Friday, July 23, 2010

Bruce the Rockstar

While we were walking home from our splash park adventure, we passed an office park that was hosting an outdoor concert. It was almost dinner time, the weather was perfect, and the grassy lawn all shaded, so I thought it'd be a great opportunity for a picnic. We headed home and packed our dinner and picnic blanket, and headed back to the lawn.
I got lots of pictures of Phoebe, as you can see. When she sees the camera, she crawls quickly toward it, making funny faces along the way.
She just wants to lick the lens, that's all.

I love that Scott has his senior picture pose going on here. Hot.After Bruce gobbled down some dinner, he was ready to dance. There was a rock band with a singer - they sounded like a mix between Aerosmith and Laryn Hill. Bruce got up in front of the stage and started dancing. As you can see, he put on a show for everyone on the lawn.Then the singer invited him onstage, handed him a tambourine, and sang a cabaret-style version of the Batman theme song. After the song, Bruce wanted to say something in her microphone and she actually handed it to him. You never know what he's going to say (Edna Mode?), so I cringed a little but he just yelled into the mic, "MY NAME IS BRUCE!" And then the singer said, "Give it up for Bruce!" and he got a big round of applause.

I then ushered him off-stage and back home to bed. Because rockstars need sleep too.

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Making a Splash

Bruce has a new favorite splash park. It has a bunch of fountains that shoot upward in coordinated patterns - sort of like the Bellagio fountain in Las Vegas. Except you can play in this one.


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Wednesday, July 21, 2010

The Eye Power Returns

Bruce's "eye power" has been resurfacing lately....

On Monday, Phoebe had her 9-month appointment with the pediatrician. She's fully caught up at 18 lbs (that's how big Bruce was at 12 months, just to compare). Bruce, Phoebe and I took the train to the doctor's office with Phoebe tucked into a stroller and Bruce walking (and watching his head this time). Bruce is usually my door man, pushing elevator buttons and door buttons and such. When we reached the automatic doors at the doctor's office, they popped right open. Bruce looked at me very seriously and said, "I opened those doors with my eye power."

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Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

I finally got my hair chopped off last night. It's been driving me crazy for awhile. It was only a matter of time. That's me with my bagged 10 inches of hair to go to Locks of Love. Scott tells me they will probably dye it some ugly color or sell it or something, but I'd like to think some cute kid will be wearing some red hair proudly.
The guy that cut my hair was training to become a hair stylist. I gave him some good practice. He asked me what I wanted before he started chopping (always a good sign) and I said I didn't want to look like a guy.
By the way, Bruce took all these pictures of me and the following ones of Phoebe. She likes to hang out by the windows and watch passersby.



Lastly, here's a random picture of our street corner from earlier this week. We've had some crazy rainstorms lately!

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Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Bruce the Bookworm

We are on our third Harry Potter book with Bruce. After the first two books, we watched their respective movies. Now Bruce likes to pick up sticks, cooking utensils, and other wand-like objects and say, "Wingardium Leviosa."So far, nothing has flown into the air on command.

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Thursday, July 08, 2010

Sibling Love

Most of the time, they get along very well. Phoebe still isn't old enough to really fight, although sometimes she sprawls out on the floor and Bruce will lie next to her so she can kick him in the face and he can laugh and laugh (because who doesn't like that?). At their worst, Bruce gets tired of Phoebe taking his train tracks apart, putting his toys in her mouth, and knocking his blocks over. If she comes near, he will yell, "Phoebe Attack!" When I remove the BabyZilla, he shuts his bedroom door so he can play in his own little world for awhile. We all need our break every once in awhile, right?

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Sunday, July 04, 2010

Splash!

It's been hot out this week, so we've been to a few different splash parks to cool off.

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Sculptures



Can you guess where I'm at?

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Saturday

On Saturday morning, Bruce, Phoebe, and I went to an Independence Day carnival. I didn't get any pictures because I was in charge of the "bowling booth," but Bruce spent most of his time in a bounce house and Phoebe hung out with me by the bowling pins. Saturday afternoon was less eventful: laundry, dishes, and cleaning up messes that have been piling up during the week. Phoebe is a fully proficient crawler now: she can get around quickly and even pulls herself up. Yesterday she discovered the washing machine. Not only are front-loading washers eco-friendly, but hypnotic as well.
After a morning of bouncing, bowling, and cake-walking, Bruce built a big fort in the living room and a "Hogwarts castle" out of blocks and Legos in his bedroom. Life is good.But life is better when Scott comes home. Here he is complaining about my insistence on taking a picture of him at the end of a long day. Scott's first week in the hospital has been great. He loves working in the psych ward and comes home with all kinds of wacky stories.

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A Story About Bruce

Lately, Bruce wants to wear Scott's ties to church. He's too sophisticated for his clip-on ties now.
But these pictures have nothing to do with the story. I was not carrying my camera at the time; and even if I was, I still wouldn't have had an extra hand to take a picture. But if I did, I would have a picture of a metal box mounted to a wall next to a crusty urine-scented elevator. On the box is a "help" button - a little ironic here.

Bruce, Phoebe, and I ventured out to get a birthday present for Bruce's friend. We took the train and were planning on going to a bookstore. We got off the train, exited through the turnstiles, and strolled over to the elevator. Bruce pushed the "up" button on the elevator and then, almost like he were dancing, turned around and smacked his head on the help button box. His head hit the corner and Bruce buckled at the knees. His face was mangled with pain, and he was drawing that big long breath before letting out a long sob. There was blood coming out of the spot where he bumped his head. It wasn't gushing, but it was oozing.

The elevator came and the doors opened.

A man selling popcorn a few feet away grabbed a cold Mountain Dew out of his fridge and offered it for Bruce's head. I picked Bruce up and tried to hold the pop can to his head, but that made him freak out more. Thanks, I tell the guy. He lets me keep the bloody pop can.

I carry Bruce into the elevator while somehow also pushing Phoebe's stroller. We get up to street level and luckily, Bruce's primary care doctor is less than a block away from this train station. I walk, carrying a sobbing Bruce and pushing Phoebe. We cause quite a scene: some random guy tells me that Bruce's head is bleeding and everyone is looking at us.

We make it up to Bruce's doctor's office. I plop Bruce on the receptionist's desk and tell her we don't have an appointment, but that we'd like to see a doctor right away. A nurse comes out and pushes the stroller back into a patient room while we follow, telling our story along the way. She brings the doctor in.

Bruce is terrified that he is going to get a shot for some reason, so he starts sobbing harder. I tell Bruce to give me a big hug while the doctor cleans his head off with water. She cleans up his wound and says that normally she would put steri-strips on, but it would require shaving part of his head and he was already so traumatized that perhaps the best thing to do would be to just keep it clean for the next day or two and let it heal. She gives me a couple wads of gauze, a prescription for ice cream, and tells me not to shampoo his hair for awhile. Bruce is glad.

We get his ice cream and go sit outside to eat it. Bruce's head is oozing again, so I get out the gauze and clean up his wound while some curious - and probably grossed out - onlookers gawk. Bruce feels better, so we head to the bookstore to get the gift.

Bruce picked out an airplane, which he played with all the way home. We have yet to wrap it and actually take it to his friend. Before I wrap it, I'll be sure to clean the blood off.

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