Sick Day

This morning, Mr. Man woke up not feeling well. Around 5:30 AM, he climbed into his mamas' bed and said his throat was a little sore and he thought he might throw up. A few minutes later, he did.

Ama and Mr. Man stayed in bed and watched Microcosmos on DVD. The movie kept getting interrupted so that Mr. Man could throw up some more. Then they both took a nap. When Mr. Man woke up, he threw up and announced he was hungry. He just had a small snack.

Then it was time to work on his airplane. Like it?




Then he threw up on the carpet. He threw up all his food. Then he played computer games. And then he napped. And now we are writing a blog together. Mr. Man says that's good for now.

May Day Mr. Man Style

When Mr. Man met up with me after work today, he had a lovely piece of work in his hands - a river model that he and a friend made at school.



He decided that he wanted to spend his night attending the May Day Worker's March that started just 2 blocks from my office. We went up the the rally area and hung out. When someone brought Obama posters, he went nuts. He and his friend at school are crazy about Obama. He quickly jumped down and grabbed one of the signs. I suggested he try to attach it to his river model so that he only had one thing to carry. He marched over to a table and asked the kind old woman advocating immigration rights for some tape--and attached the sign to his river model.


He resumed his perch and proudly proclaimed that he has the highest Obama sign in the rally. He also made his first media appearance and talked to a woman from KBOO radio. She asked why he was at the march and he said, "I'm here because I think workers should have choices and rights."


We marched and chanted through downtown. It was his first official "Si, Se Puede!" At the tail end of the march, someone handed me a flier for a May Day festival/party happening after the rally with kids activities and free food. Mr. Man was game, especially since it involved a pinata. But there were other cool things, like making floral crowns.


Happy Beltane! Happy May Day!

7 Years Today

Mr. Man selected a chocolate chocolate chip cake with chocolate icing for his 7th birthday. We made it all and he decorated it. It is enormous--almost 5 inches tall.


All those candles, takes a lot more puffing.


Served with vanilla ice cream.


Sugar coma promptly ensued.

Cirque

Can you whistle Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star? The Loyal Whistler can.

Mr. Man and his Mama went to Cirque du Soleil over the weekend. His favorite part was the "big floating balloons with the girl strapped to them." As she floated over the audience, people could push up on her feet and send her higher.


The birthday week has begun...

How you gather leaves...

So I don't know what to think about this.

Mr. Man and I are riding the bus today to the martial arts place for Spring Break Camp. As usual, we are looking out the window, taking in the morning in the city sites as we pass through neighborhoods we usually don't see this time of day. There is a workman with a leaf blower, blowing dried patches of leaves up the sidewalk and away from the parking lot of his employer. Mr. Man begins his commentary.

"I don't think that is very effective. They will just blow back in."

I agree, I do not understand leaf blowing without bagging and hauling away. Mr. Man offers a solution.

"They should put them in a pile and compost them. Then they would be gone. And - they would have something good for the plants."

Again, I agree. A far better solution on many levels.

"And, that thing takes gas. If we are having a war in Iraq for gas, it seems dumb to do that with it."

Yup. Also true. And I lack the ability to describe the cynical, bitter tone in his voice when he said it. Love and I are pretty careful not to use that tone when explaining or answering questions about the war and the many reasons for it and why we are still in it. Yet, we have been at war his whole life. And that costs, even in these small ways.

I hug him close in our bus seat and tell him I love him and think he is right. I am glad he is thinking about options and how to harm the world less. He says he knows.

Spring Break!

Mr. Man is officially on Spring Break. His school takes two weeks off. His first week will be spent at his favorite martial arts facility. The second week will be spent with his Ama and on a special birthday trip to the coast (many details to follow). Watch this space!

Red Sparks to Blue Flames

The Explosion of Color

Ed. Note: I have been remiss in posting some of Mr. Man's recent work. We begin with an older piece from last fall.

The Best Tournament Ever

First place, rock on!! It was my first tournament--and the best. It was crazy because once we had to do a tie-breaker. Once I won two rounds in a row. The last round and the last match I was like, "whoever wins this round wins first place". I felt good when I got first place. Once I got a mat burn by diving into tiger. The mat burn hurt.

"My tooth is falling out right now"

Long Hair

At the science museum playing with static electricity.

1st Place

Mr. Man made a ribbon for himself today

Practically Perfect

Well, it's official. Mr. Man went for his well-child check-up and it was confirmed that he is wonderful. He is now 47 inches tall. (That's in the 80% for height, so it's not just us, he really is tall). He is also 47.5 lbs (or in the 60% for weight) which is lovely. He confirmed that he wore his bike helmet, knew about stranger danger, ate his vegetables, etc. The doctor (who we like a lot) warned us about the importance of sunscreen and not using #7 plastics for drinking water. We dutifully went out and bought the child a SIGG bottle to replace his Nalgene. Mr. Man reports he was not surprised to learn he was practically perfect at all.

What do you say?

Mr. Man returned home tonight triumphant and tired. School had been great. The playground went on for over an hour. Mama came to meet us there. As the birthday boy, he got to pick what to do for dinner. Any restaurant, any meal. He initially chose homemade vegan cheese pizza. But the crust takes a while to rise, so by the time we got home, he had agreed to a second choice of chik nuggets. (We'll have pizza tomorrow.)

Presents were opened and just as we settled down to play, Aunt and Uncle from Seattle arrived. We were so staying up past bedtime. Gifts from these two included a small travel mug and a gift card to Starbucks. Mr. Man's love of steamers and coco is well-known. Finally, Mama prompted, "What do you say?"

Mr. Man looked up from the gift card and the mug, "How much is on the card?"

Today is the day!

And we are off to a good start. Mr. Man awoke to his mothers singing Happy Birthday. He then proceeded the shower to wash off his 5 year old self's dirt and be clean and ready for a new year. He opened one present with his birthday breakfast of his favorite muffin (blueberry and cornmeal) from a local bakery.

In school today, his class will discuss Mr. Man's life and look at a display board of pictures - one from every year - to celebrate. Toting the board on two buses this morning, Mr. Man was also wished well by many commuters and passers-by.

More updates as they happen...

After

401 pieces later

Before

This is an unfinished Lego jet. It was a present from my grandmas.

25 Days Until His Birthday...

I'm just sayin'

Radio Silence

"I don't want to talk about it right now."

Its value is about $3.00 in coins.





Really, he does put on clothes sometimes.

Penny Royal

Penny Royal is made out of pennies and little connectors. It's too small for anyone to live in it. It took me two days to build.

Penny Royal came from a book (by Dick King-Smith) called Ape. Ape lived in Penny Royal with a lot of animals.



This is a funny yucky-looking picture I took.