Maura asked if she could be a ‘cool’ girl, like the girls in Hollywood.  I said ‘Sure.  Why not?’

Next thing I know she has drawn ‘tat’s’ all over her forearms!  Dayna will kill me but I think it’s funny.  She’s walking around the house saying, ‘I look like a cool girl.  I’m going to dance around the house now!’  

However, she hadn’t attained the level of coolness she so desperately sought, so she colored her finger nails black with a marker.

She obviously enjoyed those snipets of L.A. Ink that we showed her on the DVR.  I called up Kat Von D’s web page and I asked if this is the look she was going for and she replied…’I want to be like her.’

At some point, I suppose I would have been terrified that my four year old would want loads of body art.  However, I don’t think one should judge based on such a silly thing and if that is what she wants to do someday...Great!  Plus, if you’ve ever seen L.A. Ink, the folks there are the nicest on the planet. 

As a follow up (this is happening as I type) she said she didn’t want to wear jeans, because Kat was in shorts.  I found another pic where Ms. Von D was in jeans and Maura’s response was ‘Mine are all blue!  I want black jeans and t-shirts.’

I totally love it!

She went to her room found a pair of black leggings and her ‘Sassy Chick’ t-shirt. 

She is now insisting on applying ‘ink’ to my arms.  Which I may let her do, at least until I get work to send me to L.A. and then I’ll try to get into Kat’s shop!  Gotta livin’ up this khaki clad, cubicle Dad!

I am now off to Maura's bedroom which is doubling as Hartland, MI Ink.

(BTW: This poster is only 9.99 at Kat's official web site - your call if you want to get it for Maura's room (or mine). :)~

Brody can watch any Star Wars movie out there and the occasional loss of a hand, legs or head doesn’t seem to faze him. 

“I know it is pretend Dad.   It is computers!  Christopher Lee didn’t REALLY lose his head! (The ‘duh!’ is implied, but never inferred).

So it was with some surprise tonight that Brody was afraid to go to his room alone while we fixed dinner.  That he HAD to sleep with the closet light on, the bathroom light on and his door open…all while requiring an adult be on the same floor (thankfully, we’ve never had to be one of those parents that has to sleep on their kids floor till their kid falls asleep; so insisting on company wasn’t even an option).

We asked what had spooked him so much and he indicated that he’d seen a few minutes of a Goosebumps at latch key (it was playing in the background while he was making xmas ornaments). 

Seriously?  Some tacky early nineties program with low production values spooks him but Dooku getting his noggin lobbed off or Anakin losing his legs while catching on fire doesn’t?  

Brody continues his dietary crusade.

This past weekend, he, Maura and I went to Subway.  His suggestion because it was ‘healthier’.

As I ordered their turkey on whole wheat, with apples; Brody went to the chip rack.  He looked at the back of EVERY brand there and selected the Baked Lays as they had, by far, the lowest Calories and Fat Calories.

That is so cool!

This morning on the way to school, the kids and I passed a couple car accidents.  Maura started to discuss the dangers of motorcycles as one would have no ‘doors’ to protect them.  I believe this was based on an incident that the kids and Dayna encountered on the way home Sunday night.

After a great day with Grandma J at the apple orchard, and a fine dinner at her home, Dayna and the kids jumped on the expressway home.  I had my motorcycle and took a really nice router home.  It was a route my Dad showed me, however about half-way through I messed up, and ended up on different roads, but they were no less enjoyable.  I got home just as the sun was disappearing and the big juicy bugs were coming out.

Dayna and the kids got stuck in a back up due to a large accident by the Zoo.  Lots of ambulances, police and fire trucks were present as well.  As they passed they saw a young person on the right side of the highway and his motorcycle on the other side.

As Brody relayed this story of poor motorcycle rider safety and the perils of teens driving anything other than their parents nuts, he said…

‘Yeah Dad, he was on a motorcycle.  But not one likes yours; Mom called it a….um….what what it?  A butt shuttle, a rear rocket?’

‘A Crotch rocket’ I asked.

“Yeah, it was a crotch rocket”.  He enunciated ‘crotch’ hitting every letter sound as if they were hammers.

Then Maura piped in, “Yeah Dad.  You should never have a crotch rocket!”  Which sounded less dirty but no less funny when she said ‘crotch’.

We were listening to the greatest hits of Fatboy Slim (an awesome CD btw; anyone who is not happy, should listen to this daily and be reminded that ‘funk is your brother’!) and the kids really enjoyed ‘Weapon of Choice’. 

I told them about the video.  How it had an actor who usually plays mean, scary, bad guys but who is also a dancer.  So having a bad guy do this crazy dance was cool.

So last night I show it to them on Yahoo.  They were enjoying the video, asking questions and laughing.  Then Christopher Walken ran and jumped over a banister, appearing to fall. 

Of course, as you all know, he then flies around the room.

Brody immediately, said ‘Wires.  There are wires.  He can’t really fly.’  He was very deadpan, full of certainty in his voice.

CUT to the next morning.

He found two bucks under his pillow from the tooth fairy.  I asked If he saw the tooth fairy or noted when she was in the room.

He immediately said, with the same certainty ‘The tooth fairy is very small; maybe a couple inches.  So I wouldn’t even notice her!’

Maybe I’m the only one enjoying the juxtaposition here, but something he sees, the dude flying, he immediately dismisses as phony, yet the tooth fairy, who has never seen, is as real as the two bucks under the pillow.

My Mother-in-law, at the suggestion of my very wise son, very generously gave me Guitar Hero 2 for my PS2 (Thanks!!).

I did sneak it into the house on Friday so I’d have a chance to play with it before the kids. 

Brody played it, took some practice, but he’s getting the hang of it.  By the end of the weekend, he was walking around the house singing ‘Shout at the Devil’ by Motley Crue.

Awwwwwwww

Maura on the other hand, didn’t really take notice till she had a friend over.  The friend was a little older and wanted to play it once with the boys (Brody and her brother).  Maura was not impressed, as she is with anything that takes the attention away from her.

‘Dancing With The Stars’ has become something of a family indulgence.  We watch as a family (again noting to pause commercials after nine…the last thing you want is your kid saying ‘Crazy, Sexy, Money’) and the kids really enjoy it.

Brody roots for the boys and is a big fan of the Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves.  Maura, however , is NOT.  She saw him for the first time on the premiere and said he looked like a vampire. 

Now, whenever he is on, she covers her eyes!