POOHEAD

Poohead/ poo-head/ poo head. (n.) 1. A term of both insult and endearment. 2. a person whose actions are deserving of criticism but whose intimate relationship with the speaker makes the use of a harsher word inappropriate.

Johnny covered in poo.....Just kidding! It's actually just a bucket of mud that his brother dumped on top of his head.

There is a word in common usage around our house and if you spend enough time hanging around our family you are bound to hear it flung from mouth to mouth. The word is ‘poohead’ and it’s usually used in this form: “You are such a POOHEAD!”  If James eats the last cookie in the jar then he is a poohead. If I steal all the blankets in the middle of a cold night then I am a poohead. If Josie refuses to give someone a hug when they ask for one then she is a poohead. If Jamie runs naked down the hall after bath time when Mommy makes the announcement for pajamas, then he is a poohead. If Johnny turns off the Xbox while Daddy is in the middle of a game, then he is a poohead. All these actions warrant criticism and yet that criticism must be administered with delicacy and light-heartedness. Our initial response to such offenses would probably be to verbally lash out with curses and, sometimes if the circumstances are right, even profanity, but our overwhelming love for each other helps us to keep a level head. Therefore, we sling ‘poo.’ I’m not sure where the word came from or how it worked its way into our daily vocabularies, but somehow ‘poohead’ became part of the family.

We all exhibit traits of pooheadedness from time to time. Last weekend was my time, as I grouched around for three days in protest to James’ mission to clean the garage. Yesterday was one of James’ times. We were in the car driving, winding our way through narrow country roads, trying to find Sandbridge beach based on a recommendation from a good friend, and James had forgotten his sense of adventure at home. He asked with a scowl, “Where are you taking us?” We drove for 30 minutes and then it turned into 40 minutes and then 50 minutes and as our trip drug on past the hour mark, ‘poohead’ was written all over James’ face. The GPS finally announced our arrival at our destination and we pulled into a parking lot but I’d forgotten to stop at an ATM for parking money and James had to dig through my diaper bag and both our wallets for the necessary $5 in cash. The ‘poohead’ was now bubbling up inside him and I was afraid it was about to explode. I was scared that he would keep this attitude the remainder of the day.

But I was relieved when I saw that salty ocean waves do a great job of washing pooheads clean. James’ sour disposition disappeared once Josie and Jamie led him by the hand into the water.

Within minutes they were collection sea shells and trying to catch the shell of a horseshoe crab that was drifting in and out with the tide.

"Wait for me!!!"

A few crashing waves, some jellyfish sightings, and a couple mouths full of salt water later, everyone came ashore for a break. James began to dig a hole with Johnny and Jamie came over asking, “nee hel’ (need help) ?” Our entire entourage got to work shoveling and scraping sand and piling it high.

Even Johnny enjoyed digging with a little shovel in one hand and a bucket in the other and he determinedly climbed into each hole that caught his eye, maneuvering his chubby body around in the mud.

After our holes were dug, James suggested that Josie sit so that we could make her a fin. This idea earned James the ‘Poohead of the Day’ award because being a mermaid was the highlight of Josie’s day, maybe even her week although its hard to compete with the giraffes from the zoo.

Of course, Jamie didn’t want to be left out of the fun so we fashioned him a fishy tail as quickly as possible before the rushing tide came in and washed them both away.

By the day’s end we caught sight of a variety of creatures. There was the horseshoe crab that James was hunting, many jellyfish tops including one that tried to stow away in Josie’s bathing suit when we left for home, a lot of tiny clams that we watched dig themselves into the sand, two or three schools of fish, a couple of crabs, one of which pinched Josie’s toe (she said, although the claim was unverified), and a few seagulls that hovered around our picnic lunch. By far, my favorite encounter was with the extremely rare but immeasurably adorable miniature mer-people. There was also a sighting of the intimidating poohead when we first arrived but thankfully the monster disappeared and left us to enjoy the rest of the day with laughs and smiles.

A Bunch of Wild Animals

Sorry, folks. Today’s post isn’t going to have the same creative flavor that I like to give most of my stories. It will suffer from an apparent lack of wit and humor. You won’t get the reading pleasure of an elaborately descriptive analogy from me today. Again, I apologize in advance. But if I did have the time and, more importantly, the energy, then I would have made a clever play on the phrase, “a bunch of wild animals.” I would have compiled a list of adjectives that are commonly used to describe lions and elephants and giraffes and bears and then I would have worked them into vividly explanatory sentences, using plenty of clever literary devices, of course- my favorite being alliteration- and then I would have followed them with pictures that I took of the various animals we saw during our trip to the Virginia Zoo on Tuesday. Then, finally, I would have smartly drawn to the ironic conclusion that the “bunch of wild animals” I was referring to was, in fact, my kids who were wilder than the animals which we admired all day. I guarantee that it would have been a fun post to read.

But instead you’re stuck with this brief description of our day at the zoo and a collection of randomly cute pictures from our trip.

Running wild! Can't wait to see the animals.

My silly monkies

The boys

The prarie dog exhibit features a variety of pop-up plastic domes for the kids to stick their heads up through. James lifted the boys high enough for me to get some pictures.

In the entrance to the park is an array of fountains. Playing in them was the perfect way to end our trip since we were all hot and sweaty from walking around the park in hundred degree weather. Johnny was especially excited about them and wore a huge smile as he walked in and out of the sprays.

 I hope you enjoyed this look at our day with the wild animals. My next post should be filled with the artistic ingenuity that you have come to expect from me and that I usually demand from myself. But for now I’m cutting it short. There’s a warm, handsome, and very huggable husband on the couch behind me and so I’ve got more important things to do at the moment than write about prairie dogs. Good night, all!

"It looks like we're a family now!"

Last Friday, after the pomp and circumstance of homecoming had died down and we had escaped from the commotion of the celebrating crowd, our little family retreated home to enjoy the novelty of being together. I can’t remember if it was while we were driving in the car that afternoon or while sitting around the dinner table later that evening, but Josie took a good look around and tabulated a mental inventory- Josie, Jamie, Johnny, Mommy, and Daddy- and then declared boisterously, “It looks like we’re a family now!” James and I turned towards each other and exchanged ear-to-ear smiles.

Josie's depiction of our family (from left: Mommy, Jamie, Josie, Daddy, Johnny)

 The next day was difficult for everyone because James had to return to the ship for a full day of duty. The kids, struggling to grasp the concept of time, didn’t understand that Daddy would be home again the next day. Josie had convinced herself that since Daddy was going back to work on the ship it meant he would be gone again for a long time. There was a lot of crying. Everyone’s emotions were on edge. In the afternoon Jamie was sent to his room for popping Josie’s metallic pony balloon and Josie, picking up on the change in household atmosphere compared to the previous day, spoke through her sniffles, saying, “It looks like we’re not a family anymore.” When I told this story to James, it made us both cry. He spent the next couple of days trying to convince Josie that we are a family even when Daddy has to be away.

I agree whole-heartedly with James that family is family, even when we’re not physically together, and I tried to help him put this complicated idea into simple words that our preschooler (soon to be kindergartener!) could understand. But, solely off the record, I think that Josie made a good point….

Since last September we have been a scattered, dismembered, semi-functional family. We lived in separate hemispheres and different time zones, we relied on separate friends and different acquaintances, and we had separate experiences and different adventures. So with very little to hold us together except our last names and a shared goal for the future, at times it was a struggle to feel like a real family.

But not this week. This week we are milking “family togetherness” for all its worth. On Monday, because James had duty again, we took dinner to the ship and enjoyed the view from the fantail and the pilot house in an extended tour.

On Tuesday we headed to Virginia Beach for some fun in the sun and the sand and then called it a day after a round of ice cream cones.

On Wednesday we went to see a movie at the Cinema Café and then we celebrated Johnny’s 1^st birthday.

On Thursday we took a trip to the Virginia Aquarium to gawk at all kinds of fascinating sea creatures.

On Friday we went to a cookout hosted by a few of James’ shipmates and sweated from every orifice in the 109 degree (plus humidity) heat.

It’s been quite a week, to be sure, full of family memory making moments. We are once again sharing the same adventures, in the same hemisphere, and in the same time zone. And eventhough we technically never stopped being a family by the dictionary definition of the word, I think it’s an accurate assessment to say, “It looks like we’re a family now!” and it feels like we are too.