Blackbeard

Bubba is really into pirates lately. He may like to pretend to be a dog or cat, but he loves to talk about pirates. It might stem from his obsession with the Wiggles. They have a friend named Captain Feathersword, and they all like to sing songs and dance together. Who wouldn't love pirates, if that's all you know about them?

I could be a pirate of my own: Blackbeard the pirate. I'm not sure if it's because I'm no longer on the pill (mirena is an interesting thing), or maybe it's just because I'm getting older, but I have a beard. Well...maybe not technically a beard. It's more along the lines of four, extremely dark, course hairs that grow out of my chin - two per side. Annoying. And as someone who is currently growing her head-hair out, I can say that the chin hairs grow extraordinarily quickly. Like...I pluck them at least once a week. Maybe I actually have 16 of them, but only 4 grow at at time or something. Either way, it's embarrassing and annoying to have more (and courser) facial hair than my husband. He's such a babyface. I have a constant 5 o'clock shadow.

Bubba woke up last night. He called, "daddy! daddy!" rather than crying or calling for me. Ben was Johnny-on-the-spot, and Bubba was quickly quieted. So quick, in fact, that I was asleep before Ben came back to bed. After my run this morning, I asked Ben about last night. He wasn't sure why Bubba was sad - maybe he had a bad dream. Then Ben stretched out on the bed, put his hands behind his head and said, "I'm like Superman to [Bubba]." So proud. It made me chuckle.

It also reminded me of when Scooter was 3, and we were on a bike ride with then, "Mr. Ven." Scooter was in the chariot with her whistle (she liked to encourage me to pedal faster), and we were riding a pretty wide (8 or 10 feet) paved trail in Omaha when we came upon a group of people stopped on the path. There was 1 biker and at least 2 joggers standing, looking at something on the ground. It was a bull snake, and it was HUGE. One end was off one side of the trail, and the other end was hanging off the other side of the trail. This monster was sunning its wide-body on the sidewalk. Not wanting to pass on my insane fear of snakes, I mostly tried to keep quiet, but I'm sure the fear and tension seeping from my body wasn't lost on Scooter. She knew I was freaking out. To calm me, she said, "Don't worry, mom. Whatever you're scared of, Mr. Ven can take care of it." And for the most part, he has, ever since.