Sorry Verses

While I'm in the occasional habit of plugging my family members (at least 85% of you are my family members, or know them, but to be fair)...I need to vouch for my littlest brother's new album, which he made in an old chapel in Nashville with his former high school band. It's called "Sorry Verses", and was released today - if not at this moment, soon. Listen, if you want. (Or you can listen to all his discography - EP, home demos and stuff - here).

The album image is an old photograph of the farm my dad grew up on near Sedro Woolley, Washington. He probably milked those cows every morning. And likely started that fire in the foothills, too.

Grant also covered a Joni Mitchell song not too long ago. Love.



Just so nobody starts getting a big head about this, here's a choice section of a photo taken about 22 years ago. Back then, he couldn't have fit even one of those cheeks into the leg-hole of his hipster hot pants.

I believe that is a nautical-themed onesie. Well played.

Like a Wecord, Baby

*Slurp*

A Sampling from the Peanut Gallery...

Quote-Unquote:


When it's raining: "It's waining."
When it's sunny: "It's sunning! It's sunning in my eyes!!"

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"Daddy is crunchy." (i.e. stubbly.)

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"Shall we go?"
(Repeated often while wiping away tears during our latest ER visit - asthma related - which of course included rectal temp-taking.)

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"Nice boobies, Mommy."
(Also, "Oooooo, boobies!!")

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"Oooo... I like your boots, Mommy. Do you like my boots?"
(Also, "Do you like pine needles? I like pine needles", etc.)

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"Don't touch my belly button!"

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After kicking Mona in the neck and getting reprimanded for it: "Can I say sorry to Mona?"
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"I want Larry the Cucumber." (asking for a cucumber slice)

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I'm a Wumor Weed! (yelled enthusiastically after Veggie Tales line, "I'm a Rumor Weed!)

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Pointing at his foot: "There's my tiny fweckle."

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"Daddy's big. Mommy's big. Jude is little."
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J: "I wanna play hhhing-hhhong."
M: "What's hing-hong?"
J: "A little ball."

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"I don't like my double chin. I wanna take it off." [pulls at chin]

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"I'm not a lumberjack. I'm Bob!"

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Okay then. I love you, Bob. Keep 'em coming.

Stuck

Pic by Tyler

Too often we find ourselves hiding smirks behind our hands when Jude does something that is a) naughty, or b) hilarious - but he doesn't know it, and we don't want him to think we're making fun of him.

It's nice to know others are also amused by him. Donna often tells me about something smirk-inducing he did during the day, and she recently told me a story about catching the kids in the bathroom together. Jude wasn't the focus of the story at all, until I got a surprise ending.

"I was cleaning up lunch and suddenly noticed the house was too quiet," she said. "I heard something from behind the closed bathroom door, so I went to check it out. All of the kids were in there together, and Carmine was spraying them with water from the faucet while everyone laughed."

I thought this was kind of funny, but could hardly picture Jude getting a big kick out of water being sprayed at him, especially indoors. He's a particular boy, and doesn't like to get dirty or be wet if he isn't swimming. If he has just washed his hands and sees water drip onto the floor from his fingertips, he immediately springs for the dish towel and wipes the drops up, frantically.

After describing the bathroom scene, Donna chuckled thoughtfully, then was quiet for a moment. Casually, as if she had just remembered it, she said:

"Well, not all of them were in there, I guess. Jude was in the bedroom by himself, stuck between the file cabinet and the desk. He was saying 'oh no, oh no, oh no...'"

As the words came out of her mouth, an image took shape in my head of Jude methodically trying to unwedge his short & stout body from a desk/cabinet crevice, quietly repeating the same two words to himself.

How long this had gone on, she wasn't sure. Apparently it hadn't been overly traumatic for him - he was just a little alarmed - so we were laughing about it. I told her he seems to have an issue with getting stuck in small spaces. Whether this is because of his round head or his cloth-diaper butt, I'm not sure. (I shared how he got stuck in the birth canal too, but that's another story.)

It's just another quirk to add to his many others, like his fear of tinsel, and his penchant to begin all inquiries about what to do next with, "Shall we...?"

He has an adventure-some life ahead of him, I think.

Jude on Harmonica

This went on for about an hour. (Mona's like, "Heeeeyy yaaa'llll.)

The Date

Jude and I went on a date yesterday while Daddy was in class. The line-up was the library, Uncle Cheetah's Soup Shop, and then home again to read our new books before his nap.

But first, he shoveled the driveway. We couldn't leave in the state it was in.

Before:

After:

On the way to the library, I drilled him on his age and full name. He's one, and his name is Jude Donna Klooster.

After picking out some books, we headed to the soup shop. He helped me sample a few before we settled on a cup of jalapeno corn chowder and a grilled cheese sandwich.

He ate with his feet up on the table, singing the Veggie Tales theme song.

The 30-ish waitress came out once and he became obsessed with her, smirking and practically giving her a wink. He said, "I'm flirting," minus the "r" sound, which makes everyone in his vicinity want to squish his face. I'm just guessing.

Getting to spend a full day with him is so great. He changes quickly, and sometimes I feel like I need to get to know him again on the weekend.

Last night we were reading books again before bed. I could tell he wasn't tired, so we got under the covers and whispered for awhile. He squished my cheeks between his palms and laughed.

It was a good end to our day. He knows how to show me a good time.

Internet Candy

I haven't been taking the time to write any posts about family life lately, so to make sure it doesn't seem like we've died, herein is some Internet Candy that is getting me through February.

My routine lately after Jude is in bed is to make myself a hot cup of green tea and curl up on the couch with five blankets and a laptop. Typically I'm too tired to clean or do anything productive. Instead, here's where I end up.


1) PINTEREST. This Interweb Monster plays right into my weaknesses. Pinterest.com is a black hole. Or you could call it a hobby, if you're feeling polite. If you're a visual person, you'll love it. It involves "pinning" things to a virtual pin-board, like this:


It's a visual collection of things you love. Essentially it allows you to curate collections of things under any category you want, using images. Oh yes.

Here are mine, if you care to peek. It makes me a little giddy in a Cabin Fever sort of way to look at them. One of them is "destinations", and I'm pinning things in lots of bright colors that are slowly soothing my snow vision. Joining is weird. You don't instantly get an account; they put you on a waiting list. But it's only a few days long and then you get an invite.

2) AMUSING BLOGS. Like Irina Werning's Back to the Future, where she finds old childhood photos, presumably of people she knows, then helps them to recreate their outfit, pose, facial expression perfectly as an adult. I don't want to make any assumptions about your mental state this time of year, but I Laughed. Out. Loud.

Disclaimer: some partial nudity. Picture someone recreating a baby photo taken while naked and holding an accordion.

3) YOUTUBE. Of course. Best clip I've found lately is Man Cold. Enjoy, ladies.

I need to find a good book.

Or do some yoga.

I can feel my muscles liquefying.

I hope y'all are holed up and cozy, like we are. Just a few short weeks until March, then April near the end of which winter finally ends :)