Well played, Satanski

My nephew has written a new note,  this one to his father. Unlike the majority of the notes that he writes, this is not to protest some form of perceived adult aggression, such as homework or bath time. The spelling is much better than what he usually produces (he even attempted an apostrophe, which I’d explained to him the day before), and he wrote it to find out information for me. I’m touched. I’m going to miss the little stinker when I’m away.

The best kind of aging Porkchop

So my niece is 10 months old today. Happy arbitrary milestone, Porkchop! She is, of course, the most adorable child on the planet, and I have the photographic evidence to back this up.

Yesterday at church, she and her brother, the also adorable Satanski, were dedicated. It’s similar to a christening, but with some Baptist weirdness thrown in for good measure. Most of the pictures below were taken at their church, with the exception of the first one, which is my favorite picture of her and was taken at my house.

Too much awesomeness

Last week was a good one in the Nonsensical family. My nephew, Satanski, turned six, and Porkchop, his little sister, made a surprise appearance three weeks early. She’s like a tiny doll (at not quite five pounds, she doesn’t even feel real), and is way too easy to knit/shop for. Other people’s kids are the bomb.

Satanski shows us how to march in a parade

My nephew marched with my library during today’s Memorial Day parade. You’d think a 5-year-old wouldn’t be able to teach us anything about how to get from the beginning of the parade to the end. You’d be wrong.

I don’t know why every parade marcher doesn’t break this out at some point during the parade route.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everybody! I hope your 2010 is off to a lovely start.

Satanski and I were watching videos online and I realized that I never posted this one. Jason Mraz + Sesame Street = Two great tastes that taste great together. My nephew was really confused as to why Jason Mraz was on Sesame Street, but thought it was cool to see Mraz singing with Elmo and Big Bird.

Wo the Foq

Satanski is practicing sounding out words, and likes to write things and have us try to read them. Last week it was, “I kiss Nina,” which made us all laugh a bit – then I had to tell him that he can’t just go around kissing people (Nina is his classmate).

Last night he wrote  “Wo the foq.” That one also cracked me up, although I made sure not to laugh in front of him. Between his dad and his brother, I guess I’m not surprised that he knows that phrase, but I was disappointed. Still, I was really proud of him for sounding it out himself and getting close enough that I knew what he was saying. My little evil genius is growing up!

Who would want this?

I asked Satanski what he wanted me to bring him back from the zoo, but he said he didn’t know. I suspect that he just wanted to get off the phone; I think I called during SuperWhy. Anyway, I tried a different tack, and asked him which animal he liked the best. Naturally, because he’s angry and scary, he said tigers. With that in mind, I searched the zoo’s gift shop until I found a really adorable pair of tiger slippers. The only problem was that they were not labeled with a size, so I had to guess about whether they’d fit him. (Question I was asked, “How do you know what size shoe he wears?” I was temped, but somehow resisted saying “Voodoo,” although the truth “I’ve bought his last few pairs of sneakers” wasn’t as interesting.)

Sadly enough, although I’d bought the only small-kid size they had, the slippers were still too small for my kiddo. I also got him a wallet when we went to SeaWorld, but I still really like the idea of tiger slippers, so I went online looking for them. I’ve just started, so I’m not exactly  discouraged, but I haven’t been able to find any Satanski-sized pairs yet. What I did find was this scary freakshow of a pair.

I have no idea why any adult would buy those slippers, or any child would want them (but here’s the link for all you nutjobs out there). I cannot imagine sticking my feet in those things without worrying that I would pull back stumps.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing

I told Satanski that I’m a little grossed out by Spongebob Squarepants (due to that gross episode where he has the Suds), so of course he decided that all he wanted to do for the rest of the night was draw me various Spongebob-esque pictures. This only stopped when I told him that he couldn’t use any more sheets of paper until he’d used the backs of the sheets he’d already used. This is always the point at which he stops.

Here’s the gallery:

Happy Monday!

One of the pictures that I took when Satanski and I went to the American Museum of Natural History has been added to the New York Schmap Guide. How exciting!

Museum of Natural History

As I mentioned yesterday, on Monday I took my nephew to the American Museum of Natural History. I had no idea what to expect of a 3-year-old in a museum, and I really wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d wanted to leave after an hour. When we went to see Madagascar 2, he pretty much hated the experience after 10 minutes, and I kind of thought that I might be crazy to try to take him to the museum, but I hadn’t been in over a decade and thought it was time. Here are a couple of pictures, but I took a passel and they can be seen here on Flickr.

Well! Satanski had a great time, and we ended up staying for five hours. We made it there in time to join the storytime group that meets in the morning. From there, we went to the butterfly exhibit. Note to self: 3-year-olds don’t seem to like things that fly around and threaten to land on them, even when said flying things are gorgeous. One butterfly actually did land on the kid, but (mercifully) it was on his shoulder, and he didn’t notice. A kind girl of about 8 attempted to let him know, but I quietly asked her not to, and she complied. She did immediately request of her father and brother, though, that they let her know if any of the butterflies landed on her.

When we left, the guards ask Satanski if he’d had a good time, and he told them, “No, the butterflies are scary.” It was pretty cute. The rest of the day was spent on lunch, dinosaurs, various realistic-dead (or fake) animals, and more play, and then we called it a day and came home. The kid fell asleep on the bus, and if there’d been somebody to carry me, I would have joined him.