Of Helmets and Heroes

Isaiah loves heroes. The only movie he would watch at the advanced age of 1.5 yrs was Captain America. So Captain America was watched 17 times in one week, as we tried to pack up and move our lives across the country.

This is Jenny, but you get the picture....

And then it was 'Wuke Skywalker!' of which I have only ever let him see Ep IV, because it is a 'bright world' (like Captain America 1), and only when Daddy is present. Daddy's presence seems to repel fear.

But Josh (at Isaiah's request) has told him as bedtime stories a good amount of the other two, of which "Wuke en de MONSTER" is a bedtime favorite. So much so, that Jenny has it memorized as well. Josh says "Luke was riding his--" Jenny belts out "TON TON" Josh continues "And he says--" Isaiah continues "what duh matter? you smeww somefing?" etc etc. and on it goes with the Snow Monster's entrance, the demise of the Ton-Ton, and the near demise of Luke (as the Snow Monster prepares his pots and pans to eat Luke for dinner), and the triumph as Luke retrieves his lightsaber and cuts of the monsters arm.

Josh animated a pillow, to make it the Snow Monster in the Cave (a blanket he arranged in a heap) and Isaiah whapped it with his pool tube lightsaber.

Now are days are filled with such gems as Isaiah proclaiming, "MOMMY! I'm gonna cook you en eat you for dinner!" while whapping me with his lightsaber.

Or other Star Wars gems, as in "I'm gonna cut off your arm!!"

Or, during his obsession with his lego knight action figure he names "Daddy", I overheard him making up stories as he played.

"...en den Daddy pushed Capun America down to duh Sarlac!"
But he still loves Captain America. And Daddy. So maybe Daddy was just having a bad day.

And then there was the time he saw my sister's Avengers poster. (He has never actually seen Iron Man in a movie. I wonder what he's like in Isaiah's imagination, because I overhear him telling stories with Iron Man's name in them).

He would silently stand before it, and then, with wide worshipful eyes, carefully reach out and touch the Iron Man's glowing hand, reverently, like the Stigmata.

It was then I realized we needed more stories about Jesus in his roundup....

Recently, he's taken to watching certain videos on my computer on am almost daily basis. (I confess, it gives me time to do things such as this blog, on the computer).

And he'd taken to holding the Peg Board on his head (sand pegs), and insisted on calling it "my helmet."

 I couldn't for the life of me figure out why it was a helmet, until Josh overheard him (while holding it to his head, singing "DOVAKHIIN, DOVAKHIIN..."




So now we all know what is going through his head, and why the pegboard is shaped like a helmet.....

Isaiah being a firefighter. That is what he says.

And then, very often he puts on his white bicycle helmet, and carries around his pooltube lightsaber, and solemnly starts singing garbled heartfelt words, such as "wefwesh my broken mind!"
Along with his own interpretation of instrumentation and words to the tune of Mumford and Sons "The Cave."




All while solemnly charging about the room with his bike helmet and a lightsaber. Very Solemnly. As if he feels the weight of responsibility.
(And he will watch that movie over and over and over. Right now, he saw me embedding this and now we've just watched it 4x so I can get this post up...but seriously, I love Wings of Liberty....and its good for him, I think)

Isaiah's serious face.

He's also obsessed with "Bowuwf en duh big bwue monster!" which is Beowulf, as told to him by Aunt Bekah. Again. And Again. And Again. (I think her record is repeating it 6x in a row...on request)

And of course this wouldn't be complete with some pictures of the other kids....
Jenny stole Isaiah's peach. And then burst into a spontaneous rendition of "Pwaise God fwom whom aww bwessings fwoww!!!"

Adventures in Shield-making, for the Kids (part 1: planning)

Josh got some really heavy duty cardboard and we are going to make shields for Isaiah and Jenny.

For Isaiah, since he loves the story of St. George and the Dragon, we thought we'd do St. George's cross.

(He's faithfully asked for that story almost every night for almost a year, and will randomly say "you never give duh princess to duh dragon!" Also, he will say "duh sheep says...?" and we have to finish. Recently he said to Josh "duh dragon says...?" Josh responded "Rawrrr!" It was the wrong answer "Duh dragon says 'if you don' give me all your cows, I'll burn down...'")

Here are some pretty cool renditions of it from Medieval church windows (I assume taken by tourists, flickr links below).

This one has a sunrise behind the cross.

from flickr here

 This one has some sort of subtle decoration going on inside the white and red portions.

From flickr there

For Jenny, since she is, after all, Jehanne, he wanted to make something like what her namesake had.
I was confused what exactly her standard was, since I had read conflicting accounts (lilies and Jesus, lilies and angels, lilies and Mary, Christ in Judgment, Mary and Jesus, etc)

This invaluable website (with quotes of her actual words) straightened me out. Evidently the confusion was at least partly created by the fact that she had a pennant, a banner, and a standard, all technically different things. (I think her pennant had the annunciation, and her banner the crucifixion, but her standard had Jesus holding the world)



From the trial at Rouen

Question: When you were at Orleans, you had an 'ensign' (this word is normally translated in English as standard). What color was it?
Answer: I had a standard whose field was sown with lilies. There was a figure of Christ holding the world and on each side of Him was an angel. It was made of a white fabric called "boucassin". Written above: Jhesus Maria, as it seems to me, and it was fringed in silk.
Question: Who prompted you to have painted on your standard angels with arms, feet, legs, and clothing?
Answer: I have already answered you.
Question: Did you have them painted as they came to see you?
Answer: No, I had them painted in the way they are painted in the churches.

Anyway, I realized there's a big difference between a standard and a shield. I don't really want the kids whapping a picture of Jesus with their pool tube lightsabers. So.

Then there's the coat of arms given to her by King Charles. While I have mixed feelings about Charles, it looks pretty cool.

 We're going to do it in a warmer blue, and with gold metallic color. I'm excited. And then one day we can make real wooden shields like this awesome craftsman.

from HERE www.yeoldgaffers.com

His work is amazing. I've been longing to do this since I saw it years and years ago in undergrad....

Of Strollers and Rosettes: A Trip with the kids & Jenny's Ruffle Dress from a Refashioned T-Shirt

We went shopping. At first we went to the mall to get Josh work shoes, and found that it is very, very hard to wield 2 umbrella strollers and a baby with just 2 adults and no baby carrier.
The climax of the excursion was Isaiah getting to use the mall's restroom. Isaiah loves public restrooms. Josh does not. But such is fatherhood.

Many times, on our cross country car trip, Isaiah would announce the need, and we would pull into strange cities where our feet had never yet trod. Together they would go, father and son, Josh holding Isaiah's hand as he carried Isaiah's toilet seat bag, to face the great unknown of as yet unexplored potties.

Like this, except just with Isaiah.

They would always return victorious, Isaiah laughing and skipping along holding Josh's hand. Isaiah's face shining from the adventure. Josh's not so much.

Well, anyway, we were out at the mall, and Isaiah got to relive his Trip Adventures by going to the big new potty again.
Jenny was upset, that she didn't get to "go to potty!" too. I was heartless and denied her the joy of public restrooms. Unfortunately, her idea of "going potty" is charging bare bummed around the bathroom shrieking in laughter at mommy's attempts to catch her... So she remained in the stroller. And was indignant at the injustice in the universe.

But somehow, life went on. And it even included chocolate sandwich cookies.
We also found how to fit 3 kids into 2 little carts.

Jenny gives safety tips on how to wedge a car seat into a little craft cart.

There was a sweet old woman in the store. Her face lit up as she admired the kiddos. She told me she lives somewhere where there aren't kids, so its a treat for her to see them. Isaiah flirted with her, and waved goodbye when we left.

We were put on this earth to take care of each other. Too often we forget that, and live in our busy age-segregated lives.

The kids discovered Richard Scarry Videos. I love the books, the books are a must have for every parent, given the number of babysitting hours you get from a kid trying to find goldbug, not to mention the values and virtues in those books...

Jenny gets all emotional and cries in the part where Mr. Rabbit gets stuck in the wet hot sticky gooey asphalt. Not for any of the cute animals trying to get him out, not for Mr. Rabbit being stuck, but for a piece of road equipment. At the part where the tow truck breaks when trying to pull him out (it takes a power shovel), she laments "duh truck broke! due truck broke!" and cries for the truck.

The little one remains cute as ever. She is learning to tolerate the AZ heat, and will lie in a laundry basket staring thoughtfully up at the trees.

This is the closest you get to instant gratification in sewing. A ruffley comfortable little dress, as comfortable and as easy to wear/care for as a T shirt, because that's what its from.

Here was the previous version, a dress from a red shirt

The Pink One is pretty much the same thing, except from a single long sleeved women's medium shirt, its from a women's XL T-shirt. I had some green T-shirt fabric left over from a men's green T shirt I turned into a little T shirt for Isaiah.

  I just added a waistband, and a few simple rosettes (the internet abounds with tutorials on that) that I sewed together from the scraps and onto the waistband. I think it was a nice touch. I made the mistake of making the sleeve ruffles with even MORE fabric (just because I could) and I think they ruffle too much. I like the red sleeves better.

She says "Idaiah is a badguy. Jenny is a doodguy."

The pink one's skirt is fuller (XL width) than the red one's (M width), and I really like that. I like how it twirls when she moves around. She looked so cute going to church with "my hat!"

 

With Captain America. Who is of course, a goodguy.

Fixing A Tube Top Dress with Sleeves: A Practical Solution to refashioning my "honeymoon tube top dresses"

I fixed my tube top dresses, by refashioning them with sleeves. Now they are toddler-tug-safe!

Those tube top dresses I bought for my honeymoon...

I was going to get married. I WANTED to be cute. I  bought a bunch of tube top dresses and brightly peasant dresses to be pretty on my honeymoon. With the vague idea I would be wandering down Carribean beaches in them, with tropical flowers in my hair. Not the 10 day camping trip in the mountains that I had planned....

Full of Wonder, Rocks, and Mosquitos. Not the best place for beachy dresses

I never did wear those dresses on my honeymoon. I wore men's XL T-shirts with pants and a belt with a waterbottle hanging off it and felt medieval and awesome.
And to this day, the smell of bug spray reminds me of my honeymoon. And those tube top dresses sat unworn in my drawer...I never did wear them...

I discovered that whoever invented tube top dresses never had a toddler tugging down on their skirts.

So in the last couple of days, I refashioned them.
And the best part are that they are both nursing and pregnancy friendly :)

See? Toddlers!!!

Really really cute toddlers. Plus a baby.

A really really cute baby.

Sisterly love