Down on the farm

The farm that provides most of our weekly groceries had a farm day August 31. One guy brought a traveling petting zoo, complete with snakes, mice, rabbits and a giant cockroach. Few of the animals escaped Beckett's "hold for a second, get startled and toss into the air" routine.


There were also horses, goats, sheep and a donkey.

Where Beckett likes to perform impact-testing on unsuspecting mice (one entered low earth orbit after making the mistake of grazing his hand with its mouse claws), Ayla prefers to choke her victims.

Kids, asleep

Tiger Walk

The Tiger Walk is a tradition at Mizzou. Incoming freshmen take a break from binge-drinking to hear a couple of old people talk and then run between the columns toward free Tiger Stripe ice cream. It's not exactly the bonfire at Texas A&M, but it's what we've got.

Beckett was rather taken with the Golden Girls.
We ate Jimmy John's sandwiches and then the kids had a good time playing on the columns.

Tear-inducing moments, Beckett edition

There have been plenty.

1) Beckett heard Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" once in the car about a year ago. He hasn't gotten the tune out of his head since. He doesn't have the slightest idea what the hell Ozzy's saying either, but there's no debating that great guitar riffs are universal.

2) At the occasionally distressingly authentic Mexican restaurant we go to all the time Beckett pointed to one of the menu pictures two weeks ago and said, "Dad, I want the whole fried fish." Head, tail, everything. Damned if he didn't eat half the thing too, picking it off the bones with fork and finger and having to be told that no, you don't have to eat the eyeball if you don't want to. He kind of wanted to.

3) Rusty, a friend and father of Beckett's buddy Owen, plowed into me in an aggressive but clean play for the ball in our indoor soccer league last year. We were jockeying for the ball and he got it with a little elbow play, slamming me into the wall. Nothing wrong there. Until the following week, when my Beckett summarily humiliated me about the incident, asking "Dad, is Rusty going to nail you again? Elbows have been sharpened ever since.

4) Exchange #1
Dad: I gotta go to work now. See you tonight for fajitas.
Beckett: I don't want fajitas. I want vegetables.
Dad:
Beckett: Like zucchini.
Dad: Umm.
Beckett: Or those cucumbers in - what is it called? - vinegar.
Dad: Er, I gotta go to work now.

5) Exchange #2
Beckett: Dada, why can't we see the wind?
Dad: Umm.
Beckett:
Dad: Because wind is made of of molecules that are too small to see. You can see wind's effects in the trees blowing and dust hurtling about, but we can't actually see wind itself. The molecules are too small for our eyes.
Beckett: Dad, why don't you just answer the question?

5) At Kostaki's Pizza, where pictures of Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle line the walls:

Beckett (pointing at a photo of Mantle): Dada, is that Gradpa's favorite player?
Dad: Yes it was.
Beckett: He didn't sign his autograph for Grandpa, did he? When Grandpa was a kid?
Dad: No he didn't, Beckett. You're right.
Beckett (pointing at Ruth's picture): That guy was better.
Dad: Yes Beckett, he was. He really was.

6) The number six tear-inducing moment happens quite often nowadays. Beckett and a good gaggle of neighborhood kids are at the age where running freely, from house to house and swingset to swingset are becoming standard activities. Kids have taken to knocking on the door to ask if Beckett can come out to play. After I explain that Beckett has been cryogenically frozen so that he forever remains in his always endearing, occasionally frustrating current state at four and a half years of age, they usually back away. Truth is, half the time he comes to the door and tells them, "No, I'm playing with my Dada." The door closes and they leave. Beckett stays and reenacts something from last night's Olympics. Or simply flits about for a few moments muttering insensible goofiness (see above picture for proper facial expression) and bonks his kid sister gently on the head. The days that happens are quickly ticking away; we will forever miss them.

Rollin' on the river

The Allen clan hit the river for some canoeing action and camped that night with the other drunken clown rednecks. In true Missouri hillbilly fashion we picked out a tree and tied a closeline to it to dry wet swimsuits. And then proceeded to chop the tree down.


The day before we engaged in another wonderful, if slightly W.T. activity. The fish fry. Family-members stand around a roiling vat of oil eating molten nuggets of crappie and catfish until their fingers melt or the Keystone runs out. It's about as much fun as you can have. Here's Ayla's introduction to the ritual.

Ayla's first

Ayla Caye Rowson turned one year old August 7, 2008. After a slow start she got into the cake pretty well.

Dear Ayla

Today you are one year old.

The past 12 months have been a dizzying mix of spit-up, new discoveries and most of all, smiles. As the months have gone on you have developed a strong but charming personality. Your long eyelashes and ever-present smile melt everyone's hearts, but mine and your mom's most of all.

Just a year ago this morning we were getting ready to head into the hospital. We were nervous about what a new family addition would mean to our lives. If there would be enough attention to go around. Whether we could love anyone as much as Beckett. If girls are as much fun as boys. From the beginning you put our fears at ease. You were a good sleeper and so adorable that it took your brother nearly a year to get all up in your grill about getting more attention. He loves you so much but also needs someone to box around a little bit. Sorry about that.

One year into life you are clearly a force to be reckoned with. You are opinionated and strong-willed, qualities that will serve you well in life if you keep that stunning smile and long eyelashes. You are also inquisitive and playful and quick with a laugh. Our nightly peekaboo routine around the dinner table - ducking out of view behind a flower vase, then shooting back into view and giggling - would give even the most jaded cynic reason to hope. Just in the past few weeks you have started to take steps and say "dada." You are learning the signs for a number of words but your favorite is an all-purpose clap when you
are excited or do something funny. We love the way your hair gets all curly in the back in the summer humidity when we play in the front yard and the way you look like a happy little vampire with only two perfectly placed teeth on the top row.

Ayla, you are a lovely daughter and, along with Beckett, the greatest joy a mom and dad could ever wish for. We enjoy you more and more every day - something that doesn't really seem possible but just happens. We look forward to the years ahead but also kind of want to stop you right about here. Happy first birthday, Ayla. We love you very much.

Love,
Dad

And now a blast from the past:

Fun at the lake

We spent the weekend at GG's (great grandma's) condo at the Lake of the Ozarks in mid-July. There, as usual, we swam in the pool, took boat rides and fished. Beckett takes his fishing pretty seriously. Paparazzi are not welcomed warmly.

Beckett caught a personal best eight bluegill one morning. We returned them - mostly no worse for wear - to their "families" in the water. Beckett's never sure about this and would prefer to keep them and fry them up. I can empathize but don't relish spending an hour cleaning bluegill for a few scraps of fish (Papa wouldn't have hesitated, of course, and once cleaned close to thirty bluegill I caught at Redbird Resort. Better man than I is all I can say).

Meet me in St. Louis

We love St. Louis, even if we hardly ever get to the east side of the state. An early August trip brought a Cards game, a trip to the zoo and, for dad, a visit to The Hill.


The zoo's dinosaur exhibit - for all its hype - was actually rather lame. A handful of weak animatronic dinosaurs and a kinda cool excavation area for kids. Beckett enjoyed it, especially the part where we "hunted" the T-Rex. Still, I was expecting more than a poor-man's version of T-Rex Cafe.