Date time

When Biscuit is away, Jeff and I usually go see some movies. But for some reason, this time, it just hasn't worked out.

But that's not to say we haven't had some dates.

We rode to work together Friday in the Barracuda. Then after work, we just started driving. We drove and drove and drove. For an hour-and-a-half. We went through several little towns and were in three different counties.

Jeff said, "Holler if you see somewhere you want to eat dinner."

But I never hollered. I was enjoying riding around better than I would've enjoyed being in a restaurant.

We eventually made our way home and ate leftovers. Riding country roads outweighed a restaurant by far.

Here are some pictures:

I guess our Friday evening ride wasn't enough because Saturday evening, we did it again.

We went to a Japanese steakhouse for dinner. We sat at one of the hibachi tables with four other couples. Our chef was great. He joked around a lot and put on a good show.

Our chef makes an onion volcano.

Then he squirted oil in it and set it on fire.

I sent this picture to my brother and said, "Enjoying a nighttime ride in the Barracuda." He texted me back and said, "You suck. Here I am taking care of your boy, and y'all are out riding around." And I text back, "Well, yeah! Why do you think I sent him down there?!"

Driving through a tunnel was the only place light enough to take a selfie of us.

It's weird how different buildings look at night. 

And you realize that in a regular car, you don't see the tops of buildings and the fancy stonework and trims.

I will neither confirm nor deny that Jeff is walking into a cheesecake shop to get us some dessert.

I'm glad Jeff and I still have fun together.

Tired Biscuit

When Biscuit is visiting my family, he gets completely worn out! He stays up late, but then he still gets up at his regular time. I keep telling him that he can sleep late in the mornings, but he always says, "I can't, Mom. I try to sleep late, but I just wake up anyway."

But then he ends up almost falling asleep by suppertime. And sometimes before that. 

Like in a car.

Or on a couch.

Or even on the back of a golf cart!

I texted my nephew and said, "Please tell me he has a seatbelt on!"

He wrote back, "No, but I've got my arm across him. He's not going anywhere."

Poor Biscuit. He's gonna need a vacation after his vacation.

Biscuit at the wheel

To kick off his summer, Biscuit spent a little over a week with my parents. And of course that also means time with cousins.

My brother and his family go camping a lot, so they recently got a golf cart to use at the campground they stay at the most. And where they live, you can drive a golf cart on the road within 4 miles of your house.

So once they got on the back roads, Biscuit got in the driver's seat. Well, almost. He was on his cousin's lap, who was in the driver's seat.

My sister-in-law sent me this picture, and I thought it was really cute.

But then she sent the video:

I texted back, "TELL HIM TO GET HIS HANDS ON THAT WHEEL!"

His response was, "Awwwwww, but it was fun."

Maybe by the time he's ready for his driver's license, he'll already have a pretty good handle on driving.

40 books

Biscuit's class had an optional reading project this year called The 40 Book Challenge. It's pretty self-explanatory. They had to read 40 books. But there were some rules.

They had to read books in certain categories, including:

• Biography
• Mystery
• Realistic fiction
• Historical fiction
• Chapter books
• Informational
• Sci-fi
• Poetry
• Fantasy
• Sports
• Traditional literature
• Award-winning books

They had a chart to fill in with spots for two biographies, four historical fiction, three poetry books, etc. And they could only read five "picture books." You know, books that don't have a whole lot of words on the pages.

I was very proud of Biscuit. He didn't use any picture books. He read the poetry books, then every other book he read was a chapter book — which sounds exactly like what it is, a book with multiple chapters.

He was the first one in his class to finish it. And since it was optional, he ended up being one of only three kids in his class to do it.

His teacher has really encouraged him this year with his reading. And we've made sure to have books on hand that he enjoys reading.

As a reward, Biscuit's teacher gave him an envelope on a Friday afternoon. It happened to be the Friday of the book fair. She sent me an email saying she put $5 in an envelope for Biscuit to spend at the book fair. And that night was buy one, get one free, which meant he could afford to get two books with the money.

Jeff picked up Biscuit, put the envelope in his pocket, then took Biscuit to the book fair. Biscuit got what he wanted, and when they got home, Jeff laid the envelope on the kitchen counter.

When Biscuit got up the next morning, I told him to open the envelope so he could pay Jeff back for his books. But we ended up letting him keep most of what was in the envelope.

It included a $2 bill, an Eisenhower dollar coin, two Kennedy half-dollars and a regular $1 bill. It was such a sweet thing for his teacher to do because that money came out of her pocket.

I wrote her an email and told her how excited Biscuit was when he opened the envelope. She said her father-in-law started the tradition with her kids, and they call it "funny money."

Biscuit was very proud of himself for completing the challenge, and we were proud, too.

Honor roll

Biscuit did really well in third grade. He really got into reading. He had A-B honor roll for the first three quarters, then to our surprise, he got All-A honor roll for the fourth quarter.

I said to Jeff, "If he could get A honor roll in the fourth quarter, why couldn't he have gotten all A's in the other quarters?!"

Of course I was teasing. I'm more than happy with A-B honor roll.

But the one thing that IS driving me crazy about my boy right now is that I can't seem to get a good picture of him to save my life!

He won't show his teeth when he smiles because he's missing some teeth, and they're crooked, and he's self-conscious about it. I think I mentioned before that we're going to see an orthodontist sometime soon.

I also can't get him to look at the camera. He does this fake smile and either closes his eyes or looks toward the floor.

The school hosted an honor roll breakfast on the next to last day of school, and all I wanted was a simple picture of him standing with his honor roll certificates.

His name

I've always told people that my rule for choosing baby names is that if you can't picture it on an office door, don't give your kid the name you're considering.

I've also said that sometimes on vacation, a kid just wants to buy a keychain with his name on it.

Well guess what? I think Biscuit's name will be fine on an office door, but ever since he was born, I've looked at the kitschy gift shops for something with his name on it. And until I went on my recent girls' trip, I had never seen his name on anything.

So when I saw a little picture frame with his name on it, I had to get it.

The funny thing is that the description of his name sort of fits him.

It says that he:
- likes to help and encourage others
- his is casual and fun-loving 
- a person who has a lot of patience
- likes things to be from his own ideas
- proud of his accomplishments
- likes to captivate others
- he puts thought into everything he does

- an explorer at heart

I'm not so sure about the patience thing, but the rest of it sounds a lot like him.

Grandpa book

Happy Father's Day to all the dads in our lives!

Biscuit is at my parents' house, so we actually celebrated Father's Day last Sunday.

Biscuit and some of his fellow piano students played for a little while at a nursing home. Then we took Jeff to a movie and dinner, and of course there were presents.

I actually made a Father's Day present for Biscuit, too.

We watched a movie recently about the Day of the Dead holiday and how important it is to remember family members who have died. That brought up all kinds of conversations about death and heaven and how to remember people after they're gone.

And of course, since my father-in-law is the only person Biscuit has lost, that's who he was thinking about.

My sister-in-law passed along a coupon code for a photo book, and I decided to make a book for Biscuit with pictures of him and his grandpa.

Here's the cover:

I found some really good pictures to use. Here are a few that I included:

January 2009

January 2011

January 2012

January 2012

January 2013

May 2010

May 2010

October 2010

May 2010

September 2013

I gave Biscuit his book and fully expected him to say, "That's nice," and put it aside and go about his playing. That's the kind of thing that you'd expect him to like when he's older.

But when Biscuit opened it, he sat right there and looked at every single page. It almost made me cry. He didn't remember the early photos, obviously, but once he got to the photos he remembered, he got excited.

I hope he enjoys it for many years to come.

A trip to the dentist

Biscuit has a really sweet dentist. He always takes the time to talk to the kids and find out what they've been up to lately. And the whole office is decorated with ocean-, sailing-, fish-themed pictures, stuffed animals and other stuff.

The kids get to pick out the color of the toothbrush they get to bring home, and they get to pick the flavor of the toothpaste they use on them in the office.

And if they get through with no cavities, they get to sign a paper cutout and put it on the No Cavities bulletin board. The paper cutouts are always seasonally themed.

One of the things Biscuit likes the best is that they have sunglasses for the kids to wear while they're shining that bright light in their faces.

Here's Biscuit while he was waiting on the dentist to come check out his teeth.

After Biscuit's appointment, the dentist told me it was time to get him checked out by an orthodontist. He wrote us a referral, and we'll be doing that sometime soon. I dread putting Biscuit through that, but he definitely needs it. His mouth is really small, and there's not enough room for all his teeth.

I hope the referred doctor is good and will give Biscuit the pretty smile he wants.

Out of the mouth of my babe

A few things Biscuit has said recently: 



Pretty sky: We had several days of rain recently, and it made for some really pretty and really scary looking skies.

As Biscuit and I were driving home one evening, we both said "Wow!" at the same time.

"The sky is really pretty," I said.

"It really is, Mom," Biscuit said. "When those rays come down like that, it looks ... kinda ... well, it just looks holy."

And I would agree.

That's a mouthful: "Mom, I was watching this cartoon, and one of the characters was eating a cheeseburger," Biscuit explained. "And do you know that he was talking with his mouth full, and it sounded EXACTLY like he was talking with absolutely nothing in his mouth!"

"That's weird, dude," I told him.

"I know! How is that even possible?!" he said with big hand gestures. "I'll just tell you. I tried it, and it's completely impractical. It's ridiculous!"

One extreme to the other

Sometimes it seems like my Biscuit baby goes from being an 85-year-old man to a 9-year-old in no time at all.

Last night was a good example.

Biscuit said, "Mom, when I'm in a troublesome mood, I just go to my happy place."

My first thought was, "How often do you have troublesome moods," but I went along with him.

"What is your happy place?" I asked him.

"Well, it's like a jungle," he said, "and it has a stream running through it, and a friendly tiger comes up to talk to me. It's filled with many wonders."

Troublesome moods?! Many wonders?! Yep. That's the 85-year-old.

Less than an hour later, the 9-year-old part of him kicks in.

"Mom," he said, "you won't believe this."

"What?" I asked him. I was a little hesitant to hear what he had to say because he had a mischievous look on his face.

"When I was riding my scooter this afternoon, for a little while, every time I would put my foot down to push off, I would fart," he said, laughing.

"Why do you think I want to know about your farts?" I asked him.

"It wasn't just about the farts, Mom," he said. "It was how I used the farts. It was like I was using jet propulsion."

A month of lessons

Biscuit has been taking guitar lessons for about a month, and he's doing a pretty good job. They're starting with learning the individual notes, then he can move on to chords after that.

Here's Biscuit playing the first part of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy":

Biscuit's Bug

Biscuit had a big bug project earlier in his third-grade year. He wanted to do hornets, but he couldn't find a library book about them. And that's where they were supposed to get their information.

So he ended up doing his project on bees. And it was pretty in-depth.

They started with outlines and summary sheets. Then they wrote a glossary of terms. The made a list of sources. It was impressive how much work he did on it.

They had to create a book with all their information. They had to have a table of contents, chapters with headings, pictures, graphics and other stuff.

On the back of the book, they had "praises." They had to let their teacher and some of their classmates read the book then write a sentence about it. Stuff like, "This book had more information about bees than any other book I've read."

They had a "bug night" at school where all the books were on display and the kids could take their parents around to show off their work. They had also created a big mural in the hallway. The kids had drawn, colored and cut out a picture of their bugs.

Here are some pictures:

See the bee?

The sign above his head says "Meet the Authors." It took me a bit to figure it out.

The kids got bug-themed treats. The sticker says, "Congratulations! You've caught the "writing bug."

Baseball in the rain

Baseball season seems to be dragging on. We've had a lot of rain and a lot of cancelled games.

It stormed yesterday evening, then it looked cloudy when we got up this morning. But by the time we headed to the field, it had cleared up.

Biscuit's games this year are 1 1/2 hours or 6 innings, whichever comes first. At the beginning of the 4th inning, some gray clouds started moving in. Then at the beginning of the 5th inning, the heavens opened, and it poured!

I thought they would immediately stop the game, but there was no thunder and no lightning, so they just let them play.

I always take a huge black umbrella with me for his games. I sunburn easily, but with that umbrella up, I have my own shady spot.

Well today, I had to use it for its intended purpose. And I was glad I had it. It was my turn to bring the post-game snacks and drinks, but when I say that umbrella is huge, I mean it. It completely covered my chair, all of me, including me feet, the cooler bag with the drinks and the tote bag with the snacks.

I asked Biscuit how he liked playing in the rain.

"The rain wasn't so bad," he said, "but I got really cold."

I can believe it. They wear thin polyester shirts and pants, so not a whole lot of coverage.

Biscuit's uniform was pretty clean before the rain, but between the slipperiness and the mud flying from his cleats up onto the back of his pants as he ran, he had quite a splatter pattern.

Here are some pictures:

His hair isn't wet from sweat this time.

Not sure what that crazy look is for.

He said playing baseball in the rain wore him out.

Declarations of independence

I've told Biscuit — and I truly believe it — that my job as a parent is to get Biscuit ready to live a productive, happy life as an adult.

But I swear, every time he learns to do something else, I'm proud of him, but I'm also aware that it's one less thing he needs me for!

He sat down to practice guitar the other evening, and I realized that he needed to have his fingernails cut. 

"Run up and get your clippers, and I'll cut your nails," I told Biscuit.

"Okay," he said, and off he went.

I was sitting in my rocking chair doing some work on my laptop, and I realized that Biscuit hadn't come down yet. 

"Hey," I hollered, "what are you doing?"

He came bounding down the stairs to show me his nails. He had cut them all by himself. And he did a good job, too.

He's been able to get himself ready in the morning and ready for bed for a while now. The one thing he routinely forgets is to move his towel from the rack to the hook where he can reach it when he's done. He has his own bathroom, so I told Jeff I think that Biscuit does it on purpose so he can have some company up there.

The latest accomplishment is that he's been setting his own alarm clock and getting up before we go upstairs to wake him. He wanted it set to music instead of an alarm.

"I don't like the noise the alarm makes," he said. "I want to wake up in a more peaceful way."

And since Jeff and I aren't particularly morning people, we don't care what kind of noise he wants to wake up to. He gets a headstart on brushing his teeth, washing his face and getting dressed.

More music lessons

After Biscuit spent Spring Break at my parents house, he came home and asked about taking guitar lessons. My brother and daddy play guitars and sing with Biscuit when he's there. So I think he decided that he'd like to be able to play for himself to sing.

It just so happens that his piano teacher also teaches guitar. I sent him a heads-up text to let him know that Biscuit was going to ask about guitar lessons. And of course, the teacher's first concern was that Biscuit wanted to quit piano.

I assured him that was not the case and asked if there was a way he could do both. I was worried about cost and the amount of time he'd spend in lessons and practicing at home.

So we threw around some ideas and decided that we would increase his lessons from 45 minutes to 1 hour — 30 minutes on piano and 30 minutes on guitar.

He's been at it for three weeks now, and he seems to be enjoying it.

I was worried about Biscuit's little fingers. Guitar strings are really rough. They're metal and leave grooves in your fingers that are quite painful. And eventually, you build up calluses. 

I read a crazy story one time about rock guitarist. He was onstage when one of his finger calluses peeled off. He stepped off stage, put it back on with super glue, went back onstage and finished the concert. Told you it was crazy!

My brother gave Biscuit a small guitar for Christmas a couple of years ago. But we didn't realize quite how much Biscuit has grown since then. The guitar was too small for him.

Luckily, Biscuit's teacher recommended an extremely affordable 3/4 size guitar with nylon strings. As soon as I saw it, I knew it would be an easy way for Biscuit to start.

I got a Y-shaped guitar hanger, and Jeff hung Biscuit's tiny guitar on his bedroom wall as a decoration. And he's really enjoying his new, bigger guitar.

Here's Biscuit during practice: