A Perfect Companion

A few weeks ago, Aidan and Brennan were scheduled to have a half day at school. Griffin had a full day of school and Brennan was invited to a birthday party. I asked Aidan if he wanted me to set up a play date for him while his brothers were otherwise engaged. Aidan sighed, smiled and said, "You know what I would really like to do, Mom?" I shook my head no. "I would love it if we could just go to the bookstore, just the two of us, and wander around looking at books. Wouldn't that be great?" He smiled shyly at me as I looked at him in wonder. Is it possible that through my oldest child I may have created a perfect companion for me? No one else that I know could possibly love bookstores as much as me, but now, I have someone who does! (When I relayed this story to Chris, I told him that when Aidan mentioned the bookstore, it was if the clouds parted with the sun gleaming through and I heard angels singing in the background. He told me I was being a bit dramatic. I do not think that is possible.) And so off we went, my oldest child and I, to the closest mega-Barnes and Noble. We browsed the stacks, discussed plots and personal favorites, grabbed arms full of books and retreated to the coffee shop. We sat in side by side overstuffed chairs, me with my coffee and Aidan with his hot chocolate, and perused our selections. After a few minutes, Aidan looked up at me and asked, "Mom, can I sit on your lap?" I could have cried from the sweetness of my almost nine year old boy snuggling into my lap as we looked at books together. Yes, the clouds parted, the sun gleamed through, and angels sang. May my perfect companion never get too old to want to wander a bookstore and snuggle onto my lap.

Grif's friend Zach and Other Adventures

Griffin has an imaginary friend named Zach. I take it as a personal sign of my superior mothering skills that it took me about a month of stories about G's imaginary friend to actually realize, well, that he was, you know, imaginary. (Okay, okay, it was Griffin's story after school yesterday that Zach climbed up onto the roof of his house, jumped off and broke his leg that clued me in. I am nothing if not observant.)

Apparently Zachary lives next door to us, likes to ride his bike, and worries alot about Griffin having another best friend named "Ryan." (Ryan is real. I swear.) Griffin can give so many intricate details about Zach and their mutual adventures that Chris and I could not stop asking for more stories about Zach. Zach is quite a character. I love that Griffin has the imagination to come up with the friend and all the stories. It charms me.

In other Griffin news, last night he also demanded a book to read.

"I am tired of just looking at pictures in my books Mom. I want to read like Aidan and Brennan!" He announced after dinner.

So I dug out a few of Brennan's sight word books from the beginning of this school year and taught Griffin a couple of the words. He was estatic. Completely overjoyed to have his own books that he could read. He read them to me, read them to Chris, and read them to Aidan and Brennan. He slept with them next to him, brought them down to breakfast and immediately upon their arrival this morning, read them to Chris's parents.

It is hard to believe that this child has another year to go before kindergarten.

And in even more Griffin related news, Griffin's favorite new song is none other than Lady Gaga's "Born this Way." He can sing the entire song by heart, while busting a move. I loved it right up until I realized he was wandering the house singing "Don't be a drag, just be a Queen."

Probably not what you want your four year old singing at preschool. We may have to go back to Glee. I bet Zach would love some Glee Karaoke.

Busy, Busy, Busy Day

After a packed day at work, I raced out of the office to pick up Griffin at preschool. My mom met me in the parking lot at the doctor's office with Aidan and Brennan. And I took all three with me to the doctor's office to finally get Brennan and Griffin's annual check up. (Yes, it does get a little later each year. Next year, we may have their yearly check ups in August.)

Griffin was dramatically upset over the thought of having shots and instantly burst into tears at seeing his pediatrician. He would not be thrilled to discover he needed all of four shots. He screamed like a banshee, kicking, screaming, yelling and howling. Boy has a flair for the drama. (This is the same child who cried for like a week after his flu shot. I would tell him he was fine and he would look at me with tears in his eyes and say, "I can still see her putting the needle into my arm Mommy." I see Academy award potential in his future.)

Brennan handled the whole experience like a champ. He answered all the questions directly from the doctor, with no help from me. He was such a boy, all grown up at six years old.

They are both healthy and well. Brennan is growing like a week. He grew four inches this past year and is currently in the 97 % for height. Griffin is in the 90% for height. Tall little boys indeed.

After the doctor's office brigade, we met Chris for dinner at Moe's. (Kids eat free on Tuesdays. Yipee!) And then we were off to the boys' school for Student Presentation Night and Ice Cream Social.

The theme was fairy tales. Both boys were proud to display their artwork - Aidan, a wanted poster for the Witch in Hansel and Gretel and Brennan, a picture of Jack the Beanstalk.

Religion

Religion is a tricky thing. Chris and I are not super religious people, but we willingly send our boys to a Catholic school, even in a district with a pretty amazing public school system. We love the little Catholic school. It's small. The children are sweet. It feels like one big family. I also like that my children are getting some exposure to religion that they would not otherwise get at home. It starts a dialogue about things that I want my children to think about and question.

Brennan came home last week and talked about how God created him and he thinks Brennan is special.

"You are special B." I said.

"Well, why doesn't God talk to me?" He asked.

"He does. He just doesn't talk out loud. He talks to your heart." I replied.

Brennan got very quiet, closed his eyes and put his hand over his heart. After a minute, he smiled and whispered, "I hear him!"

"You do? What did he say?" I asked.

"He told me he is in here." Brennan gave me a knowing smile and ran off to play.

I hope this sweet moment of religion in our daily lives almost makes up for me forgetting it was Lent, then forgetting it was a Friday in Lent and sending two of my children to Catholic school with ham sandwiches for lunch on Friday. I am an ace Catholic parent.

Boxes and String

We have too many toys. My boys have toys they received as gifts at Christmas that have not yet been opened. We have games that have yet to be played, lego sets waiting to be built, and crafts sets growing dusty on shelves.

It is insane. We are not toy buyers. I do not buy the boys toys as prizes when we are at stores. Instead, the boys really only receive presents from us on their birthdays and holidays. But we have two very kind and generous sets of grandmas, many a sweet aunt and uncle and even a set of doting great-grandparents. It can lead to a whole lot of overflowing toy bins and closets.

It fascinates me that in the midst of this toy nirvana, my boys can still utter the words, "I have nothing to do." I point out all the shelves of toys just dying to be played with and they shrug their shoulders with disinterest.

It can drive a mom batty.

Last week, Griffin and I were at Wegmans and he asked me if I would buy him a ball of string. I threw it in the cart on a whim. When we got home, the boys were obsessed with the string. They have built forts with it, played airplane with it, tied up stuffed animals with it, and used it to catapault anything and everything they can think of from the second story foyer. The string is a hit. We are on week two and the string has not gotten old. The string is played with every single day. The string has staying power.

Add the string to the legions of recycled packing boxes and discarded shoe boxes the boys hoard for many a made up game of build, war or fort and well, I have realized something.

The best toys aren't the ones we buy at Toys r Us or Target. The best toys are the ones my children create all on their own. String and boxes. That is all it takes to keep my children occupied for hours at a time.

And it cost me all of $2.00.

Gaga!

I know who Lady Gaga is. I mean, I would have to be living in cave not to know who she is. (Although often, parenthood can seem like a cave when it comes to knowledge of timely popular culture.) But I am not all that familiar with her music. I know it is popular and dance like, but beyond my affection for Glee's rendition of Poker Face (love!), I couldn't name one of her songs.

My very good, dear friend from high school, Tracey, happens to tour with Lady Gaga. She is a photographer and takes pictures for Gaga of all her "little monsters." The last time I saw Tracey, she mentioned that she was so excited for their upcoming Buffalo tour date, but bummed that she only got two tickets per show because she would pass those on to her parents. I told her not to worry, because while I would love the chance to see Tracey work, I am not a Gaga person.

Fast forward to this week. Tracey texts me on Tuesday that there is a chance she may be able to get me into the show, but first she wants to make sure I can go. I tell her I can go and while I would love to see her and catch her in her work environment working her magic, I didn't want her to go to any great lengths on my behalf since I could not pick Gaga out of a line up. Tracey tells me she will be in touch. One day before the sold out show, Tracey texts me that I have floor passes for me and a friend.

Floor passes! I wasn't sure I was even cool enough for any of this. But I adore my friend Tracey and really wanted to cheer her on in something that had become very important to her. So I gussied myself up, picked up my friend Christine, and off we went to Gaga. (In contrast to me, Christine is in love with Gaga. I figured that at least half of our contingent should have some Gaga knowledge! And well, Chris absolutely refused to go. That is not a shocker.)

We got to the arena early, in order to spend time watching Tracey at her make-shift rock star photography studio for the Little Monsters. It was unbelievable to see the costumes, the fans and the talents of my dear friend from high school as she caught the unique beauty in each and every fan. Tracey also looked like a rock star. (This is the same friend that had me camp out at her house for a weekend in high school so we could make a video to send to Kirk Cameron asking him to take her to the prom. ) Tracey had also had a lot of local press on her gig, so she was generating quite a lot of excitement among the fans. There is nothing that we like in Buffalo more than a hometown gal doing good.

After the photography studio shut down for the night, we hung out with Tracey during the opening act. She introduced us to much of the crew also on tour with Gaga, including the woman who runs the social network side of the business for Gaga. I found it all incredibly interesting. But when we heard the first opening chords, Tracey yelled, "Let's go!" and pulled us out to the entrance leading to the floor of the arena.

It was unbelievable. Incredible. Amazing. Any and every adjective that I could think of to describe that moment would not do it justice. To look up and around you and see 18,000 dancing fans, to be amongst such passion, to be so close to a fantastic performance - it was all awe-inspiring. I loved the show. I loved her message of acceptance, of tolerance, of beauty being found in everyone, no matter who you are or what you look like. Yes, she's a little crazy and a whole lot of out there, but well, I think I like her. And above all, I was truly impressed with her voice and musical talent. She sings every note. There is no lip synching, no posturing. She gives it all, from singing to dancing to playing a bunch of instruments - all amazing.

At the end of the night, Christine turned to me and said, "I don't think I am every going to be able to describe how amazing this was. No one will every really understand."

She's right.

I probably can't do it justice. But I do know that I am going to be adding some Gaga songs to my ipod mix today and probably dancing around my living room.

Gleeful

My kids get a whole load of Glee music around the house. I can't help it. I love a good song changed up to be a show tune. It's a quirky weakness of mine. I often like the re-done, Glee-ed up, versions of the songs, better than the original. It speaks to the music geek in me.

Griffin, in particular, has a fondness for Glee. Through Glee, he has learned (too) many Journey songs and can bust quite a move to Teenage Dream. A few weeks ago, I caught him singing along with the song Only Exception when it came on in Wegmans. (The cashier got quite a kick out of his knowing the words.) But my personal favorite is Defying Gravity.

Defying Gravity is a tremendous song. I love the original version from Wicked and I adore the Glee-ed up version too. I sing it alot around the house and I can rock it on Glee Karaoke. (Don't judge me.) I didn't know that Griffin cared for it as much as I did until I heard him singing up in his room.

"La La la Debuying Gabitty. Fly so high. Debuying Gabitty. You won't bring me down! Debuying Gabitty..."

"Griffin!" I call to him.

"What?" He yells back.

"What are you singing?"

"I am singing Debuying Gabitty Mom!" He says in a slightly annoyed, of course you should know the answer, voice.

Debuying Gabity! He makes me so proud.