Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Friday, September 17, 2010

treehouse

________________________________________________________

while he was bathing, Phoenix was drawing on the walls with water. 

he announced, " I'm building a DANGEROUS treehouse. and you can't touch it because it's going to be nothing special."
________________________________________________________

last night in the bath:

"My left foot kicked water in my face so I named him Gilbert."

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

________________________________________________________

"I marched my little butt to the bathroom.
And that was good for the butt."

"Mom, Gypsy won't eat me.
Welllll, maybe for my BIRTHDAY."

Saturday, September 11, 2010

one liner day

________________________________________________________

"The LIBRARY is GREAT!"

"I need some PRIVACY."

Monday, July 26, 2010

a unicorn and a wolf

________________________________________________________

In an effort to prevent Phoenix from screaming at whim, I recounted the tale of the Boy Who Cried Wolf. I finished by saying that we should only scream if we need help. His reply: "Oh! There might be UNICORNS outside!"

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Amanda Palmer's Radiohead covers with ukelele

________________________________________________________

 
Mommy, why is that THING SCREAMING?

That's called a crescendo.

Ok. Why is THAT THING screaming?

Friday, July 9, 2010

What's your name?

________________________________________________________


What's your name, Mommy? What's your name? What's your name?


Melissa.


Oh. My name is Cabbage Susie.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

discerning

________________________________________________________

today, while eating some mashed sweet potatoes, phoenix inquired, "are these organic?"

Sunday, June 13, 2010

anatomy

________________________________________________________

this morning Phoenix has been running around wearing only a shirt and socks.  at one point he looked down and shouted,

"whoa, that's a big weenie!  that's a snowman!!!"

Friday, June 11, 2010

a request

________________________________________________________

"daddy, can i stop taking naps when i'm five?"

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

carrots

________________________________________________________

today Phoenix and i were looking over the garden, which i'm readying for another round of planting. i was telling him about the carrots i was considering. he interrupted me;

"daddy, i don't want you to plant the purple haze carrots. the orange ones are my favorite. i don't like the purple haze carrots anymore. the orange ones taste better."

nantes it is.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

tonight, while readying for bed

________________________________________________________

"i love you. daddy you're my best friend. mommy is my second best friend."

Saturday, May 15, 2010

while eating an apple

________________________________________________________

"don't bite my rainbow!"

Friday, May 14, 2010

construction work

________________________________________________________

"Are you building a house with those blocks?"

"No, I'm building a Trader Joe's!"

Monday, May 3, 2010

the voices

________________________________________________________

this morning while changing Phoenix, his stomach rumbled.

he said, "daddy did you hear that? that was my tummy growling. that means i'm STARVING!"

"how did you know that it means you're starving?" i chuckled.

"my head told me that."

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Jiminy Cricket

________________________________________________________

phoenix, while holding a fork to his ear,

"I'm listening to my conscience. I am MY conscience. You are YOUR conscience."

Sunday, April 25, 2010

bacon wrapped asparagus

________________________________________________________

m. has been encouraging me to photograph my food for as long as i've known her - nearly 5 years now. lately i'm two bites into dinner when i remember that i want to take a picture. after seeing what our new camera can do tonight, i've decided: a food blog for me, soon.

as you can see, tonight i made grilled bacon wrapped asparagus and shiitake mushrooms with rice. i bumped up the rice by adding some of the bacon fat to the cooking water.

this was a dinner specified by the boy himself - well kind of. he asked for asparagus, rice and bacon.

he was holding two spears in his hands - one long, with the tip and one short, bitten off sharply. he said, bouncing the longer spear, "I am the father. Phoenix hasn't bitten me yet."

to which the little spear replied, "I'm the little brother."

Saturday, April 24, 2010

while in the garden

________________________________________________________

our landlord recently had the property cleaned up by a landscaper. today Phoenix explored the formerly overgrown regions while carrying his bubble wand. he found himself a perfectly proportioned nook between two trees and plopped down.

while waving his bubble wand, Phoenix announced "I'm in the forest. I'm the king of the world!"

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

berkeley boy

________________________________________________________

Yesterday, this well-dressed young man gave me his spiel about needing money for food. As a New Yorker who has grown impervious to these requests while walking through Downtown Berkeley - i know, i'm a heartless asshole - I simply replied "No." Phoenix, on backup from the stroller chimed: "Not today!" 

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

emotional nachos

________________________________________________________

Phoenix has been somewhat picky about food lately. but as usual, i plowed forward with my culinary efforts. tonight was a fun dinner of nachos - a first for Phoenix. they consisted of pinto beans, ground pork, onion, salsa fresca, monterey jack cheese, roasted red bell pepper and avocado.

at first, he was skeptical and somewhat uninterested. after some time to poke and explore, he finally ate some. he responded, "Interesting dinner, Daddy." i was thrilled.

then after some enthusiastic eating, he quipped, "Awesome dinner, Daddy. I love you!"

i blubbered in my nachos, swept up by a moment that i didn't know i had been waiting my whole life to have.

you, too

________________________________________________________


following a long and easily distracted breakfast, Phoenix finally decided he was finished. i wiped off his hands and said, "okay, you can get down now. peace out."

climbing out of his chair he replies, "i want to play in my room. and i want you to peace out in my room, too."

Monday, April 19, 2010

brown bag guinea pig

________________________________________________________


This was announced yesterday during lunch:
"There was a guinea pig in the classroom. I just need to talk about that."

Friday, April 16, 2010

super powers

________________________________________________________


while walking home from preschool today, the boy announced:

"red means go and green means stop! that's my super power!"

Thursday, March 18, 2010

poetry blocks

________________________________________________________

The boy received this awesome set of stacking blocks for his birthday.  Each block has a gorgeous rendering of a nature scene and a short poem. Every time I tried to read him one of the poems, he nested that block inside a larger block. This went on for a few minutes. Finally, I asked him why he didn't want me to read the poems. He said "Bye Bye Poems! Yucky Poems!"

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

i love you

________________________________________________________



Me: I love you, Phoenix.

Him: NO! Don't talk to me right NOW. I'm busy.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

jesus figure

________________________________________________________


He was at Grandma's getting into the nativity set. He picked up the baby Jesus figurine, and asked my mom:"What's this?" She told him and he replied: "THAT'S NOT BABY JESUS!" and promptly flung it across the room into a glass of water.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

________________________________________________________


that's not my penis! that's not my PENIS!