Leonardo Da Kiefer

Balloons by Kiefer Ewy

I haven't posted an update for a while, but Kiefer's latest interest in drawing is noteworthy.

This little guy picked up a perfectionist gene somewhere (hmmm...what?) and he's always been particular about how his ideas are portrayed on paper. Translate: he has the idea and tells you how to put it on paper. I remember a head-scratching moment roughly one year ago when I was being directed to watercolor an elephant that looked nothing like an elephant to me...yet I was doing it totally wrong and Kiefer was literally washing off my paper with a wet paper towel correcting me, "no, Mama, his tail is here." Anyone who spends much time with Kiefer has experienced the "hey, can we draw {fill in the blank obsession} and cut them out?" Again, to translate: you draw, you cut, Kiefer directs. Dinosaurs. Dalmations. Elephants. Pirates. Different Dinosaurs. More Pirates. More Dinosaurs.

Then about two weeks ago, he drew stick people. Just one day out of the blue...he drew people! And they were pirates. In a boat. Holding the sails.


A few days later he moved on to dinosaurs. These are "three horns" and one "long neck" that he cut out.


Today he drew these. The top one is a T-Rex with its eggs. The bottom two are a Triceratops family complete with three horns each and some eggs. Eat your heart out Da Vinci!

Definition of Help

This weekend, Kiefer and I spent some quality time building with the Lincoln Logs. We went off the beaten path and made a pirate ship, despite our lack of "constructions" (instructions). It didn't turn out half bad but after the ship had served it's time, it came down and Kiefer decided he wanted to make a cake next. So, he handed me a few pieces and said "here's the flour" and "here's the butter"...while I built. Then he went to the other side of the room and jumped up on the couch. I quickly requested, "hey, why don't you come help me?"

"I'll just tell you want to do. That's kind of like helping.."

Insert {you've got to be kidding me} mom response face here. Then a lot of giggling under my breath. Can't beat a zinger like that.

Origin of Food

Eating lunch today, Kiefer said, "Mom is pizza made out of strawberries?"

"No, buddy - but you know what it's made out of? Tomatoes. Pizza sauce comes from tomatoes."

"But I don't LIKE tomatoes, Mom?!?"

"Well, a lot of really yummy things come from tomatoes. You know what else? Ketchup...you like that... and spaghetti sauce for people who like that...and yup, pizza sauce. Lots of people like all of those things but don't necessarily like tomatoes."

Taking a bite of yogurt he said, "you know what else is made out of milk, Mom? (whispering) yo---gurt..."

"That's right! And you know what else? The cheese that's on your pizza comes from milk which comes from a cow."

"Yup. That's right mom. The cow drinks the milk. Then it comes out of the cow's bottom...then people drink it, mom!"

So, he got me. That's pretty much right. Sort of....

Now, I'm a bit disturbed that I had to think so hard about where pepperoni comes from. I hope it's legitimate meat - the sausage, pork, pig thing.... I hope.

Punkmin Season

"Mom, can we get one of these little punkmins?"

Friday evening we had to run to Price Chopper and Kiefer made this request as we approached the store. Upon approval, he selected one on our way inside.

After we were back in the car, Kiefer studied the pumpkin a little more closely. Pause... "Mom, check it out, this PUNK-min has moles on it!

Marshmallows

An evening trip to Target - not Kiefer's favorite thing to do. Anytime I break the news that we have to stop somewhere on the way home from work/daycare, Kiefer's typical response is something like, "Mom. Why can't you do these things when I'm not with you? Shopping is just so boring!"

I only needed a few things, but this stop required some persuasion. A special snack usually does the trick. So, tonight - among all the aisles and aisles of Halloween candy pouring off the shelves, Kiefer spotted marshmallows. They were "special" - white, orange and black ghost-shaped, medium-sized marshmallows. He was sold immediately and we were off to check out. "Mom, do not have him put those in a bag. I want to hold them."

We got in the car and Kiefer asked if he could have just a couple on the way home. So, I agreed and as I opened the bag and pulled out "one white one and one orange one, please" as requested, Kiefer said....

"Mom, can we please save these marshmallows until I grow up and go camping? Then I can take them camping with me!"

Wow, ok or maybe we can just buy you another bag of marshmallows when that time rolls around..!

Sooner than later, he requested to hold the bag so the softie behind the wheel gave in and I handed them back with the typical mom speech "don't eat too many of those...you need room in your tummy for dinner."

To which Kiefer replied, "they will just go on the sides, Mom."

Huh?

"The marshmallows will just go on the sides of my tummy. That way there will be room for my dinner to go right in the middle."

He was serious. Oh, the rationale...

Mom Talk

I love a day when we can finally just RELAX. This morning Kiefer and I got up and around and much to his approval - no work, no school! Nice. "So, let's just stay home and a-lax Mom," he requested. Amen to that, little man... So, we did. Stayed home. "A-laxed" (Relaxed).

We started the morning with a few a-laxing episodes of Curious George from the comfort of mom's bed (so I could "sleep in", not really - but at least not have to get up.) Then it was off to the playroom for a spin around the farm followed by good times with the Lego pirates, a new favorite. Please note, there are seven guys - I got one, Kiefer got six. What? How is my pirate going to have a chance at winning battles single-handedly with one cannon and no ammo while Kief has basically everything else? Well, of course I thought it was only appropriate to treat this as a "choosing teams" sort of fairness lesson. "Ok, Kiefer - let's put all the pirates in the middle and then take turns picking one at a time until we each have (close to) an equal number of pirates." Well, he agreed with this little game until he saw that I had three pirates then said, "Ok, Mom, I'll just take these two and you keep that one then I'll play with all of these. In one minute, we will take turns, ok?!" Boy, has someone heard the "sharing" speech/rationale a few thousand times...

So, we played and out of left field Kiefer said "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit, Mom." I realize this is excellent Mom Talk and a phrase that I should adopt, but I have never said this to Kiefer. I can't quite envision this one flying around at his school, so the jury is out on it's origin! Needless to say it brought down the house, even if it was just my party of one. In hindsight, he used this phrase out of context considering the conversation that preceded and followed his lecture, but I loved it nonetheless. I could use a lesson every once in a while to keeps the complaints to a minimum, so I'll try to remember this ;)

We had a great time today and spent part of the afternoon outside covering every square inch of the driveway in sidewalk chalk. Coloring with sidewalk chalk at our house usually consists of Kiefer picking out the colors then delegating to an adult what he wants where. "I need a huge pirate ship right over there. Now draw the sails. Now draw the anchor. Now draw the pirates... No, this one needs a bandana, not a hat." and so on and so on. Well, in an attempt to encourage Kiefer to execute his own creative vision I pulled out a chair and said "Ok, I'm going to relax a minute, it's your turn!" So, that lasted all of 30 seconds and Kiefer was pulling my arm, "Ok, my turn to a-lax, Mom. Now, go draw me an orange T-Rex, please."

When dinner time rolled around, we came in so I could get things ready. I guess we worked up an appetite relaxing because Kiefer actually asked for seconds and refills. When he asked for more milk I poured it saying, "boy, you sure are my milk drinker, buddy!" to which Kiefer replied...

"Mom, you sure are my water drinker."

Farm Love and Melting Hearts

I absolutely love the chance to take Kiefer to the Atchison County Fair each summer. It's a great opportunity to reminisce about my childhood and show Kiefer the animals that kids raise to bring to the fair. I love our suburban life, but I sure do miss going back to the farm. I would not trade growing up on a dairy farm for anything in the world. Granted, I didn't have to do anything (sorry Dustin...you got stuck with all the chores that required any real work!) But I have the best memories of adventure and fun on the farm including one where I follow flocks of baby chicks around our property seeing how close I can get, knowing I will never actually catch one.

This weekend we visited the Nebraska State Fair. Most importantly: the birthing barn, a small facility on the fairgrounds where mothers and newborn baby farm animals reside. Not only was the State Fair a major step up in the "see lots and lots of animals" department from the County Fair, but this mother and new baby thing serioulsy took the fair-going experience to the next level! Kiefer got to touch a piglet that was one day old. Fascinating. Not to mention extremely cute.


But the crecendo moment topping all State Fair experiences (well, a close tie with the bumper cars according to Kiefer) was holding a one day old baby chick. They literally were hatching on the spot and this sweet little guy was taking in his second day on earth from the palms of little eager hands wanting to love him to pieces. Cupping his hands around the chick, Kiefer stared in total adoration. Honestly, I wasn't sure we would be able to give this one back.


"Oh, mom. I want one of these babies. I really wish we lived on a farm so we could have baby am-ni-luls......." [aaaand insert heart melting here]

Which leads me to the second 1/2 of this story. On our drive home from Nebraska, Kiefer randomly said something very sweet - maybe it was an unprovoked "I love you, Mom" or something of similar nature. I can't even remember. The part burned into my short-term memory was this:

"Ah, Kiefer - you are breakin' my heart. Well, maybe that's not right- more like that MELTS my heart...!"

"But MOM, if your heart melts you will die!"

(Oh, my......!) "Wow, good point - ok - what I mean is that you said something really nice and it made my heart feel good, so how about 'that makes my heart smile'?"

Then a scary Star Wars voice answered from the back seat "I'm gonna shoot your heart with fire, Mom! Pbbbccchhhooo! Ppppbbdhdcchooo!" Well, I guess I lost him at my attempted heart melting explanation. He is still a boy, afterall... but I love the moments when his sweetness melts my heart - and makes it smile! xoxo, Kiefer - I love you little man.

Lions With Eggs

One night last week, I came to Kiefer's classroom to retrieve him from school and he was drawing a picture alongside one of his teachers. They were using those plastic tracer-gadgets in different animal shapes and making lions. Even though Kiefer announced "Mom, look I did this ALL by myself"... I could see that his helper had done most of the tracing and "fixing" (when you trace the 1" x 2" very small lion with a crayon - it basically comes out looking like an oval with a small head-like circle and no legs or tail.) So, she had drawn on the mane, legs and tail after removing the trace tool, added a sun, etc. Kiefer was responsible for the grass and dirt that was accurately placed below the lions' feet.

We left and brought the picture in the car with us going home. Kiefer said, "Mom, I need a pencil. I need to draw some eggs."

So, I dug around in the car for a pen - passed it back during the drive and he went to town adding eggs to his picture. "Kiefer - why are you drawing eggs?"

"Mom. So the lions can have babies."

"Well, actually mommy lions grow babies in their tummies like humans and other cats. They don't lay eggs. Birds lay eggs and dinosaurs had eggs."

"No, mom. Lions have their babies in eggs. I've seen them before! Maybe they have them in their tummies in Africa or somewhere like that, but not at the zoo. Those lions have eggs."

More egg coloring continued in the back seat. "Mom, I think I drew too many eggs - they are really close together."

"Buddy, I'm sure it looks wonderful. I can't wait to see it.." Some of the eggs were free-standing while a group of them were together on the grass, sort of like a nest.


"Mom - will you show my picture to your friends? And if they like it - you tell me!"

"Sure bud, I am positive they will love it! It's awesome. I'll take it to work tomorrow."

"But Mama. If they don't like it..... don't tell me. And you know what? When I grow up and go to work, you can draw pictures for me to take to work to show to my friends!"

New Career Path

Well, well... we're moving on from pirates, back to firefighting! It's comforting to know Kiefer isn't aspiring to be a pirate when he grows up. He's never actually said that, but he does often ask whether or not "pirates are real". If you follow the life and times of little man K, you are aware of the fact that pirates have been a running interest for several months. Before that, elephants, before that... DIREDITERS.

Oh, how our interests are so easily re-loved and re-lived.

Last week, his school had firefighters visit. When I picked Kiefer up that night, he did not stop talking from the moment I arrived to the moment we walked through our door. Mile a minute update on all the fire safety he had learned that day, details about firefighters, fire engines, etc. I got a little suspicious at his "story" that all of the kids in his school had driven in a big car to the fire station to get on a fire truck. (I don't think Miss Dana has a car big enough for approximately 80 kids, all who require carseats.) Aside from that detail, the rest of his recount seemed incredibly legit and he was excited!

As soon as we were home he bee-lined it to his closet to retrieve his firefighter outfit and accessories. Then continued with the following fire safety information:

Late For Cake

The other night after his bath, Kiefer wanted to "get dressed up" for a pajama party. Despite my typical attempt to go from bath to pjs to bed in a timely manner, Kiefer was determined to continue playing and have a "pajama party". At bedtime. My guess, this was a continuation of the storyline responsible for the imaginary cakes he had been baking in the bathtub that night.

Kiefer knows there are necklaces and bracelets within reach in my closet, so he said "Let's get dressed up for the dance party, Mom!" While I was getting my pjs on for the pajama party, Kiefer was headed into my closet to accessorize for a "dance" party.

"Mom, where's your watch?!"

Well, I just took it off because I'm putting on my pjs for bedtime.

"I need it. How will we know what time we're supposed to eat our cake?!"


In lieu of forking over my watch, I directed Kiefer to a drawer containing some old ones he could play with. "I want that one. And that one. And that one."

"I gotta see what time it is... Oh. My. Good. Ness. It's 6:30! We don't want to be late to eat our cake, Mom!"

Adventures in Blueberries

Last Saturday we went the The Berry Patch to spend some time with friends, Sara, Sam, Annie and their Nana picking blueberries. Needless to say, blueberries are blue - hence a food with pigment and therefore not on the list of acceptable foods in the Kiefer diet. Ah, well - this was going to be an adventure and he was really excited about it. We looked online at the map together the night before so I'd be aware of our commute and he could see what we'd be doing.

That morning we got around and on the way out to the car, Kiefer said "we need the map, Mom!"

"It's ok, we don't need a map buddy. It's just a few turns, should be really easy for us!"

His octopus kickboard was sitting in the laundry room on the way out to the garage, so he picked it up and said "here's the map".
So, as we drove he read the "map" to me.

"K, Mama. 'Cording to the map.......you need to go left. It says.... at the row of greens, you need to stop."

And so on with the "cording to the map" instructions, all the way to the berry patch. After a quick commute, we arrived and hit the ground running to pick berries.
Kiefer was meticulous to only pick the "really dark blue ones".Here's his first berry harvest.It was an enjoyable new experience for all. The kids enjoyed some snacks afterward but Kiefer was adamant to not try the blueberries, despite Sam and Annie's blueberry eating example.
Maybe next year!
Heading home...

"That sure was fun buddy! Let's hit the road...hey, what does your map say?"

"Mama, it says 'Go Fish'."

Super Frog

I love summer mornings after a thunderstorm! You never know what will be waiting when the garage door goes up. Usually it's an army of earthworms who fled the swampland of the yard for the dry highground known as our concrete driveway. This morning, when the garage door went up, Kiefer walked out and doubled back to me quickly.

"Mommy, look what is in our gawadge! Hurry come see!"

"Aw, Kiefer! A cute little tree frog. Look how small he is."

Behind the car was a frog that had hopped in as the door came up. I stepped near him to scare him back out of the garage. Instead, he just hopped further under the car so there wasn't much I could do. After getting things loaded into the car, I looked again and he was gone...

"Mom, I saw a twee dwog one time at Grandma Theresa's house! Maybe it's the same one!"

"Wow, buddy - do you know how much hopping that little frog would have had to do to get all the way to our house?"

I backed out of the drive looking back in for the frog, praying I hadn't or wouldn't run over him. Kiefer said, "Hmmm, I think maybe he drived here from Grandma's."

"Wow, really? Well, how would that little tiny frog drive a car?"

"He just puts his fins up on the steering wheel and drives, mom!"

"Oh! Well what kind of car did he drive down here?"

"Um, I think he drived Grandma's car. He put his little hoppy things right up on the steering wheel and drived mommy."

"Ok. Because that sure would have taken him a long time to hop here..."

"Um, I think it would just take one hop. One great big hop! He would go waaaaaayyy up in the sky and turn into a bird. Then he would land here and be a dwog again."

So, Grandma... the tree frog you and Kiefer saw the last time he was there may have stolen your car last night and "drived" to Olathe. I didn't notice your car anywhere near our house, so if you still have it then that means we're going with the "hop - turn into a bird - land and be a frog again" theory. It really was a toss up.

Treasure, Treasure, Find the Treasure!

So, K-man's favorite thing right now is pirates. Lots and lots of pirates and anything related to pirates! (Thank you very much, Walt Disney and Peter Pan.)
Last night, digging in his sand table, Kiefer decided to "bury treasure" as all of his pirates were hanging out in the sand with him. He sang most of the time, which was quite enjoyable!

"Mama! LOOK at this tweasure!"
"Cool, buddy - what is in there?!?!"
"Ummmm... some necklaces and rubber duckies. Hey! Let's bury this tweasure so no one else dinds it!"
"Good idea, so what else is in there...."
"Well... there is some deweal (cereal), some pancakes, some BE-UT-DE-TUL toys, and shoes. Oh! And kni-fes (a two-syllable word) and dinodaurs..."
"Wow! That's a lot of stuff! What's your favorite thing in there?"
"I really like the rubber ducky, Mom."

So just as I'm in half panic that my 3 year old is learning words like "knife" and "sword" - not to mention the pirate skeleton that "got dead" (GREAT) - I also realize that he is a little person growing up in a world of beauty, wonder and blessings that overshadow the knives and swords if you let them pour in. Stepping back, I realize that my almost-panic is unwarranted... he's a little boy, which means mean distructive dinosuars and fighting pirates are cool. I love that the favorite thing Kiefer "found" in his treasure chest was an imaginary rubber duck. And the toys were BEAUTIFUL. He lets the light pour in and I love that.

In our world, darkness is all around us. Just a fact. So, what's in your treasure chest?

Treasure, Treasure, Find the Treasure! Happy hunting.

When I Grow Up

Driving home the other night, Kiefer said, "Mama, ask me what am I gonna be when I grow up."
"Ok. Kiefer, what are you going to be when you grow up?"
"I don't know, you tell me Mama..."
"Let's see. Are you going to be a doctor?"
"Noooooo"
"Are you going to be a firefighter?"
"Noooooo"
"A teacher?"
"No"
"An architect?"
"Noooo"
"A scientist?"
"Nooo, silly!"
"Well, what are you going to be?"
"I'm gonna be a daddy, Mom."
"Oh, really?!? So, how many kids are you going to have?"
"Three. Or maybe 65. And I'm gonna live by you. Nooo, I'm gonna live next to Grandma Theresa!"
"What?! You aren't going to live by me?"
"Noooo (big grin)...(turned serious voice) hey, Mama... How I going to find they Mommy?"

Luckily we have a looooong time before we have to worry about that!

Better late than never...here goes!

Ok. It's about time I started jotting down a few fun snippets from the life and times of little man Kiefer. Living with a three year old who has been talking - well I can't even remember when he didn't - so let's say for "years" (heehee) provides countless stories to pass along to family and friends. Thinking I'll remember any of these moments three hours after I've giggled about them or crossed my hands over my heart in an "awww" breathtaking moment is just downright silly. I can't remember anything. I'm a busy mom with a few things going on... When my mom asked me, "are you writing this down?" for the 4,863rd time the other night, I decided it was high time to get busy writing.

Not only am I intrigued by Kiefer's sometimes adorable adaptation of the English language, I am constantly mesmerized by his vision of the world, his curiosity, his memory, his attention to details and his imagination. "Mom, do you think God painted the clouds with a paint brush?" ... "Mom, that looks like a hoctopoctor!" (helicopter) ...whether it makes you think outside the lines for a moment or just smile, I hope you enjoy!