Brody beat me at chess tonight!  It was a real morale booster for him. 

I have to admit it was difficult maneuvering my King into a corner where he could be ‘mated by the pieces Brody had in play, but it was well worth it.

We were like some over-achieving family on TV as classical music was on in the background and we were snacking on organic, vegetarian, fruit and soy bars!

Saturday is laundry day.

Said laundry day takes place in the basement.

While laundering, the kids often come to the basement to play.

So during a free period between washing, drying, folding and hanging I sat down to play with the kids.  Brody asked if we could play with the Simpson’s chess board that Dayna had given me.

My first thought was ‘No.  Chess is too difficult.’  However, I am so amazed with what he does know, and how quickly he picks it up.  Thanks to President’s week he already knows what number president Washington, Lincoln were; that one president had two, non-consecutive terms and the Dubya’s Dad was also the Prez.  (We clarified for him that George W is stupid, evil and a puppet for big business and that someday his generation will have to pay China back for our national deficit or they’ll foreclose so he better learn Mandarin).

So, what the heck, let’s try and play.

We reviewed each piece as we loaded the board, I constantly ‘quizzed him’ on the name and ‘ability’ of each piece.  When we started, we played a real game.  Anytime he moved I asked ‘why’ (again, trying to reinforce name and movement) and helped him with strategy.  It also helped that I’m not a competitive sort of Dad, so I constantly put my pieces in harms way to show him what his pieces could do (though I still did win every game).

To my utter amazement he got it!  He had the pieces down cold and by the third game, he was doing great.  The only concept I couldn’t get across was that you couldn’t move your King into Check or Check Mate.  That’s a tough one, like offsides in soccer, which I’ll save for later.  I think we’re going to keep this up every week.  Someday, he’ll be better than I (I’m too impatient and just go on an attack frenzy) and play his uncle Will.

In a subsequent post I talk about the Josh Groban concert.  This particular aspect deserves it’s own venue however.

DAYNA LOOKED H – OH – T! With a capital ‘HA’!

On Friday she had a hair appointment for highlights and had some pics of possible cuts.  She and the stylist had fun, used a straightener and a razor cut, and viola, it looks totally cool. 

When I came home from work and saw the cut, I thought ‘I sure hope she does smoky eyes’ and guess what………….She Did!  Ad the tight (tastefully so, she continues going to the gym and getting a hard body) top and hip jeans and I’m at a concert with a Super Model!

It’d be nice to think she did it for me, and a little disturbing if she did it for Josh Groban, but thankfully I’d say she did if for herself.

I bought Dayna several concert tickets for xmas.  Friday night was the Josh Groban concert.  Most male readers will be somewhat unfamiliar with his music…unless you reside with a female reader who will certainly know and love both the man and the music.

I have to be honest, I was expecting Dayna to take a friend.  I don’t ‘hate’ the music, but I just don’t connect with him the way the ladies do.  I thought, ‘Dude, I’ll look awesome!  Tix for a concert she’ll love AND I’ll get to stay home and PS2 all night!’. 

This event however took on a ’10 year high school reunion’ vibe (tried to for years to get out of going but it was non-negotiable and I went).  However, I didn’t really lobby heavily as I did during those pre-reunion days.  I was looking forward to a night out with Dayna, and enjoying her, enjoying the concert.

Well the concert didn’t disappoint.  He sang straight for an hour and a half, and hit his most popular songs from his albums, including his November release, Awake.  Dayna was constantly smiling and clapped often during the intro to her favorite songs.  It was nice being squished next to her in the too small seats and watching her smile the whole time.

He has some cool co-writers and I greatly enjoyed the lullaby he co-wrote with Dave Mathews.  The highlight for me (musically) was a violin performance by a member of his band that started off, upbeat classical (hooked on classics if you’re old enough to remember) and ended up being Led Zepplin! A cute asian gal playing Zepplin; one could only assume that was for the husbands out there. JJosh is a convivial, cool college guy, kinda dude and was pretty funny dealing with the hoard of Oprah-Demographic women calling for his hand in marriage.  I have to assume for him, it’s like getting hit on by your Mom’s drunk divorcee friend at your college graduation party, every  night.

p.s. full disclosure - I'm certain Christina Aguilera will feel the same way when we go to that one later this spring.

Stopped by my Sister’s in Lakeside for a haircut yesterday; on the way there Maura decided that she wanted a haircut.  Now we all know she doesn’t have a lot of hair, but what she has (in back) was looking pretty split-endy, so she was due.

When we got in she kept saying that she wanted to go first.  Over and over, she made her status as the first to get a haircut quite clear.

Beth finishes up a guy, motioning for us to come up: Maura looks at me and says ‘You go first!’  Perfect comedic timing.

Then she decides she wants it at the same time as me, so another gal, in the next chair cuts her hair.  There was a lot of discussion as to “HOW” to cut, as if there were options.  However, the gal did a really nice job and Maura behaved wonderfully.  She was very excited and talked about it all the way home.

Tonight, after her back, Dayna used a big, round brush and a hair dryer on the new do.  Don’t have a pic, but she looked great! 

The other night, while we were out with Maura, we stopped by a Claire’s.  Well, they were having a HUGE clearance sale; such that even Dad (that would be me) picked up a couple things.

From the ‘Everything is fifty cents’ rack, I purchased three, large spiral notebooks that say ‘I love GD.  For you old folks, the ‘Love’ was actually a grenade shaped like a heart and GD stands for ‘Green Day’ (a punk band) not Geritol Daily.  They are one of my favorite bands.

They are also one of Brody’s (though he’s only heard a few of their songs) as Aunt Danielle got him a Green Day shirt for Christmas.  So when he saw the books, he asked (took) one. 

Brody decided that it was time to get serious about his music career.  He thought for a few moments and determined that the name of this band would be ‘Yellow Island’ and that the logo (yes, he knows that word) would be a palm tree.

I stated that he needed to start writing lyrics and Dayna mentioned an annoying sister as inspiration.

The rest is history, as you can see in the attached scan (click to enlarge) which will someday be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next to John Lennon’s hand written lyrics for ‘Beautiful Boy.’

p.s. my favorite touch is the ‘yeah, yeah, yeahs’ he put in.  the 'b b b b b' is him trying to sound like a dance singer, when the 'stutter' their words.  it is adorable to hear him read this!

Brody is at his Grandma’s tonight so it was just us and Maura.  Maura is rarely given the opportunity to have us all to her self, so we wanted to treat her.  We asked where she would want to go for dinner: she was quite insistent that we go to a ‘Fairy’ restaurant.

Hm, tall order there.

If someone asked for a ‘cowboy’ restaurant (Lone Start); ‘mousey’ (Chuck E. Cheese); ‘boring’ (Big Boy) we’d be covered, but she said ‘Fairy.’

Dayna and I tossed around ideas all day….

A restaurant where women, who look ‘not quite human’, where fanciful clothing?????

Sounds like a trip to Hooters to me!

But of course it wasn’t.  We ended up at Buffalo Wild Wings and then had a great time shopping with her in Claire’s for hair accessories.

Brody has listened to the same lullaby cd for nearly seven years.  When it was accidentally broken last year, he was quite relived that we found a used one on Amazon.com.  Maura has had Disney Princess one, plyaing instrumental versions of popular songs from princess-related motion pictures, for nearly four.

However, just a couple nights ago she asked if she could listen to the ‘Curious George’ soundtrack.  It is a cd of music by Jack Johnson, and it’s nice; like catchy folk music that doesn’t have to revolve around trains.

I can hear it right now; it’s neat that she’s drifting off to meaningful pop versus more of Disney’s subliminal princessification music.

On Wednesday Brody had a snow day and for various and sundry reasons to lengthy to detail here, he and Maura went to my parents and only Maura needed to come home with me that night.  Dayna had class that night so when Maura and I pulled in around 8:30 p.m., we were all alone.

Now mind you, thanks to the snow storm I had spent nearly as much time on the roads in the a.m. and p.m. as I had at the office, it was late, and I was exhausted.

I get Maura in, we play a little and then it’s off to bed.  As I’m putting her to bed, my thumb absent-mindedly goes to play with my wedding band on my ring finger.  A common tick many ring wearers do I suspect. 

HOWEVER….THERE IS NO WEDDING RING!

AND IT’S VALENTINE’S DAY!

“WHAT THE H-E-DOUBLE TOOTHPICKS AM I GONNA EFFIN DO?  OH S-WORD!”

Adrenalin is pumping and my brain is now working at least two percent harder than normal….’Think man! Think!’  Of course, I took it off when I was putting hand lotion on at my desk (for an office worker I have really dry skin, not unlike the half of Velcro with the hard claws)!

I call the office and get the security guard.  I relay my predicament, and as an empathetic married man, he dashes to my office (which for some reason looks like a cubicle) to check.  He calls back, nothing!  I instruct him where to poke around (carefully avoiding where all skeletons are hidden) and still no luck.

Devastated I return to my chair, preparing to get the laptop out and acquire the phone number to the jeweler where Dayna bought the ring…maybe I can pick up a new one tomorrow before she notices.

As I’m doing that I notice something…the missing wedding ring was missing from my right hand?  Wait!  Don’t you wear a wedding band on your…..Holy Mackerel!  Look!  There’s my ring! On my LEFT hand!

For my birthday this year, lets focus on ginkoboloba or something okay!

There are some things that we, as children, did that really annoyed our parents though we never understood why.  We just felt that they were over reacting. 

Over time, once we become adults and/or parents, we start to understand our parent’s responses.

I learned mine this past weekend.

As you all know, and I often bemoan, my kids are genetically incapable of letting us sleep in on weekends. This past weekend Brody comes into our room at 6:58 a.m. and just stands there. 

Why you ask?

Well, I told Brody to please let us sleep in, at least until 7 a.m.  So, he stands there for two minutes (he’s not very quiet, and I heard him come in, but thought that if I didn’t move he’d leave) till 7 a.m.  He then wakes me up and says, ‘Dad, I didn’t want to wake you up, I was going to play my game boy but I can’t find it anywhere!’  I suggest a couple obvious places and he insists that it’s nowhere to be found…must be in my car.I then say ‘If I get up and find it fast….’ And I immediately was reminded of every time my Dad said that to me and fully understand the accompanying frustration he had.

Maura did her Valentine’s Day cards almost in their entirety.  She signed each card, and quite well I might ad.  And tonight she decorated and baked cookies to put in the gift bags.  Tomorrow she’s cooking dinner and making the placemats from scrap booking supplies.

This year, I would drop Maura off at pre-school first and then take Brody to latch key before heading off to work.

Recently Brody discovered that when he gets to latch key a little sooner than he has been, he gets to play at the gym (latch key is at an old elementary school; built in 1951 according to the huge cornerstone out front).  So, he asked if he could start getting dropped of first; today was the first time.

That’s not really the story, but since it’s been some time since I’ve posted I felt that I should embellish a little. J

On the way to pre-school Maura said ‘Dad, slow down.’  I wasn’t speeding, but I do drive a fourteen year old car (happily and by choice) and it doesn’t have the quietest cabin, so I did.  A few seconds later ‘Dad, slow down. I want to have more time to talk to you.’Awwwwww – that’s my Valentine’s Day present right there.

Brody had a ‘cold day’ today. 

Yes a ‘cold day.’  For those of you not currently residing in Michigan…it’s really f!@#*! cold here!  With wind chills it’s 25 below, cold enough to cause frost bite in minutes.  Not wanting kids to get hurt waiting for the bus, most schools were closed today.

Having imposed on my Dad a lot to watch the kids I bravely had Brody call Dad and ask if he was available to watch him.  Dad (who totally rocks by the way) was more than happy (or at least that’s what my Mom said on his behalf) to assist.

When I pulled up to my parents house after work, I heard Brody sprint for the door.  Once it was opened I could see a big wad of napkin in his mouth and heard Brody trying to talk with said mouth-napkin.

Turns out our little boy is now a MAN!  He lost his first tooth.  It had just happened minutes earlier.  Mom says that he was just sitting next to her and ‘boop’ next thing she knew he had a tooth in his hand.  (She was very excited to be alone with him during a ‘first’).

Dad took a pic of Brody and printed it out (attached).  Dad also dated it.  For some reason, Brody felt compelled to show that to the tooth fairy (basically, in case she showed up and the tooth had fallen to the floor, he wanted her to see proof that a tooth had been lost and she better leave the money!) and had Dad address it as such.

Upon our arrival home, to further eliminate any potential confusion upon the accidental loss of said tooth, Brody wrote our address (see scan of back of picture).  He even remembered to writer out ‘township.’  He’s so cute.

As for his expectations: they started out at a dollar, went to two dollars and by the time he went to bed thought that the tooth fairy might leave a new gameboy game or Magic Tree House book under his pillow.  J

In the lobby of my office, companies who offer discounts to employees may post flyers.  As I was walking past it, two men and a women co-worker were looking at the flyers. 

They broke away and ended up on the same elevator as I.

Immediately the woman mentioned how excited she was to see that there was a discount for liposuction. 

She went on and on and on….

The two men who knew her, stood there like deer on a highway. Not knowing any in the party, my silence was not awkward; however you could see the wheels turning in their heads.

‘Okay…If I agree, I’m essentially calling her fat.  Not good.  So do I say ‘You don’t need that, you’re totally hot!’?  hmmmm frying pan…fire….frying pan…..fire…GOT IT!

Stop moving, their vision is based on movement! Stare at the floor and do … not … move.

Poor bastards, as I was leaving the elevator the woman made eye contact with one and asked what he thought….

I mentioned last week, that on the day Dayna and I overslept; the kids woke quietly, hung out in their rooms and didn’t wake us up.  I noted how this is different from our weekend SOP.

On Friday night we reminded the kids about that day and asked (really we begged and pleaded) that they do the same on Saturday. 

5:45 a.m…….

‘Um Dad. Mom.  We have a problem.’

‘What’s that son?’

‘Well on my side of the house (EAST) it’s getting sunny, but on your side (looking out our window to the west) it’s still kinda dark.’

Always impressed with the crafts that the kids come home with; one would have thought they’d run out of ideas by this point (though I will miss a macaroni image during the holidays).

This is a fish tank Mo made the other day.

Generally kids are selfish.

Oh sure, there’s the really sweet kid now and again; but as a general rule, the kids entire perspective is ‘What’s in it for ME?’ and ‘If she got one, why didn’t I get two?’

So it is always a pleasant surprise when one of them thinks of someone other than themselves.

When I came home from work Brody couldn’t wait to show me his first ‘Splash Page’ (two page, single image drawing).  It’s for an upcoming issue of Detective Comics.

I really appreciate his remembering the Joker’s ascot/string tie and attempting to spell batarang.