MMmmmm Chocolate Lava Cake

This weekend Hamslice discovered the magic of chocolate lava cake. It's chocolate cake with hot chocolate sauce inside the cake for a special surprise. Let's just say he was in hog heaven.

Hamslice's 1st Day of Big Boy School

Today was Hamslice's first day at the Park School of Baltimore. He is pretty excited and doesn't seem all that nervous. He likes the idea of carpooling for the first few days of school because it's more fun to go to school with friends, right?The bus can't run because all the streets are closed for the Grand Prix...

Here he is in the carpool car, about to head for school.

What a big smile!

Happy 5th Birthday, Hamslice

This weekend was Hamslice's fifth birthday! We went to Chincoteague Island VA to celebrate, and we had a marvelous time in spite of ourselves. Some notable experiences:

1. Hamslice was the only one to catch fish this weekend. Mom and Dad kept trying, but Hamslice was the winner.
2. Hamslice showed an UNCANNY ability to win at Crazy 8s this weekend. Seriously, he won 99% of the games, even when we didn't let him win. WHAT!
3. We went to Assateague beach to play in the water, but the waves were so HUGE that we couldn't get past our ankles. There was a rip tide warning as well, so Hamslice wore his life jacket. He was the only kid there with one on. How scary for the other parents!
4. We went for crabs on Hamslice's birthday, just as a humungous storm rolled in. In fact, it rained most of the weekend. But during our crab feast, all the power went out in the restaurant. All the other customers left because of it, but the restaurant stayed open so we finished our crabs. Just before we were done, the lights came back on. Hambone felt sorry for the waitresses and left a $30 tip.
5. Our trip home was during a rainstorm that caused major flooding, so what was normally a 3.5 hour drive turned out to be 9 hours.

Happy Birtday Hamslice!

Schooltime Jitters

Hamslice starts his new "big boy school" in less than two weeks, and we're all jittery (well, everyone but Hambone. He's status quo as always)

We all went to buy paper a few nights ago for Hambone's company, and while we were in the store, Hamslice tugged gently at my pants and said, "I think I need some school supplies." So we decided he could pick out whatever he felt he needed to be ready for school. (Our actual school shopping had taken place a few weeks ago)

After careful consideration and much browsing, he settled on these items to prepare for his big transition:

1 Pencil sharpener that looks like a giant dice
1 Batman folder
1 Pack of crayola markers, 12 colors

I was proud of his careful selections, and continue to be irrationally thrown by him leaving Montessori and going to Real School. I thought we had this covered because he's been in school since he was born, but I guess every transition happens to Mom and kid at the same level. Or maybe it's harder for Mom.

Sigh.

More Fun Letters from AB!

This letter from Aunt Bet has knock knock jokes in it, some puzzles, and one very lonely fish =)

Aunt and Uncle Pen Pals!

Uncle C and Aunt K came to visit last weekend, and we had a terrific time together. Hamslice really enjoyed hamming it up with his uncle, and his aunt FINALLY got to see our house 'post-construction'.

Here's a video of Hamslice reading their thank you letter to him about the visit:

Psychic Hamslice

Last night I had a dream about Hamslice, where he did something amazing (I can't remember exactly what it was, unfortunately). In my dream I was shouting about how proud I was of him. It was a very emotional moment.

At this same moment, Hamslice shouted "What? I can't hear you, Mom" from his bedroom. It was 4am. Hambone said I wasn't actually shouting.

What happened there? Coincidence? I am so freaked out.

Hoodwinking Hamslice

This falls under the category "things Mom comes up with because she's bored" and will probably embarrass Hamslice for eternity, but I can't help it.
We use Hulu for TV instead of cable, and for Hamslice's shows, I set the program to Auto play all of the episodes so we don't need to go back to the remote between programs. However, I told Hamslice that he could conjure up additional episodes using his MIIIND.
I can't believe he believes some of this stuff...

Storms on the Hill

The weather has been really humid and crazy lately, which causes these pop up storms in the evenings. Check this one out:

Pen Pals are the Best

Hamslice and AB's pen pal relationship is still going strong -- Thank you AB!!

Bears!

We went to an auction in West Michigan over the weekend, and Hambone bought two stuffed bears. He put one in his office...

Hamslice Pen Pal

Hamslice has recently become pen pals with AB. He loves getting letters, here's his latest:

This is me reading AB's letter to Hamslice

Fun Stuff Inside the Letter for our little man

Oedipus Comes for Dinner

Last night as I prepared dinner and Hambone sat at the end of the bar reading email, Hamslice started talking in some detail about how he wants the two of us to live in this house when he grows up. He kept referring to just him and me.

I asked "what about Daddy--is he going to live with us too?"

Hamslice, mortified that he was outlining his master plan right in front of his competition, clapped his hand over his mouth and bent over in embarrassment. When he recovered a bit, I asked again, "What happens to Daddy when you grow up?"

Hamslice shrugged and said, "He goes away. We don't need him anymore when I'm grown up."

I looked down the bar to Hambone, who whispered, "AVENGE ME"

How ABOUT that house in Ocean City

A few weeks ago we went to Ocean City Maryland for a quick weekend -- Hambone had a conference there, and Hamslice and I tagged along for some fun in the sun.

Long story short, we had a total blast. Hamslice is old enough now to enjoy beach combing, so we spent several hours looking for seashells and running in and out of the waves. He was able to ride his bike down the boardwalk during an early morning stroll, and we had some awesome fresh seafood.

When we returned to (stinky, trashy) Baltimore we all remarked about how much fun we had. A few days later as I was putting Hamslice down for a nap, he said to me, "Mommy, you can work while I take a nap so you can make money to buy me a beach house in Ocean City."

That boy don't miss a beat.

Hambone and Hamslice do a Duet

My two favorite guys are doing a little "improv" on the keyboard and flute

Stumbling Upon Dragons

This weekend was the kinetic sculptures parade but we accidentally missed that. What a super bummer!!!  But we went to the Federal Hill neighborhood association picnic instead, and on the way back we happened upon Matsuri restaurant's 16th anniversary celebration with real Chinese Dragons.

Hamslice was pretty spooked at first. Always the adventurer, though, he found out that if he pet their tails, the tails would wiggle and pet back. He was squealing and giggling while the person under the dragon costume flipped the tail back and forth like a happy wiggly puppy.

We love city life.

Full Circle

I remember when I was just a little girl, hanging around with Mom. She had a little habit that I don't think either of us really thought much about, but it went like this: if we were sitting quietly for a while, she'd reach out and rub my knee just for just a second to let me know she was thinking about me.

I miss that.

Without knowing it, I've been doing the same thing with Hamslice -- there's just not enough things to talk about all the time, so I just give him that little touch so he knows he's on my mind.

Yesterday he did it back to me. And it was like my Mom was there too; three generations all thinking about each other, just for a moment.

Full circle.

Screwing up Santa

Our little guy was pretty pumped up about Santa this year -- probably more than he'll ever be again, and I may have taken it just a little too far.

Hamslice kept talking about hearing Santa's sleigh bells, and how he was looking forward to Christmas Eve when Santa would come. We made homemade cookies for Santa in the afternoon and left them out with some apples for the reindeer when we put Hamslice to bed.

And then I should have left it at that. But no, I remembered that we actually have a section of sleigh bells in the house, so Hambone muffled those in a blanket and brought them to the third floor, shaking his head and sighing the whole time.

At 5:00 am Christmas morning, I couldn't sleep anymore (unlike the boys) so I took the bells up on the roof and jangled them for all I was worth. And I stomped across the roof deck like a herd of deer. 5  minutes... nothing. 6 minutes... nothing.

I opened the door and called down to Jake that Santa was here, and a sleepy (and surprisingly crabby) little boy appeared at the bottom of the stairs. He said, "Go to bed Mom, I don't believe in Santa."

Not to be miffed right away, I asked if he wanted to open presents now or go back to bed. He opted for bed.

Completely deflated, I also returned to my bed. I would say "maybe next year" but I doubt it will work then either. *sigh*

Merry Christmas

The Great K-9 Switcheroo

As you may recall, we rescued a puppy about a year ago. What you may not know is that Hamslice declared himself a sworn enemy of the puppy fairly early on. It was a very rough and unpleasant ride.

So... last weekend we brought Elwood the (now full grown) dog to an adoption event that was held by the rescue agency where we got him last year. There were many dogs and lots of people, but there was no taker for Elwood. I was a little worried that Hamslice would blow a gasket if we had to go home with his "mortal enemy" so I wandered off with the dog.

When I returned, I told Hamslice (now this was a joke, so remember that) that I'd traded Elwood for this new dog named Pete. For some reason Hamslice believed me.

Since returning from the adoption fair, Hamslice and Pete have been inseparable. They play together, cuddle on the sofa together, and Hamslice keeps telling me how much he loves Pete and how happy we traded Elwood in for such a better dog.

Hambone, meanwhile, is completely unamused.

Catching up... Birthday, Soccer and more

Hamslice's birthday came during a very active hurricane season this year. His original birthday party was cancelled because there was an actual hurricane that day. His new party date also came during a pretty good rain storm, and the rescheduled "opening day" of soccer for his team was the same day. It all worked together to create this party, where Hamslice had a marvelous time even though just three of his friends showed up. Avery, Ava and Olivia. I was so grateful to those parents for getting out of bed to join us on that raw, rainy day.

Note to self: don't pay for such an elaborate outdoor party next year -- hurricane season is every year, after all.

Our next adventure in parenting was Soccer. We put him on the local team, and Hamslice uniformly decided that he hated everything about it. See his teammates in red, whooping it up on the field while our boy just sulks?

We were finally able to get him to play by threatening to put him in bed for the whole day if he didn't get out there. Once he played a bit, he liked it.... but not too much.

We then vowed to get him some exercise through biking or hiking or something. Somehow this boy has to learn to enjoy himself while exercising.

 We took Hamslice to the firemen department's annual "Thrill Show" where everyone gets to ride in fire trucks and do fire stuff. We watched a car fire and saw how the firemen put it out. (Hambone noted the sergeant behind us turning the propane switch on and off, but I didn't believe him)

Hamslice got to sit in the police helicopter, and it really made his day. This is where we went right after soccer (see photo above) so I think we made it a decent day after all.

The next weekend we went hiking. Hamslice was in heaven. He asked us about moss and lichen and plants and birds, such a hunger for learning!

At the end of the hike we were showing him different sized leaves and he said "Right. Grande y pequeño." And that blew our minds, because we haven't been teaching him Spanish. Way to go Montessori!!