Literate Alaskador

We've posted before about the personality differences between the two boys, most of which we've attributed to birth order. Add alaskador to the list about Hadrien, which already includes pilo, and siga.

This morning at breakfast Baz was eating pancakes, one of his favorite breakfast foods. Three quarters through, however, he stepped from the table to get a calendar from yaya's room (he likes to start the day by checking out what date it is). So Hadrien - who sits just an arm's reach away and, I'm not discounting that he was probably expecting Baz to up and leave sometime during the meal - takes the opportunity to grab the last delicious mouthful of syrup slathered pancake. Grab fork, spear pancake, straight to mouth. Didn't matter that Hadrien had already finished his own pancake a few minutes before. Nor did he bother asking for more pancakes, probably thinking that nothing's quite as delicious as pancake taken from the mouth of babes.


Naturally Baz was upset and doing his "Hadrien got my pancake" routine. And here's the alaskador part. As Baz is wailing about his lost pancake, Hadrien steps from the table, walks casually to their room, and returns with one of their favorite Eric Carle books, "Pancakes, Pancakes," which he then hands to Baz.

This echoes the last time Hadrien did something similar. Baz was throwing a tantrum and calling for "yaya Dora, yaya Dora" to do something for him. After a few minutes of hearing the same thing over and over, Hadrien walks into their room, and comes back out with a Dora book.

Both times I absolutely love it that Hadrien doesn't say a word as he's handing the book to Baz. Kind of like, "Um ... ayan." This tells me that Hadrien's as sophisticated a thinker as his brother, but he's applying it in different way :)

What Baz Learned in School Today

Baz likes school. Despite not talking much (sometimes, not at all), and still not eating lunch, he likes being there.

Today when I got home he asked me about his "ska." "Scar," I thought, fearfully. So I asked him to spell it. "S ... K..," plus he was pointing to his head, so eventually I figured out he meant "skull." Apparently today they were doing the basic anatomy part of the curriculum, and were talking about the brain, which is inside the skull, which is part of the nervous system.

I don't recall running into these terms until I was in grade school, so obviously what's considered basic learning has advanced quite a ways. Baz asked me what the color of the brain was (gray), what would happen if I didn't have a brain (you would just lie on the floor, was the answer he provided), where the nervous system was ("All over your body, Baz, from your brain all the way down to your toes"), what color the nervous system was (which stumped me, actually, although I said, "maybe it's blue"), and finally - a little off topic but an interesting question nonetheless - what would happen if I wasn't wearing an astronaut suit on the moon. To the last I answered, "You wouldn't be able to breathe." Baz agreed, but did one better: "Your body would fweeze." Who knew a four year old understood the deep vacuum of outer space? That's my boy!



Once again I am humbled and gratified by Baz's curiosity and interest in the way things work, in cause and effect, and in facts. I hope he will never lose this childlike wonder, and at the same time, that in talking to him and learning from him, I will regain mine.

(Picture courtesy NASA)

Hadrien the Performer

I'm in desperate need of a firewire cable. The kids are growing up so fast and much too much of their antics can no longer go unrecorded. Yesterday, I attempted to buy one and just my luck - they gave me a USB cable - utterly useless!

Today, Hadrien pulled me away from my Mac with a part of his toy which he was using as a microphone. He then demanded that I sing "I'm singing in the rain" not just anywhere but in the hallway of their room. When he was satisfied that I was in the exact spot he wanted me to perform in, he danced and swayed along as I sang. He then called his Daddy and watched as Raffy and I both sang and danced while he watched with a mischievous grin and his hands on his hips.

Before being sent off to bed, he spun around with arms outstretched and called out "townd of mutik"... What else but his rendition of Maria Von Trapp's Sound of Music :) True to form, he repeated this over and over when he realized that it was a hit!

Swedish Meatballs by Chez Baz

Without any prompting, Baz chose Swedish Meatballs on Noodles as his specialty du jour! For 3 days in a row, he would open his Rachael Ray cookbook to the appropriate page and read off the ingredients he needed - "pound of ground sirloin, 1 large egg beaten, cup of bread crumbs, nutmeg". Obviously, he still doesn't know how to read fractions but give him time :) He then painstakingly read the procedure... "place the ground sirloin in a large mixing bowl...."

When it was time the drop the Knorr beef cubes into a cup of hot water, he paid no need to my advice to drop it in gently and learned the value of following instructions. In keeping with his aversion to getting his hands dirty, he refused to shape the meatballs! Even an enthusiastic demonstration by his ultra-clean daddy was of no avail....

The Swedish Meatballs on Noodles turned out to be a success! It called for 1 cup of heavy cream and a tablespoon of grape jelly - how could it go wrong, right?

Mototycles

Swiss Inn in Alabang, where we had lunch today, is on top of a BMW dealership. The cars and motorcycles were right there on the showroom floor, and naturally our adventurous boys couldn't resist. They took turns riding the mototycles, and reminded me to get them hemets.

Baz looks really cool in this shot, and he's on this thing like a trick rider:



And this is Hadrien's "What are you looking at?" expression, which looks even more menacing on a big bike:



It's probably inevitable - boys being boys - but I am not looking forward to the day when they ask for the keys to the car, or ask us to buy them a motorcycle, for real. Sorry boys, if you're reading this when you're 18: you're going to have to buy your big bikes yourself. Maybe the ones you rode today are selling cheap on Ebay.

Hadrienisms

1. duy-du-wite (cellulite)
2. hey, daddy, I'm eating put-oops! (fruit loops)
3. juts (juice)
4. bown bea, bown bea, what do you see? I see a wed bed wooking at me... I see a bu hot... I see a bak pip, I see a weyow duck, I see a pu poo cat, I see a geen fog, I see a gowd pis... wooking at me...
5. toddwes, unminimi (toddlers unlimited)
6. bitsy bitsy pider kaym up da water pout, down came the rain an was the pider out, down came the tun and died up all the rain and the bitsy bitsy pider kaym up the pout again.
7. baa baaa back peep have you any woo? yet tir, yet tir, tee bags pull.
8. boo tut, weyow tut, wed tut, oop!
9. Tanda Booooooooooooynton
10. Wing-awound a wosi, a pocket pull of posie, a tit-chu, a tit-chu, we all po down.
11. Humty dumty tat in a wall. Humty dunty had a geyt poll. All the king's hoses, and all the king's men, couldn't put Humty (inaudible) e-gain!

Of Fights and Kisses (Part 2)

1. Baz: No Daddy's office!
Hadrien: I'm in Daddy's office! I'm typing in Daddy's office!!! (with matching typing motions)

2. A few days later

Hadrien: No daddy's office for you!
Baz: I'm in Daddy's office. I'm typing in Daddy's office! I'm eating in Daddy's office!

3. Baz: Here's the dextrose, here's the needle (while pretending to insert the needle on Hadrien's arm)
Hadrien: I throw the dextrose, I throw the needle! I throw the dextrose, I throw the needle! (what else, with matching actions of taking the needle out and throwing it across the room)

4. Hadrien: I throw away your eyes!
Baz: I throw your nose. You'll never find your nose now!!! Ha ha ha!!! (evil laughter, ala Swiper of Dora the Explorer)

5. Hadrien: I put you, I put you!