Jammy Says . . .

. . . "Mom, a mouth is for eating, talking, and breathing when there is a really bad smell."

Óvoda

Macho in front of his óvoda 

Since he moved to Slovakia, Macho doesn't go to preschool anymore. Now he goes to óvoda.

showing how he's going to use his "claws"

Óvoda is a cross between preschool and daycare, but it is public - operated by the state. Óvoda is actually the Hungarian name for this program because Macho attends a Hungarian school in a Hungarian village. There are also Slovakian preschools in the Rožňava area and even an English preschool.  At Macho's óvoda there are about 12 children enrolled, and the ages range from 2-6 years. Kids are there from 7am to 4pm. They play and do crafts. They take walks. They eat lunch and 2 snacks. They change into pajamas and take a nap after lunch.


That nap part is the reason why Macho doesn't stay at óvodá until 4pm. He doesn't mind taking a nap after lunch. He likes his little óvoda bed. The problem is that Mom doesn't like it when Macho's not tired enough to go to bed at home at night. When he takes a nap at óvoda, he can easily stay awake until midnight.


So, every day, Mom comes and gets him after lunch. When she comes Macho likes to show her all of his new friends. "This is Gabika, and Robika, and Csabika, and little Kriszti, and big Kriszti, and Petike, and Tundeka, and Lyuzska . . . " Then he says goodbye to everyone in Hungarian, "Sziasztok!" They all reply in English, "Bye, Macho!"


Today nobody came to óvoda except Macho and Lyuzska. Everyone else was home sick. 


Macho didn't want to get in the car to go home because his shadow looked so cool. "Mom, do I look like a vampire? Why do vampires turn into bats? I am like a little baby vampire bat!"

Vampire shadow

Košice Zoo

Meet Tiki! (video)

Macho says . . .

. . . while eating his lunch, "Are we going to stay in Solakia [Slovakia] every day now?"

Mom, "Yes. Do you like that?"

Macho nods.

Waiting at LAX for a plane to Slovakia!

"this thing's goin' on my Christmas list!"

Macho Says

As Mom tucks him into bed, Macho says, "Leave the light on in the hall, so I can't go to sleep. 'Cause I don't like sleep. Sleep makes me tired."

Thank You, Monineni!!!

Jammy could not wait until morning to assemble his HERO Factory guy.

Macho got a new snowplow that has a "crane-ky" on the back of it with a winch to pull his new race car.

pApa is home (bearing gifts!)

Li'l Jammy

Jammy's teacher asked him to bring a baby picture in to school today, "something with chubby cheeks."

just barely 3 years old

THAT, too, is a haircut!

It's hard to cut Jammy's hair. It is very strong and straight and thick and exuberant. Someone pointed out recently that it is rather like Chinese hair.

On a whim, today Mom and Jammy started looking around the internet for how to cut Chinese hair, and this is what they found: Asian Boy Haircuts.

Jammy chose the Mini Mohawk, and it looks pretty good. It will still need a little work. It takes Mom forever to cut all that hair, but after a few more sessions it should be perfect.

Jammy thinks its funny that he has an "Asian Boy" haircut. Mom is just glad she found a map to use on her boy with "Asian" hair.  It's interesting that Jammy inherited his hair from his non-Asian, Hungarian pApa, but Jammy's half-Asian cousin doesn't have Asian hair at all. Go figure.

Jammy took this self-portrait to check progress

the "evening look"

Sweet Cheeks

Jammy came out of the bathroom this morning rubbing his new toothbrush on his face.

Mom: "What are you doing?"

Jammy: "I'm cleaning my cheeks."

Sure enough, his new Oral-B Advantage toothbrush comes with a Tongue & Cheek Cleaner.

Love

Now THAT'S a Haircut!

 Macho's hair has been bugging him.  At least every few minutes he would brush it away from his forehead, so Mom asked him if he wanted a hair cut to keep it out of his face. He answered, "I want you to cut ALL of them. I want them to be fuzzy like G'pa."

exactly how he wanted it

bye-bye baby hair

The Inspiration

Mom doesn't write about the Conman as much as she would like to, because he would be so mad at her, but today, on Mother's' Day, there must be a picture of the squishy bug who made her want to be a mom in the first place.

January 1993

The easy-going, sweet-natured, mom-loving, perfect match of a child who led Mom to believe that parenting was a cinch, has now grown up to be this young man. Now that she has more than one son, Mom realizes that she can't take much credit for his awesomeness, but all the same Mom could not be prouder to have known the Conman from the beginning.

Literary Analogy

After bringing Mom breakfast in bed, the boys watched The Goonies with her.

Jammy loves the movie, but Macho is a little scared of Sloth.

Sloth from The Goonies

Jammy told him not to worry, "It's not a monster, it's really just a person who got dropped on his head too many times when he was a baby. He's like Frankenstein's monster, right Mom? He's like that because he's not bad, he's just too strong and he looks scary."

Happy Mother's Day!

This morning the boys brought Mom breakfast in bed.

The tray held 2 tortillas, an apple, a quart-sized jar of honey, a knife and 3 over-ripe bananas.

Macho cried hysterically while Jammy explained the menu. "I brought the tacos because I couldn't find any bread. You can spread the honey on the tacos. I washed the apple. I told him not to put three bananas, but he wouldn't listen."

Macho's sadness started on Friday. There was Muffins for Moms party at his preschool. At the party the moms were presented with gift baskets containing hand-crafted items that the kids had made. As Mom admired each gift in her basket, Macho would say, "That's not for you. That's MINE!" Mom tried to explain to him what Mother's Day is all about, but Macho would have none of that. "It's NOT your BIRTHDAY!!! I made it. It's MINE!!"

When Jammy started preparing Mom's breakfast in bed, it revived the animosity from Friday. Macho wanted to put three bananas, but Jammy told him he couldn't. After Mom called from her room that the three bananas would be no problem, Macho picked up the tray with the three bananas and started bringing it to Mom in bed. Jammy began yelling from the kitchen, "No! Come back! It's not ready!" Macho moved faster trying to get ahead of his brother, but Jammy caught up to him, and a struggle ensued.

Mom, trying to stay in bed, told Jammy to go back the kitchen, and then gently explained to Macho that after Jammy finished loading the tray, Macho could bring it to her. It was no use. Macho's heart was broken. He finally took the tray into the kitchen and then crawled into bed with Mom, sobbing.

"Why are you so sad? Do you have hurt feelings?" asked Mom.

"He took my feelings OUT!" cried Macho.

It took almost half an hour for Macho to get his feelings back in. Mom finally had to send him to cry in his room, so that she could eat her breakfast tacos with Jammy.

Eventually, things calmed down, and Mother's Day got a lot more fun. Jammy set up clues all around the house and sent Mom and Macho on a treasure hunt. Mom made some bread out of the extra bananas. Macho brought Mom the gift basket from school and admitted that it was for her.

Portrait

Macho posing while Jammy draws his portrait

It started out so well, Jammy sketching while Macho posed, but then it disintegrated into shouting. "Stop! Just hold still! Mom, he's getting so distracted! I should have drawn someone else, someone who knows how to sit still! Do you want me to rip this picture up? All I have to do is your eyes. AAAAAHHHH! Hold still!! I don't want this to look like a kid drew it! Mom, I want to draw it while he's still little, so then we can have this for a memory."

"Macho, age 4" by Jammy, age 7

Macho's Mommy

 

(Mom is feeling a little defensive about the cereal comment. She actually DOES cook cereal once or twice a week for breakfast, and she DOES make it the best. fyi)

"She makes me laugh when she crys." Lest people think he's a sadist: he loves it if Mom pretends to cry, so that he can practice his comforting skills. He loves to make her stop "crying."

Macho's Teacher Appreciation

Macho made cards for his teachers, too, but not without some help from Mom.

Hard at Work

"It's a 'P'!" (for no particular reason)

This one says, "Dear Mrs. C., Thank you for giving my food. I think you're good. You like to help me get the glue stick onto my Easter eggs. I like your red shirt. Hug me!"

"I forgive you." He said the nicest things he could think of.

Pop Art!

Jammy is fascinated with "pop-ups." For Christmas, Grammallama sent him a book about how to make pop-up cards. It was the perfect gift.  He has used the ideas and instructions inside to make dozens of cards without any help from Mom.

This is Teacher Appreciation Week, and one of the things that Jammy did for his teacher was make her a card.

Working in the Yard

 Macho loves to cut stuff up. When Mom mentioned that the bushes by the house were getting a little shaggy, he was more than happy to help take care of that. Jammy contributed by bringing Mom and Macho water to drink and then provided musical accompaniment by playing on the glasses with spoons.

Each glass makes a different sound.

Some little bug's nest.

Exploring Nature: Bugs! **UPDATED**

Jammy found some cool bugs in the tree. What are they???

Nice discovery, Jammy!

These give Mom the heebie-jeebies!

**UPDATE** Mom has super smart friends who informed her that this is a bunch of baby Aurilus Cristatus or "wheel bugs." She found some matching wheel bug pictures on youtube.

Playing "Tackle the Big Kid" (Jammy misses his big brother)

Happy Hour

Celebrating Friday at Sonic's Happy Hour (1/2 price drinks and slushes every day from 2-5 pm)!

The Game with the Little Ball

Macho's new favorite thing

Coffee Time

Macho loves routines. Every day when Mom picks him up from preschool, he says, "Now we need to get you some coffee. Let's put our stuff down on the coffee table. I'll get a cup for you. Now you need some 'cwean.' Is it hot, mom? Let it cool down." He uses the same words, at the same time, every single day. Mom will put a little coffee in her cup, even if she doesn't want any, because the ritual is so important to him.