Facebook questions (again)

I just realized I hadn't done one of these in almost a year, so here's the latest quiz:

Favorite TV Show: Clifford the Big Red Dog
Favorite color: What day is it?
Favorite saying: Okie dokie artichokie!
Best friend: Luren S.
Favorite music: Swing (this has been the case since before he was born. The first kick I felt was to Swing Session's Knock Me A Kiss)
Favorite song: I'm A Gnu (from John Lithgow's Singin' In The Bathtub CD).
Favorite instrument: Electric guitar!
Favorite toy: Bink, the monkey, or his pirate sword. The tinkertoys also count, since he makes pirate swords out of those too.
Favorite game: Pirate sword fight.
Favorite sport: Soccer or baseball.
Favorite foods: Macaroni and cheese. Tomatoes. Hot dogs. Not always in that order.
Least favorite foods: Meat and asparagus.
Favorite ice cream flavor: Mango.
Cake or icing? ICING!
Favorite book: Clifford's Halloween.
Favorite place to go: Fairy Tale Town.
Favorite animal: Dragons.
Favorite superhero: Iron Man. Although he's going to be Super Why for Halloween.
Favorite outfit: Anything with a guitar on it.
What he wants to be when he grows up: A super hero.
Favorite fruit: Apples.
Pet Peeve: Being told "no."
Stuff he's into: Superheroes, knights and dragons, pirates, martial arts, firemen/fire engines.

Any more questions for Jake? Ask them in the comments!

The Story of Cornfed

Once upon a time in late September, as the corn crop was rapidly disappearing from the farmers' markets, a little blond boy asked his mommy for some corn. "OK" his mommy replied, unable to resist her darling son's pleas for vegetables. So the kind mommy bought 5 ears of fairly funky looking corn, even though she had a baaaaad feeling about it.

That night for dinner the mommy was shucking the corn and discovered that her feeling had been right. For ever ear that she opened had a corn earworm caterpillar in it! Some ears had only been nibbled, some ears had been nearly devoured (up to 1/3 of the ear!), but in the forth ear the mommy discovered a caterpillar that was still alive!

"Wow!" cried the mommy, "Come look at this!" So the little boy rushed over and watched the green caterpillar in wonder. The mommy decided to keep the little bug so that the little boy could watch it grow and turn first into a pupa and then into a moth. So the mommy found a pint canning jar, a side effect of her new hobby, and placed the little caterpillar and the top 1/2 of the corn cob into it. Then the mommy put a knee-high over the top and attached it with a rubber band. Voila! Instant science experiment.

Days passed and the family watched the little caterpillar grow into a much bigger caterpillar. They soon decided that their little friend needed a name. The daddy suggested "Cornfed" because of the little critters preferred food. The decision was made and the name stuck. One day, the family noticed that Cornfed was spending a lot of time on the bottom of his jar. The daddy looked up on the Internet and discovered that Corn Borers, which is what Cornfed was, cocoon on the ground. Sure enough, a day or so later the pretty green catterpillar had turned into a little brown cocoon! Weeks past and the family went on with their lives, occasionally checking on their now less-than-exciting friend.

Finally, one night after the mommy and the little boy had returned from a visit to his best friend's house, the daddy, with a knowing smile, suggested that they check on their little friend. Sure enough, Cornfed had energed from his cocoon to become a pretty, fuzzy little moth!

The mommy and the little boy took the moth outside and released him from his jar. He was really new to the world and couldn't even fly yet, but he let the mommy and the little boy hold him as he fluttered and sputtered and tried out his lovely new wings. Cornfed had cute little fuzzy legs and big green eyes, just the same color as the caterpillar he had so recently been. Finally, after bidding the mommy and the little boy good bye he flew off into the night to live with the other "flutters." Happily ever after. Of course.

(Jake was asking me to make up a story last night. Of course, he misses our Cornfed and wishes he could stay with us, but he was also really good about understanding that Cornfed wanted to be with the other flutters and live his life. Hopefully this little impromptu project will begin a lifetime love of science and an understanding of, and empathy for, other creatures and their need for freedom. I have to say, though, I miss the little bugger too. )

Fairy Tale Weekend

Jake and I had a lovely weekend. We had guitar on Saturday and then he gave a wonderful concert at my mom’s birthday dinner that night. Sunday we went to Fairy Tale Town (where we are now members) for 2.5 hours! The attached pictures are from our outing. The Cheese Stands Alone was one of my favorite things when I was a kid. No idea where it comes from, but I've been trying to get his picture on it forever. I love the upside down one. He had a ball being a mouse, climbing all over the cheese!

Soccer or bust? Bust.

Last night was our first night of soccer class. Imagine if you took 40 cats of all different sizes, colors, shapes, breeds, and levels of tameness (ok, probably not a word, but bear with me here), dropped either LSD or meth (or both) in their water, and tried to teach them to walk backward with their eyes closed while tossing a ball. You now have a rough idea of what my evening was like last night. This was complete order and tranquility by comparison.

Here are five reasons why I hated the soccer “classes” we started last night. Well, let me say, first of all, Natalie, if you read this, I don’t blame you. It seemed like a fun idea. So here we go:

1. There were waaaaay too many kids. The sign up said the class was limited to 30, but if that was 30 kids, I’m David Beckham.

2. The guy was trying to get these kids to do things that they are just not physically ready to do yet. Walk backward with your eyes closed while tossing and catching a ball?! I’m not sure I could do that.

3. He gave them NO time to practice these new skills. No activity lasted longer than, say, 30 seconds. OK, I get that they have tiny attention spans, but you have to give someone time to do something more than 1-2 times in order for them to get it. How about “let’s all do this together slowly” once or twice. It was like boot camp.

4. The instructions were way too complicated and moved too fast. An example: ok, we’re going to start walking backward, when I blow my whistle we’re going to run backward, when I blow my whistle again you’re going to turn around and run forward to the white line, but don’t touch the white line, just stand by it. Uh, dude, I’ve lost you. I promise you my 3 year old stopped listening at “run.”

5. There was no time for free play. It was a one hour (yes, ONE HOUR) workout with no fun! Gabe, Jake’s guitar teacher always says (and I agree) “if you’re not having fun, you’re not learning!”

So, in conclusion, we enjoyed the 15 minutes before Coach Doofus started talking when the kids could just play with soccer balls. But I can do that at home or in the park for free and I’m sincerely glad that this is just a 4 week class and not an entire season. Maybe somewhere else when he’s 5 or so. Meanwhile, I got a little workout and Jake and I will kick the ball around in the park more often. Soccer CAN be fun, despite the night of tripped out cat herding.