Brian and Krista.com

further to the robin conversation from the other day…

on Tuesday morning as i was getting ready to go have bloodwork done, Josh and I heard a loud thump on the living room window. it was, unfortunately, a robin. the robin was laying on the ground, clearly dying, and thankfully it died quickly.

we proceeded to have several conversations about death and dying over the past few days. i’ll be honest, i really did NOT want to explain to my son about a robin dying. i don’t know why that is - as a pastor’s kid, Josh has been to more funeral homes in his 3 1/2 years than i ever did up until i married Brian. we always explain that it’s just the person’s body and that they are in heaven.

so when i said that the robin had died, Josh’s logical conclusion was that the robin was in heaven with Jesus. i’ll be honest, i did nothing to discourage him from thinking that. he woke up from his nap on Wednesday (robin burial day) saying “Mommy, i don’t like it when robins die. I want them to fly!” and then he wanted to know if the robin had “come out of his hole yet”.

um, no. and if he does, i’m going to be calling 911!

Me: Hey Josh, look at that big robin over there under the pine tree!
Josh: I think he’s looking for his mommy.
Me: Do you know what robins like to eat?
Josh: No - what?
Me: They eat worms from the ground.
Josh: NO… they eat robin food!

Josh and Brian went out today in the backyard and made this guy. I think he’s cute, but not as good as the drowning head and arms only snowman that Josh and I made earlier this year. (i subscribe wholeheartedly to the Calvin and Hobbes school of snowman construction)

he’s never heard it (yet). i heard it years ago on Jesse and Gene’s morning show in Toronto… it made me snort with laughter back then. little did i know i’d one day have a child whose favorite food is toast.

Josh and I had a playdate at his friend G’s house. Her mom Chi is fantastic and i’m enjoying getting to know her better. We stayed for dinner which was the yummiest lamb roast ever made on this planet. Josh, of course, refused to eat it. But he enjoyed some toast from home made bread, and then…

HE ATE SEAWEED!!!!

we didn’t tell him what it was - G’s mom just went to the fridge and pulled it out. It’s kim (which may or may not be the right spelling), a Korean seaweed product, basically the same thing that you wrap around sushi but with some salt and oil i think. it’s actually kind of yummy, and i detest sushi. we asked Josh if he liked it, and he said yes!

Josh is experiencing something new - the siren call of the Toys R Us flier. (note to self: next time the Sunday paper comes, throw out any toy related print ads!) Last night i came across him in the living room, reading the flier quite intently. And then he saw it… one of those battery-powered kid-sized jeep things. He was instantly in love with it - he told me that i could have the purple/pink girl version and he would have the red one.

and apparently he thought about it all night long, because this morning one of the first things he said to me was “I want that car. I really want that car, Mommy.” (with the appropriate accompanying sad face)

the concept of waiting is completely lost on him - last night i told him that he’d have to wait for it (because we are probably going to get it, we have the perfect back yard for such a toy)… and he said “after my nap i can get it?” well, maybe a little longer than that sweetie pie…

Dear Jesus,
thank you for all my friends
thank you for all my teachers
and thank you for Sam and Ben
and not Ben
and thank you for Ben and he’s not poking…

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you…(sung in tune)

and thank you for all of my cousins.

Amen.

i love how the mind of a 3 year old works.

i was really excited to find that PBS’s Masterpiece Theater was playing all of Jane Austen’s books made into movies over the next while… i’ve been recording them all to watch on a cozy snowy day such as today. just a short while ago, i was watching the last 5 minutes of Northanger Abbey, when Josh wandered in to the living room.

Josh: “Mommy, what’s that?”
Me: “That’s a Jane Austen movie”
Josh: “Well……. that’s crummy.”

memo to self: must educate Josh on the value of Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte before he turns into a complete caveman!

it’s been awhile since we’ve been on anything you could call a date. contrary to what my dear husband has said previously, dinner out with Josh does NOT qualify as a date!

so this year, for my birthday, Brian planned a really REALLY great night out. he got our friend Jess to babysit - which meant Josh could have cared less whether we stayed in or went out, he was so happy to have her over to play! incidentally - yesterday afternoon while trying to get Josh settled in for a nap, he was giving me a hard time. i looked him in the eye and said “Do you want me to call Jess and tell her not to come over tonight?” Let me just say it worked better than threatening to call Santa Claus!

Jess arrived, and we set off for our dinner destination, Jack’s Oyster House, in downtown Albany. We pulled up, handed the keys to the valet, and continued inside where we were greeted by two people ready to take our coats. Nice! We were seated right away, and took in the surroundings. It’s very much understated elegance - original dark wood panelling, white table cloths… pretty classic stuff. The menu is not overwhelming - no pages and pages of things that make it impossible for you to pick what you want! Two pages of appetizers and entrees - and believe me, that was more than enough to pick from.

We both started with Manhattan clam chowder - yummo! I had a trio of seafood - mahi mahi, shrimp and one other fish that i can’t remember the name of. It came with green beans, smashed taters, and a cranberry reduction sauce that was really to die for. Not something i would think of serving with any type of fish, but the flavors were incredible. Brian, for the first time, met a steak he could not actually finish. It was extremely good also. For dessert - we tried their Bananas Foster - it was really really REALLY sweet. REALLY SWEET! All things considered - it was a really delicious meal, in beautiful surroundings, and definitely a great special occasion type of place to keep in mind.

I talked about the best game all year when the Giants met the Patriots in the final game of the regular season.

BOY WAS I WRONG!!! GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-MEN!