Conversations with my cousin

Buster: My mommy's in Seattle. That's very far away.

Talia: My mommy's in the kitchen. It's right there.

Sunglasses

First inaugural address

Hide and seek

Or something, with Grandad Jim. (6/17)

The firefighter

It really helps to picture Buster's half of these morning conversations spoken in his big, deep, firefighter voice.

After the party, when all the people go, you can carry all my toys back downstairs, because I have little hands, and you have really big hands.
Let me see. [Compares hand sizes.] Oh, yeah, my hand is a little bigger than yours, isn't it? I never noticed that. I bet my feet are bigger than yours too, huh?
Uh-huh.
Someday yours'll be bigger than mine. Can you imagine that?
Yeah.
You can? I can't. But I bet you will. You'll be bigger than me someday. You can picture that, huh?
Yeah. I'll be a big, tall firefighter.
Oh, OK.
Yeah. But I'll still just be Buster.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Firefighters have really good pencils.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

I'm the firefighter, and you're the firefighter, and Mommy's the fire chief.
She's the fire chief? She'll be glad to hear that.

Mom: Good morning, Buster. [Kisses top of his head.]
No. The fire chief doesn't kiss the firefighters.

Daredevil

Daisy

C

L

I

M

B

S

Uh?

Whatchoo lookin' at?

Play-doh

What's this blue stuff?
Eggs
Blue eggs?!
Yeah.
Like green eggs? Like green eggs and ham?
They're blue jays' eggs.
Oh. Are blue jays' eggs blue?
Yeah.
I didn't know that. What about cardinals' eggs? Are they red?
[No answer]
Or are they blue? Or maybe white. I dunno. I've never seen one.
Yes you have.
I have?
Yeah. Remember? We went to the old Cardinals and there was a Cardinal bird there with pants on.
Yes! I do remember that.
Yeah! He was silly!

Whoop!

This is a game where Eula snatches the bowling pins away just before Buster can knock them over with his sippy cup. Owen and Buster agreed this was the funniest thing ever to happen in the history of the world. (6/3)

Playground

Daisy's new hangout: Under the table.

Big world

Little kid.

Dance party

Working it out to "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" -- we have a 45 -- with Owen Gastineau. Dad Jeff is only encouraging this sort of behavior. (6/3)
Here's Owen's front:

Buster explains the toolbox

These are pliers.
What do pliers do?
They ply.

Last Cali picture dump

Filbert Street near Washington Square in San Francisco. Buster thought that parking on this hill, which is way steeper than it looks in this photo, was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. He's from St. Louis. We live near a neighborhood called "The Hill" that he thinks is actually on, you know, a hill.


Some big bridge (5/7)


Family portrait, Sacramento zoo, Tom Double D Thumb and Veena's wedding. (5/6)


Big Stick Mick, aka Just Mick, aka Michael, with Daisy, and with his son Hank, aka Buster in a few years. That's Hank's sister Fifi in the background. At the wedding. (5/6)

No singing

[Singing] Hurry, hurry, get your socks on, hurry --
No! Don't sing that.
What do you want me to sing?
Nothing.
OK. [Singing] Nothing! Nothing-nothing, noth --
No! Don't sing that either!
Why not?
'Cause it's noying me.

Parent of the year

nomination photo. (S.F., early May)

Blurry

girl.

The cook

Very, very

Daddy, I wish I had some Scooby-Doo socks.
I wish you did too.
Well, Daddy, when you go to the store, tomorrow, let's go to the store. When you go, will you please get some Scooby-Doo socks for me?
Yeah, I will.
Daddy, if you go to the Scooby-Doo store and get me some Scooby-Doo socks, I will be very, very happy. Very happy.
I'll try to do that. I don't know if there's such a thing as Scooby-Doo socks, but if there is I'm gonna try to get them because that was really good talking.
Yeah. Daddy, when your little boy does something good, you should do a nice thing for your little boy, because that's very, very good. And the good thing I did was change my poopy pullup.

Ball

Forest Park, late April.