Trade Secrets

Overheard:

Beckett: Hey Mom, in our family, we're professors, huh?

Jeanne: Yeah Beck. We're professors.... What kind of professor are you?

Beckett: I am a professor professor.... What kind of professor are you?

Jeanne: I am a chemistry professor, and Papa is a Japanese professor. What kind of professor are you going to be?

Beckett: Japanese.

The First Shall be First

Recently we have had some firsts. In each case, Beckett went to school and told his teachers, and they seemed slightly jealous that he was having an experience at the age of 2 and 3/4s that they hadn't yet had. We went to the Jersey Shore (Barnegat Light) with my sister Linda and her family and had a great time going to the beach everyday, and there had our first experience parasailing.

Then we bought kayaks and took them up the Connecticut River, where we found a rope swing that splashes out over the water. Beckett wanted to go, and although we wouldn't allow him to jump from the top of the embankment 10 feet up, we did let him hang onto the rope and swing out over the water. He looked pretty proud of himself for having done it.

Remote Control

Our friends Emily and Austin sent us a list of remote canoe-in campsites, and over memorial day, we decided to try Knight Island on Lake Champlain with my brother Ken, his wife Debbie, and their kids, and Emily and her family. We promptly made a mockery of the remoteness of the campsite, by chartering a water taxi to take us there, which meant that we could take along everything including the kitchen sink. Emily valiantly strove to maintain the remote atmosphere by bringing along freeze-dried food to eat, but we blasted away another marker of remoteness by taking along London broil and pesto chicken to grill. We did rent a canoe and two kayaks (to go along with the canoe that Emily and Austin brought), but had the water taxi tow them over as well.

[Above: Half an Armada; Right: Beckett--obscene, but safe in his life-vest. Below: Beckett and Chris pinching each others' cheeks.]

Despite the fact that it was hardly remote camping, we had a great time. At times, we made a practice of setting out en masse in four craft armadas and finding some new beach on which to skip paper thin shale stones or splash in the water. At other times, we sent out quiet sorties either to enjoy the beauty of the island or to fish. My nephew Chris caught five fish ranging from 7 to 15 inches in length. Beckett did a lot of leaning over the side of the boat trying to capsize it. He also skipped his first rock. Jeanne and Austin showed off their paddling prowess. Kyle was the most determined student of the art of paddling. Gavin, Lucy, Kyle and Chris serenaded us all with a steady stream of jokes in the way that only four to thirteen year olds can. (Joke of the weekend: What’s the difference between a duck? One of its feet are both the same. Actually, that was my joke, stolen from my sister Ellie, and Chris didn’t get it. You will Chris, just wait.) Debbie took dead last in the card game during one of Beckett’s naps (I have to treasure that, it might never happen again.) We had generally good weather, off-shore winds to keep the bugs at bay, and one spectacular sunset. We are thinking about making a mockery of some other campsite on Emily’s remote list next year.[Bruce teaching Chris a wrestling move to get him off the dock.]

Ode to Boy

Beckett came to us yesterday morning after breakfast and asked us to come in an sit on the sofa, and told us that he was putting on DVD (CD really). Then he proceeded to play Beethoven's Ninth Symphony which he had picked out of the CD case all on his own. (I'd like to think he recognized the CD, but I think it was just random that it was Beethoven.) He sat between us on the couch, looking all proud and proper, and remarked over and over about how beautiful the music was. The crescendos and decrescendos were apparently puzzling, because after a while, he decided it was too loud, and went and turned it down. Then a little while later he decided it was too soft and turned it up so that by the time of the next crescendo, it was ear-splitting. Needless to say, our schedules got set back by twenty or twenty-five minutes while we listened to Beethoven.

I think I'm Turning Japanese

Recently I found my Chinese character flash cards in Beckett's bed. Jeanne says he came to her and told her he wanted to show her the coolest thing, and took her to my desk and pulled them out and showed them to her, and then apparently he took them up to bed. Does this mean he is trying to learn Chinese? Perhaps not a bad idea considering the shape of our economy.

Welcome to our OOL, notice there is no P in it

On March 10th or 11th, Beckett announced one morning that he wanted to wear underwear. I don’t know if I can fully convey how excited I was to hear this. Not to get too scatological about this, but for the first two years and four months of his life, I think we both liked Beckett enough to gladly change his diapers without even the slightest hint of a complaint (in fact we were usually fighting over who got to change him), but at roughly the 2 year 4 month mark, it seemed like there was a dramatic increase in quantity and pungency (shall we say). For the first time in his life, I think we both began considering all sorts of perjuries and machinations to avoid his diapers. To add insult to injury, I am convinced the Beckett’s day care providers have some nefarious technique by which they ensure that all the kids evacuate in the evenings when they are safely home with their parents rather than during the middle of the day. So despite the fact that they have him for one-third of his waking hours, we were changing approximately three-thirds of his diapers.
So, yes, I was pretty happy for his announcement, pretty ready to move onto the next milestone in our parental lives. Since then we have had some minor setbacks—a few times when Beckett didn’t quite make it to the toilet, but for the most part, it has been smooth sailing. Now, we have to teach him that its not OK to pee in the middle of the path or store or office.

Tic, Tac, Doh

We have a tic tac toe board with alternating yellow and blue squares and yellow x's and blue o's. Beckett has decided that you have to play the yellow x's on the yellow squares and the blue o's on the blue squares. This means that tic tac toe is even MORE fun than usual. If you are the yellow x's you get to savor dominating victory every time, and if you are the o's you get crushed in ignominious defeat. I keep trying to inject some other strategy into the game, but I get soundly denounced each time and the sergeant of arms of the game makes sure I play by the rules.