Daigoro asked me a poser the other day.
"Daddy," he asked in a querulous tone, "where's baby Jesus?"
Somewhat taken aback, I responded, "he lived a long time ago."
Daigoro was unsatisfied. "Where is he now?"
"He lived a long time ago, Daigoro. But he grew up into a man who taught us many important things."
"But," he persisted, "where's baby Jesus?"
Ah, theology.
Of course, Marli came up with the sensible but somewhat nebulous and theoretical answer "he lives in our hearts," which leads to Daigoro casting doubtful glances at our chests and his own.
About a month ago, Kenshin began a fairly strange vocal habit of "trilling" - sort of making a "dl-RrrRrrRrrRrr" noise, as if one was practicing rolling 'R's for German or Scottish accents. It doesn't seem to be associated with anything in particular, but does seem to be a happy noise in general. Marli notes that it's usually when he's 'between activities'.
Daigoro in the past week has picked up two interesting and fun phrases.
The first is in response to us describing something, e.g. "Daigoro, this is a cookie."
Daigoro: "What kind of cookie?"
Me: "A empire cookie."
Daigoro: "What kind of empire cookie?"
...fortunately he seems to only drill down about two levels with this line of inquiry, so it's not as complex as the dreaded "why" interrogations one hears so much about.
Just in the past few days, he's started responding "not yet" to questions or statements about when something should happen.
For example:
Me: "Daigoro, would you like your peanut butter and jelly sandwich now?" (after having being begged for one for about five minutes.)
Daigoro: "Not yet, please."
(Grrrr.)
A little tic which I had forgotten to record is Kenshin's patented "Ray Charles" head motion - it's actually not really Ray Charles-esque, but that's what we're calling it. It looks like a rapid and continuous disagreement or "no" head-shaking body language - like he was vehemently disagreeing with what we're doing or saying. Strangely, it seems to be another 'placeholder' action when he's generally or mildly amused. He's been doing it for about two months.
An amusing episode at this year's Christmas Sunday service. Daigoro played a sheep again in the annual Christmas pageant, but broke free from his handlers. My wife indicated with vigourous pointing that he had escaped into the side parlour of the church but he cleverly doubled back and snuck up onto the altar dais, where he proceeded, in full view of the congregation, to re-arrange the Nativity creche. He diligently stuck all the animals inside the stable, stacked very neatly. I was still in the parlour looking for him when the minister's wife poked her head in and said, rather amusedly, "He's up on the altar dais. I thought you might want to know."
I came ducking in, but the minister had just started a prayer, so I didn't want to be causing a commotion at the front of the church in the middle of it. I grabbed Daigoro as quietly as I could and ducked out through the "secret" choir entrance to pull him around to the back.
People thought it was "cute". I think... I hope. They said as much. Really.
The time around New Year's is usually a period of deep introspection and review but I'm generally too worn out and sick to be bothered. I will say that it has been a mixture of joy and petty annoyances to help bring up two boys, which I think falls into the general theme of this blog - between Heaven and Hell.
Lowlights
- Sleep-deprived nights after Kenshin's birth.
- Long periods of both parents and children all being sick at the same time.
- Lots of parental tension over the stresses of two young children.
- Increasingly cramped two-bedroom apartment being wholly inadequate for two adults and two children. (Especially when one adult doesn't like throwing things away as often as he should).
- Daigoro gashing his head open after a fall from a chair at a drop-in centre.
Highlights
- Daigoro's face at Christmas, 2007.
- Making handmade wooden planes for the kids.
- Daigoro on a merry go-round at a local fair.
- Seeing the boys start to play together, giggling.
- Kenshin's birth.
