The Legend of the Belly Popper

Two years ago, when Jacob was almost 4 years old we were living in Nashville and we drove down to Josh's folks' place for Thanksgiving. The night before Thanksgiving Day I told Jacob a story at bed time. I was trying to think of a story that would emphasize the importance of playing outside on Thanksgiving Day, and not eating too much, and the image of an evil troll with a big stick popped into my brain. I made up a story about an evil troll named the "Belly Popper," that would pop the bellies of anyone who ate too much for Thanksgiving and/or failed to play outside after dinner.

I immediately felt that my story was inappropriate, and, so, as I was telling it I got the giggles. I was laughing so hard I couldn't talk. I stopped telling the story and made up something a bit more comforting. But I couldn't get the Belly Popper out of my head.

The next day I told my story about the Belly Popper to Josh and his mom, who we call Kat. Kat was horrified, but I got the giggles again and laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. When Jacob heard us talking about the Belly Popper he got very scared. "It's not real!" Kat cried.

Last Thanksgiving came and went without too much talk about the Belly Popper. A few months ago, however, I mentioned the Belly Popper to Casey. She was terrified. She was convinced that the Belly Popper was going to come and pop her belly. She kept pulling up her shirt to make sure her belly was still there. We finally convinced her that he wasn't real----just a story her mean mom made up.

This Thanksgiving morning Jacob and I talked about the Belly Popper. Jacob said the Belly Popper would turn into a good guy this year. I hope so. Otherwise, I'm going to go down in history as the scariest mom of all time!

Morning of Legos and Pancakes

We are in Alabama for a week and so far, it has been lots of fun. This morning we spent some time building with mega Legos.  I (Jacob) built this fine building with my great imagination!  Grandma says I am going to be an architect!

Casey likes to build too!  She likes to use the eyes and mouth lego pieces. 
Post by Kat

A few things I want to remember

The kids have been really fun and funny lately. The other day after Josh's defense we were telling Casey that daddy was now a doctor, just like mommy. She said, "You're not doctors!" She was really mad that we would try to pass ourselves off in such a manner.

This morning I asked Casey if she wanted to help me microwave something. She said, "I can't mom, until I'm bigger. You'll have to do it."

Jacob has been singing a "day of the week" song and a "library" song that he learned at school. It makes me think I should have made up learning songs for him years ago. After two years of trying to teach him the days of the week, Kindergarten to the rescue!

This week Jacob has been taking the bus to school. It's a lot easier than driving him, and with the nice warm fall weather it's been fun to be outside and around our neighbors. But Jacob keeps missing his school sponsored breakfast when he takes the bus. Today I asked, "Why don't you ask a grown up if you can go to the cafeteria and get breakfast?" "I can't do that," Jacob replied. "They might say NO!"

Casey remembers almost everything she's ever heard. This week, during the time that Casey reads or talks to herself, I've heard her bring up the "belly popper" (a fake monster I made up to scare the kids into playing outside on Thanksgiving---it's a long story, which I'll be happy to share if anyone's curious...), and Ling Li and Yuan, my friend Tina's kids, whom we haven't seen since August!

We asked Casey what dogs she would see at Grandma and Papa's. She said, "Petey and Annie." "And Peanut Butter," we added. Then Casey piped up, "But one of them died." Aw, it made me miss Bama a whole bunch!

Tonight Jacob made a banner to signify his love for everyone in the family. He wanted to write "Love Mom" and "Love Dad", etc. on each part of the banner. He misspelled LOVE so that it came out LOEV and VOEL. He spelled all of our names, right, though!

Last night Jacob drew a black diamond for everyone in the family. He's got so much energy for these projects that he cooks up. Uh, I guess it reminds me of...me!

Dr. Gregson, I Presume?

On Friday the 13th Josh defended his dissertation. This ceremony is a magical event, a little bit like a wedding, in which the PhD candidate becomes a "doctor." In the photograph above is Josh "before. In the photograph below, is Josh "after."


Everyone on Josh's committee was very proud of Josh. That's Jessie on the left, then Connie, then Roger, Josh's dissertation director. During the defense they each asked a thoughtful question. When it was over they were eager to take pictures and offer congratulations!


Immediately following the talk Josh and Keilan and I went to ELEVEN to celebrate. We indulged in a bottle of champagne, some oysters and some shrimp cocktail.

It was wonderful to celebrate this moment with Josh!

Autumn leaves...and nostalgia

Even as a young girl I was wistful about the fall. Fall was glorious in the Seattle area. The thousands of Cottonwoods would turn a bright goldernrod yellow, and, when their leaves fell, they turned the ground around my house into a sunshine-y carpet, slick with rain.

When I was ten years old I wrote a song about autumn leaves. I'm embarrassed about this now, but also weirdly proud. As I wrote this song I pictured myself having it recorded, and becoming famous. Uh….it wasn't that good. Really. Not at all. But as I look back on it I am more struck by the sense of wistfulness that I had, even at such a young age, about the passage of time:

Autumn leaves, sometimes look like fairies,
Dancing in the wind,
Autumn leaves, sometimes look like fairies,
Calling this to me:

Autumn is here, autumn is here
Come and play with me today….

When I wrote this song I was also very lonely. Until I started junior high I didn't have a lot of close friends at Arrowhead Elementary School. The kids swore a lot, and talked about "making out" with their boyfriends. The school was intimidating. I was a social kid, but I preferred reading in the library to all other activities.

Part of what is so fleeting about the fall is the fleeting beauty of the leaves themselves. Pictures don't adequately capture it. I think it's because the beauty is light itself. After doing some research on the subject I learned that the colors in the fall leaves are "in" the leaves all the time, but when the trees stop making chlorophyll, which makes the leaves green, the leaves' "true" colors emerge.

On October 2nd I started taking pictures of a very pretty cluster of trees on the edge of CMU's campus after I dropped my daughter off at her daycare. There was a long gap between the 5th and the 6th picture, but otherwise I took these pictures every 4 or 5 days. I especially like the 5th picture---with all the sunshine lighting up the beautiful leaves!

Josh Turns in Dissertation!

That's right! Josh turned in the "official" copy of his dissertation this week and now the only thing we have to do is figure out what we're wearing to his dissertation defense on November 13th!

I'm sorry to report, however, that Casey is still working on her dissertation. At least that's what she told me. Here she is at the keyboard under the slide at one of our favorite parks. Keep up the good work, Casey!