News of the Right

My nephew started doing half days of kindergarten this week, but by yesterday, even the novelty of his Batman bookbag had worn off. According to my brother:

School is going well. However, yesterday morning as he shuffled lazily to the car in order to go to school, he said, “Daddy, how many more days of school are there?”

“Uh, Mom didn’t explain this whole thing to you?”

“No.”

“Well, school goes until next Spring. September until June.”

If he had been less tired, I think he would have pulled a look of horror. He’s settling in, I guess.

But after school, they went to the zoo, so everything was good again.

Occasionally, my brother sends me stories about my nephew’s progress in life and, really, just how scarily smart he is. This came in last night from Scott to me and our mom:

A conversation with the boy this evening:

Daddy: “You wanna stop at McDonald’s for some fries as a snack?”

Dominic: “And some chicken nuggets.”

Daddy: “You can have one or the other.”

Dominic: “OK. Nuggets.”

We get to McDonald’s drive through and he sees the sign advertising the toys in the Happy Meal. (He can’t read, but he can figure this out, for sure.)

Dominic: “Can I get a Happy Meal?”

Daddy: “No, you’ve already had dinner. This is just a snack.”

Dominic: “Daddy, do you know what they call nuggets with no fries?”

Daddy: “What?”

Dominic: (pointedly) “A Sad Meal.”

My son. Your nephew. Your grandson.

The kid cracks me up.

My brother sent me this email today about my nephew:

Hee hee hee hee.

I was rolling in the car tonight on the way back to Dominic’s house. He’s been having the Bible read to him at night and I asked him how it was going.

“Good.”

“Did you get to the flood story yet?”

“The one with Noah’s ark, yeah.”

“Did you like it?”

“Yeah.”

I asked him some questions about the two birds and all that and then said:

“Did you know that there’s another story just like that about a flood?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, except in this other one Noah is called Utnapishtim.”

“Why’s he called Utnapishtim?!?!?!?!?!?”

He pronounced it properly and his enunciation was so perfect that I started laughing my ass off. It was cute as hell. I explained why his name was different, yeah. He wasn’t proud of himself for having said it right. He just kept saying it over trying to get me to laugh again.

I asked him, “Do you remember which animals Noah took?”

“All of them. Except the unicorns were goofing around.”

*pause*…”Is that why we don’t have unicorns anymore?”

“Yeah.”

God, I love that kid!

My brother Scott has some great new pieces up! The first is called “Luna Negra”, and the second is called “The Nightmare of Teeth”. To see more of his art go to his (still-being-built) website www.daedalusrose.com or his myspace page.

Christmas is always a joy for me, but ever since my nephew Dominic has been old enough to rip through wrapping paper like a tornado through Kansas, it’s been that much more special. Christmas is for kids. Having a kid around makes the holiday even better. Here I have a video of Dominic and my brother looking for me during round 100 or so of “Hide & Go Seek”. I’m in my Mom’s closet (go figure…) peeking out through the crack. Notice how even though Dominic has a sword in hand, he is the first to skedaddle when I leap out yelling. Heh. Heh.

Oh, and sorry for the dark quality. I’ve put a (flashed) picture below.