Showing posts with label Uncle Grant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Uncle Grant. Show all posts
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Medieval Knights
Last night we went on a double date with my brother Grant and his wife Lisa. Rachel was not in the mood for the same-old, same-old, so she looked around and found this Medieval dinner theater place. The horses were well-trained and really stole the show. The actors were also good -- Lisa speculates they were recruited from New York's theater scene -- but the script was pure cheddar.
There was a roll call of birthdays and celebrations towards the end of the night. When the MC got to "Joe, for his bachelor party," he paused and improvised: "So for your bachelor party, you came to watch men in tights? Your dad must be proud, Joe."
As Grant put it, "it's like Chuck E Cheese, for adults."
Friday, January 16, 2009
Welcome Jedidiah!
I see your father lost his bid to name you "Iron Stallion Ellis IV." Dodged a bullet there, kiddo. 1 hour of labor, my goodness you were in a hurry to get here!!! You picked fantastic parents too, very good call little one. Your Uncle Jon and Aunt Rachel are sure excited to meet you someday soon.
Congratulations Grant and Lisa! We're so happy for you!
(Jonathan adds: I'm glad that my brother was able to name his son Jedidiah since Rachel didn't let me. Little "Jedi!")
Congratulations Grant and Lisa! We're so happy for you!
(Jonathan adds: I'm glad that my brother was able to name his son Jedidiah since Rachel didn't let me. Little "Jedi!")
Friday, November 12, 2004
Summersaults
Peanut seems to enjoy flinging his head onto the ground, so I decided to teach him the fine art of summersaulting--so at least he's doing something moderately useful--while his mother wasn't home, of course.
Despite numerous demonstrations of the correct technique, and despite being forced to do it the right way several times, Matthew prefers his own technique, specifically, placing his head on the ground and jumping as hard as he can. When he is successful he looks like he's pole vaulting himself.
When he forgets to place his head on the ground, it looks like he's doing a human javelin toss. Fortunately, he decided early on that was not a Good Idea, though I'm not sure how permanent the lesson was.
Regardless, it takes him three or four tries to do it right, so he goes up in the air (legs straight) and back down on his face again two or three times before doing the pole vault.
I even tried to teach him a judo roll, but that, like my version of the somersault, lacked the necessary tactile head involvement to be amusing.
Someday, when I'm feeling really evil, I'm going to try to teach him how to draw cartoons. The world will never be safe again.
--Uncle Grant
Despite numerous demonstrations of the correct technique, and despite being forced to do it the right way several times, Matthew prefers his own technique, specifically, placing his head on the ground and jumping as hard as he can. When he is successful he looks like he's pole vaulting himself.
When he forgets to place his head on the ground, it looks like he's doing a human javelin toss. Fortunately, he decided early on that was not a Good Idea, though I'm not sure how permanent the lesson was.
Regardless, it takes him three or four tries to do it right, so he goes up in the air (legs straight) and back down on his face again two or three times before doing the pole vault.
I even tried to teach him a judo roll, but that, like my version of the somersault, lacked the necessary tactile head involvement to be amusing.
Someday, when I'm feeling really evil, I'm going to try to teach him how to draw cartoons. The world will never be safe again.
--Uncle Grant
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Horses
After I came to babysit today, I was pleasantly surprised by Peanut's good humor--his behavior on the way here mostly alternated between howling and moaning.
But as soon as he had his bath he was happy, and one of the games we played was his sitting on the rocking horse while I hummed the first movement of the William Tell overture. When he started, I started, when he stopped, I stopped. After a few successive stops and starts, I realized he was trying to throw me off. He's a quick learner.
--Uncle Grant
But as soon as he had his bath he was happy, and one of the games we played was his sitting on the rocking horse while I hummed the first movement of the William Tell overture. When he started, I started, when he stopped, I stopped. After a few successive stops and starts, I realized he was trying to throw me off. He's a quick learner.
--Uncle Grant
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Wednesday
This morning Matthew slept in until 7:50. That's unheard of! I think this is the latest he's ever slept in his life. (Okay, he did wake up at 6:00, but he went back to sleep.) Little things like this make Daddy a very happy man.
Last night I got Matthew a tee-ball set at Target. Matthew is, perhaps, a little bit spoiled... Anyway, he loved whacking the ball on the post; he started off with a vertical arc and eventually I prevailed on him to try horizontally but when he does that he likes to whack the tee as hard as he can, instead of aiming for the ball. Maybe he's still a bit young for this, but hey, if it lets him burn energy inside it will be a lifesaver as it starts getting colder in the mornings. (Matthew doesn't have any problem with it, but Daddy isn't always up to the hassle of bundling and unbundling him in warm layers. Not to mention that sometimes Daddy is a wimp and would prefer to stay where it's warm himself.)
Finally, an update on a previous post: Matthew's Uncle Grant suspects that Matthew learned the "snore when you pretend to sleep" trick from him. This is apparently one of Matthew's favorite games with him: cover Uncle Grant with a blanket and watch Uncle Grant pretend to sleep, with snores.
Uncle Grant is a great peanut-sitter.
Last night I got Matthew a tee-ball set at Target. Matthew is, perhaps, a little bit spoiled... Anyway, he loved whacking the ball on the post; he started off with a vertical arc and eventually I prevailed on him to try horizontally but when he does that he likes to whack the tee as hard as he can, instead of aiming for the ball. Maybe he's still a bit young for this, but hey, if it lets him burn energy inside it will be a lifesaver as it starts getting colder in the mornings. (Matthew doesn't have any problem with it, but Daddy isn't always up to the hassle of bundling and unbundling him in warm layers. Not to mention that sometimes Daddy is a wimp and would prefer to stay where it's warm himself.)
Finally, an update on a previous post: Matthew's Uncle Grant suspects that Matthew learned the "snore when you pretend to sleep" trick from him. This is apparently one of Matthew's favorite games with him: cover Uncle Grant with a blanket and watch Uncle Grant pretend to sleep, with snores.
Uncle Grant is a great peanut-sitter.
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