Whaddayado when your Spy gets bored?

Tie Dye.

Spy and Q started with a package of five T-shirts each, some of which are here:

Then they moved on to packages of socks:

While Spymom tie-dyed their pillowcases and sheets:

We were having so much fun, that we even tie-dyed Spy’s two white long-sleeved T-shirts. His favorite? The “Rainbow Shirt“, of course.

For the past two weeks, Spy and Q have worn little else but these shirts. Then Spy came down yesterday morning in something else.

“No tie dye shirt today?” I’d just washed all of them so I knew the drawer was full.

“I’m saving them for school. One for each day.”

And this is good for the teacher, you see, because when Spy sneaks off, he’ll be all that easier to locate.

There’s a reason I encourage Spy’s penchant for bright colors.

While Q continued to refine the original robot, Spy boldly pressed forward to create:

Still not walking, this robot has two new features. As before, two servos allow the arms to move up and down – these arms come with flashlight and propeller capabilities (complete the circuit, and the propeller spins as the arm goes up and down). Spygrandpa pulled out more servos for Spy and Q to improve their robots, but Q was too slow or too busy with other projects. Spy grabbed the extra two.

With the addition of a third servo, Soda Bottle Robot can now turn his head (all the better for the red LED eyes to see you, my dear).

(Why yes, that is my old ear bud holder.)

(Flashlight and propeller on above.)

And the fourth servo enabled Spy’s robot to wag his tail. You know, “so you can tell if he’s happy with you or not”.

Did I not warn you all last year that remote control cars were just the beginning? Mark my words, next year there will be wheels.

Today, while walking down a windy corridor.

Spy: “Have you noticed there’s air all around us?”

Spydad: “Good thing. Or we’d be surrounded by water or embedded in rock.”

Spy: “The air is even inside my lungs.”

Once again Spy and Q are in their underground engineering lab working on their fledgling skills to take over the world using robots.

This time, they’ve actually managed to animate their creation. Spy did the design work and and Q provided the labor.

Up from the cellar come Spy and Q (safety glasses shoved onto their foreheads) with this joint creation:

With all the appropriate mechanical creaky sounds, his arms MOVE!

The arm on the right sports a toothpaste gun.

Inside beats a red light indicating a connection to the remote control which Q uses to control each arm’s movement separately.

And those glowing green eyes? Here’s a view from the top.

Next time, plans are to make the robot walk.

Spy: “My blood is just too hot to cool down.”

“Mommy. Daddy. Come quick. There’s a really big, really ugly bug up here.”

Spy’s voice was remarkably calm as he called to us down the stairs. Yet there was definitely a hint of worry in his voice.

And this is a boy who loves bugs. Spy has a bug zoo/cage that he fills with his bare fingers as I, Spymom, try not to visibly cringe.

But this bug wouldn’t fit in that cage.

Because it was a brown bat.

Spydad’s voice carried far more concern when he went to investigate and announced a bat was flying around upstairs. I ran up the stairs with a broom in hand, ready to grab a towel. This wouldn’t have been the first bat I’ve caught.

But then it flew into the guest room and we followed, slamming the door behind us. With the broom, I checked to make certain it wasn’t hiding in the curtains, then threw open the window. We backed out, trusting the bat would find its way outside.

This morning? No bat.

The cat ran by this morning, his ears flat, his belly close to the floor.

Spy bounded proudly behind him. “I’m teaching Darwin how to walk like a gentleman.”  (Darwin is our gray and white morning coat kitty.) Spy began to imitate Darwin’s steps. “But he rather walks like a zombie.”

Yesterday a huge machine arrived to grind up our street in preparation for new pavement. After a few passes, it stopped. Q wanted to check it out. So we went down to the street and met the man who was replacing the grinding pegs underneath. Q was full of questions for him. Before I knew it, he was underneath with the driver getting a lesson on how it worked. Moments later, the two of them had the side of the truck open for an explanation of the two different drive belts. All I have retained is that this behemoth of a truck weighs 70 thousand pounds.

Today, the grader and the roller are out in force and we almost have a smooth surface. But all the beeping of the trucks has our poor dog, Nira, terrified. (She’s trained to respond to a beeping electric fence collar and is convinced – despite my having removed the collar – that she is about to be electrocuted.)

Spy just informed us that there is “no such thing as zombies, walking skeletons and vampires.”

Yes, Spymom and Spydad agree.

But Spy wasn’t done quite yet.

“Because the big fireball came down and exploded and killed all the dinosaurs and vampires.”

Huh?

Well, apparently this big fireball was like a giant burning sun that did in all the vampires. Along with the dinosaurs.

Where boys can dig, bury themselves, throw things into water, race the waves, splash, learn to crash kites.

And generally wear themselves out to the point they collapse senseless into bed.

One of our stops was Provincetown, MA where Spy and Q went crabbing.

Q pulled out a green crab.

Spy pulled out handfuls of hermit crabs. Then hurled them back, one by one, saying “Goodbye” to each.

Spy loves rainbows. At age 3 he had the correct order of the colors memorized.

Let him create art and it often comes out in rainbow form. (Tho’ he gave up on indigo after finding Crayola leaves that one out and just gives you purple. He’s adapted.):

This past year in Kindergarten, they studied poetry. Again, rainbows figured prominently. His teacher had to extend the paper because there was no way Spy was going to leave out any of the colors.

But this is my favorite poem.

Spy is on the rainbow. First he speaks to the rainbow, then the rainbow answers.

‘Oh, Rainbow’

“Rainbow why are you down low and I’m so high?”

“I don’t know. You’re so high and I’m so low.”

This past February, Spy came home with these shoes:

“We studied Jackson Pollock in art today,” said Spy. The art teacher had them throwing paint on the floor and Spy had “The Best Time Ever” in art class.

We took Spy and Q to New York City during winter break. One of our stops was at the MOMA to see the Tim Burton exhibit (This exhibit fascinated Spy to no end – one particular image really caught his attention: a toilet at the end of the hall that had teeth.)

After the Burton exhibit, we took Spy up the escalator to view a real Jackson Pollock. He wasn’t very impressed. After the Burton art, I had to agree with him. But he did make an impression the guard. Spy ran headlong in the gallery and dove for the cushioned bench in the middle of the room. The guard hopped to attention and – for just a moment – I though he just might jump on top of Spy to protect the art.

We dragged him from the room after that, thoughts of headline news running through Spydad and Spymom’s heads.

School’s wrapping up now, and we’re getting all kinds of artwork sent home.

Here’s Spy’s rendition of ‘Jackson Pollock, Untitled’:

Said Spy, “Xrays are for seeing what you weren’t supposed to snort or swallow.”

Apparently there was an extensive discussion in Kindergarten today. One of Spy’s classmate’s swallowed a penny (so Spy says) and was taken for an Xray.

I love making birthday cakes – cakes in general – with Spy and Q. Today’s mixes make them incredibly easy as do all those pre-filled frosting tubes. They get so excited ‘popping’ the eggs, mixing in the oil and water – and finally – the chocolate powder. Yes. 99% of the time it’s chocolate around here. Once we made a marbled cake. And once a vanilla.

All in all, our cakes are less than professional, but we do have fun making them.

At age three, Q engineered this cake for Spydad:

Radar went down that day. When I wasn’t looking, all the planes crashed.

Q’s next cake was one we made for Halloween. A ‘just because’ cake.

This year all the kindergarteners brought home signed statements of their New Year’s Resolution.

And since Spy has a thing for the ‘hot lava’ cakes (you saw that coming, didn’t you?), this was the first cake he made all by himself. He did everything on his own under my instruction (except remove the hot pan from the oven at the very end).

Q is Lego obsessed. Has been for a good two years.

This year Q and Spydad built this Lego cake (key ingredient: marshmallows).

And just this past week, Spy had his birthday cake. I was even given explicit directions:

But since the cake wasn’t quite large enough to accommodate the entire diagram, we settled for portion of his plans. Ever seen a car race threatened by hot lava?

Many of you followed a number of iPhone uploads during our Spring Break vacation to AZ, UT and CO (with a brief stop in NM). Here are Spy and Q’s favorite parts.

The boys loved the Pink Jeep Tour in Sedona, AZ. Particularly the ‘going over cliffs’ part:

Q was psyched to see the Grand Canyon. We almost missed it because of the snow. But it cleared up the next morning:

Goblin State Park was a huge hit. Kids are allowed to climb on the formations. Spy and Q spent a good hour zooming. Slept like logs that night:

Spymom and Spydad’s greatest worry was the 32 foot ladder leading to the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park. Spy and Q LOVED it.

And they became Jr. Rangers. This Park Ranger made them WORK for their badges:

And the Monument Valley horseback tour was quite possibly “The Best Day Ever”. Q’s horse behaved and the Navajo guide only had to stop Spy’s horse from running away once.

When no one is available for a round of Uno, who pitches in?

Spy has a herd of Webkinz for just that purpose. (Note the scarves and blankets. It’s cold today.)

And yes, Spy cheats at every opportunity. Could be that’s why only Shadow, Dust and Twilight (the horses) will play with him?

“Mommy, am I random?” Spy asked me a week ago while climbing down the school bus stairs.

“Well, you can be.”

Huge, concerned eyes looked back up at me.

A few moments later the bus driver shared some unwelcome news. Seems a blue-green SUV had been sighted following both the elementary and middle school buses. At some point, the older male driver had approached some young teens and offered them a ‘ride home’.

Those smart kids went home and told their parents. The parents called the local police. A warning went out to all parents of school children. Gotta love the local police.

The man turned himself in a few days later when he caught word of the extreme upset he’d caused in our neighborhood. He’d truly just been offering the kids walking some distance a ride home. This somewhat elderly gentleman was informed that you just can’t do that in this day and age.

It turns out Spy had heard that this man was approaching ‘random’ children.

And Spy wanted to know if he was random.

Spy got some at a birthday party.

We let him have a handful for dessert that night, leaving a good half the candy canister full.

It was nearly empty the next morning.

Seems Spy snuck downstairs in the dark and carried them away…

Grandma found half of the wrappers tucked in a corner behind the bathroom door and the other half tucked inside the cardboard tube of the extra roll of toilet paper.

Twice a week Spy brings home a packet from school containing a word ring (sight words) and a book at his reading level to read with spymom and spydad.

For a while, the reading level was fairly consistent. Then there was a dramatic swing to the easy side when a book featuring adorable baby animals arrived in his backpack.

Spydad and spymom’s eyebrows went up. Had Spy been demoted?

And just last night, there was a book a bit beyond his current abilities called The Bravest Cat! featuring a true story about a mother cat named Scarlett who rescued her kittens from a burning building.

So we asked.

Turns out Spy isn’t happy with the books his teacher has been assigning him. When Mrs. C turns her back, he swaps out his reading material for a book that he wants to read.

So what kind of houses would Spy and Q build? Ones true to their natures.

Q, our engineering expert, designed his to appear ‘under construction’. Careful, there’s a barrier across the front sidewalk. And mind the orange gumdrop cones – those pretzel sticks are holding up the side of the house.

Spy set up a booby trap. If you follow the sidewalk under the entryway, you’ll trigger it. A red gum drop dumbbell will fall on your head and – see that orange candy sticking out of the red wreath? – the orange laser will blast you to bits before you reach the front door.

Who knew gingerbread houses could be so dangerous?

My little Spy gave to me:

No. It’s not what you think it is.

Spy stashed four chocolate gelt coins down his PJs inside his overnight pull-ups to “melt them”. Apparently he intended to consume them later in the privacy of his own room.

Well. He forgot.

The next morning he complained, “My butt itches.”

Well, gold foil in your underware will do that to you. Even with a chocolate lubricant.

T’was the seventh night of Hannukah, and all through the house
A creature was stirring, but it wasn’t a mouse.

The children weren’t nestled all snug in their beds,
Because visions of chocolate gelt danced through Spy’s head.

Then from the dining room we heard a faint patter,
The sound of little feet, tinfoil, and a clatter.

We rounded the corner, but no Spy was there,
The room was empty – deserted and bare.

But there in the corner, behind a door in the dark,
An empty glass and gold foil – Spy’d  been on a lark.

We looked at each other, spydad scratching his head,
When we heard the sound of feet heading back up to bed.

As Spy ran the stairs, chocolate dribbling from his chin,
He turned back to us, laughing with a big Cheshire grin.

So Spy wrote it.

He turned his back on his teacher after she made a request. Put pencil to paper. Then turned back around and held up his work.

Capital N. Capital O. Exclamation mark.

His teacher told us she had to turn away and cover her mouth she was laughing so hard.

Q has decided to work on his spy skills.

This morning, some five minutes before the bus was due, Spy and Q decided to hide from Spymom.

I’d last seen them in the dining room doing something with Lego on the floor, but it was quiet there now.

Their Lego projects generally ‘fly’, so I called up the stairs, “Bus! Coats and shoes!”

Silence.

So I repeated the call up the stairs to the room over our garage.

Silence.

I’m walking through the house calling, “You’re going to miss the bus…” when I hear giggles and thumps.

Spy and Q drop to the dining room floor.

They were stretched out on the dining room chairs hiding under the tablecloth.

Q informs me, “We’re working on finding good hiding places.”

Great. Just great.

We came around the corner and there was an owl, snoozing away on his branch.

“An Owl,” says Spy, hopping up on the nearby fence. “They’re nocturnal.”

Then Spy proceeds to let out the most bloodcurdling high-pitched scream I’ve yet heard. Think crystal shattering.

The owl’s eyes fly open and his head rotates, glaring directly at Spy.

“Cool!” Spy says, then hops down and zooms off to the next enclosure.

Good thing there was that cage.

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Spy obtained a ‘Disco Light Ball’ yesterday.

This is what we found last night on the floor of his room in the dark:

Two lines of little people stood in the center of Main Street staring up at the disco ball as it spun on his desk.

So of course, we asked.

“The people are being hypnotized by the light so they won’t see the bank robbers break out of jail.”

As it goes at home, so it goes in Kindergarten.

Here’s the note we got today:

Primary Self Assessment Practice

Major Concept: Following Directions

Objective: To Follow directions from the teacher the first time.

Assessment: Fail ***

Comments: Understood and repeated the direction and chose to do something different (colored page 2 instead of page 1 because he wanted to).

*** The unhappy frog was circled.

Perfectly at home in the dark, Spy had no trouble running up to strange doors and asking for candy.

Like most children across the land, Spy and Q came home with a haul and promptly dumped to count the candy like misers. Trades were made, lines were drawn, and finally, the stash went into separate bowls.

Our doorbell rang.

“Wow,” said a little witch. “You have a lot of candy.”

“Here, I have more. Take as much as you want,” said Spy, lifting his big brother’s bowl of candy and carrying it to the door.

Q let out a howl of protest.

The little stinker was stopped in his tracks, donning that charming Spy grin.

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As promised, Spy’s Chapter 4: The Evil Book

Literary Note: This chapter was composed by Spy in his bedroom when all other normal children would have been fast asleep.

Just looks like this book is going to cause trouble, doesn’t it?

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‘The Evil Book’ appears in Spy’s room hovering over his bed…

Spy gasps as he begins to comprehend the book’s intentions.

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Oh no! What’s happening?

The Evil Book begins to suck Spy out of his room and into its pages.

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It’s horrible to be trapped in The Evil Book. Thunder and Lightening! Hail storms!

The other children who were sucked in have given up in despair.

But Spy has a plan (note that mischievous smile) and not all is lost.

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Spy leaps from the book, aiming for his soft bed.

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Safe at last in his room.

Or is he?

The Evil Book still hovers, threatening.

Bwahaha!

And we wonder why Spy has trouble going to sleep….

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Ever wonder what that quick flu test looks like? Spydad swabbed Spy last night and ran the quick test. The image below is proof positive that Spy has a mild case of H1N1, a Type A flu.