That's what the really nice excavating contractor, who has been working on new houses in our neighborhood for the past month or so and has become accustomed to the site of my little boy hanging on his every move, said to his co-workers, who are equally accustomed to said sight, after letting Calvin have a go at the real life bulldozer. What a great day.
cool stuff Umpteen years ago (or maybe just four), during our wild young adult years, we sat in the dust of the Chelsea Community Fair on a late summer's night taking in the 
sights and sounds of the Figure Eight Demolition Derby. This year we journeyed back to the same fair, similar event, with my parents and Calvin. It was the same food, the same animals, and the same dust–all the things I love about a good community fair! While there Calvin got to pet a day old chick and take in a real live sheep shearing (that was cool), and we discovered that the older he gets the more expensive the fair gets. We didn't even 
think to take into account the fact that he is now tall enough and brave enough to try several of the carnival rides (how many times can a little boy ride the train ride? To infinity and beyond...), some of which must be ridden with an adult (not that Gram begrudged him a chaperone on the merry-go-round). The demolition derby, however, was not a favorite new event for him. The noise alone was enough to set him on edge, but he 
was willing to accept our calm laughter as a sign of safety until one of the cars breached the barrier of cement blocks, after which he decided that the danger was no longer contained and he needed to leave immediately. "I think we should leave this place now" were, in fact, his exact words and emphasis. So we left the stands after only two rounds of derby, and escaped to the quieter and calmer train ride to watch him take yet another trip around the same twenty feet of track. Wild.
More pictures from the fair (including the sheep shearing!) are in the new August 2009, too album (we took too many pictures in August for just one album).
Uncle Curtis (while in the playhouse) "So, how does the stove work?"
Calvin "Don't be silly, that's a pretend stove."
It has been on my mind for a while now to share this with all of you, and having just written about Friendship at (the age of) three, I think now would be ideal. You see, friendship isn't always what meets the eye, and I'd like to introduce you to Mouse, Calvin's very special, very invisible, friend. Mouse has been part of our lives for a few months now, and his presence kind of snuck up on us. When Calvin first mentioned him I lumped him together with all the other imaginary beings, usually animals, that Calvin had cared for briefly on a regular basis over the past year or so. It had not been uncommon to hear him fixing meals in his kitchen for the "mama chickadee" or the "daddy finch" or the "baby bunny" but a few things should have stood out to me from the beginning: first, that Mouse was, well, just Mouse, not a mommy or a daddy or a baby; and second, that "Mouse" appeared to be a moniker as opposed to a species (Mouse, according to Calvin, is big, and, other than his gender, that is all I really know about him). But even if those things weren't unusual about Mouse, his recurring nature, visiting our house or our conversations almost daily over the past few months, has set him apart in our minds as that childhood gem–the imaginary friend. And let me tell you, I love Mouse–he's everything an imaginary friend should be: Calvin cooks for Mouse when he is hungry, tucks him in when he is tired, makes sure he gets his medicine when he is sick, and his vitamin when he's not; Calvin comforts Mouse when he (Mouse? Calvin?) is afraid, and encourages him when he is frustrated; When Mouse wants to do things that are dangerous (ride in the car without his seatbelt) or bad for him (eat a doughnut) Calvin admonishes him and offers a better choice. But, you ask, how do any of those things make Mouse a good imaginary friend? They don't. They make him the perfect imaginary friend because Mouse is clearly helping Calvin mirror the good values that he (Calvin) sees in the world, and work through the things that he (Calvin) is most concerned about. And the best part is that he is not doing it alone...and yet, he is.
development, learning, life, milestones 