Cloud contrails

During the week, Eric takes John to school in the morning. This brief (~15 minutes) drive has, somewhat surprisingly, turned into a daily dose of education for John, as he and Eric discuss things they see on the road or perhaps talk about issues at school or in the neighborhood.

Recent examples of "learning by observation" have included learning about "One Way" signs, "No U-Turn" signs, "No Parking" signs (which John initially decided meant "No P-Turn"), traffic, lane changes, and such. John and Eric have also talked about contrails, which John initially identified as "long straight clouds."

Now that he's learned of contrails, John sees them often. It helps that we have a large and busy airport just a few miles away. As cooler weather approaches, seeing these contrails is becoming a common experience. This morning, however, he noticed something new in the sky. The clouds up above were dark grey, but thin and strung out. An odd sight, to be sure, but it took John's unique perspective to describe them.

"Look, Dad, cloud contrails!"

Favoritism

Lately, John has begun exploring the world of different outcomes, particularly since these differing outcomes can come as the result of answers to questions. Like the kind of questions children ask their parents.

Eric and Joyce function as a team, but John has learned that one of these parents is a softie, and one is, well, Officer Hardass. John is beginning to ask one parent a question, and if he doesn't like the answer, he will ask the other. In the beginning, this was a 50/50 proposition, and John would ask whichever parent was handy. Lately, though, he's begun seeking out the softie, and avoiding Officer Hardass.

This weekend, however, presented a new wrinkle for Burrito -- the absense of one parent. John and Eric were on their own last weekend, as Joyce was in New York enjoying a much-deserved break. The boys had fun, getting some work done around the house and playing outside in celebration of weather that is just far too good for Virginia in November. Occasionally, though, John got the sort of ideas that 4-year-olds get, and he would communicate them as in these examples:

Eric: What do you want for breakfast?
John: How about candy?
Eric: No, that's not breakfast. Cereal is breakfast. A cereal bar is breakfast.
John pauses for a second, then asks: When will Mom be home?
Eric: Not in time for breakfast!

Eric: John, do not jump from the chair to the couch. I've asked you before not to do that.
John: Sorry.
John: When will Mom be home?

Halloween Redux

And by "Redux" I mean "Rerun." Literally.

John was Thomas. Again. We asked him if he wanted to be something else, and he said no. We pointed out that all of the other kids in the neighborhood were going as Power Rangers or Superheroes or things of that nature. Nope. Just Thomas. Would he, perhaps, wear the hat this year? Nope.

Well, in the spirit of things, Eric went as Deadbeat Dad for the fourth consecutive year. Joyce went as, well, herself. We roamed the neighborhood with the Gang, consisting of John, Alden, Dodson, Kerik, and Avery, Alden's older brother (we heard Oliver's voice from time to time, but didn't find him, so the gang was 1 short of full). After a slow start, the boys developed a system of terrorizing-er, going door-to-door and obtaining candy.

As the evening progressed, the kids got bolder and bolder and began running directly from house to house, bypassing the formality of using walkways, sidewalks, and driveways. Eric warned John that he should be careful. Immediately after this warning, John tripped down a flight of stairs, spilling candy everywhere. Disaster!

Okay, not a disaster. After a typical 4-year-old crying period (elapsed time: 30 seconds), we gathered up our candy and ran through the flowerbed to the next house. If you are one of our neighbors reading this, we apologize.

In other Burrito news, he's taken a shine to Little Bear, which is a TV show for kids his age. He calls his teddy bear "Little Bear". He wanted to take "Little Bear" to school one day, and Eric explained that this wasn't a good idea since the bear might get lost. John whispered to "Little Bear" and then told me that "Little Bear says he won't get lost."


Oh, and John's grandmother says she's never been mentioned in this blog. So, Susannah Carr of Jupiter, FL is his Mimi and she absolutely adores him. Happy, Mom?