This weekend we were invited to an annual event at a dear old friend’s house. She has a combination crawfish boil and Kentucky derby party, this year it also coincided with cinco de mayo. The crawfish are spicy and the mint juleps are plentiful. You would think that I would have connected the dots here and put a couple bucks on 200-1 horse “I’ll have another” but alas I did not. This is Connor’s third time at this event and he’s definitely getting the hang of it.
The process for purging crawfish or mud bugs is to put them in a baby pool with salt water. This allows them to ahem, let’s just say “devein” themselves. Connor wasn’t nearly as interested in eating the corn, potato, mushroom, sausage, etc. as he was playing with the mudbugs. In fact he spent about 10 minutes begrudgingly eating a Peanut butter sandwich, one crawfish tail, and one potato and about 2 hours playing with crawfish. He told stories later about the “little lobsters” which became “huge, GIANT lobsters” only two days later.
He’d race them, fight them, scare them, pick them up, sieve them, you name it. Many other kids came up and were excited to watch, but didn’t want to touch. Connor was fearless, and for those of you wondering, yes he got pinched a few times. But my sweet little boy didn’t care, he’d shake them off his finger, and then pick it up and put it back into the tub. If they rose up their pinchers to scare him, he’d give them his claw hand and his invisible dragon fire (complete with sound effects). I heard so many parents and attendees just amazed “at that little red-headed boy over there.” It was cute. Connor could have spent all day doing it and was a little upset when it was time to go home. The crawfish were a little spicy for Josie and she was more comfortable watching brother and didn’t really want to hold the mini-lobsters. They also found the cookies and cupcakes quite filling.
The next day I almost did something stupid. I was REALLY close to buying him a few crawfish from the HEB seafood section but then realized we’d soon have another “soupy” scenario (the turtle for new readers). My better judgment took over at the last second and we went home with what was on the list.
Sunday’s are turning into fun family breakfast days. There is a little kolache and doughnut shop near Connor’s school. If you buy enough kolaches you get a free bag of doughnut holes. Well Connor and Josie love both and it goes like this. I have to put mustard and ketchup on their plates so they can “dip it” and then eat the kolaches, although sometimes (always) Josie will double and triple dip the mustard. Once they race through this they start in on the doughnut holes. The first doughnut hole is usually the best. Their eyes light up when the glaze hits their tongues. Then Josie says “more” while giving the sign language sign just in case we were somehow confused. If you saw the "this old man" video, this was the same morning.
Now that they are all sugared up, I take them either in the back yard to play, or we get in the golf cart and head to the golf course. We stop at the pond on number 15 to see if there are any fish, turtles, cranes, or ducks and then head to number 16. It is a par 4 with a couple of hills, and they are usually running the sprinkler around this time. So Connor and Josie take turns running through it barefoot until they are soaking wet. We head home and dry off. After this we head to the grocery store where Connor tries to convince me he needs Jelly beans, a sucker, or another doughnut.
This trip to the store was different. They were all sugared up from the holes and there was zero chance they were getting more sweets. We also had a noon appointment so Nita and I decided to divide and conquer. I took Josie and Connor went with mommy. (Two reds two browns). Anyway, we split the list and we met back in produce. When I got there, Connor was holding a huge broccoli crown and he was eating it like cotton candy. I try to give the kids healthy snacks and it isn’t unlike me to grab the boy an apple or a bulk carrot, but this time Connor just reached out and grabbed it…and was going to town. I can’t even imagine what everyone else thought of us. So once we regrouped and I put both kids in the same cart, Josie (Connor’s human shadow) HAD to have some broccoli too. She needed to get a stalk and she started munching on it as well. The looks we got were priceless. Once we got all the way into the line Connor started his campaigning for candy again, so they quickly subsided. Josie wasn’t sure what to do with all the broccoli in her mouth that she’d clearly misjudged as a treat. Don’t get me wrong, they both like broccoli cooked but raw isn’t within two concentric circles of a cookie. Heck it’s not even in the same area code as a cheese snack.
On a sad note Maurice Sendak passed away this week. He was the author of “Where the Wild Things Are.” If you aren’t familiar it’s the story of Max who is naughty in his wolf PJs and is sent to bed without dinner. He discovers a far-away land where the wild things are and he is made king after winning a staring contest. Connor loves the book the characters, etc. Josie loves playing with the Dolls that Nita has had since she was a girl. We’ve all read the story to kids many many times. Don’t Go. I’ll eat you up!!! I love you so.
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