The thing about getting older is that you don’t need everything to be possible any more, you just need things to be certain.  ~Monica Ali

Nicole’s birthday. Our cousin Chad looks like he beat Nicole to the candles.  My pappy is in the background. c. 1975

Nicole is officially in her forties, forty-one to be exact.  What could have possibly happened in a year’s time worth mentioning?  A lot, besides family fun and normal wear and tear.

Let’s discuss Nicole’s midlife crisis called Avery, a.k.a. Acorn, a.k.a. Dobby.  (Dobby is the free elf that worked at Hogwarts from Harry Potter.  Dad made the connection that Avery looks like Dobby.  Kyle and I are in complete agreement with Dad’s assessment, either that or Yoda.)  I won’t even get into Nicole aliments, for there are too many in my opinion.  She’s not a youngster anymore.

When I think of Nicole getting older, the Golden Girls instantly comes to mind.  (Kyle used to watch that show with us until Dad commented that he didn’t like it.  Ever since then, Kyle “claims” he hates the Golden Girls and won’t watch it.  However, I’ve caught him giggling at the old ladies a time or two.)  Especially the episode when Dorothy had a mysterious illness and the doctor thought it was in Dorothy’s head.  Her mother, Sofia came to her rescue by commenting …

My daughter may be no spring chicken, and her jaw might crack when she chews! And she may have noticeable trouble digesting raw vegetables! …

That’s Nicole!  There’s no denying how very different we are in many, many, many ways, but we’re both big fans of the Golden Girls, even to this day.  I thought the quote was very fitting and appropriate.

Aunt Carol & Uncle Denny, Nicole’s godparents. Nicole’s First Holy Communion at Sacred Heart. c.1981

I know there will be a time when we’ll live together in mom and dad’s house, sitting on our rocking chairs, on the front porch, bickering as two old ladies.  Well, I’ll be in my mid-youth because I’ll always be able to do laps around Nicole, while she’ll be ancient.  Kyle will reluctantly visit his two old crazy aunts who love him more than anything.  Just don’t expect me to change Nicole’s clothes or wipe her butt.  It will NEVER happen!  I nominate Kyle!

The best part about Nicole’s birthday is the fact that I’ll always be younger than her.  And if you count my lack of maturity and my hyperactive nature, I’m decades younger still.

Nicole has accomplished so much thus far, and still has so many more adventures ahead of her.  Perhaps a bucket list is in order, after all she’s at that ripe old age.

Happy Birthday Nicole!

Just for the fun of it… check out the comparison between Avery & Dobby… remarkable!  This is hilarious!

Children need boundaries and ground rules.  When children don’t have structure, they makeup their own rules and negative behavior is what they use to get your attention.  ~Jo Frost

Kyle wouldn’t walk around when we first trimmed the fruit trees… he would only help by driving his quad…check out the flames on his quad!

It’s no secret that I like attention, that is only when I want attention.  Actually, I  probably lived for this type of recognition more so when I was younger, and now I could care less.  Sometimes I wish I could blend into the shadows, even though it never works.  Especially if I’m running around in my jp’s (jogging pants) with an old T-shirt and boots.  Now that’s a look!  In general, I must stick out like a sore thumb.  I know I do wearing an outfit like that.  Well maybe not, if I’m in Walmart.  But I’m not here to discuss my attention gaining personality, nor my attire.  I want to discuss my sidekick, Kyle Piper.

Kyle is the same way!  He loves attention!  No matter what kind of attention, positive or negative.  I know he’s just a kid, but he thrives on it something awful.

When Kyle was a little tyke, around a year old, maybe a little younger he would do this thing that absolutely upset everyone.  I’m guessing he felt like he was being ignored.  Now come on!  Seriously?  A cute little baby boy, the only grandchild in our family and the son of my recently deceased brother, ignored?  Now I’m not saying that is or isn’t the case, but certainly not from my family.  In fact, we probably were the opposite and gave Kyle too much attention, if there is such a thing.

What was this horrible act?  If I would set Kyle on the floor or if he was just sitting there playing and he noticed we weren’t paying attention to him, he would drop his head down to the floor, stop it before it hit, and then lightly bang his head.  Then, he would cry and hold his recently bumped noggin.  At first we would immediately respond to the unusual act that unfolded before our eyes.  One of us would run over and pick him up and consul this traumatized child.  That is until this happened too frequently to count.  Eventually, we would make it a point to ignore our center-of-attention-deprived child.  As he would continue playing the same show, we noticed he would look for our reactions, not getting much from us.  I take it that was his cue to maneuver his way over to our always open arms.  Naturally we would pick up the “wounded”, but no one ever dared mention the head banging.  I remember one time, I said to Kyle as he was holding his head and crying crocodile tears, “Then don’t hit your head and it won’t hurt.”  Even though he couldn’t talk, I knew he understood what I was saying.  Smart little kid, the whole thing was a set up.

The first time my sister saw one of Kyle’s performances, she gasp so loud and raised her voice to say, “Ahh O no!  Aunt Heather!”  as she pointed to the self destructive child.  I saw what unfolded and realized Nicole never witnessed this behavior before.  In a very blasé manner, I replied, “Nicole, don’t watch him!  He’s been doing that.  It doesn’t hurt him, he stops himself before he really hits the floor.  Without him knowing, watch next time, his head barely touches the carpet.  Just pay no attention or he’ll keep doing it.”  Nicole, clearly upset did as instructed but was not happy.  To reinforce what we were doing was right I told her, “When Kyle doesn’t get his own way or what he wants, he’ll go straight to the floor and act like he hit his head.  I don’t care, he’s not getting his own way.  He doesn’t dictate orders and he’s not seriously hurt.”

Kyle hanging with his pappy at Jim’s sawmill

On a side note, that’s almost too funny.  I actually remember saying that, and look at us now, Kyle does dictate orders.  We don’t always abide by them, but he does own us.

This act of getting attention has evolved over the years, but the goal remains the same.  Now it’s not always negative attention, even though that does consume the majority of the time.  Sometimes he goes out of his way to really be good.  When he does this, he always points it out.  There is no fear of missing Kyle doing something good because he always states the case.  He likes being praised and recognized for his work and efforts.  Example time!

A few years ago mom and dad were making sauerkraut and Kyle and I were helping.  The entire way through the process Kyle kept saying, “Am I doing good pappy?  How am I doing Aunt Heather?”  This is where Kyle really differs from the family.  We don’t need constant positive reinforcement.  In fact, we really don’t give it very often, only when a job is done and done well.  My theory is, if I’m doing something wrong, I will be told about it.  We are not a shy family about blatantly spitting out the truth or our opinions.  I guess Kyle is different, not about spitting out the honest truth or sharing his opinions.  He does plenty of that, but in regards to needing positive reinforcement.  Even while we were butchering up dad’s deer from this past season, Kyle would say the same thing, “Pappy how am I doing?” and so on and so forth.  Admittingly, I will say I have no patience for that need of constant appraisal.  Now I am not a tyrant, I do respond to Kyle, calling out his good work, but I have limits and I have no issue with saying “Kyle!  Yes buddy you’re doing a great job and we appreciate your help.  I don’t need to tell you that every two minutes.”  Sounds harsh, but I want Kyle to be secure when he’s doing anything and not always needing someones approval.

Sometimes I swear Kyle moves so slow, not really to get on my nerves, but to get my attention.  I know for a fact, that he moves like a snail when getting dressed to take the dogs for a hike, because he doesn’t want to go.  And let’s not forget two weekends ago when Kyle and I were both helping my dad trim back the fruit trees.  It was snowing on us as we worked, only because a cold day is needed so the fruit trees don’t bleed out.  I get it, it’s not the most exciting way to spend a Saturday morning but responsibilities come first.  Once dad cut down the branches, all we had to do was drag the manageable sized trimmings about 50 feet to a burn pile.  Granted we did need to help dad load up the quad with the saw and supplies, but really it wasn’t too taxing.  Completing the job in about three to four hours total, for this long overdue project was not a horrible sacrifice.  Would you believe all Kyle wanted to do was stand by dad and oil his saw when needed, which wasn’t very often, while I dragged the brush?  Are you kidding me?  I even told him if he really worked hard I would omit the hike with the dogs for the day.  Even when making a deal with him, that kid complained the ENTIRE time and walked as slow as he could, trying to do as little as possible.  I swear if he moved any slower he would have been standing still.  Literally, I walked circles around him, going back and forth with the brush.  Boy, his dad would have NEVER tolerated such behavior!  Ryan was an extremely hard working person, and I mean manual labor.  And to have his son, be the complete opposite while the rest of the family picks up for his slack would have never gotten past the first whine.

Mr Stickerhead… Kyle always loved stickers! 11/18/03

As we moved through the day, Dad even tried to lighten the mood by calling him a Sasquatch, and teasing him about the speed in which he moved, like molasses.  He continued on c0urse, except I did catch Kyle snickering, as if he was really enjoying this attention that we were giving him by joking around.  I about lost it and grounded him from cartoons, the computer and his ipod.  If he picked up the pace and stopped moping, I told him he could redeem himself.  Nope!  He continued at a snails pace, with a miserable ‘poor me’ attitude.  Once we got back to the house, Kyle pouted about his punishment, but it was almost as if he wanted to be separated from his electronics.  Whether he enjoyed the sulking or that was his way of showing me he needed attention and restricted from those devices, I have no idea.  There is one thing that I know for sure, even though he was in trouble, he was truly enjoying the attention.  Naturally, everyone was lecturing him on hard work, and pitching in and helping out the family, the standard speech.  He is too much!

A few weekends ago, and come to think of it, this past weekend Kyle was on this kick of making really annoying noises.  The clicking or tapping kind.  He even started doing it in the car, just subtle repetitive knocking, while he would give me a sideways glance.  He didn’t think I saw, but I did.  I let it go, until steam is escaping my ears.  Kyle’s getting good, he knows my limit for patience and tolerance.  He was being annoying the other day and I went to backhanded his shoulder or gut and didn’t realize he was bending over.  I made a direct hit with his forehead.  We both got a chuckle out of that one.  That’s how I know his behavior is more about the attention then the item in question.

You know it’s funny, but I remember doing the same thing as a kid.  Once I had this juice cap top.  The kind that would pop up when the seal was broken.  It might have been from Snapple or some other juice.  Regardless, it had this unique sound that I loved.  I would walk around clicking it and clicking it.  Sometimes, if I didn’t want to listen to Nicole while she barked orders at me, I would just click the bottle cap at her and walk away.  Clicking it in Ryan’s face was just fun to get a rise out of him.  He was like Nicole pretty laid back, until seriously pushed.  Although, even though I really enjoyed clicking it to be irritating, sometimes my intent wasn’t to get on everyone’s nerves but to enjoy this unique sound it made.  That is until one day it went missing.  I know Ryan or Nicole had something to do with its disappearance.  These little moments show me how much Kyle and I are really alike, except he did and still does get ALL of our attention.

Kyle playing with is cousins at Bruce’s picnic.

Surprisingly, or maybe not so, Kyle’s attention grabbing behavior is just a way to show he misses us and wants to spend time with the family.  This past weekend, my sister was home.  Kyle was up her butt and needed her to do everything with him all weekend.  She couldn’t just sit and relax because he was like a leach, a whining one.  Other times, I think Kyle is just board and wants some activity, even though I do keep him pretty busy.  He gets on these kicks of playing chess, which I encourage.  No one else will really play with him except me, only because my parents don’t know how to play and my sister really doesn’t like playing.  Yet he will walk around nagging everyone, because that’s what he wants to do, and he wants the interaction of the family.  Usually if we’re talking about chess, I’ll bite.  Kyle knows I enjoy a good game.  Again, I get it, he’s just showing us how much he loves us.  We truly love having Kyle around and spending time with him, even on the irritating days.

Even when Kyle is not seeking attention, he gets it.  Like anyone needs to fuel this already blazing fire.  I will admit, it’s almost always due to a good dead or a thoughtful action.  Others notice his behavior and want to praise him.  I guess I should be proud of that attention, which I always am.  I just don’t want Kyle’s already large round head to grow anymore.  My fear of Kyle failing in life because of his own ego or attitude is very real.  That’s why I try to knock him down a peg or two, just to keep him in check with reality.  No matter what, I love him very much and I’m so proud of the little man he’s become.  Maybe he’ll grow out of this need for attention.  It took me a while but I did, well kinda.

You sit at the board and suddenly your heart leaps.  Your hand trembles to pick up the piece and move it.  But what chess teaches you is that you must sit there calmly and think about whether it’s really a good idea and whether there are other, better ideas.  ~Stanley Kubrick

Aunt Heather & Kyle Piper playing a game of chess at Fort Ligonier Days. 2009

Kyle has been really back on a chess kick lately.  I’m the same way, sometimes I just want to play the game and sometimes I forget all about it.  When Kyle was three years old, I remember sitting down with him and teaching him to play chess.  I never had any reservations about this young man learning the game.  At that point in his life, he already mastered Candy Land, Chutes n’ Ladders, and Monopoly Junior.  Pushing for Excellence  He was also working on puzzles with at least a thousand pieces and he knew his addition flashcards.  Again, going back to my same theory, “What’s it going to hurt?” SpyRing is Born – Education Unlocked!

I remember the day, very distinctly when I introduced Kyle, to what will be his longtime love of Chess.  I asked Kyle if he wanted to play a game with me and naturally he was all for it.  He went through his list of standard games trying to figure out which one was on my mind.  Mentioning the game as I passed him to retrieve the box, he gave me a look of ‘What is chess?’ before asking me about the game.  I sat down without saying much only “You’ll see” and I gave him a smile and a wink.  I went straight to work, placing the pieces on the board.  His eyes were wide and curious while examining this intriguing game that he’s never seen before.  I will admit that my mysteriousness was making this new experience more dramatic and exciting.  Even I was falling prey to it, becoming more excited to play.

Kyle was squirming in his seat with anticipation when I started the role call, introducing him to each of the pieces.  First, I unveiled each figure by name and then I followed up with the maneuverability instructions for each piece.  Kyle sincerely got it!  I even remember letting him go first, which has become an unspoken rule with Kyle over the years.  As we moved around the board I would reiterate the moves of some of the pieces, but overall he seemed to understand how to play.  Now the strategy behind the game came a little later, but the love of chess was immediate.

Grandpap Chester made this table c. 1937  Refurbished by Mike Olczak (cousin)

In fact, my cousin Casey who is Kyle’s godfather, called and asked me what Kyle wanted for Christmas.  I usually try and give him different options and one was a chess game.  That Christmas, Kyle received his first chess set and he was excited!  I think I played more games of chess than I ever did in my entire life during that time. Casey certainly got his money’s worth.

Now the love of the game never disappeared, it was just stored away for a rainy day.  Every once in a while, we would pull out the game and play but Kyle’s video games started to take priority.  Then a month ago, while we waited to pick up our take-out dinner, Kyle took my iphone to play a game.  This is standard behavior when he thinks he’s “bored” for the whole five minutes of waiting.  I asked him, “What are you playing bud?” followed by his response of “Chess.”  I said, “Wow Kyle, we haven’t played a game of chess in a long time.”  As he remained focused on his game he lifted his head to give me a smile and a head nod.

After dinner, Kyle decided he didn’t want to play against the computer anymore, he wanted to play a game with me on my phone.  Now I was a little rusty, but graciously the game highlighted options for my potential moves.  That was helpful at first, but then slowly started to irritate me.  I will need to look into turning off that feature.  It was nice reengaging myself in the game and I really enjoy seeing Kyle using his cranium cavity for more than sending a stick person down a hill in a shopping cart.  (Shopping Cart Wars).

Side view of Grandpap Chester’s checker table. c. 1937 Refurbished by Mike Olczak (cousin)

Recently, chess has become Kyle’s game of choice.  That’s all he wants to play, no video games, no ipod, no Nitendo DS, it’s all about the game of chess.  Last weekend my sister was home for her class reunion, Go Wildcats!, and he made her play against him too.  Would you believe that more than not, Kyle won against us?  Friday night, I played him a game, and I will admit that I was only half paying attention, clearly not taking my opponent seriously.  Yep, that bit me in the butt when he crushed me!  He didn’t just win, instead of finishing the game when he had me in checkmate, he decided to continue the game to capture as many of my pieces as he could.  He displayed his killings proudly, even telling my dad, “Look pap pap, it’s my trophy room.”  What a stinker!

When we did a rematch, I reminded Kyle of the dangers of arrogance and cockiness.  I could feel it leak through his pores, and I don’t like that at all!  He needs to remain respectful and composed.  I’ve even explained to him that those traits destroy people and causes them to fail, in everything they do in life.  Sometimes I like to take opportunities presented, even a simple situation, and use it as a life lesson.  This one was the best example.  As we continued with our game, I played like a champ; no more under estimating Kyle, no more distractions and absolutely no mercy!  Finally I won!  He smiled like a good sport and understood that I knocked him down a peg or two.  You know what?  Kyle didn’t care.  He didn’t get mad, he didn’t make excuses, in fact he commented on how he could improve his game next time.  Very impressive!

Every game we played, Kyle was definitely getting better and better.  He would even sacrifice certain pieces and set me up for traps to devastate my army.  An example, which was flawlessly executed, involved me taking Kyle’s pawn with my queen.  It looked like a no brainer, but after his move, I learned it was a set up!  Again I under estimated that child, he was learning strategy before my eyes.  I wasn’t paying attention to his knight, that is until he rode the horse in to capture my queen. What?  Very clever!  Great move!

Grandpap Chester signed the inside drawer of the checker table. Made in 1937 Mikey found this when he was sanding.

On Monday night after school, while we were eating Kyle set up the chess game again.  We started to play before his piano lessons, until we ran out of time.  Unfortunately, when I got back to the house, I came to the conclusion that Storm wanted to play too.  All the pieces were scattered all over the table, which she is not allowed on, and some pieces were on the floor.  As I gathered up the crime scene, I noticed I was eight pieces shy.  After I cleaned the house on Wednesday, I found four of the eight missing pieces, which leaves four chess pieces MIA.  Where could they have gone?  Maybe they are with the mouse and sticky pad? Of Mice and Me…Part 3  Kyle is not going to be happy about this!  I’m actually upset for him and kind of nervous to break the news.  Maybe it’s time for a new set!

Check out Mikey’s other furniture creations on his .  He is a true artist with wood!  He doesn’t do refurbished wood projects, although he made an exception for me, since it was my grandpap Chester’s table, Mikey’s uncle.

Send Mikey a message… 

Logic will get you from A to B.  Imagination will take you everywhere.  ~Albert Einstein

Until his ipod, you couldn't pry Kyle's Nitendo DS from his hands... (T-shirt courtesy of Aunt Nikki)

Kyle is definitely a logical person, very uniformed and structured in his thinking and habits.  He thinks things through, and in order to accept the way something is dictated or presented to him, he has to have a full understanding and it has to make logical sense.  If not, he has no trouble questioning, anyone!

Although, I am happy with this level of logic Kyle exemplifies.  I am also happy to have observed his inner creativity on a number of occasions from Listening to a Child’s Thoughts and Afraid of a Story.  Kyle does have a very vivid imagination!  This is so true for movies, books, video games and even walking back the hallway to his room.  Granted, I get it, Kyle is after all a kid, and majority of children have imaginations to some degree, but Kyle physically feels the story.  However, the opposite is true, when something doesn’t capture his attention.  He is not interested and doesn’t give it the time of day.  But, once Kyle’s mind is engrossed in the subject, he is mentally and physically committed.

While watching cartoons, movies and playing video games, Kyle brings the action to life through his verbal and animated gestures.  It seems the natural course of action goes like this:  Kyle sees the subject of interest, the visual enters through his eyes and ears, it makes its way around his brain, then exists through his mouth and arms.  Kyle will literally makes the gun and car sounds, his version of a running noise, or mimics the background music, especially if it emphasizes tension or suspense.

During his video game battles when things  start heating up, Kyle throws up his hands and begins rubbing his head, as if in a stressful motion, and his whole body tenses.  It’s rather funny!

When Kyle was probably around five or so, he would ride around in the shopping cart in the store, usually playing his Nintendo DS.  One time, just out of curiosity, mom and I pushed the cart containing Kyle, to the middle of the isle and we proceeded to hide at the other end, peeking at Kyle from around shelved merchandise.  This was my experiment, to see how long it would take Kyle to leave his game, come back to reality, and realize he was alone and not moving anymore.  Just as we started to execute the experiment, one guy in the isle watched us and wondered what the heck we were doing.  That is until he gave us a devilish grin and saw the kid in the cart intently playing his video game.  It took Kyle close to ten minutes before he realized he was along and we were gone, well actually hidden out of immediate sight.  Mom and I almost fell over laughing as we peeked around the isle to watch him.  He first just happened to look up, then to his surprise he was alone, no one was in the isle.  All we heard him say was, “Hello?” like he was answering a telephone!  No screaming, no immediate panic, kind of just curious.  It was too much, mom and I busted out laughing and came walking toward Kyle.  He sat there with the biggest grin ever!  He said, “I was wondering where you went?”  I said, “You didn’t even notice we were gone.”  He just smile, knowing the point I was making.

Kyle's dinosaur drawing 9/18/11

This past weekend was really rainy, cold and dreary.  The ingredients for a perfect book weekend, well the perfect time to do some baking too.  Kyle was almost done with his Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix book, so we sat and read it together.  I really enjoy creating intensity while reading, through the rhythm of the words, the pace the sentences are read, and the proper use of enunciation and exclamation.  On Sunday night, we both squeezed in the chair in my living-room and picked up where we left off from earlier.  It was pretty intense.  Every time I turned the page, Kyle was rubbing his head, throwing up his hands in an excited motion, and letting out squeals.  He truly makes reading fun, and brings the excitement of the stories to life!  I hope Kyle keeps that intensity through life!

Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.  ~ John W. Gardner

Kyle & friends made pizzas for his 8th birthday at with Chef Dato

Taking the opportunity to make something healthy is an art in and of itself, especially something liked by a ten year old.  Kyle has been sick for the last few weeks.  He’s been battling this ear infection for nearly a month, being on his second dose of antibiotics.  Along with the ear infection, Kyle seemed to picked up the flu.  This past Saturday night, Kyle crawled in bed with me and to my surprise, I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like I just entered Dante’s Inferno.  Kyle really had a fever!  His body ached and he was miserable, to the point that around 3:00 am he wanted to get up and go to lay on the couch.  As I rolled out of bed, half awake, we made our way out to the living-room and plopped ourselves down in front of the TV to catch a little Phineas and Ferb.

By Saturday Kyle was feeling a little better, but not quite right.  Since Kyle has been on antibiotics for so long, I wanted to get a little yogurt action into his system.  Naturally, (pardon the pun) I don’t like him to eat the yogurt with high fructose corn syrup, aspartame and such in it.  I usually buy all natural yogurt only containing cultured grade A milk.  Bland?  Yes, but if you mix it properly with other ingredients it’s a great nutritious snack.  So I told Kyle we would make yogurt smoothies.  I figured it was a different treat, which would sooth his sore throat and accomplish my original intent, to get yogurt into his system.

Kyle fishing with his pappy on his birthday. 7/30/05

We made our Tropical Fruit Yogurt Smoothies.  Basically about a half a cup of plain yogurt, a cut or so of crushed ice, and tropical fruit in 100% natural juices.  Blend and serve.  It’s not an overly sweet treat, so Kyle decided to doctor it up a bit by adding a little honey.  Through Little Acts of Kindness I have talked about Kyle’s love for honey.  He drank the Yogurt Smoothie since I asked him to, and he knew the yogurt was good for him, but he wasn’t a huge fan.  He never said anything, well that is until dad opened his mouth and said, “Next time make mine without the yogurt.  I don’t like it.”  Agg, dad sometimes should not be allowed to have an opinion or speak!

Kyle hanging in the backyard. On the weekends, during summer we cook on the bonfire- steaks, pork loins, corn on the cob & mountain pies! 6/11/05

Well now, Kyle, who really does like to cook and experiment in the kitchen, which I completely encourage decided he wanted to continue making different types of smoothies.  On Sunday right after church, Kyle said he wanted to make a smoothie without yogurt.  Thanks dad!  Kyle said, “I’m going to make a healthy fruit smoothie, Aunt Heather!”  How could I object, plus it seemed like Kyle was starting to feel better.  He asked me what he should put in it and I responded by telling him to start experimenting and thinking of what would go good together.  Next thing I knew, he was adding blueberries, which are one of his favorite foods, a banana, tropical fruit, and yes the honey made its appearance.  I did suggest to him to add a little milk just to loosen everything up.  He really had a lot of fun adding the fruit then test tasting his concoction.  He made sure he made enough for everyone and he served us all our own smoothie.  It was really tasty!

Apparently, Kyle must have been really feeling better and really enjoying his smoothie Sunday, because later in the day, Kyle mentioned he wanted to try another type of smoothie.  He asked me, “Aunt Heather can you make a smoothie out of apples?”  I told him it might taste good if he cooked down the apples and added cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, lemon juice and maybe a little sugar.  Next thing I know, Kyle was peeling the apples and preparing to cook them down.  This smoothie contained cooked down apples, spices, milk, ice, and the honey made its appearance again.  It was really pretty good! It would be a great fall smoothie made with apple cider, but regardless, very tasty.  And keeping with Kyle’s style made enough for all of us.  Now it looks like my plan to get natural yogurt into Kyle was pushed aside, but he was feeling better and really enjoying himself, all while learning.

It’s amazing how an introduction to making something new can turn into a passion and peek a child’s interest.  So what is your smoothie?

See other cooking episodes Egg Sandwich Spectacular, Cooking With Kyle – Kitchen Safety, Cooking With Kyle – Introduction, Puppy Problem Called Seven!

Imagination is more important than knowledge.  For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.  ~Albert Einstein

While playing legos, Kyle creates different worlds and characters.

Sometimes after swimming I’ll take Kyle to Sheetz to get an MTO (Made-To-Order).  This past week, I needed to fuel up the car so we stopped to get a quick sandwich.  When we were waiting inside for our order, Kyle and I just so happen to be standing right in front of the doughnut display.  Now I don’t think there’s any treat that Kyle’s likes more than a doughnut!  When he realized what stood behind him, I knew our mission was compromised.  He gave me one of those innocent, question type of sideways smile.  His eyes said, “Can I have a doughnut?”  Almost as quick as his eyes questioned me, my eyes and smile simply said, “No.”  I gave him a big hug and said, “We don’t need doughnuts.”  He said, “Yes but I love them so much!”  I told him I agreed, but we didn’t need the extra fat, especially this late in the evening.

I expected a little bit of an argument or convincing from Kyle, and I was ready to hold my ground, but neither happened.  In fact, what he did next totally cracked me up!  He stood there and admired the doughnuts.  He then told me about each one. He described what he thought each would taste like and which one would be the best.  He read each doughnut’s name out loud and criticized the name and the look of the doughnut.

Kyle's Aunt Nikki took him to the Lego store in NYC. You can just hear him dreaming up different battles.

He then reached for the door handle and slightly opened the glass door of the doughnut display, closed his eyes, and took a big whiff of the doughnut aroma.  He said, “Umm Aunt Heather, they smell so good. What if I would just take a nibble out of each one?”  I laughed and said, “Then it would look like a mouse was running around loose in there.”  Kyle said, “Ya, then no one would suspect me of eating a piece of each doughnut.”  Then he went into a whole story about him being a mouse.  He told me which doughnut would be eaten first.  He was so engrossed in his story, including sound effects, that he didn’t notice people passing by and watching him.  I know he made their day just because of the amount of smiles being exchanged.  I think he was meaning to talk to me, but he really was lost in his own thought, humoring himself.

Kyle's Bakugon figures all lined-up... ready for battle!

When did we, as adults, lose that imagination? I am happy to say that, while I don’t use it all the time, it does make it’s way to the forefront of my mind and get loose from my lips.

So, like a forgotten fire, a childhood can always flare up again within us. ~Gaston Bachelard

In a way, we are all children at heart. I’ve actually always felt that way and I’ve lived my life under that principle. But what really amuses me is when a child shows such excitement they almost act like adults… or do the adults act like children?

Kyle has been talking about the new Pokemon Black coming out. He was checking online to see if it had been released in stores, checking out the new Pokemon characters, and I even caught him watching the Pokemon videos on their website. What was truly funny about the later was the fact that the videos were in Japanese, with sub-titles and voice-overs. I asked him what he was doing and he replied, “I am so excited, Aunt Heather, Pokemon Black is to be released March…” (I forget the date). He said, “It’s in Japan.” What he meant to saywas,  It’s in Japanese.” He went on all weekend talking about this new game with all new Pokemon characters. Out of nowhere Kyle would say, “ Do you think the game is already translated?” He even thought about the translation of the game. He would ask me “How long do you think it takes to translate the game?” and “How long do you think it took them to think of the new Pokemon characters?” O my little man, always thinking of the details. He even asked me, “Do you think the stores already have the game?” I did say, “Probably, they are just waiting to release it.” He said, “What? Why would they do that? I can’t take it anymore!” I laughed and said, “That’s marketing buddy. They are trying to build an excitement to get more kids bugging their parents to buy the game. All this makes the game more desirable. That’s what I do for a living.” He said, “That’s not right.” He cracks me up!

Throughout the weekend I caught him checking the website again and again to see if anything had changed. He would sit there watching his videos in Japanese. I told him, “I guess your going to have to learn Japanese.” And he told me, “No, Aunt Heather, they always translate it for me, plus I know the Japan alphabet.” I said, “The Japanese language doesn’t have an alphabet like the English language.” All inquisitive, he asked “What do they have?” I explained that their words are symbolist pictures. He was truly interested and we started to talk about other languages. I asked him what language he wanted to learn and he said he already knows Spanish. LOL, acutally that is partially true. When he was 2ish I heard him sing some song in Spanish. He was sitting in the backseat of my car. I asked him, “What are you singing?” He said, “I’m not sure.” I asked, “Where did you learn to speak Spanish?” He said, “Dora.” Of course… Well, I digress, I told him, if he ever wanted to learn to speak a different language, I would go to class with him and learn another too. It definitely started to get him thinking. And of course I meant it, I used to know French and a little Korean, but now-a-days… noth’in.

Watching Kyle get really excited over the release of the game made me think of other adults and their excitement….The Twilight craze with each book and later with each movie, Star Wars with the release of the first three episodes and the re-release of the last three digitally enhanced episodes, Sex and the City the Movie, and the hype over Harry Potter, and the list goes on and on.

So I guess Kyle is a normal young adult with an interest. I’m happy that he really likes Pokemon and he is part of a craze. It seems to make it more fun when your friends share in the excitement. He will soon find out, years later, it’s even more fun when you reminisce on the good old days… ahhh Wonder Woman…Hello Kitty…Barbie. Especially when they become retro…G.I. Joe… Transformers.