A few scenes from the turn of the year

1. James opened his present from Auntie (a puzzle) on Christmas morning and exclaimed with vigor, "Holy smokes!" I had never heard the expression out of his mouth before, nor am I aware of anyone using it around him, but it came to his lips with perfect aptness, to everyone's delight.

2. I had this brief conversation today with Henry: He had been sulky, contumacious, and out of sorts, refusing to get dressed, exclaiming if I tried to speak to him that I was hurting him, and rolling around on the bed and handling objects in a fashion that was clearly intended to suggest mischief, whether or not mischief was actually being made. I was ready to leave the house: a snowstorm and sub-zero high temperatures are rolling in over the weekend and I wanted all the time outside we could manage today. "I'm getting really angry," I said, and I felt one of those strange little jolts of injustice that plague me so unreasonably when the children and I are having a hard time. "You need to get.... if you don't get ... " I spluttered, with a threat to throw all the Lara bars in the house away, since they had been our last but one bone of contention, on the tip of my tongue. I stopped myself and went out of the room, closing the door behind me. "I need a sec," I said. "I need a minute to calm down." Twenty minutes later, Henry had dressed himself, tidied up some toys unprompted, and was putting on his socks and boots. "Sweetheart," I said to him. "You were having a bad time earlier, feeling pretty grumpy and bad." He agreed, but looked a little wary, as if he feared a big lecture. "I'm just wondering, " I said, "what I could do to be helpful when you feel like that. Should I hug you and hold you? Leave you alone?" "Leave me alone," he said immediately. "I just have to get that feeling out of me." 

3. We spent New Year's Eve with friends, and I opened the first of my 17 bottles of Dad's wine. It was a lovely time--and Peter came too, which was a rare treat. While I was getting dressed beforehand, in a hurry, James came into the bathroom to watch me multi-task by pulling on stockings while I sat on the toilet. Like his brother, he is pleased when I dress up. He was obviously impressed by the slightly shimmery black nylon fabric pooled at my ankles, and cast about for how best to express his feelings. "Mommy," he said. "You look pretty when you go pee-pee."

Apres le deluge

December rain

Here's good medicine for waking up on the wrong side of bed (because every side of the bed is wrong at 4:30 a.m.).

Henry (opening the back door and looking out onto this bleak, bleak December morning): "If you listen carefully, you can hear the music the rain makes!"

The last gasp of November

Yesterday:

Two boys in a boat

Today:

What are you doing, James?
"Us working!"

Thanks giving

I admit that the idea of a self-conscious "gratitude practice," much touted as the secret to happiness, has rubbed me the wrong way since I heard of it. I won't go into why, but you know what? I'll get over it.

Without further ado or apology, here is the working list of what Henry, James, and I are thankful for this week (I leave it to the reader to sort out the authors of specific entries):

1. Babies.
2. Food: Fruit! Turkeys! Chicken with pizza sprinkles!
3. Henry and James and Peter and all the other parts of the family. (Henry would like to note especially that this includes Grandmama. Auntie too.)
4. Knitting! Knowing how and being able to afford the yarn.
5. Flowers! In the yard and right here on the kitchen table.
6. Good books, and the ability to read and understand them.
7. Good shoes, and feet that don't hurt any more.
8. Dreams and mysteries.
9. Good places to go, like Griffy Lake, Lake Monroe, Wonderlab, and Banneker.
10. Places we haven't been to yet but can hope to go someday, like the Ocean, Afghanistan, Gary, Kotahoka (it's in the south and has a lot of oceans in it), Chicago, and the North Pole.
11. Friends: old ones, new ones, nutty ones, nice ones.
12. Friends: Isaak, Willa, Ida, Graedan, Josh, Oliver (except when he's being too rough).
13. A warm and safe house to live in. Not only that, but a second house that will also one day be warm and safe. Relatedly: big windows, tall ceilings, southern exposures, and pawpaw trees. And paint chips to dream over.

Brother to brother

Henry just took this picture of James, with the instructions: "Make a funny face."

Mission accomplished, as they say.

A learned herpetological dialogue

Me: James, do you want to tell Henry what you did this morning?

James: My went poop! In the potty!

Henry (not yet impressed, but willing to keep an open mind): How big was it?

Me: It was big!

James: Like a boa constrictor!