Monday, February 04, 2008

Identity, Half-Birthdays, Eighties Cartoons

Luke loves to play Go Fish these days. After winning two hands in a row, he asked, "Am I like a Go Fish champion?"

"Yes, Luke, you are really good," I responded.

"I think maybe I will practice and practice and then I can win Go Fish competitions!" he exclaimed, warming to his topic. "I will have Go Fish trophies!"

My son, CIA field agent and Go Fish gold medal winner.

* * *

The other day I asked Henry, "Are you the apple of my eye?"

"No," he laughed. Then he did his cute, trademark shrug and said, "I'm just Henry."

Luke, on the other hand, ever since Craig yelled the following at him for being so bossy, refers to himself as "the king of the world."

* * *

Henry is obsessed with She-Ra, Princess of Power. Does anyone remember this cartoon from the eighties? I let him check it out from the library because it has the superhero-type stuff without being too violent. There is no "sassy talk" like there is in a lot of current cartoons, and there always seems to be a "good message." Of course, there is a wealth of realistic body image discussions to be had, but that is another topic for another day.

Oh, I'm listening to it right now, and I forgot that there is a public service announcement at the end of each episode. Oh, this is really worth another post. I'll leave it at that for now, but let me just leave you with this teaser:

She-Ra's horse transforms into a unicorn when she activates "the power of gray skull."

* * *

Luke celebrated his half birthday at school yesterday, since his birthday falls in the summer. All of the kids made him cards in school. One little girl wrote, "I love you," on his card. She is a little, scrawny thing in glasses. As Luke and I read this one together, I thought he would say something mean. He does not, after all, let me hug or kiss him in public any more, and he does say "duh" regularly. (Don't even ask me where he learned this.)

"Well," he said, "I think I love her, too." Oh my goodness. I didn't ask him what he meant, because it was just too sweet and innocent to discuss.

Lately Luke has more and more moments like these: moments where, all at once, I can see his prickly shell and his melting heart.

6 comments:

so yung wilson said...

A great way to start the day. Thanks for sharing these tidbits! Of course, I immediately googled She-Ra, and the first site on the search was he-man.org. ".org"?!?

Beck said...

Go Fish trophies! Awesome. I will totally join his tournament, since Go Fish is the only card game I know.
I REMEMBER She-Ra!

Anonymous said...

Alright, my nephews are pretty much the cutest things ever. I love this, Ser, how you totally capture them in your writing. You are such a wonderful mom! These boys are so very lucky.
I bet Luke couldn't beat ME in Go Fish. But I would be a good auntie and not rub it in his face. Or maybe let him win occasionally.
I guess.

I can't remember my password! This is mara... not anonymous.

so yung wilson said...

btw ... I can't wait to hear Luke say "duh"!

Lhamo Osel said...

Oh Ser! I am so thrilled to have discovered your blog (via Eva's). I laughed and laughed, and was touched deep to the core of my cynical exhausted mothering soul. Especially the bit about swimming through (ice encrusted) Lake Michigan, and the story of your Christmas trip. We had intimations of the fun from Luke's letter.

Drew's favorite superhero is "Word Girl" from the planet Lexicon. Word Up! and Drew also says "duh" in a particularly withering way. Yesterday he asked how to spell it; Andrew gave him the alternate Homer Simpson spelling as well.

You have missed the quintessential experience of voting in Chicago (can you believe I moved out of Barack Obama's Ward? We could have voted at Shoesmith together!). No identity required, and they gave me a ballot that was already filled in.

Julia said...

She-Ra is right up there with He-Man, Inspector Gadget, and Heathcliff in my fond memories of after school activities in fourth grade. I loved that cartoon and watched it every day with my neighbor friend. I didn't know you could rent it...that would be a trip.