Family Tales

First day above ground

Originally uploaded by Pamela PC

In my growing quest to find something that engages both Callum and me, I thought I found something ideal that combines mud, water, and learning: gardening. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that it also takes more than a little bit of gentleness and precision. Well, at least the way I started trying to practice it.

We went out to Home Depot a few weeks ago, and picked up a few packets of seeds. Cantalope, basil, rosemary, carrots. All kind of fun things, I thought, and I’ve never been successful in growing anything from seed, so it’d be a challenge for me, as well.

I pulled out our little seedling box (last used here) and we started pouring water over it — Callum’s favorite part. Then, we got out the seeds and started pushing them into the soil. Callum did pretty well with that, though he wanted to keep pouring water and playing in it. I had to help him get some of the seeds under the surface, but he kept pushing and pushing, and they were soon subsumed.

We’ve been checking their progress every day and little green things started poking up a few days ago. (I only vaguely know what they are, because wrangling Callum prevented me from actually labeling anything — for him the little stick labels just made great handles to pull the soil pod out of the foam holder.) When I show Callum the new seedlings, he mostly seems interested in dousing them with more water (or milk), and wants to re-do the pushing-into-the-ground part of the process. “No!,” I say firmly, and put the plastic cover back on the bio-dome thing.

So, we’ll see if we actually get these things into the ground, and whether we produce anything worth crowing about, even if we do. All the same, it’s been fun. And there’s something about watching seed turn into plant that’s just so life-affirming. Still, I’m searching for more weekend activities for the boy and me. (Next up: martial arts!)

Interesting bit covering research concerning kids’ relationships with their fathers.

We know you just love hanging out on this site every day, desperately hoping we’ve updated. But, in case you’re just interested in visiting when there’s new content, sign up via the little box on the right sidebar. That’ll let you receive an e-mail every time we have a new entry, which, as you know, isn’t super often.

Callum’s ability to say words is moving ahead at an astounding pace. Here are a few of the items in his vocabulary:

New ones:

• Spider
• Stop
• Go
• Canta (sing, in Spanish)
• Cat (he still mostly refers to cats as “meow”)
• Food (sounds like “bood”)
• Boo boo (American childish word for for “injury”)

Longstanding parts of the vocab:

• Ga-ga (for anything to drink - originates from “agua,” Spanish for water)
• Car
• Dog
• Ball
• Bath
• Choo Choo
• Mama and Dada
• Bear
• Backpack
• Bike
• Boots

When Callum and I went to pick Michael up from the airport on a recent weekend, we had to struggle to contain ourselves. As far as Michael was concerned, it was just an ordinary Saturday. His flight from New York came in around noon, and we were to pick him up and head home. Little did he know what we had in store…

When he got in the car, he was all excitement. “It’s a beautiful day. Should we go to the park? Should we go out to eat?” “No, honey,” I said, “I’d really rather just go home. I have some food I can fix there.” He acquiesced, and we rolled on toward Albany.

Upon arrival, he noticed that the weeds that typically grow beside the street had been trimmed. “Did you do that?” he asked. “Oh, yeah,” I scrambled. “It was no big deal. I just used the weed eater.”

I let him grab Callum, while I picked up his suitcases. They were the first to walk through the door and hear: “Surprise!!”

A few of Michael’s friends, and some work colleagues, had come over for a barbecue in honor of his birthday. It was a few days early, but it was his 40th, and some celebrating had to be done. There was beer, there were hamburgers and hot dogs, and it was sunny and beautiful. Happy Birthday, Michael!