The Real Goodbye

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Last night (since it's now technically Saturday), at about 6 p.m., Jaden and I said our real goodbye to the house.

I had to drop off the appliance manuals and bring in the garbage cans. It was very hard on Jaden. He was upset because he wanted to hang out with Ron and he realized the impact of moving. So he ran inside to his room and I heard the door slam shut.

I found him sobbing in his closet, where his dresser used to be. It was the only part of the room that offered a hiding place. I went in and he totally broke down. I held him tight.

After a bit, I asked him what he was going to miss the most from our house. He ran up to the wall and said, "Uncle Roger's tree."


And then I witnessed his beautiful little heart break into pieces.


I thought it might seem cruel to photograph him in such pain but in a way, it had its own beauty and I wanted to remember it forever for some reason. And in so doing, it struck me that our little digital camera might offer my son a different kind of way to say goodbye to his home. He loves to take pictures and it's a big treat when he asks and I say yes.

I offered it to him and he gobbled it up. He took photos of his room and the bathroom at every conceivable angle. Finally I had to nudge him to move down the hallway. He gave me back the camera, paused at the water heater and said through more tears, "I am hugging my whole house now."


And slowly but surely we made it to the front of the house. There we sat against the wall, holding on to each other and crying our eyes out. Only my maternal instincts kept me from totally breaking down -- I wanted to be strong for him. Then he asked me to take one last picture of us together in our house. So I did my best.

Rad Rocket

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There are truly few words that can express how amazing I find the progression of Jaden's art. It seriously blows my mind. I am so grateful for Jeff because he is equally blown away so I have someone who knows exactly how I feel about this stuff.

It's just too rad to have your kid sit down and nonchalantly whip out a rocket ship for the first time and hand it to you like no big deal, I do this all the time and you're saying wow cool but inside screaming holy cannoli those scribbles do turn into recognizable shapes and writing after all!



by Jaden, June 26, 2007


Astronaut

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For some reason, this email that I sent to Jeff on April 24th showed up in my drafts folder this morning. Whatever. Who knows what's up with that. But it is a cute memory and I'm surprised I didn't blog it then. Or maybe I did and this is a duplicate. Nothing would surprise me these days.

Anyway.

Jaden said to me, "I wish we had a strap for him" and I said "well maybe one of mommy's hair rubber bands will work." I didn't know exactly what his plans were but very soon it was very clear.

The Countdown


Blastoff!

Babysitting

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While Jeff made a trip to the dump today, Jaden and I went to visit Chris & Clare during their big move. Jamie was there to keep an eye on Rayleen while Jay helped Chris with the really big boy stuff.

Jaden had so much fun talking "baby" with Rayleen, playing Toss The Blue Duckie (she tosses, he dutifully retrieves), going for a long stroller walk and pushing the stroller oh-so-safely for the length of one house, soothing her in her play pen first by turning on her mobile and then by sitting inside with her.


And then came the ultimate babysitting experience for Jaden. Rayleen got hungry. Really hungry. So he got to watch her eat carrots and then! She got to have a bottle and Rayleen's grandma said it would be okay if Jaden helped her steady her bottle. OH was he ever happy. It's one of his little dreams come true. I told him to close his eyes and listen to her drink her bottle, that she makes the cutest little sounds. So he tried it, as you can see.


All in all, it's just too precious for words to watch the two of them interact. Rayleen loved to have someone speak her language and Jaden sure couldn't get enough of her big smile and adorable cheeks.

SO STINKIN CUTE!

Jaden's Sister

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This afternoon Jaden related the following story about his sister:

"When I was four years old, my sister got a rock thrown at her forehead. She got a little bit cut and it bled but she was okay."

There was a long pause.

"Then she died."

There was another long pause.
(For dramatic effect?)

"It was fun while it lasted though."

At this point, I had to get involved.

"What was fun while it lasted?"

Jaden replied, "My sister."

"I thought the rock didn't hurt her too badly."

Jaden said, "It didn't."

"Then how did she die?"

Jaden answered matter-of-factly, "She lived until she was old. She had a good life and it was fun while it lasted."

Uproarious! Where does he get these sayings from? Fun while it lasted indeed!

Jaden's Sister

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This afternoon Jaden related the following story about his sister:

"When I was four years old, my sister got a rock thrown at her forehead. She got a little bit cut and it bled but she was okay."



"Then she died."



"It was fun while it lasted though."

At this point, I had to get involved.

"What was fun while it lasted?"

Jaden replied, "My sister."

"I thought the rock didn't hurt her too badly."

Jaden said, "Oh no she lived until she was old. She had a good life and it was fun while it lasted."

Uproarious! Where does he get these sayings from? Fun while it lasted indeed!

Mother's Day

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It occurred to me it might be nice to post something happy after reading about my dad's depressed state of mind. So here you go, see how my sweet boys made me smile upon waking with a beautiful hand-picked, and totally surprising, bouquet of flowers.


Once the camera was in action, Jaden wanted to assume his position behind the lens and snapped up this little gem:


I wonder what it's like to grow up with happy parents who love each other so much?

Pantown

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Today Jaden and I scoped out an apt. complex in downtown SJ.

It turns out it was only one block from Japantown so I was talking to Jaden about that. He was so cute -- Mama what is Pantown?

"No no," I said, "it's called Ja-pan town." I said it's a community with a lot of Japanese people, Japanese restaurants and stores. I said it's a cultural hub.

He said, "Do they speak our regular language?"

I said they probably speak English and Japanese. I said regular is not really the best way to describe English. It's the native language that we speak but not for everyone.

He told a passerby, "We're going to Pantown but I don't speak Japanese yet!" She said, "Oh, me either!"

We found a noodle house and had shoyu ramen, (NO VEGETABLES right mama?), rice and edamame.


Show me your full belly Jaden...

Piccolo Blu

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Today I went to Hicklebees to get a few birthday gifts and I accidentally left my new Vanity Fair with an amazing article on electric vehicles behind.

So I went back with Jaden and while he was playing with the trains, I browsed the clearance area. And what a gem I found! A Leo Lionni book in Italian, half price!


I read it twice out loud right there in their rocking chair (softly though): once to myself and once to Jaden. It is such a joy!

The Trumpet of the Swan

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I found this at the library a few weeks ago and grabbed it for Jaden, who is super into audio books. He will sit in his room and listen and listen.

I am sad to say I had never read this book as a child or even heard of it at all until now. It is read by E.B. White himself and it is phenomenal. He has the most expressive voice and accent and Jeff and I laugh out loud many times while listening to him read this story. The old cob is our favorite character, he is priceless.

Jaden and I finished it this morning on the way to school and I feel sad that it's over. I definitely want to buy this one because I could listen to it again. The next times I won't be so nervous, I found myself anxious and anticipating some awful harm to come to Louis.

So! Six thumbs up from the Nichols! And 104 great reviews on Amazon as well.

First Sunshine

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This was a project for Worthy Wage Week next week at Jaden's preschool, he drew a picture for his teacher.


I am simply amazed at the progression of his artwork in recent months, the shift to more representational art. I am also sad because as he does this, the actual drawing, he often says things like "I can't draw _____" or "It doesn't look right."

You can see here how he interrupted himself halfway on his sunshine, he said, "it doesn't look like a sunshine" super frustrated.

But I love it. In fact, I think it's glorious.

I always tell him art is not good or bad, right or wrong and he can draw how he feels. Hopefully it sinks in because I think his process is beautiful.

Meet My Robinson

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Jeff had to work a lot this weekend and after a mid-day birthday celebration for his dad up in Danville, we headed home. On the way I thought hey, I'll take the kid to see this new movie and give Jeff a solid block of time to code his little heart out.


After a minor snafu (our movie time was sold out so we decided to wait around the 1:40 minutes to see the next showing which was the 3D version), we had a grand old time. We had popcorn and yucky movie hotdogs and bargain peanut butter M&Ms that I got at the mall Target during that long, long waiting time.

Lots of people, including me, got a huge kick out of Jaden wearing his 3D glasses after the movie. He was making me laugh so much that I stopped and got a few pictures of him re-enacting the movie.



And then, the grand finale.