Archive for October, 2009

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Questions only a toddler can ask (plus bonus movie)

October 13, 2009

Toddlers get away with asking any kind of question or making all sorts of observations.  Case in point: last night at dinner we were all sitting at the table eating when Sara was beset from one of those third trimester stomach pains resulting from, you know, a whole person being inside of her.  It’s been happening a lot these past few weeks, so Sara let out one of those musical sighs and put her head down on her arm.

Besher got off his chair and put his hand on Sara’s arm.

“Mommy, are you laughing or crying?”

As for the bonus movie, the cast of Hairspray appeared on a UK TV show last Friday, which marks the only official video I could find of, as Besh calls her, “our Tracy.”  Wanted to share with those of you who’ve been following the Hairspray saga so you could see how great Chloe Hart is in the role.  I think the performance is great, but also just a bit low energy–probably due to this being taped on a Friday which means the cast had just pulled a double on Thursday (matinee and evening show) and they haven’t had the benefit of a 2 hour show that leads up to this finale.  But still a great performance.  The woman who plays Penny in this clip (woman who comes in at about 1:20) was the cast member who played Brenda when we saw it–a tiny part but memorable because she was one of the women singing directly to Besh during the finale the second night we saw it.

The clip also has Brian Conley as Edna, so another nice momento since he’s leaving the show soon.

The lip synching is a bit off, but the audio quality is good.  I’m just glad we have something to save/link for the future given everything that’s happened.  Enjoy!

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Keeping the good trike

October 12, 2009

This morning Sara was dropping off Besh at school and loaded down with bags.  It was our week for classroom snacks plus Sara had a bag of spades and brushes we’d bought for the upcoming dinosaur bone excavation for the class (because most scientists know that dinosaur bones are frequently found in pre-school sand pits).  Since Sara had so many bags, she asked Besh to carry his lunch box inside.

As soon as they went through the gate, Besh ran to his favorite trike with his lunch box in his hand.

Sara: “Besh, can you please bring your lunchbox inside?”

Besh: “No, I want you to do it because I want to keep this trike.”

Daschel, another boy in his class was standing nearby.  By way of background, Daschel is a bit older than Besh and he has an older brother.  I think these things combined so that Daschel would sometimes call Besh a baby for some things.  Besh did not like this, but he told Daschel at some point and then it stopped.

Daschel: “That’s okay, Besher.  I’ll hold the trike for you until you come back.”

Besher ran from the trike over to Sara, glowing.

“Daschel is going to hold the trike for me!  AND Daschel doesn’t call me a baby anymore!”

This was apparently very funny to both Besh and Daschel, as they both started laughing and then proceeded to call each other Baby Besher and Baby Daschel.  Proving that male bonding has a genetic basis in insults.

Posted in Besher Conversations, Besher Jokes, Growing Up, Mommy Adventures | Leave a Comment »

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Costume pajamas and freaking out

October 10, 2009

This one is straight from Sara:

I just had to share another quick Besh story.  Besh has been asking for “costume pajamas” for a week or so now.  It took us a long time to figure out that costume pajamas are pjs with feet.  We’re still not sure why he calls them costume pajamas but, somehow, it has to do with Abe [son of the now infamous Todd -- Ryan].  We haven’t gotten the whole story.

At any rate, I went out today to get Besh some costume pajamas – partly because he’s been asking so nicely and partly because his feet are so cold in the morning (he still doesn’t sleep under the covers).  I showed them to him after school so he could pick which ones he liked.  After being very sweet and very grateful (“Mommy, I LOVE them!  Thank you”), he said that we needed to get some for his baby brother.  He said, “When he gets here, he will be so little.  He will need his own.”

I asked if he would help me pick them out.  And he said, “Oh yes, of course!  I would love to.”

What a sweet boy!

In another very short and funny story, as we were discussing Besh’s birthday party (we’re trying to figure it all out now), he told me, “if someone else blows out my candles, I will freak out!”

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Special delivery from London

October 9, 2009

As I mentioned previously, our friend Todd from California was coming into town and bringing something for Besh from Chloe.  In case you’ve missed the last few posts, Chloe Hart is one of the greatest people on the planet (granted, I’m a bit biased since I’ll think that of anyone who can make Besh literally scream with happiness).    Last night we all met up at Rudy’s for some BBQ and Todd was finally able to give his surprise to Besh (who had seen him holding something and definitely wanted to know what it was).

Todd: “Besh, you know how you went to London?”

Besh: “Oh yes.”

“Do you remember what show you saw in London?”

Big grin.  ”Tracy!  Hairspray!”

“That’s right!  And I was in London and I went and saw Hairpsray too.  And then I went and saw Tracy and told her that I knew you.  She remembered and she signed this for you!  Do you want to see what it says?”

“Yes!”

“It says, ‘To Besh, with lots of love, Chloe.’  Pretty cool, right?”

The item in question was a London theater map, a fold-out paper with ads for shows and a map of all the different theaters, which Todd had already told us was the only paper he had on him when he went to see Chloe.  Besh stared at the map, a grin on his face and his eyes wide.  Then he turned flipped it over and held up the map for me to see.

Besh: “And look, Daddy!  It has the Lion Show too!”

Here’s a picture so you can see what I mean.

I think, as with almost everything Tracy/Chloe related these days, this will sink in over time and I have no doubt he’ll be showing this off to many visitors.  Still very awesome and just affirms everything we already knew about Chloe.

Now, one more story I need to share that has less to do with Besh than Todd, but it’s just too funny to keep to myself.  So after Todd spoke with Chloe and got the autograph, he then said he wanted to take a picture with her and he had his Blackberry with him but he didn’t really know how to use the camera.  Chloe said she did and proceeded to get into the right mode, Todd held out the phone and got a nice picture of the two of them together.

The funny part?  Todd is one of the guys who invented the cell phone camera.  He’ll protest this of course and try to give you some mumbo jumbo on how he just worked on the light sensors and software and yadda yadda.  It’s bull–he’s one of the inventors.  And Chloe knew more on how to use it.

So there you go, Chloe Hart is not just wickedly talented but she also is an electronics genius.

Posted in Besher Conversations, Family Adventures | 1 Comment »

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Surprises for Besh (and a bit more Hairspray)

October 1, 2009

One of the coolest things about seeing a toddler develop is when formerly alien concepts suddenly click.  I’m not sure when that happened with Besh, but I recently noticed it.  There was a time when I would try to build up some suspense with a surprise but he would forget or not understand that the surprise element was part of the fun.  Now he totally gets it, as I saw last night when Sara asked Besh what he wanted for lunch.

Sara: “Do you want turkey or something else?”

Besh: “I want a surprise for lunch.”

“Okay.  A surprise!”

“But don’t tell me, okay?  Because it’s a surprise.”

And then there’s also the spontaneous surprise.  Like yesterday when I came home.  I stopped off at Fry’s to return some unused electric converters from the trip to London and saw something on clearance that I knew I had to get for Besh.  Quick background: a few weeks before we went to London Besh finally understood how to interact with and play the Wii.  Not only is it fun to watch him play and discover (and get really, really good at bowling and ping pong) but it’s also a good activity for him while he has his patch on (he has issues with one eye so we patch the good eye every day to try and force the weaker eye to be used–it’s had good results so far but we may have to do this for up to 2 years).  He also really likes the movie Cars (with the main character, Lightning McQueen, one of his all-time favorites).

Me (once I got home): “Besh, I have a surprise for you!”

Besh (small grin, eyes a bit wide): “What?  What is it?”

“You have been such a big boy at school and at home and you’ve done such a good job playing the Wii and wearing your patch that I got you a surprise present.”  I reach into my laptop bag and pull out the Cars video game for the Wii.  ”You see this?  We can play this on the Wii and you can drive around as Lightning McQueen and go ‘Ka-Pow! Ka-Pow!’”

Besh stares at the box for a second, then his grin turns enormous and his eyes go supernova.  He jumps from the couch to the floor and practically explodes with excitement.  He actually flapped his arms like a bird.

“I GET TO BE LIGHTNING MCQUEEN!  I’M SO EXCITED!  I’M SO EXCITED!”

He ran up and gave me a hug.

“CanweplaynowIwanttoplaynowCanweplaynow?!?!”

So we played a bit (I’m guessing we’ll play more) last night.

Then Sara and I got an email from our friend Todd.  He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area but had a work trip outside of London.  After reading about Besh’s Hairspray adventure and subsequent email from Tracy/Chloe, he and a co-worker trained into London to see Hairspray last night.  He braved the teaming crowd of schoolkids after the show at the stage door and managed to tell Chloe that he was a close friend of Besh’s and how much it meant to him (and Besh’s parents) that she sent the email.  According to reports she was thrilled to be reminded of Besh and how fond she was of him.

As luck would also have it, Todd is going to be in Austin next weekend.  Knowing this, he got Chloe to sign something for Besh, but asked us (so I’m asking all of you too) not to tell Besh so that he can be surprised.

Based on the reaction to the Cars video game, I’m thinking we’re going to need earplugs and Todd may want to be sitting down when he gives the surprise to Besh.

Posted in Besher Conversations, Family Adventures, Playtime | 1 Comment »

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