Hale's Got Chops

(On embarking upon dessert after a stir-fry meal)

Hale: Do I have sauce on my chops?

I'd better lick them, so that I can taste my cookie.

Knock knock...

Hale: Knock knock...

Daddy: Who's there?

Hale: Eleanor's birthday cake

Daddy: Eleanor's birthday cake who?

Hale: Eleanor's birthday cake that's talking and singing to me.

Hale and Daddy: Ha, ha ha ha ha!

Mud Pie Dirt Cake (an absurdist found poem)

After dinner, Hale said, "Do you like mud pie dirt cake would be good to eat all up for mommy to share the rest of us with."

I said, "Hang on a second Hale, I need to write something down."

Christmas Time at Hale's House

(hint: you can click on these to see them bigger)

Contemplating this year's Santa Claus picture

"These two are Daddy and Hale, and this one over here is Mommy. She's away, working at the studio." --Hale telling a story on his stuffed snowman ornaments

Objects in mirror are goofier than they appear.

   

"I will hang those clinking baby boots now."

Hale commandeered the camera to take a picture of Mommy. Daddy focused.

  

I know the feeling, Hale.

Hale's First Magazine Subscription

About a three weeks ago, Hale got a postcard from Grandma Patsy saying that a magazine gift was arriving in the mail. It is a subscription to National Geographic—a periodical his parents love. And,  now Nat. Geo. is a family affair! YAY!

Charlotte Made This For Me. Mommy, Daddy, Look.

(Hale, coming in from the hallway, holding a valuable thing carefully, whispering): It's a secret. It's a secret.

(Mommy or Daddy): What's a secret, Hale?

(H): Charlotte made this for me.

(Mommy or Daddy): What a nice gift. What is it? Is it a spider?

(H): Charlotte made it for me!

(M or D): That was so sweet of Charlotte to make that for you.

(H): Yup. It's because I'm Spiderman. I have a spider on my back.

Goldilocks and the Skateboard and the Dino-foods and the Mountain

Right this minute, as I type, Amy is in there with Hale, telling him a story about Goldilocks and skateboards and dinosaur foods (thanks for the awesome ginormous DK dinosaur book, Ethan!), and a mountain with smooth mud you can slide down without any sticks on your feet.

It's a work in progress.

We'll Call Him: Pumpkin the Pumpkin (or: Carving Day)

In drawing a face, I wanted to make Pumpkin

the Pumpkin resemble Hale in this picture.

Good night, Pumpkin the Pumpkin. Blow. 

Good night, Hale the Hale.

Bedtime Tonight

  Hale bonked his head trying to get Penguin to stand up for the picture. 

Hale: Tell me a fooky story.

Me: You want to hear a spooky story? 

Hale: Mmm hmm. Tell one about Thomas. 

Me: Umm, I think I can do that. 

H: Do Thomas gets hurt in it?

Me: Well, in this story, Thomas gets hurt just a little bit. Like when you fall over on your scooter. Here goes:

One time, Charlotte, Elery, Asher, Lukas and Hale were playing up in the greenbelt, when they heard a chuffing on the train tracks.

The kids know they need to stay away from the train tracks, but it's hard not to go and look when you hear something coming by.

Just at that same time, Thomas the Tank Engine was scooting his way into the greenbelt. It was a rainy day and Lukas, Asher, Hale True, Elery and Charlotte were all wearing their mud boots and rain coats, and splashing in the mud. They were looking at pretty leaves on the ground, and touching the mud with their hands. 

Then Hale said, you guys, let's go and see what's coming up the train tracks! And Elery said, Umm, Hale, you know we're not supposed to go too close to the train tracks. Hale said, Don't worry, guys, we will stand back, but let's just go look. 

Because who can resist watching a train go by?

So they went and stood by the curve. And they could hear Thomas coming. Only they didn't know it wast Thomas, and they couldn't see him yet. Chuff, chuf-chuf-chuf; Chuff, chuf-chuf-chuf... They sure could hear him coming though.

And he was coming fast. Chuff, chuf-chuf-chuf; Chuff, chuf-chuf-chuf... And the kids edged a little bit closer to the tracks, hoping to get a better view, just as Thomas came round the curve...

And when Thomas saw Hale and Asher and Lukas and Charlotte and Elery standing there in the corner HE SLAMMED ON HIS BRAKES SO HARD! They squeaked and squealed, and he tooted his horn like no tomorrow! TOOT TOOT TOOOOOOOT! 

And those kids froze in their tracks. It's THOMAS! Hale and Charlotte shouted at exactly the same time. And they jumped up and down, so excited to see the real train they knew from the books and videos. HI THOMAS!

But Thomas was still terrified he was going to crash into the kids, still slamming on his brakes. And he stopped so hard two of his wheels bumped off the tracks, and he kind of teetered, and tottered and then he fell right over on his side, right there in the greenbelt. 

"Oh," Thomas said, "you kids terrified me. I didn't want to smash you flat. Now I'm on my side, and it kind of hurts. Ohhh. Can you go and get help?"

So the kids apologized to Thomas, and ran home and they got all the people from the building they live in, who grabbed shovels and sticks and ropes and cloths and sponges and snacks and followed the kids back up to the greenbelt. 

Lukas and Charlotte and Elery and Asher and Hale True told them where to find Thomas, who was still lying on his side. They all put their backs into it, and together they heaved Thomas back onto his wheels, and back onto the tracks. A couple of people wiped off the mud and someone painted a bandaid onto Thomas's tank where he'd gotten a little bit smashed on the ground at the greenbelt. 

Everyone cheered. 

Then they all waved goodbye to Thomas and went and had pizza. 

The end.

Pretty spooky story, huh, Hale?

Hale: Mmm.

(quater of a minute)

Hale: Daddy, Tell me the story about Mommy and the clown.

Me: I don't know that one Hale. You'll have to tell it to me.

H: Can you help me?

Me: Sure. One time, Mommy was hanging around with her friend the clown (and what were they doing?)

H: They were playing drums.

Me: Mommy and her friend the clown were playing drums. (How were they playing the drums?)

H: They were playing with sticks and with their hands. Loudly.

Me: Once upon a time, Mommy and her buddy the clown were playing drums. They were playing with sticks and their hands, loudly. (And what happened when they played?)

H: The BAT came, but he got on an airplane and they were sad.

Me: (What did Mommy and the clown do when they got sad after the bat flew away?)

H: They went to the Kawarium. [Me: Did they bring their drums to the aquarium?]

H: And they brought their drums and they played even louder. They sang!

Me: Mommy and the clown got their drums and went to the aquarium to play and sing super loudly. 

H: Yeah. And the bat could hear them!

Me: And what did the bat do? 

H: He came BACK and they were not sad any more. And they all went to look at the sharks and the octopus.

Me: And they lived happily ever after. 

H: Mmm hmm. 

(quarter of a minute)

H: Now tell me the story about Penguin.

Me: I'll have to tell that one tomorrow.

H: NO. Tell it now. 

Me. Okay, but I will tell it to you silently. In my head. I'll put my head against yours and you can remember the story in your head as I tell it in mine. 

(A rough outline of that story is: Hale's buddy Penguin smells fish one day, and decides to go find the source. He gets on the bus and goes to the kawarium, but then is mistaken for an inmate. He borrows the aquariumkeeper's cellphone for one final phone call, calls up Hale, who comes to rescue him, after which they all go and have fish and chips, along with the aquariumkeeper, and throw french fries for the seagulls.)

He fell asleep as I told the long version of the story in my head. I love the smell of that kid's hair.

Hale's Letter

Hale has been looking around a lot and noticing letters. Go figure, he's latched onto the letter H. 

Yesterday he came running in through our door and said, "Mommy, Daddy, I found my letter in the hallway!"

We said, will you show us? 

He's seeing them everywhere. 

Hey Hale, here's a pair of aitches for you:

Punk'd

Hale and I went to Craven Farms out in Snohomish to get some righteous pumpkin action.

There were lots of people there. Sweet place though. We shot a wedding there last summer.

Who knew there would be rocketships?

Practicing his mutton-busting poise for the Puyallup fair next year.

 

Hale found an orange pumpkin, after much searching...

 But what he really wanted was a green one. 

Grandma+Hale+Grandma=LUV!

If you didn't already know it, you might as well learn it here:

Hale really lucked out in the Grandma Sweepstakes.

Grandma Char is a seamstress par excellence, and concocted a brilliant dinosaur costume for Hale's Halloween adventures. He loves it. We love it. Here's Hale, modeling it for you:

And Hale reflects upon what it feels like to be a real dinosaur (he says it, 'din'taur'):

And then yesterday Grandma Patsy took us to the Very Most Excellent Seattle Children's Theatre original production of the great kids' book "Harold and the Purple Crayon". Which was 90 minutes long and during which Hale was transfixed, riveted, delighted, and an utter joy to watch watching.

He got his program autographed by Harold (the remarkable Don Darryl Rivera, who also adapted the book for the stage), after a great Q&A session with the audience.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 2011's Junior Patron of the Arts, Hale True!

First Real Day of Preschool

Hale's neighbor and close friend, Asher, goes to Hale's same preschool. He is a year older and in a different class, but we get to carpool! Hale was really excited about this.

"We get to go with Asher! In Asher's van!"

We got them in their car seats and they immediately reached out for one another's hands. They held hands on the way home too.

The next morning on the way to school Susanna, Asher's mom, and I heard from the back of the van, "I love you, Asher."

"I love you, Hale."

Yes. We almost died from our hearts bursting.

We are so blessed to have sweet, fun and funny toddlers that we get to take to a school.

We are so blessed to have neighbors that we know so well and love.

So It's Come To This?

Well, it hasn't yet, but
it's about to...

Birthday Boy

Hale's birthday isn't for a few months. He keeps asking, "Is my birthday coming up? When's your birthday? Will there be cake?"

Hale's natural curiosity about birthdays was recently pitched sharply as he was invited to his cousin Erika's 11th birthday party. Quite an honor, as he was to be the only boy. He and Er have a super sweet relationship, and by the time we arrived at the party (a bit late, thanks to my sloppy calendaring skills), his reputation had preceded him.

The second we exited our car, a swarm of excitable girls enveloped Hale with their tweeny energy (a completely charming combination of alarming sophistication and disarming naivete), and BOOM: a mascot was born.

Hale ate it up.

Thanksgiving. For fishing.

The other night Hale asked me to tell him the story of Goldilocks and the trout fishing.

So I told him. I'd never heard it before myself, but it turns out that in this story, Goldilocks is ambling along the banks of a trout stream, wishing she had a fishing pole to catch some fish with. She finds one that's too big and stout and she can barely lift it, and one that's too small to even cast into the middle of the stream, and then she finds one that's juuuuust right--she flicks the little fluffy mosquito pattern fly and the bobber right out to where the fish are rising.

And she catches a fish.

Then the bears come back, who own the fishing rods, and they get super excited that they have someone to eat lunch with, so it's a good thing Goldilocks has some fish to share, cause they're hungry.

So they all eat trout for lunch and make a date to go fishing together again sometime.

When I was finished, Hale said, "Thank you, Daddy. Thank you to take me fishing and catch a trout with me. I like it."

A few weeks ago Hale and I went camping with his (and my) cousins, Dan and Ethan and Erika, over east of the mountains, north of Roslyn, WA. It was the second of two trips there, with them, this summer. Great time both times. Hale enjoyed the whole thing, but her really liked the fishing part.

Here's some pictures of the first trip.

And here's a batch from the second trip.

Thanks for taking us fishing, Cousin Dan! Whenever I tell the story of Goldilocks and the Trout Fishing, I suspect that Hale and I both will picture the banks of the stream that drains Tucquala Lake as the setting.

Big Day!

First we went to the first day of Preschool! It rocked. Basically, it is going to be a party all year long with free flowing stickers, puppets, play dough, water play and paint. Hale made a new friend named, Ansley.

I felt super blessed today to have a wacky job that allows both me and Scott to do things like go to the first day of preschool together.

Oh, and we got Hale a scooter to ride at the new Skate Park across the street. It is a big hit. I think we are going to be at the Sake Park A LOT!!!

Hale and the Dinosaurs

After a bit of high-flown electrical theory, Hale debriefs his recent, and somewhat traumatic trip to the Woodland Park Zoo's animatronic dinosaur exhibit.

The dinosaurs sprayed him, it turns out. Got his attention.

Hale and the Dinosaurs from NonFiction Media on Vimeo.

Happy 4th!

Proud.

Lucky.

Happy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8689992@N05/sets/72157627120254180/show/

Cousin Camping

Hale had his first dad-and-son camping adventure this weekend. Let's see a Flickr slideshow of the events:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8689992@N05/sets/72157627117811668/

We went with cousins Dan and Erica to Tucquala Lake over north of Cle Elum, and had an unplanned but delightful visit back to town during Cle Elum Days. Super fun all around.

Thanks Dan and Erica!

I love my cousins!

Moment of Zen (with Play Dough and new table courtesy of Santa Grandmas)

Happy New Year!

While H is away visiting with grandparents (!!...thanks, and hurry home, boyo!), we got the kind of invitation that becomes a challenge.