Repurposing, Captain America-Style

Remember that really neat drum set we got for Grant’s 6th birthday? Well, who knew it contained a secret weapon… 

Our Boy Wonder and his Sidekick, Brave Bear

By day, he’s a mild-mannered, well-dressed, inconspicuous kid racing across rocky terrain, spiffy tie blowing in the wind, brim of his newsies hat turned up …

Incredibly, without the aid of a telephone booth, he can also turn into a red-caped marvel of a hero, scanning the horizons of the surrounding cornfields and lonely gravel road, searching … searching … for something – anything – to put his burgeoning superpowers to the test, while he provides entertainment to yawning cats and curious dogs. And several family members, watching with delight through the windows. :-)

Here we see Brave Bear taking on a treacherous, weed-riddled, rocky path to beat Boy Wonder to the front porch. Looks like Brave Bear has some pretty big shoes to fill.

Confident that the good residents of Worleyopolis are safe, our heroes take a much-needed rest, but only so they can be ready for the next threat. A message to all the menacing mice and bugs in the surrounding 2.5 acres: Take cover from Boy Wonder and Brave Bear! You’ve been warned! Their collective cuteness is completely disarming.

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Yesterday, Erica looked out the window and spotted the boys dressed up like this. Brooke told us they wanted to be superheroes, but they wanted to have some “Clark Kent” outfits, too. This is the latest craze in our house. In the past month, we’ve watched “Captain America”, “Captain America 2” and “The Avengers” and those characters have really been feeding their imaginations. Obviously. :-)

These Eyes

The other day, the boys were sitting at the island eating their lunch while the rest of us were chatting about whether we should get Grant’s hair cut. Erica worried that if we let it get too long, he might be mistaken for a girl, because he has such big, beautiful eyes and long eyelashes. We were all agreeing and I was just staring at his eyes and talking about how lovely they are while he munched on his sandwich, unaffected by all of us staring at him. All the sudden, Mick started laughing and I noticed Trent out of the corner of my eye slowly leaning in toward Grant. I looked over at him, and he was staring right at me, eyes open as wide as they could be and eyebrows straight up.  Ha! With boys, everything is a competition!  :-D

The Boy at the Barre

Things are getting exciting at ballet. We are just under 2 months away until the production of “The Nutcracker” and the costumes came in this week!

Sarah – a Chinese Dancer

Brooke – one of the Party Children

Olivia and Claire – Snow Angels

I took the boys with me last night because I knew they’d enjoy watching all the girls practicing. They also got to see Noah, who is playing the parts of Fritz and the Nutcracker Prince. Apparently, it was all very inspiring for Grant. At one point, between classes, we spotted him over at the barre. Amid all the tutus and glitter, there was my oldest boy standing in first position (Kelly noted that his feet were at a perfect 180⁰ angle – a little bit more than first position, actually :-). He was very carefully and slowly practicing plies and rond de jambes. I was so thankful I had my camera! And it didn’t seem to bother him in the least that we were watching. Oh so funny and sweet! The girls and I joked about the possibility of sneaking him to ballet classes in the future.  :-)

(Dear Adult Grant – I hope you’ll forgive me for posting these. Who knows, maybe when you’re reading this as an adult, you’ll be dancing with the Royal Ballet. I’m sure Daddy would like it if you were using those feet to kick field goals in Lucas Oil Stadium.)

Little boys

Several years ago, after Grant was born, Mom and Dad got Mick a book called “What Little Boys Are Made Of” for a Christmas gift. It’s filled with little poems, scripture and words of wisdom about little boys.  The cover looks like this:

The book is filled with pictures that are similar in style to this cover. For years now, I’ve wanted to try to take some pictures of Grant that were modeled after the book, but just haven’t taken the time to do it. With the start of a new school year, I’ve been more aware of how much the kids are growing, especially Grant, since he is now 5 and will start kindergarten. So, I took advantage of a free evening with nice lighting and shot some pictures.

Typically, I prefer close-up shots because I love to see facial expressions, but I liked this one a little further back so the old barn door would be included.

He was a very cooperative model, especially considering the fact I had changed him out of his swim trunks into this outfit right before he was heading out to swim with the girls.

This next one has a fun Picasa filter applied to it called “Cinemascope;” I think he looks like a silent film star here.  At this point, he was looking for bugs, lost in his own little world.

Now, look closely at his expression in this next picture and imagine a light bulb over his head. This is the moment an idea came into his 5-year-old, little-boy mind.

I think it was just before this moment that he became aware of the sound of the shutter clicking and remembered I was there taking his picture. He looked up at me and smiled this smile and I snapped it real quick, thinking what a nice smile it was. Immediately after I took the picture, he broke into this completely silly expression and froze.

Right away, I realized he was posing for me. So, I took another one as fast as I could … and he did it again … and again, giving me every silly face he could conjure up.

 

I wish we had video of this because I think even the pictures don’t completely capture the hilarity of these moments. In spite of each huge grin or outlandish expression on his face, he was completely silent and frozen between each picture, waiting until he heard me take the picture, and then he’d make the next face and freeze again.

 

Inwardly, I was absolutely dying with laughter, but I held it together long enough to keep taking the pictures until he was all faced out.  :-D

 

I loved these so much, I had to crop each picture to be able to see his expression more close-up. Just imagine a completely silent, frozen boy making these faces and you pretty much have it.

    

   

   

I’ve looked at these pictures many times and they still make me smile each time. :-)  After all these crazy- face pictures, it might seem like an abrupt change to end with such a serious expression, but I love this last one. It’s my favorite of the group. Or maybe the Cinemascope one. Or the smiley one. Maybe I should just look through them all again. ;-)

The John Deere people might be interested in this

Our pastor likes to play a little color game with Trent. He’ll say, “What color is a John Deere tractor?” and “What color is a Kubota tractor?”, etc. etc. This morning, Trent was trying to tell me what cereal he wanted for breakfast. The boxes were too high for him to reach, so I said “What color is the box?” He thought about it for a moment, then slowly said “John Deere green.” He’s learning, Pastor Mark!  :-D  This gets me thinking though, there a lot of things you can get these days with the John Deere logo. Don’t think I’ve seen cereal … yet.

 

My little bike mechanic

 

Yesterday, I went out to check on Grant, who was playing in the garage. I was surprised to find him with one of Mick’s wrenches, trying to take a training wheel off Claire’s bike. Rachel told me a few days ago that she had taken them off for a little while to try to help Claire learn to ride without them. I can just imagine Grant watching her very closely while she did that and apparently, he decided to try it out himself.  I watched him for about 5 minutes before I went and got the camera. He spent quite a bit of time running back and forth from Mick’s workbench, getting different-sized wrenches to try out. At times, he talked to himself or me, asking me questions about training wheels and wrenches.  “Is this how I do it?” he asked several times.

Other times, he was quiet and just worked. Once again, I found myself thinking “None of the girls ever did this!”

I don’t know who was more fascinated: Grant with the workings of the training wheel, or me with watching Grant work on the training wheel.

 

Such an interesting, sweet little guy!

Train sets and tussling

 

“I’m That”

Like all kids, ours love to pretend. One of the games they like to play goes something like this: we’ll be watching a video or reading a book or driving down the road and the kids will see something cute, inspiring, impressive, amazing, etc. and someone usually calls out “I’m that horse!” or “I’m that dancer!” or I’m that kitten!” You can just see their imaginations working when they play this game.

Claire the Cute Kitten

Brooke the Majestic Horse

Sarah the Graceful Ballerina

And of course, now that we have added boys to our family mix, the game is being played out in new and unexpected ways. The other day, we were driving down the highway and Claire excitedly yells “Grant, look!  A cement mixer!” And he says “I’m that!” I’m pretty sure none of our girls ever imagined themselves as a cement mixer, but I know Grant would make the cutest cement mixer ever.  :-D

Grant the Manly Cement Mixer

Grant, a/k/a “The Happy Wanderer”

 

All families have stories that are so entertaining and loved they are often retold, enjoyed and chuckled over, even though everyone has heard the story so many times. An interesting thing with time, though, is its ability to soften our memories and take the hard edges off of the details. One story we always enjoyed hearing my Grandma tell was about our funny, energetic Uncle Rob. When he was a toddler, the family lived in the hills of Brown County. It seems one day Uncle Rob turned up missing. Just behind the family’s log cabin was a deep ravine filled with trees. That is where Grandma found Uncle Rob, wandering around in his diaper. After that, for a while, she actually put a cow bell around his neck so she could keep track of him!

That is the extent of the story as we know it, and it has always made us all chuckle at the thought of Uncle Rob taking off for the woods in his diaper, and later walking around with a cow bell around his neck. (And I have to wonder how long a 2-year-old would keep a cow bell around his neck? I have a 2-year-old, and I’m thinking he might enjoy that for about 2.3 seconds.) But I suppose if we somehow could have heard Grandma tell this story right after it happened, it would have had a few more frightening details: like how Grandma felt when she realized her two-year-old was missing, how long she searched for him and how frantic she must’ve felt the whole time, and what kind of shape he was in. If he was at the bottom of the ravine in only a diaper, was he scratched up? I can’t imagine a 2-year-old making it down to the bottom of a ravine without falling once or twice, maybe even rolling some. But time, with its buffering, softening effects, has turned it all into a quaint, charming family tale, complete with a happy ending.

So, why do I choose to share the story I’m about to share, when it’s been less than 24 hours after it all took place? Well, because there is a happy ending here also: Grant is quietly sleeping in his bed as I type, and I praise God for that (for the fact that’s he’s safe in his bed and that he’s asleep!) Also because, as scary as it was at the time, we are already sharing a few grateful chuckles about it all, even a few hours after the fact. And I just know this story will be repeated to Grant when he is older – he might even have a dim memory of it – and I want to get the facts straight while they’re still fresh in our memories.

So, I’m at work on Friday afternoon for a few short hours. Suddenly, I notice Alix is on Skype and is sending what I mistakenly think is some Skype messages for me. When I pull up the Skype window, I was greeted with this exchange between Courtney and Alix:

worley: I have an amazing story to tell you.

Alix Orr: ok

worley: Rachel is babysitting and a man in a white pickup pulled up to the door and knocked and we didn't answer cause duh we're the only ones home.

Alix Orr: right

worley: Soooo...we suddenly realized we couldn't locate Grant

Alix Orr: !!!!

worley: and Rachel thought maybe the man was going to tell us that he was in the next county (!)

Alix Orr: !

worley: So Rachel and I ran outside to look for him

Alix Orr: so the man in the white pickup had driven away by now?

worley: yes

worley: and Rachel saw him walking up the road WAY far away

Alix Orr: aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

worley: and since Rach wasn't wearing shoes and I was I met him further down the creek and asked him if anyone said something to him. He said yes

Alix Orr: *choke*

worley: I asked Grant what the man's car color was and he said "white" (btw Grant was shirtless)

Alix Orr: *chokes harder*

worley: and I asked him what the man said. He said "You should probably go home now buddy" and I asked him what kind of car it was and it was a pickup. So about five minutes later Sarah goes "Rachel, who's here?" Long story short it was a policeman.

At this point, their exchange ended.  Imagine my reaction: blood pressure and temperature rising as each sentence appeared on the screen. But in retrospect, this might have been a better way for me to find out about it than an excited, breathless phone call. I quickly ran through the facts in my head and started calming down when I realized: (1) I hadn’t gotten a phone call; (2) they obviously had Grant safe at the house at this point; and (3) it was already considered an “amazing” story and was shared via Skype with Alix.

When I got home, the girls filled me in on the details. Rachel was busy laying Trent down for a nap when the man in the white truck knocked on the door. By the time she got downstairs, he was getting back in his truck (she wouldn’t have opened the door, anyway). A few minutes later, they realized Grant was missing. Once they had him back, they asked him where he was going. He said he was going down to “watch the combine” (they were harvesting corn in the field opposite the next road down). Jack and Samson were with him and in spite of everything, I thought what a cute picture that would’ve had made: Grant walking down our gravel road, Samson and Jack on either side of him, to watch the combine. If only I could’ve just been a few feet behind him the whole time … Anyway a few minutes later, Sarah called out “Who’s here?” and Rachel looked out and saw the sheriff walking up the steps and said “Oh super! A policeman!!”  Apparently the man (saint? guardian angel?) in the white truck had called the sheriff’s office and told them about Grant. When the officer got to the house, he got out his radio and said something to the effect of “It’s OK, guys, we found the boy.” (!) Then he asked the girls a few questions (How old are you? Will your parents be gone much longer?), then he talked to Grant about not wandering off again and ended the conversation with a high five. This part of the story kind of makes me chuckle because, like most little boys, Grant is fascinated by policemen. A few weeks ago, he told me he really wanted to “give a policeman ‘five.’” I thought it was cute at the time, but never thought it would be played out like this!

After church yesterday, Mick was telling Kelly about it and when he got done, she asked Grant “Where were you going?”  His answer: “I was very, very close to far away.”

Trent – Summer 2012

Life with boys

 

After 12 years of parenting only girls, I often tell people I feel like a first-time parent with our little boys.  It seems like every day, I notice things they do and say which are unique to our boy-parenting experience. Sometimes, I feel like a scientist: watching, observing, taking mental notes.  I can’t think of how many times I’ve watched in amazement/amusement/horror and thought “none of the girls did that.” Take balls, for instance. We have had several balls through the years which the girls played with periodically. But I’d bet the boys have played with them more in the past couple of years than the girls played with them, combined. 

Just a couple of quick observations about boys and their ball play:  1) they should never be allowed around food and drink – the balls will become air born at some point, even after several pleasant reminders (read: warnings) to keep them on the floor; and (2) instead of just passing the ball back and forth (which is how the girls played with them), they can be played with in an infinite number of ways.  All you need is the right kitchen utensil.  Usually a wooden spoon is the instrument of choice, but anything will work really.  Today it was a cheese slicer and a meat thermometer. 

Parents who start out with boys (or have one after the first or second girl), may not be as entertained by these observations, but they are really amazing and hilarious to us.  :-)