Tuesday, September 04, 2007

A Very Merry Unbirthday

Ian's dad, Phil, allowed us to celebrate his birthday this weekend, provided that we pretend that we all just happened to be in town, bearing gifts and cake, right around the anniversary of his birth, and since we were there we might as well have a sort of a party that no one was supposed to describe as a party or call undue attention to. Among the gifts that Phil received (for some, unbirthdayish reason) was this item, which is an electronic dinosaur. It comes complete with different moods, so it can be set to 'playful', 'hungry', 'defensive', or 'demonic' modes depending on the whim of its owner. Max and Joey were fascinated and horrified by it in equal measure. Since the robo-raptor made no overt moves to steal Maggie's milk, she maintained an unconcerned indifference towards it. While the dinosaur itself stirred up mixed emotions in the children present, it brought indirect but absolute delight into their lives in the form of --

-- the box that it was shipped in. Happiness is apparently as uncomplicated and easily claimed as your own cardboard tunnel. Who knew?

Max and Joey spent a lot of their time in or near the tunnel, peeking through it at each other and taking turns racing through it while chanting the other's name. This may have been the high point of Max's entire life.

We see Jean, Josh and Joey as often as we can, given the fact that we live on opposite ends of the state, but every time we get together I regret that we don't live closer. Max and Joseph are so close in age, and they get along so well, that I wish they could see more of each other. Max talked about Joey for the rest of the weekend, asking hopefully if we were going to see him every time we left the house. He even said something about Joey in his sleep on Saturday night. Oh, Joey, how we do pine for thee!

2 comments:

Ixchelle said...

You are such a great parent Chelsa! I am happy to know you and look forward to knowing you even better. These are great pictures and funny! Max. please come play with us!

Anonymous said...

We had a great time seeing the unbirthday boy, Max, Maggie and the rest of the family. The boys did play great together. I loved when Max told Joey "No, Joey"! I wish you guys lived closer so they could play more often. I also liked when Joey wanted to hold baby Maggie!