Fun at the Fair

Since Kieran basically plans his entire year around our county fair, we made sure to get in a good dose this year at the largest fair in the commonwealth of Virginia. We invited along some of our favorite hill folk and headed for an amazing time of rides, hot humidity, farm smells, vehicle crashes, and a stark plea for a national dental health program for carnival workers.

It was a great time for certain, though one that made me amazingly appreciative of our vehicles air conditioning on the way home. Kieran had a blast and was emboldened to go on some of the high rides by his fearless leader Ella (Kieran is quite timid with regards to heights, which surprises some given his boldness in other regards).

Here are some shots of the shindig, only to be topped by next years fair!

Kieran had scoped out the rabbit a full hour earlier and had to run around the carousel to find it.

Ella and Kieran had a lot of fun sharing the rides.

Nascar face

Our Friend Stacy with a huge turkey leg.

Who is Tristan?

What follows is basically a log of my perceptions of Tristan that I have been storing in my brain for a while. It is rather indulgent and intended to be a family record, so please skip if you would rather not read a parent blathering on about how great their kid is...

One of the greatest joys in my life has been getting to know my two boys as they have started to demonstrate their personalities and interests. As Tristan approaches eight months in age I have often intended to sit down and write this post, and just never seem to get to it. So I have finally gotten myself into the chair to try and capture what I have learned about this young human being who has entered our lives.

To begin with, apparent almost from his very first month, Tristan has been a very good natured and even tempered young man. We have learned to respond quickly to his cries because he rarely fusses without a very specific reason (of late this is often a certain almost four year old sitting on his head!). He seems surprisingly even keel and we definitely are grateful that his easy going nature makes life a little less hectic than it could be otherwise (and we feel for those who do not have this luxury!).

Tristan is a very happy little guy, he loves to laugh and smile and while break out in a fit of laughter anytime his brother makes silly faces or dances in front of him. He loves people and is surprisingly accepting of strangers, seeming content to be in most peoples arms (unless he hasn't had his quota of mommy for the day!). His gregarious nature is fun to watch, for example he discovered that he could look through the crack between the seats on the airplane coming back from Portland, so he eagerly "flirted" with a young woman sitting behind him for part of the flight.

This young man is determined. This seems to be a consistent theme in the Tennyson household, likely due to the Mother's genetic contribution. He started crawling somewhere toward the end of his six month, pulling himself by his arms since he couldn't figure out how to get his knees up (he still pretty much does a "military crawl"). When he encounters and obstacle he cannot easily overcome, he growls deep in his tummy and keeps pushing with his chubby legs until it is vanquished. He is not easily distracted from his goal, which bodes for some interesting parenting challenges in the future! :)

Tristan has surprising hand and foot dexterity, something I definitely attribute to his father's genetic contribution. He has continuously surprised us by doing things with this arms and legs that we didn't believe could be done at his age. For example, he started passing items between his hands when he was very young, weeks before we expected based on the timelines we had read.

Tristan loves daddy's brand of "tactile stimulation," or basically baby oriented horse play. He screams with delight when I "toss" him around the bed, roll gently on top of him, or put him in various MMA moves (mixed martial arts for those who are not avid fans). He definitely is a very "physical" young man. He loves to play with his brother and is mesmerized by all of the cool movements that he cannot yet reproduce. Even now at just shy of eight months he is clearly a huge fan of his big brother!

The Tristan "roar" has become quite famous in our household. When he gets excited he will often throw back his head and let out a "raaaarrrr." Often the various family members will roar back, eliciting more of the same.

Tristan loves food and has begun to forgo mommies milk in order to stuff down some more rice cereal, yogurt, mango, slightly chewed turkey bacon (his favorite), or anything else that is put in front of him. He has been so food focused that keeping him hydrated has been a bit of a challenge as of late. He has been growing like a little weed and is wearing clothes three months ahead of his age. Kieran was always very slender so it is quite interesting to have such a lusty young lad in the family! :)

Well, I think that paints at least a bit of a picture of the impressions I have formed over the course of Tristan's short stint with the Tennyson's thus far. I am sure he has many surprises in store for us as we move ahead, an adventure we eagerly await.

Kieran Ponders Death

So Kieran has been puzzled and bothered by death for the past six months. At first we thought it was a passing issue, but it has recently intensified again. He is very weirded out by bones in food, bones in the museum or doctor's office. He asks tons of questions whenever we pass a roadkilled animal (how did it die, will it get alive again). I tell him that once something dies it does not become alive again, but then I gently change the subject. At night when I am laying with him he talks about how his body has meat and bones and blood, in a very serious and even somber tone. He will no longer eat fish if he can see the bones on my plate.

When we were visiting Tiller, Oregon, Kieran went with Maranda to see the grave site of her Grandfather. Over six weeks later he is still asking Maranda questions about the grave site, if the bones are still there, if she "carried" her grandfather to the grave when he died, etc.

I have always been of the mind that death should be treated as a natural and normal part of life when engaging a child, kind of the way it would have been treated for most of human history. We don't hide the fact that we eat animals or that Daddy hunts deer that we eat (he is a huge fan of hunting by the way, he just doesn't like to dwell on the outcome). We have always known that Kieran is a very sensitive and perceptive child, and given his latest intensified concern over death I am starting to reconsider our approach. For certain, a child who is just shy of four years old is way too young to be having an existential crisis over the mortality of animals and human beings.

Going forward we will avoid situations that trigger these thoughts (avoid the natural history museum for instance). I don't think we can suddenly start telling him that death doesn't really happen, nor would I be comfortable with this fiction. Any other thoughts from anyone, we are open to any ideas?