Faces of Jack

His name is Jack Michael, but we call him Bubbers. Or Rooney. Or Bubber-Roo. There's no method to the naming madness; these are just the names that have evolved for him over his five years. He's got quite a personality, after all. He's our little bundle of creative energy.

Among many other things, Jack is:

...the boy who took an old Playtex baby bottle (the kind with openings on both end) and the boot from a Luke Skywalker doll to fashion himself a hook to hide his little hand so he could play the evil Captain Hook from Peter Pan.

...the boy who put a black cowboy boot on one leg and rolled up the pant leg on the other to expose one bare leg. The bare leg became his "peg leg" as he stomped around shouting orders as the mean Captain Ahab from Moby dick.

...the boy who took his brother's stretchy cloth book cover and draped it across half his face, transforming himself into the villainous "Two Face" from Batman.

I don't know where he comes up with this stuff. I just know that when your child is a ham, it's darn tough to get a sweet, smiling portrait. You get what you get when you click the shutter.

The Many Faces of Jack

Getting all Fancy on Ya...

Just quick shout out to my sister bloggers, Marjorie and Patty. I had some questions about how to pretty up my blog and got some tips from both. Marjorie introduced me to Picasa and Flickr...so over the next few days (or weeks, ahem!) you'll get to see the some of my novice stabs at using some of the features. Click their names to check out their blogs...you'll see some cool stuff. Great pictures, yummy recipes, interesting thoughts for the day. (hey, I learned to hyperlink! How proud am I!)

I learn best by seeing how others do things, so we're going to try and set a "blog tutorial date" at Starbucks one of these days--soon, I hope. In the meantime, I'm striking out on my own. Maybe I'll learn a thing or two to share with them (hmmm...?).

I love looking at other people's blogs. Blogging Molly has come cool stuff on her site. I love the daily thumbnails she does for each month on the side of her blog. She has some "green tips" and yummy recipes of her own, too.

It's going to be fun experimenting! If you're a seasoned blogger and have some ideas, please feel free to share them!

Mohawk *without* an Attitude

There comes a time in every Mom's life when her sweet child gets a fashion sense of his (or her) own. With each passing year, I knew my days of picking adorable outfits and cute hair styles were numbered, but I have to confess I didn't expect them to end quite so soon. Certainly not by the tender age of 8.

How naive of me.

It began with the clothes. Over the last year, Wyatt has developed very specific taste in what he wears. He'll make small concessions to keep his dad and me happy and to ensure the ongoing privilege of picking what he likes without getting our blessing every time. Asserting control over his hair, it turns out, wasn't far behind. Wyatt has been asking for a Mohawk ever since he played soccer with Cooper. Cooper was the Coach's son and Cooper had a Mohawk. Wyatt's never whined for one or made a fuss about it; he's just mentioned it in passing from time to time. Somehow we, his slightly nervous parents, managed to dodge the issue for almost six months.

Since Wyatt was a little tyke, we've kept his hair "buzzed." Short, maybe a little spiky, but always tidy and well trimmed. Early this spring, though, he expressed his desire to let it grow. He has great hair...thick and wavy, would probably be curly if it got long enough. We gave him the thumbs up and let Mother Nature do her thing. His hair grew fast. He looked good with it longer--like a stylish and contemporary 8 year-old. Alas, thick wavy hair becomes like a winter hat you can't take off when the weather turns warm. It gets sweaty and sticky under bike helmets and causes much gnashing of teeth when trying to coax swimming goggles into place. So it wasn't long before he asked me to buzz it again. I revved up the clippers and made a first pass around his head when I heard him murmur the fateful question, "Mom, can I have a Mohawk?"

I paused.

Hmmm. Well, why not?

It's not a full 'hawk...more like a half 'hawk because I'd already buzzed the back. But he likes it. It's fun for him. And fun for me to see him enjoy it so much. I'm getting a glimpse of what life will be like when adolescence hits as he spends countless minutes grooming his 'hawk into place every day.

We really need that extra bathroom.

A sweet kid with a great 'tude and cool cut