leopards

an essay by Liam

Leopards are amazing animals! Their skin color is yellowish-orangish with black spots. An adult leopard's shoulder height is about 55-70 cm. A baby, like most big cats, is a cub. However, a male is called a prowl. A female is called a leopardess.

Leopards live in very many places. Some live in Africa. Some live in Asia, and some in Australia. They can live in trees, caves, and tunnels. The trees also help leopards rest and live.

Leopards eat a lot of different things. They are also called carnivores. They eat impala, deer, wild beast, monkeys, rodents, and in special occasions, birds. Their favorite food is deer.

The leopard has a lot of enemies. Some of them are lions, tigers, hyenas, baboons, pythons, and wild dogs. They fight back by hiding in caves, climbing up in trees, or fight the enemy.

Leopards only have a few ways to communicate. They might roar, growl, or scent. That is when they yawn, but not the tired kind.

Leopards have a lot of cat relatives. Some are lions, cheetahs, tigers, jaguars, and cougars. They even had a relative that was around when the dinosaurs were! They were very fierce, but not much bigger than your pet cats. All of them are similar, only different patterns in their fur.

Leopards are unusual in some ways. You may think leopards aren't shy, but they are! They only come out if they are fighting off predators, or if they are hunting.

Leopards aren't good pets. Unless you like to be hunted, killed, and eaten. Leopards do that, you know.

max at seven

Given the choice between having a big party in town with family and friends and heading out of town for a "just us" weekend, Max decided that we should hit the road. So off we went to Indianapolis to stay at a hotel with an indoor water park. Along the way we stopped at a whole bunch of toy stores in search of his birthday present (an elusive Skylanders action figure), then we went out for a late lunch and checked into the hotel and got down to business. The boys had a great time playing and splashing around until way past bedtime. The next morning, we had breakfast, did some more swimming, then visited the Indianapolis Children's Museum, which we haven't been to since long before Henry was born. It was a short but sweet trip, and a satisfying way for Max to ring in his birthday.

Our Max is a funny kid. He has an infectious grin that just won't quit, and that I suspect gets him out of trouble (and extra homework) more than it should. He can be incredibly charming, but at this point he's just as likely to spend an entire day scowling at everyone for no other reason than that life is unfair when you're the middle son. On the flip side, this is the year that Max is really striking out on his own, forging his own path that's separate from the one Liam made before him. He alone is sticking with 4-H this year (a decision I suspect has more than a little to do with the bonus of more undivided time with the parent who takes him to meetings and with Yami, Aunt Bethany, and Klaudia, who are leaders of the 4-H group), and he has decided that unlike Liam, he isn't really a fan of baseball and would much rather play soccer. It's so much fun to watch him at this stage where he's not just figuring out who he is, but figuring out who he is apart from his brother -- Liam never had to even consider anyone else's shadow, so this is new for us too.

Max seems to have really hit his stride at school too. He's doing very well academically, and he's one of those kids who can be friends with everyone, who can move from group to group and fit in equally well anywhere. Who knows, maybe he'll end up with some recessive schmoozing gene that is totally lacking in both of his parents and will lead to big success in his later life. We can hope, anyway. But for now, we're just happy to know that Max is a quirky kid with a great sense of humor who is perfectly comfortable being exactly who he is, and we're hoping he can stay that way for a long, long time. So happy birthday, Max, and welcome to seven. We love you very much!

look, progress!

It's been a long time since we've seen any forward momentum in this house. Most of our home improvement time is spent on things like filling the holes the boys inexplicably love to poke in the plaster walls (and then sanding and painting the walls, only to find the next week that new holes have appeared), or gluing the dining room chairs back together because the boys played with them too roughly when they used them to make a train across the floor, or scouring the internet for a replacement toilet handle because the boys were a little too enthusiastic with their flushing and apparently we have some kind of rare model toilet. You get the picture: It's two steps back, one step up around here -- if we're lucky. But a few weeks ago, Mike and I reached critical frustration level with the spice cabinet (of all things!) and action had to be taken.

So of course, I went online looking for ideas, then developed a plan, then spent a few days talking Mike into going along with the plan. And once the plan was made, it included a trip to Ikea, which conveniently (or, you know, completely intentionally) gave me an excuse to meet up with my friends Val and Debbie to shop and lunch like we are some kind of ladies who lunch. And since no plan in this house can move forward smoothly to reach its logical endpoint, Mike later had to make a trip to Lowe's to get a replacement bit, which led to more delays.

But trust me, all this rambling is going somewhere.

Tonight, the final pieces of the puzzle came together, and the boys and I created labels for our brand-spanking-new spice display! We got magnetic jars with clear lids, and plain brown labels, and we set about transferring the nightmare contents of the spice cabinet to some semblance of order and even beauty. Along the way, the boys smelled every spice (most were declared yucky) and examined every label. And eventually, we had this:

Now maybe someday I will finish the hateful trim project in Max and Henry's bedroom. Check back with us in about five years on that one!

medieval times

Our resolutions this year are pretty much the same as last year: Go on a day trip (minimum) once a month and have a date night once a month. You may remember that these resolutions didn't work out for us so well last year, especially the date night one. But I'm happy to report that despite the obstacles, we've had both a date night and a family trip this month. The date night turned out to be easy because Klaudia volunteered to babysit on a Saturday night. The trip has been a bit more challenging. A couple of weeks ago, it was 55 degrees and sunny on a Saturday in January, and we had big plans to take the boys to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Unfortunately for us, the boys had other plans, namely fighting. So at the last minute we had to call that one off.

This time, we thought we would be smarter. We didn't tell the boys we were going anywhere until right before it was time to get dressed. We hustled them into the car as quickly as we could, and in return we got some (but not nearly as much as our first attempt) attitude but eventually we hit the road. Our destination was Medieval Times in Schaumburg, Illinois. We picked up Klaudia along the way, and the trip itself was pretty uneventful. The boys were pretty excited when they finally saw the big castle at the side of the highway. We got there early (a mistake) and had a few dicey moments while we waited around in the great hall to be let in, but eventually we took our seats, and then the fun began.

It turned out to be perfect for the boys. Horses! Swords! Jousting! Food you eat with your hands! (I did smuggle in some plastic forks just in case.) They sat there oohing and aahing for the whole two hours, and even though they didn't fully understand the (overly) convoluted plot, they loved watching the action. We let them each pick out a souvenir, and Max and Liam picked large jewels, while Henry chose a shield that he still won't let go of. After the show, we had a surprisingly easy drive home, and we even managed to keep them all awake the whole way so they would go to sleep at bedtime. And that, friends, is what I call a success!

 

365 project: week 52

We have reached the end of the year, and the end of the project. Thanks for sticking with me on this.

This week: More Christmasing! A real snow! Mario Brothers! And finally: Happy New Year!

 

365 project: week 51

This week: Henry is serious about baking and the Bears; Charlie makes himself comfortable; Max shows off his new basketball uniform; and we head to Naperville to celebrate an early Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

 

the last minutes of 37

In about 20 minutes, I'll be 38 years old. I'm not telling you this because I think it's a frightening number, or because I'm worried about getting older. Mostly, I'm just scratching my head a little bit over the whole thing, and I want to tell the boys something now because by the time they are turning 38, this will all be a long-lost memory for me. So boys, here's the thing: Don't feel bad when you hit 38 (or any age, for that matter) and you feel like you don't have your act together like you thought you would. If your 401k is scarily small and you're worried about money and job security and you spend all your time running around putting out fires instead of making progress on the life you want to build, try not to sweat it too much. I definitely don't feel like a grown-up who has it all figured out, and an informal poll shows that none of my friends do either. It's possible that we're an entire Peter Pan generation, but it seems more likely to me that nobody ever really gets it all figured out. And that's okay. It's good, even. I'm always learning, always figuring out new things, and yet I feel like there's a whole universe of things still to discover. And not to get too sappy on you, but the fundamental truth is that even when I feel like all I do is put out fires, when each day seems like just a repeat of the chore list of the day before, I know that I am building something -- three somethings! -- more precious than I would have thought myself capable of.

But for anyone who happens to be reading this who does feel like a grown-up, feel free to drop me a line in the comments so I know approximately when to expect this miraculous transformation. It'll be something to look forward to!

365 project: week 50

This week: We finally get a few snowflakes; Max gets gussied up; Liam has his first basketball game; Max and Henry pack it in; and three little monsters get some new hats.

365 project: week 49

This week: My little elves are getting impatient; Santa and Mrs. Claus come out of hiding; I grant Liam's request for a picture of the house with the tree in the window; and Henry loves his dog (the feeling is mutual).

365 project: week 48

This week: Liam and Max find some Christmas treasures; Max gets in the spirit for Liam's school concert; and we take advantage of some unseasonably warm weather to head back outdoors.

365 project: week 47

This week: Hoosier hysteria! We join lots of relatives to watch our cousin Nick play in his season opener. Max hams it up with Aunt Popi, Aunt Bethany, and Klaudia, while Henry finds some creative uses for my scarf and Liam tosses popcorn and catches it in his mouth.