Wednesday, October 27, 2010

When you're racing, it's life





We took our aspiring race car driver to his first go-kart race this past weekend. Seeing Caden's face light up as the cars sped down the track was watching pure delight unfold. The sound of the engines revving, the karts screaming past as they hugged each turn-- even the smell of gasoline was intoxicating.

It's one thing to watch these cars in action. I can only imagine what it must feel like to actually drive one of them. No wonder my son is drawn to it like a tractor beam. Caden's always had an affinity for all things fast. Even as an infant, if he wasn't moving, he'd let his displeasure be known.

When I toted him around in the baby carrier, he'd cry the moment I stopped walking. When we were in the car, his cries escalated every time we'd approach a stop sign (the wailing got louder and louder as the car would decelerate). From the moment he could grab things, it was all about cars, trains, airplanes. Anything with velocity. Which is why for the first three years of his life, Caden was obsessed with the Disney/Pixar Cars movie.

Now, as a whirling dervish of a 4-year-old, my son is fixated on race car driving. His favorite movies are Le Mans and Grand Prix (both made in 1971 and 1966, respectively). Caden knows that movie perhaps as well as the directors who made them. He can quote the film as if he were reading the script, as well as tell you what happens next after every scene.

There's a line Steve McQueen's character, Michael Delaney, says in Le Mans that sums up how Caden looks at the world:

"When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting..."


Thursday, October 21, 2010

On motherhood



I came across this beautiful passage the other day and it reminded me how empowering it is to be a woman and a mother:

"There is nothing on earth like the moment of seeing one's first baby. Men scale other heights, but there is no height like this simple one, occurring continuously throughout all the ages in musty bedrooms, in palaces, in caves and desert places."

This part is exactly how I feel about my daughter:

"I looked at this rolled-up bundle... and knew again I had not created her. She was herself apart from me. She had her own life to lead, her own destiny to accomplish; she just came past me to this earth. My job was to get her to adulthood and then push her off."


--Katharine Trevelyan, from "Through Mine Own Eyes"


Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Fleshy thighs




Recent conversation with my 4-year-old:

Caden: Mommy, you have chubby legs.
Me: (Slightly mortified) Really? Uh... Which part?
Caden: 
Right here (cups his hands around the fleshiest part of my inner thighs and proceeds to jiggle them).

Me: (Laughing uncontrollably) Oh my God! Caden, is it really that bad?
Caden: No Mommy, don't worry. It's just a little chubby.



Monday, October 18, 2010

Pure joy



This is the personification of joy. Pure, unadulterated J-O-Y.


Saturday, October 16, 2010

A picture is worth a thousand words



This says it all. Brother is stoked. Sister is pissed.


Monday, October 11, 2010

Best birthday card ever



Best. Birthday card. Ever.