans.
The Christmas Tree Shop did not fail to provide us with all the wares we needed. A pair of antlers for Nova's head, a light up reindeer that nods it's head up and down, and a decorative door hanger in the shape of the head of a deer. It made the whole trip out on black Friday worth it. And we got 20% off everything we purchased.
At about 9PM on Friday night, DH headed upstairs to take a shower and hit the sack before his early wake-up call. We brought the light-up deer in and began to assemble it. We did not notice the directions attached to the little plastic bag on the plug, so we really struggled with this. Just for fun, we applied the antlers to Nova, and Marianne began to decorate the deer head with a few tears in silver Sharpie. A little sign reading "Please don't kill me!" would round out the decorations.
As we struggled to put the light-up deer together, Nova wandered around the kitchen in her antlers, and Marianne was decorating the deer face, DH decided he had to come downstairs to wrap up some last packing things. Cousin J warned us he was coming, and I ran out to the garage to stash the light-up reindeer while Marianne hid the deer face. We did our best innocent act.
Then he went out to the garage. Why? I hoped he didn't' notice the light up deer. Marianne and I were looking at each other across the kitchen with worry. As DH returned to the kitchen, I noticed that Nova still had her antlers on and she was prancing around the kitchen. I mouthed to Marianne, who was closer to her, to take the antlers off and she deftly slipped them off Nova's head. We hoped DH hadn't seen.
We had to wait until 10 to get out and set up the decorations. Our next door neighbor Miss T was in on the joke and planned to help us get into the car and set things up. The idea was to strap the lighted nodding deer onto the hood of their car like hunters do with their catch. But Miss T was asleep already. So Marianne and I had to set him up in the drive in front of Miss T's Car. That was the car the guys were taking on the hunt. We also could not put the crying deer face on the dashboard of the passenger seat where DH was going to sit for the ride. So we hung it on the mirror.
The next morning at 2:30, I was awakened to DH getting ready for the trip. So I slipped the antlers over Nova's head so he could see them when he came out of the bathroom. He almost didn't notice. So I asked him if he was going to leave without saying goodbye to his dog. Then he noticed. Nova was lying on the bed next to me with her head hanging sadly off the side. She doesn't really like these antlers and I think she was feeling a bit sorry for herself. So she looked like a sad dog-deer. Perfect. He cracked up and told her he was off to kill her sister.
I heard from Miss T later that day that the boys loved the light up reindeer in the drive way and the next day I got to talk to DH who appreciated the crying deer face on his door.
But wait till he returns. I plan on stringing that light-up-reindeer-with-the-head-that-nods-up-and-down up in a tree by it's back legs. This will probably be the only deer these guys get to see strung up in a tree. I'll have to take a picture when I do.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Hole
Yesterday, Lastborn was home from school with a mild stomach bug. Firstborn needed me to bring him into school to sign a permission slip he had forgotten to bring home.
DH could not stay with Lastborn because he had a 9:00 meeting. So, I had to drag Lastborn with me to the middle school.
On our walk from the car to the school entrance we passed a piece of plywood obviously covering a freshly dug hole. The plywood was labelled Hole in red spraypaint. This label must have been placed there for the 8 year old who would be passing by because said 8 year old did not fail to notice the hole and almost moved the plywood and climbed in had I not been aware enough to yell "Leave it!" at him.
Yes, I am yelling dog commands at my son. And yes, he responds quite well; better than the dog sometimes. It's OK. We're stashing away a buck here-or-there to pay for his eventual visits with the shrink.
DH could not stay with Lastborn because he had a 9:00 meeting. So, I had to drag Lastborn with me to the middle school.
On our walk from the car to the school entrance we passed a piece of plywood obviously covering a freshly dug hole. The plywood was labelled Hole in red spraypaint. This label must have been placed there for the 8 year old who would be passing by because said 8 year old did not fail to notice the hole and almost moved the plywood and climbed in had I not been aware enough to yell "Leave it!" at him.
Yes, I am yelling dog commands at my son. And yes, he responds quite well; better than the dog sometimes. It's OK. We're stashing away a buck here-or-there to pay for his eventual visits with the shrink.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Second Place
One of the things that Lastborn struggles with is low self confidence. He never got to see his big brother struggle, and he thinks that if you struggle, you must not be very smart/strong/whatever. So he will often give up quickly or cop an attitude to get out of doing something he thinks he can't do.
Since attending Kumon this summer for math, he has learned that sometimes, if you work at something you think you can't do, not only can you learn to do it, but you might actually be good at it. So we are seeing less of a struggle with trying things.
For example, his first year of pinewood derby, he wanted to stick the wheels on and race a wooden colored block, not paint, no cutting, no decorations, We finally compromised at this:
And he did well, until the wheel came off. This gave him hope and he allowed a single cut the next year and painted the car red. The wheel fell off that one too.
Last year, Dad helped put the wheels on. We put the extra work of deburring the wheels, adding graphite and weight. The car was perfect in every way. It didn't do too well though. But Lastborn was happy. His big fear is that he will make a fool of himself. And he proved that he could do pretty well. This is the 2008 car.
We will see what 2009 brings.
But before the 2009 pinewood races, we had to get through the 2008 raingutter regatta. We've never done a raingutter regatta before, so we weren't sure what would happen. Again, Lastborn didn't want to even try. A plain wooden boat with his name on it was all he wanted. In fact, for this race that is all that was needed. It's more the skill of blowing on the sail in the right position than anythign having to do with physics or design. But Dad was able to convince him to go with a cool hammered metal spraypaint and I was able to suggest a Bakugan theme. He had fun working on this boat and because the theme was so popular, he knew he would not make a fool of himself.
Since attending Kumon this summer for math, he has learned that sometimes, if you work at something you think you can't do, not only can you learn to do it, but you might actually be good at it. So we are seeing less of a struggle with trying things.
For example, his first year of pinewood derby, he wanted to stick the wheels on and race a wooden colored block, not paint, no cutting, no decorations, We finally compromised at this:
And he did well, until the wheel came off. This gave him hope and he allowed a single cut the next year and painted the car red. The wheel fell off that one too.Last year, Dad helped put the wheels on. We put the extra work of deburring the wheels, adding graphite and weight. The car was perfect in every way. It didn't do too well though. But Lastborn was happy. His big fear is that he will make a fool of himself. And he proved that he could do pretty well. This is the 2008 car.
We will see what 2009 brings.But before the 2009 pinewood races, we had to get through the 2008 raingutter regatta. We've never done a raingutter regatta before, so we weren't sure what would happen. Again, Lastborn didn't want to even try. A plain wooden boat with his name on it was all he wanted. In fact, for this race that is all that was needed. It's more the skill of blowing on the sail in the right position than anythign having to do with physics or design. But Dad was able to convince him to go with a cool hammered metal spraypaint and I was able to suggest a Bakugan theme. He had fun working on this boat and because the theme was so popular, he knew he would not make a fool of himself.
His cub leader made a neat block that the boat can rest on with 2008 written on it.
Lastborn entered the first race. He had watched a friend get left at the starting gate in the previous race. So, he was very worried. It would be his worst fear to not be able to make his boat move and since the friend who faltered in the last race was very into scouting, Lastborn figured he didn't stand a chance. The race official called a start to the race and Lastborn concentrated on the instructions I gave him to blow low on the mast to keep the boat from tipping. The boat jumped forward almost halfway down the gutter in one gust of Lastborn's Scalzi hot air. You could see the look of surprise on Lastborn's face. He gave it a couple more blows before his opponent even got his boat to leave the starting line and won the race handily. This meant he would wait for the winners round.
Again, we worried when Lastborn stepped up for his first winner's round. He was going against the boy who pummelled his friend. Lastborn knew his boat was fast, but everyone figured this kid's boat was the best. He had a different design to his mast and sail. But his opponent's boat kept getting snagged on the sides of the gutter and Lastborn's wind was true. He handily won that race too.
All that was left was the final race for 1st or 2nd place. This is where Lastborn's luck ran out. His boat kept getting hung up on the sides of the gutter and he came in second. He was sad, but very happy that he had gotten second instead of coming in last. I'm sure he will be looking forward to next year's race and ready to get a bit creative with his boat design.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
He finds his voice
Being Lastborn has its advantages. I remember a friend telling me she felt guilty with how strict she was with her firstborn child and how lenient she was with her third. I wouldn't call myself lenient. It's not in my nature, but I certainly know better which battles to wage than I did on my first go around.
Lastborn is beginning to realize that the older brother he used to idolize has his weaknesses. For example, Firstborn sets him up to get into trouble. He can't always be trusted by his fan club. Lastborn is also realizing that not everything that Firstborn likes is necessarily great and not everything Firstborn thinks is boring is actually that much of a drag.
These changes can sometimes be a lot for Lastborn to take, though he rarely goes around whining about the loss of his idol.
Lastborn is mixing this loss of his leader with a new found understanding that he is smart and interesting on his own. He is beginning to try things even if they aren't recommended by Firstborn. He is also beginning to fight for his rights under the tyranny of Firstborn.
So yesterday, we were beginning a wonderful Saturday with nothing on our agenda. Being adults, we awake to days like this with great glee. Nothing to do. Nowhere to run around. Maybe I can do what I want to do today.
In fact, these days usually end up with the kids plastered to the electronics and fighting about who gets a turn, or will you help me with this part. Since Firstborn is officially a tween, he relishes torturing Lastborn by not complying with his requests. And he has an amazing ability to ignore Lastborn's whines.
I do not.
So I began my first yelling tirade of the day. "Everyone gets only one hour today, so play it and get out. We're not sitting in front of the game system all day rotting our brains and arguing." And yada yada yada.
Firstborn continued to press, "how about the PC? How about hand helds? Do we really have to not play games all day? No I won't read. No I won't play outside. None of my friends want to play because they get to sit in front of the game system and rot their brains!"
... and on and on.
I warned him.
So they lost all electronics for the day with the threat that it would be for November!
I had to give Lastborn credit. He did call his friends. No one was available.
Rewind to last weekend. No rewind further to this summer when we returned from vacation and found that someone had chewed the plugs off two of our lights.
It probably wasn't the kids this time.
It could have been the puppy, but she was either locked up or under supervision in this room, so that was hard to believe. However, she chews on everything.
But then that cats chew on everything too. It must have been the cats.
Whoever, we had to rewire the lamps. One was easy, just a new cord. ba da bing, it was done. The other was made so that you couldn't get to the connections for the socket. So there was no way to remove and replace the cord. DH bought a new socket but we never got to fixing it. Then I saw in Lastborn's Cub Scout book that fixing a small appliance is an elective, so I figured we would do it together.
Last week, we finally got a chance. He was reluctant, but when I started having him wrap wires around screws and use a Phillips head to tighten the screw himself, he began to take interest and ask questions. I was surprised. He's not as much the engineer personality as his brother. He's disorganized and imprecise; more the artistic type. He's very into interacting with others and bending the rules. But he was very interested and so proud of himself when he switched the lamp on.
So when he was looking for something to do, and I was sick of playing board games with him, I pulled out the Snap Circuits set that DH had gotten for Firstborn years ago. Firstborn has done a few circuits and liked it, but never loved it.
We did the first circuit together and I explained to Lastborn that the pieces snap together sort of like Legos. There are pictures to tell him what to do and there are all kinds of attachments to use to make things. Once we finished the first circuit, he was off on his own and had the greatest time hooking up sound boxes and making serial and parallel circuits. By the end of the day, he had completed about 40 of the circuits. DH promised him that if he completed all of them, he could use the other bigger set he had in his closet. So Lastborn finished all of them this morning.
He announced at dinner that he didn't need gamecube. Circuits were just as fun as playing video games. Not only that, but he carefully kept track of each piece placing them back into their plastic compartments between each build. He even remembered favorite circuits and built them from memory to show us.
I think a light went on for him. (Sorry.)
Lastborn is beginning to realize that the older brother he used to idolize has his weaknesses. For example, Firstborn sets him up to get into trouble. He can't always be trusted by his fan club. Lastborn is also realizing that not everything that Firstborn likes is necessarily great and not everything Firstborn thinks is boring is actually that much of a drag.
These changes can sometimes be a lot for Lastborn to take, though he rarely goes around whining about the loss of his idol.
Lastborn is mixing this loss of his leader with a new found understanding that he is smart and interesting on his own. He is beginning to try things even if they aren't recommended by Firstborn. He is also beginning to fight for his rights under the tyranny of Firstborn.
So yesterday, we were beginning a wonderful Saturday with nothing on our agenda. Being adults, we awake to days like this with great glee. Nothing to do. Nowhere to run around. Maybe I can do what I want to do today.
In fact, these days usually end up with the kids plastered to the electronics and fighting about who gets a turn, or will you help me with this part. Since Firstborn is officially a tween, he relishes torturing Lastborn by not complying with his requests. And he has an amazing ability to ignore Lastborn's whines.
I do not.
So I began my first yelling tirade of the day. "Everyone gets only one hour today, so play it and get out. We're not sitting in front of the game system all day rotting our brains and arguing." And yada yada yada.
Firstborn continued to press, "how about the PC? How about hand helds? Do we really have to not play games all day? No I won't read. No I won't play outside. None of my friends want to play because they get to sit in front of the game system and rot their brains!"
... and on and on.
I warned him.
So they lost all electronics for the day with the threat that it would be for November!
I had to give Lastborn credit. He did call his friends. No one was available.
Rewind to last weekend. No rewind further to this summer when we returned from vacation and found that someone had chewed the plugs off two of our lights.
It probably wasn't the kids this time.
It could have been the puppy, but she was either locked up or under supervision in this room, so that was hard to believe. However, she chews on everything.
But then that cats chew on everything too. It must have been the cats.
Whoever, we had to rewire the lamps. One was easy, just a new cord. ba da bing, it was done. The other was made so that you couldn't get to the connections for the socket. So there was no way to remove and replace the cord. DH bought a new socket but we never got to fixing it. Then I saw in Lastborn's Cub Scout book that fixing a small appliance is an elective, so I figured we would do it together.
Last week, we finally got a chance. He was reluctant, but when I started having him wrap wires around screws and use a Phillips head to tighten the screw himself, he began to take interest and ask questions. I was surprised. He's not as much the engineer personality as his brother. He's disorganized and imprecise; more the artistic type. He's very into interacting with others and bending the rules. But he was very interested and so proud of himself when he switched the lamp on.
So when he was looking for something to do, and I was sick of playing board games with him, I pulled out the Snap Circuits set that DH had gotten for Firstborn years ago. Firstborn has done a few circuits and liked it, but never loved it.
We did the first circuit together and I explained to Lastborn that the pieces snap together sort of like Legos. There are pictures to tell him what to do and there are all kinds of attachments to use to make things. Once we finished the first circuit, he was off on his own and had the greatest time hooking up sound boxes and making serial and parallel circuits. By the end of the day, he had completed about 40 of the circuits. DH promised him that if he completed all of them, he could use the other bigger set he had in his closet. So Lastborn finished all of them this morning.
He announced at dinner that he didn't need gamecube. Circuits were just as fun as playing video games. Not only that, but he carefully kept track of each piece placing them back into their plastic compartments between each build. He even remembered favorite circuits and built them from memory to show us.
I think a light went on for him. (Sorry.)
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Miss. Communication
So this weekend, Firstborn went on a 25 mile bike ride with the boy scouts. Well, sort of. He went to the bike trail (about 45 minutes away) and stayed overnight, but it was raining and snowing and the leaders (bless them) felt that the mixture of fall leaves on the ground with rain and snow was an unsafe combination and so the boys just stayed at the camp for the day so that one of them could finish an outdoor cooking requirement. They came back last night cold, tired, and wishing they had never gone.
It's the back story that is really interesting.
You see, we have been putting off buying Firstborn an adult bike because 1) it took him so long to ride, 2) he showed absolutely no interest in getting an adult bike even after the neighbor's twins got adult bikes, and 3) we had a hand-me-down teen bike that still fit him. So, when he announced that he wanted to join the BS troop on the 25 mile ride and we couldn't nudge him to understand that this was a long way to go for your first distance ride, we decided that he probably needed something more grown up with larger wheels.
I looked around on line for an American made 18 or 21 speed bike. I still can't get over the fact that 10 speeds just isn't enough. Target carries some really nice Schwinns that were somewhat in our budget, but DH really wanted to fit him and buy from a small bike shop where they know what they are selling. So off he went with Firstborn and they came home with a Japanese made 21 speed bike that cost a wee bit more than I wanted to spend. DH believed the line about American made bikes are either crap or too expensive. The only American made model at this shop was over $1,000. As you read this back-story, you will know why a $1,000 bike is just not acceptable for an 11 year old boy.
Firstborn is very happy with the bike though, which is very important. He rode it a bit, wiped out once, and didn't really make us feel any better about the upcoming 25 mile ride in the freezing cold. However, I'm trying not to be the overly protective mum who doesn't let him do anything.
So, Wednesday night, he headed out for his pack-out. This is a time when the boys get together and pack the supplies (tents, gas cookers, rope, TP, etc) that they will need for the trip into the troop trailer. I had a meeting scheduled at my house and DH was out of town on business. So I arranged to have some friends drive him to and from the pack-out.
When he arrived home, I sent him straight to bed because it was late and he didn't say much. I later went outside to bring the garbage to the curb because DH always seems to plan his travel around garbage days. I notice the bike was gone. I was kicking myself for leaving the garage door opened. Our investment was gone and Firstborn would not be able to go on the bike trip. This last point I was ambivalent on. I knew he would be crushed but at least I wouldn't have to worry about him freezing to death. I tried to call DH but he was not answering. So I called the sheriff's office to report the robbery.
The sheriff's deputy came that night and took the report where I explained the missing bike. He asked if it could be anywhere else and I confirmed that the bike was in the garage when my son went to his BS event and it couldn't be anywhere else.
I lost a lot of sleep that night upset over the loss of this bike. DH never called back. I had to handle the whole thing alone, including breaking the news to Firstborn. He got up early Thursday to finish some homework he had not finished.
I knew he was still a little sleepy, but I wanted to get it over with quickly. I told him his bike was stolen. He looked confused and asked how. I explained that the bike was missing from the garage when I took the garbage out and someone must have grabbed it while he was at his meeting. Still confused, he said, "but I loaded it onto the trailer last night."
"What trailer," I replied.
"The Boyscout trailer. "
"You brought the bike to the pack-out?"
"No, the leader brought me home and when we got home we loaded the bike."
Guess who had to call the sheriff and tell them that it was all a false alarm.
And guess who had to send her boy off on a 25 mile bike ride in the freezing cold snow and rain.
But guess who was relieved that the bike wasn't stolen and survived the whole ordeal.
It's the back story that is really interesting.
You see, we have been putting off buying Firstborn an adult bike because 1) it took him so long to ride, 2) he showed absolutely no interest in getting an adult bike even after the neighbor's twins got adult bikes, and 3) we had a hand-me-down teen bike that still fit him. So, when he announced that he wanted to join the BS troop on the 25 mile ride and we couldn't nudge him to understand that this was a long way to go for your first distance ride, we decided that he probably needed something more grown up with larger wheels.
I looked around on line for an American made 18 or 21 speed bike. I still can't get over the fact that 10 speeds just isn't enough. Target carries some really nice Schwinns that were somewhat in our budget, but DH really wanted to fit him and buy from a small bike shop where they know what they are selling. So off he went with Firstborn and they came home with a Japanese made 21 speed bike that cost a wee bit more than I wanted to spend. DH believed the line about American made bikes are either crap or too expensive. The only American made model at this shop was over $1,000. As you read this back-story, you will know why a $1,000 bike is just not acceptable for an 11 year old boy.
Firstborn is very happy with the bike though, which is very important. He rode it a bit, wiped out once, and didn't really make us feel any better about the upcoming 25 mile ride in the freezing cold. However, I'm trying not to be the overly protective mum who doesn't let him do anything.
So, Wednesday night, he headed out for his pack-out. This is a time when the boys get together and pack the supplies (tents, gas cookers, rope, TP, etc) that they will need for the trip into the troop trailer. I had a meeting scheduled at my house and DH was out of town on business. So I arranged to have some friends drive him to and from the pack-out.
When he arrived home, I sent him straight to bed because it was late and he didn't say much. I later went outside to bring the garbage to the curb because DH always seems to plan his travel around garbage days. I notice the bike was gone. I was kicking myself for leaving the garage door opened. Our investment was gone and Firstborn would not be able to go on the bike trip. This last point I was ambivalent on. I knew he would be crushed but at least I wouldn't have to worry about him freezing to death. I tried to call DH but he was not answering. So I called the sheriff's office to report the robbery.
The sheriff's deputy came that night and took the report where I explained the missing bike. He asked if it could be anywhere else and I confirmed that the bike was in the garage when my son went to his BS event and it couldn't be anywhere else.
I lost a lot of sleep that night upset over the loss of this bike. DH never called back. I had to handle the whole thing alone, including breaking the news to Firstborn. He got up early Thursday to finish some homework he had not finished.
I knew he was still a little sleepy, but I wanted to get it over with quickly. I told him his bike was stolen. He looked confused and asked how. I explained that the bike was missing from the garage when I took the garbage out and someone must have grabbed it while he was at his meeting. Still confused, he said, "but I loaded it onto the trailer last night."
"What trailer," I replied.
"The Boyscout trailer. "
"You brought the bike to the pack-out?"
"No, the leader brought me home and when we got home we loaded the bike."
Guess who had to call the sheriff and tell them that it was all a false alarm.
And guess who had to send her boy off on a 25 mile bike ride in the freezing cold snow and rain.
But guess who was relieved that the bike wasn't stolen and survived the whole ordeal.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Mea culpa
That last post about Lastborn ended up with the wrong picture. That picture of Lastborn was from last spring. It gets better. Really. Look.
I rest my case.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Lastborn: a retrospective
Every year at picture time, DH and I bite our fingernails in expectation of Lastborn's pictures. (You can cue the scary music here.) Last year, they were so bad, we had to send them back and ask for a retake. Some years, they are just hilarious.
The only constant, is that you never know what you will get. Here is a retrospective. A bit blurry, but I hope you get the idea. We will go counter clockwise starting with the necktie picture. 
This picture was taken when he was 4.5 years old. We felt that the conspiratorial grin pretty much summed up his personality and felt we would probably never see another picture that so captured his personality. Then came the suave and debonair Lastborn with the big gap in his teeth. Cute. Then the All-American kid still sporting the gap, and finally, they caught a photo of him as he was telling a joke. So we really thought our days of cute photos were over. Then this year's photos came in.
Yep. If that isn't the face of a trouble maker. I wish I could have caught it more clearly. Those of you who get photos at Christmas can have clearer versions. Even his teacher had to laugh at this expression.
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