Punch and Joey

Chapter 1 -

The wee hours of Wednesday morning found daddy sleeping on the couch. Joey came out to snuggle and watch some tv. Milo joined us as well.

As mommy started her morning, Joey ate his breakfast and then walked back over to the couch and placed a double-fisted hammer punch square on daddy's nose while daddy had his eyes closed.

There was no blood, but it was still a little sore on Thursday.

I guess he thought that would be funny.



Chapter 2 -

Tonight after we put the kids down for the evening, Joey and Milo did their usually playing around after we said goodnight. I had to go back into their room once and found them both sleeping on the floor. Again, nothing unusual.

During The Daily Show we heard the door open slowly and Joey walked out and announced "Milo crying" like Lassie sharing one of little Timmy's mishaps.

We went in to investigate and sure enough Milo was sitting on the floor in the dark sniffing and moaning.

Thinking that maybe he had just gotten scared, we asked him what was wrong. He wailed "Joey hit me the nose!"

(Joey had forgotten to share that part of the story)

A Team Sport

Last night, the boys sat side-by-side, eating spaghetti, apples, and bread. Joey was messing around with his bread, so I told him he should share it with Milo.

Joey and Milo went back and forth, sharing the bread. At some point, the bread was gone. And some time passed. Milo noticed the bread was gone.

Milo: Where did the bread go?

Mommy: You were sharing it with Joey and finished it.

*pause*

Milo: Yay! We won! (pause) Hi-Five, Joey!

And they celebrated. It was awesome.

[photo seen to add visual image of "teamwork"]

Giving Thanks

In the car ride home, where it seems Milo is at his best, we had the following conversation-

Milo: We can have Halloween everyday!

Mommy: Halloween is only one time a year. Thanksgiving is next.

Milo: Yeah! We can give thanks for Halloween!

And, I suppose, we could!

Grandpa's on the TV?

Last night we were watching "The Fantastic Four," where Michael Chiklis, star of FX's "The Shield," plays The Thing.

Now, for the bulk of the movie, after the typical super-hero accident The Thing looks like a giant made out of half-baked adobe blocks, held together by super glue.

But, at the start of the movie, he is a normal guy.

At one point toward the beginning of the film Milo looked up me (Milo's old man) and asked "Is that your dad!?"

No, you may not have my Halloween treats.

This Halloween was the first one that we dressed up the kids and went trick-or-treating. We headed up to Darin & Ang's place (our friends from Kansas) and ended up having an impromptu trick-or-treat run of their neighborhood with their daughter Sam.

Mark wanted two zombies to go hunting for candy. Only one little boy was brave enough to look like the living dead. Sorta.

The boys did great! No darting into the street... no head-first dives into the candy bowls, and they were always ready to say "Thank You" and " Happy Halloween" on cue... even though they missed their opening lines of "Trick or Treat!" most of the time. As we were driving home from house-to-house candy collecting, Milo was asked if we (Mommy and Daddy) could have some of his candy.

Milo: No.

Us: Why not?

Milo: Because you don't eat animals.

hmmm... almost got us on the logic there, but I'm more pleased that he remembers that we don't consume animals!

(We were later told that Daddy could have candy, but not Mommy, because she's not a boy. Mommy swiped some anyway, just for spite. And it was good!)

The Day of Cultural Adventure

A few Saturday's ago, we took the kids to two events. The first was a book reading and spaghetti-making event at Book People. The book: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

The kids all got to make "spaghetti" out of molding clay. Getting the boys to focus on the story was hard, but they really got into making the noodles and meatballs. We were very proud of them!

Then, later that day... we went to Republic Park (new home for the homeless) to see the Asylum Street Spankers, a local band that plays mostly "old time-y" music. The kids got to run around the park, Joey kissed concrete several times, and Milo got a shout-out from a band member. We're guess it's because he kept throwing a Nerf football at the stage.

We are learning to behave at events. We are trying to last as long as we can, without having to take someone "outside for a little talk." It's tough, but we're making some good progress!

Watch out for children crossing

In an attempt to foster physical education in our children, we went to the courtyard of our apartment with two soccer balls.

While we were playing (I was really trying to enforce the "don't use your hands, use your feet"), I had a chance to side-kick the ball to Joey (who looked up from licking a rock). Then we heard it:

An awful screeching noise of tires and a "bump." Then Milo running at me. I knew what he did, and he knew what he did, so once I grabbed him, the hysterical crying started. Why?

Because Milo got on the golf cart (used for touring around the property) and it happened to be plugged in, and he happened to get on it and hit the gas, pushing it into the wall. The management ran out of the office, and the damage was only a few scuff marks on the wall.

I apologized, and wrestled Milo upstairs, where he dramatically threw himself onto Joey's bed, still crying.

Was it Milo's fault for stepping on the gas, when he's been repeatedly told in the past year NOT TO GET ON the cart? Or, was it management's fault for keeping the cart plugged in during the day, with (at least) four neighboring apartments having kids?

Or, it's everyone fault. Milo's still in his room, making vague threats and weird noises behind the door. And I'm not going to stop him. (I'm too embarrassed to go down and talk to the management, even though I could totally take them down.)