Correction

Conan is a very precise guy.  He spends a lot of time correcting me on various things, both important and completely unimportant.  If, for instance, I say "Time to get in the car" I'm very likely to get told  "Its a van, not a car!"

"Did you have a snack?" "No, it was an apple!"
"Where did you leave your shoes?"  "They are boots, not shoes!"
"Did you eat your toast?" "It was a bagel, not toast!"
"Put on your coat." "Its not a coat, its a raincoat!"
"You're wearing your shirt backwards." "No, I'm wearing three shirts backwards!"
"Do you want your blanket?" "Its not a blanket, its a quilt!"
"Did you color that picture?" "No, I drawed it!"
"All the kids will be there." "No, not all the kids in the whole world! Just the ones we know!"

Sometimes it gets to be too much.  The other night I had really had it, so I said "OK, look, I need for you to stop always correcting me. Please."

His response?

"I don't ALWAYS correct you. I only SOMETIMES correct you!"

... whimper ...

Finished!

2012 book of Conan is all done and ordered! Grandparents and great grandparents can expect to receive their copy around the 15th. In the meantime, I believe the link below will take you to an online version if you'd like a preview.

Click here to view this photo book larger

A boy and his Kitty

Tiberius and Conan have forged a strong bond. Conan caries Tiberius around constantly and frequently sings to him. I finally caught the cuteness on video! Surprisingly, Tiberius seems to really enjoy the attention and even purrs while being manhandled and forcibly snuggled. It's very sweet.

Conan is 4!

We had a party on Saturday with lots of friends and family.  I can hardly believe it's been four years already!




 The party featured balloons, party hats & favors, a cake decorated with toy cars and a monster truck (Conan picked the design himself), a game of pin the tail on the donkey, temporary tattoos for everyone, face painting (which turned into finger painting because we forgot the paintbrushes - not that the kids seemed to care), photos with a fun circus-themed cutout (painted by my talented cousin Heather), punch with dinosaur ice cubes, and of course, presents!

 We held the party at the Fairhaven Park Pavillion, which is a multi-use public building right by the playground. Unfortunately, it was a very cold, stormy day with too much wind and rain for playing outside. The kids had lots of fun running around inside, bopping each other in the heads with balloons and generally having a grand time playing together.

 All in all, it was a fun smorgasboard of awesome stuff. Theme parties are for babies, right?  No-one can deny that Conan is a big boy now!

Two Good Stories

Driving in the car with Conan, I motioned another driver to go ahead and pull out in front of me. "Go ahead, you're clear" I said aloud.
"What?" asked Conan. "Who are you talking to, Mama?"
"Oh, that car wanted to pull out in front of us. I was telling him it was OK to go."
"He can hear you?"
"No, he can't, but sometimes I talk out loud to the other cars anyway."
"Oh."
He thought about this for a few moments, then piped up again.
"Well, Papa usually says 'DAMMIT' when people pull out in front of him."

******

We were discussing bears one evening at dinner.  I told Conan the story of how a bear had once broken into our car when his Papa and I were camping at Yosemite, before he was born.  He wanted to know what happened to the bear.
"Well, the park rangers scared it away," I said.
"Oh.  Couldn't warriors have scared the bear away?" he asked.
"Yeah, I suppose warriors could have.  But the rangers were there, so they took care of it."
"Warriors could do it. Uncle Eric could have done it!"
"Uh, yeah, well, I suppose he could have..."
"You should have called Uncle Eric!" he insisted.
"I'm not sure..." I started.
"Because! Uncle Eric is a warrior!" He was getting really excited now.  I was baffled.
Papa stepped in. "Lawyer.  You mean lawyer.  Uncle Eric is a lawyer."
But Conan wasn't convinced. Arms folded across his chest and a stubborn look on his face, he stood firm.
"No! That is not a word! Uncle Eric is a warrior!"

Tiberius & Livia

We just adopted two new kitties. They are an "adult" mom (10 mo.) and her son (3 mo.), both grey tabbies. This is the little boy, who Cary named Tiberius. He's got green eyes and is friendly, active and playful. He's also cute as can be.

His mother is less rambunctious, and has beautiful orange eyes. We were all calling her "Tiberius' Mommy" so I went to the internet to find out what the real Emperor Tiberius' mother's name was. Livia is a pretty name and seems to suit her.

We have them confined to the office for now, so they can get used to the house, and us, gradually. Sanford is spending a lot of time sniffing around the door, and Livia is sniffing back. Both are very curious about who is on the other side of the door, but there hasn't been any hissing or yoweling, so that is encouraging.

Tiberius is extremely playful and curious; while I've been typing this post he's knocked some things off the windowsill, tried to climb the china cabinet, and fiercely play-attacked his mother. He and Conan both enjoy couch fishing as well.

It feels good to have more cats in the house again. It's going to be an adventure to have young cats again, and I especially look forward to watching Conan bond and play with them. Stay tuned for lots more pictures, that's for sure!

Santa

We met up with Santa, unexpectedly, at the toy store this evening. We had gone to get presents for a few of Conan's preschool friends who have invited him to birthday parties in the coming weeks. The store was nearly empty, so even though we didn't want to get pictures Santa invited Conan to come sit in his sleigh and talk to him. When Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas, Conan immediately answered "Flowers." Santa looked a bit surprised and asked "What kind?" Conan firmly said "Daisies." That's my boy! You can bet there'll be a pot of daisies (or mums, or something like that) under our tree Christmas morning.