Hyrum at Disneyworld

Thanks to Grandma Boo who had a camera to bring, we now have some pictures of Hyrum at DisneyWorld last month.



Grandma found Hyrum a new hat and he became Woody for the trip.

Sadly her camera didn't work too well (I'm guessing since I don't have any of the shots I took) when he met up with Buzz and Woody the first day. It was a little hilarious. There he was in his Woody pajamas from Disneyland and his brand new Woody hat. Woody knew what to expect and started walking to Hyrum with his arms outstretched.

Hyrum ran toward him with a happy scream ... and right past him. Woody kept wandering forward, wondering what had happened as Hy grabbed Buzz by the legs for a great big hug. Joy explained to Woody that he was always #2 in Hyrum's eyes ... which didn't go over well. I think I saw them fighting again afterwards (j/k). It was fun.

This was the first time, though, that Hyrum played at being Woody. Normally he is Buzz, Mom is Woody, and I'm Rex. But at Disney he was Woody, I got to be Buzz :), Mom is Jessie, with Pop as Bullseye (Woody's horse), and Grandma taking my duties as Rex.

The best part of that is that people (tourists and staff alike) would ask him constantly where Bullseye was. Well, Pop was talking care of Grandma Boo, so he answered, "He's at Boo's," which I'm sure sounded like "booze" to everyone else. But he knew where Bullseye was.

Enjoying Jungle Cruise.

Donald in Africa.

We decided unanimously that Africa has the best character breakfast just in terms of the breakfast. Not only do they have the staples at all the other buffets (Mickey waffles, eggs and bacon, pancakes, donuts, fruit, disappointing biscuits and gravy), they had African dishes as well.

Hyrum loving Pop.

Carousels were clearly one of the big winners this trip. He really liked going around and around on any ride that would let him.

Hyrum helped me capture the evil Zurg.

"*Gasp!* Zurg!" he says, pointing.

Hy officially was looking forward to meeting Mickey's friends plus Buzz and Woody. Even though Pooh's friends didn't feature in his schedule, he sure was happy to see them.

Speaking of going around and around, the one ride Hy asked for by name without seeing were the Tea Cups. I got them going SUPER fast. He clung to the side with one arm, the biggest, happiest smile on his face. "Then my hat fell," he says. Yes, his hat flew off, and he bonked his head a few times. This is him at the end of the ride, trying to get the world to stop spinning. He denied being dizzy.

This is Hyrum with Disney Magic Crayons. The Magic Crayons look different from the crayons we got everywhere else and they magically appeared one by one, sneaking among the others while he was trying to count how many crayons he had. This made counting difficult, but all the more fun.

Things Hyrum Remembers: Disney World

Hyrum's intention going into Disney World was to find characters. He wanted to see, in this order: Mickey, Buzz, WALL-E, and Pop and Boo (Grandpa and Grandma). WALL-E apparently lives at Tokyo. Between character breakfasts each day and finding Buzz and Woody together the first day, his character needs were met. He was excited to see anyone else along the way, but felt no need to visit any of them, unlike last trip. Joy interjects, "Except for Mary Poppins, who we saw and couldn't meet, but he wanted to. Hyrum really wanted to stop but we had to go on to a lunch reservation." He hadn't paid her much attention last time at Disneyland.

His regular refrain was "Let's go on more rides" - particularly after anything we went to that didn't impress as much... and after we got off the plane at home... and today again at the CT Mystic Aquarium.

His first ride was his clear favorite: Toy Story Midway Mania. He went on it 3 times and asked for it several more times in later days at the other parks. The other ride he asked for several times was Spaceship Earth (the Epcot ball). When he saw it, he stopped in his tracks, pointed, and said, "Daddy! It's Epcot!" He took a nap in it the first time we went through.

He also got used to eating at restaurants. "I want to go to restaurant and eat." Not that he ate anything they offered - he only barely sipped the milk - but he quickly learned that was where he got fed. (Actually, today he asked to go to a restaurant too.*) As we were waiting Friday evening for our last restaurant, he announced "I want to go to the dark restaurant with the cartoons." The Sci-Fi Diner that shows old scary B-movie trailers and a few outer space cartoons was memorable enough to make him want to go back. It was Joy's favorite restaurant when she was there last time, but she sees it with new eyes having brought a toddler there. "I still like it for me," she says, "I really like the atmosphere. Then I realized it really focuses on horror films...."

Hyrum is now big enough to go on water rides and we took him on the Animal Kingdom raft ride. We told him he was going to get wet. We gave him a special rain slicker. He still got wetter than anyone, which made his lower lip quiver. I asked at the end if the ride was fun. "Yes." Do you want to ride it again? "No." He reminded us of the ride today, talking about the kids in another raft who were screaming and that he didn't want to go on it again.

He randomly talked to us today about a hedge maze that Grandma Boo and Mommy showed him in Epcot.

He remembers watching the 30 minute musical play version of Finding Nemo. Joy sang a parody version of one of the songs and Hyrum sang the real words in response.

He hasn't talked about these yet, but we know he particularly enjoyed the Country Bear Jamboree (he clapped along regularly and in pretty good rhythm), the Tea Cups (asked for them by name before we got to the park and loved how dizzy I made him - boy, that was a blissful boy in the cup with me!), the line for Winnie the Pooh, and the trains around Germany. He did not enjoy Prince Caspian (dark and scary) or the Hall of Presidents (nap time!).

Hyrum demonstrated the ability to tell the difference between Disneyland and Disney World on t-shirts. "Pop, your shirt says Disneyland, not Disney World!"

* - Joy tells me that even before Disney, he asked to go to a restaurant. We go to one so rarely I'm not sure how that happened. It's probably because we went to one in March when Pop was in town for a night and took us to Applebee's. Joy told him that we couldn't because Pop wasn't there. He said, "No. Go to restaurant without Pop." Joy couldn't figure out where he was coming from either.

Disney Magic

We got a surprise invitation last month to join my parents at DisneyWorld for a few days. AWESOME! We flew out Tuesday, spent Wed-Fri at the parks, and returned yesterday. Hyrum's first visit was a wonderful time, and well in keeping with the traditions of the Magic Grandma.

Grandma Boo got a lot of quality time with him, riding in her scooter around the parks. She would pause regularly along the way to point out something interesting to him and explain it all, from topiaries to Liberty Bell replicas to carvings and flowers. When a bit of puffy flower-seed floated by on the wind, she caught it and showed Hyrum the "Disney Magic" that had brought such a wondrous thing to them. To Grandma at Disney, the world is full of Disney Magic. It made the trip all the more enchanting for Hyrum.

Then I started getting into the act:

Friday night at dinner, Hyrum was playing with his crayons while we finished our meal. I asked Hyrum to count his crayons. There were 9. I asked him to count them again, just to be sure. While he was distracted, I added a crayon. He returned his attention to his crayons and discovered the new one. He pointed out to everyone that it looked different from the other crayons! Grandma told him it was Disney Magic. Disney Magic produced three more crayons over the next while as he counted and recounted and never came up with the same number twice. Those four crayons became "the magic crayons." He asked to color with the magic crayons on the flight home and was disappointed today at church that the crayons I offered to let him color on his church program weren't magical.

Friday night as we got ready to sleep at Disney for the last time, Hyrum mourned that there would be "no more Disney magic." Oh, Hyrum, you'll take a little Disney magic with you. You are full of Disney magic.

We've reaped at least two interesting bits of Disney magic already. Up until the trip, Hy has complained most bitterly about needing to "practice potty." He dislikes it more and more, making it less and less fruitful. He hasn't earned a potty sticker or prize in a long time. During one pit stop when he was putting up yet another fight, I got fed up and called him a baby. Big boys say "I need to pee" and go to the bathroom by themselves. Babies just pee and need their diapers changed all the time. I said something to the effect of "And we'll have to keep on doing this until you can learn to say 'I need to pee.'" Something about it clicked. He doesn't want to be a baby. He wants to be a big boy. All of a sudden, from one pit stop to the next, he is happy to go to the bathroom. "Yes, I need to pee!" he announces whenever we ask, even if he doesn't actually pee. Then after he pees, he tells us he's a big boy, NOT a baby. It's such a blessing. The hard part is that from the way he asks Mommy why she chooses to pee, it sounds like he thought I meant once he can say "I need to pee" he won't need to anymore.... Joy says, "For some reason, it seems like he wants it to be something he can choose. 'I don't want to poo.' I keep trying to explain it, but we haven't made any headway yet."

We're also still trying to teach Hyrum to walk. He never learned, really. He learned how to run. Running and walking are different skills, you see. The first day at Disney he ran around like his usual rambunctious self. The second day he kept up with us pretty well. I noticed on Friday that he was a) actually willing to hold my hand and b) walking a little bit behind me so that I was carrying him forward noticeably. When I slowed down, he slowed down to match. I asked if his feet hurt and he said no. Then on Saturday, he hobbled through the airport, slow as could be. I turned to Joy and said, "It's Disney Magic! He walks!" Alas, the Disney Magic has worn off and he was his usual cannonball self at church.

Who is this boy now?

Hyrum has added quite a cast of characters to his list of acting credits. He takes on several roles every day now, announcing rapid fire who everyone is and insisting that we call him by his new name every time we speak to him. Also new this week, he announces "I am Hyrum for a minute" when it's time to change his diaper, and then he reverts to his alternate persona when he stands up again.

We were very interested during our parent-teacher conference to learn that, though he'll talk about these people and pretending to be them, he only ever goes by Hyrum in the classroom. If he decides to playact with you, it's apparently an honor.

Some of the newer roles I didn't mention in the last post:

Hyrum -- Daddy -- Mommy -- (source)
Pablo -- Tyrone* -- Uniqua -- (Backyardigans)
Tyler -- Aubrey -- Jacey -- (kids in his class who hugged him for his birthday)
Margaret -- [her dad] -- [her mom] -- (friend at church)
Sister McCallister -- just Daddy -- Sister McCallister's Mom* -- (nursery leader)
Kermit the Frog -- TBA -- TBA -- (Muppets)
Joseph Smith Sr. -- Joseph Jr. -- Oliver Cowdery -- (church history)
Rolf -- Capt. von Trapp -- Lisl -- (Sound of Music)
Flick -- Dot -- Princess Ada -- (A Bug's Life)
Buzzz -- Tom Nook -- "the cat in the dark" -- (Animal Crossing)
Buzz Lightyear -- Rex -- Woody -- (Toy Story)

He's also doing more announcing who he will be on a certain day or under particular conditions:

"If Mommy wakes me up, I will be Kermit the Frog."
What if I wake you up?
"I'm Buzzz and you're Tom Nook."

His birthday card was signed by all of us!

*Incidentally, I had to fight to get the Tryone role. He was casting me as Uniqua and Mommy as Tyrone. It took part of my cunning and all of my persistence to convince him to switch us. I get enough female roles as is. I was a touch concerned when he wanted me to be Mary Poppins until we were watching it together. We saw "Feed the Birds" and then "Let's go Fly a Kite." During the latter song, Mary looks out the window as the children go skipping off, her face full of love and longing. It was at that moment that he happily pointed and called out "That's you, Daddy!" ... Okay, I'll be your Mary Poppins.

*Also incidentally, he's never met Sister McCallister's Mom, but he assumes she must have one. Further incidentally, he has a really hard time saying Flick's name properly, so if you overheard him, no, he's not cursing at us.

Things Hyrum Thinks About

Hyrum prefers Toy Story 2 to Toy Story 3. The reason? "The kids are mean to the toys. In Toy Story 2, they aren't." Thanks to an early birthday present, he is discovering Toy Story 1 "how they meet."

"Now talk about the Buzz mission." The intro to Toy Story 2 is very much his favorite part.

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One of Hyrum's favorite books at school is about a mouse named Murray who wants to make a perfect soup. To get the ingredients, he runs around doing favors for people in a barter system economy. "Murray is in a hurry" is the catch phrase. Hy announced on Wednesday that today he would be Murray. On Friday, he asked when it was Sunday so he could be Murray. I came in his room today and asked him what day it was. He exulted: "Sunday!!! That means I am Murray!"

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Last week Hyrum discovered Animal Crossing. His character in the game is named Buzzz. He specified to us every day that he was "Buzzz from Animal Crossing" as opposed to Buzz from Toy Story. I get to play Tom Nook the raccoon storekeeper whose voice I do as an Indian accent. The number one thing he talks about, though, is that fact that the opening screen is "Dark" and has "a cat." "And then the light goes on and you walk until you stop. You go in the house and tell .... and you go in the store and work for Tom Nook."

"Marioparty has a question mark!" he interjects from the dinner table.

When Mommy reminded him that he doesn't work for Nook forever, I told her he and I had finished Nook's chores. Hyrum then explained, "You walk out of the store and you win!" Buzzz punched the air to celebrate paying off the downpayment on his house. "And then we save."

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Last Sunday Hyrum decided to be his friend Margaret. This was very funny because I home teach Margaret's family. So we all went over to Margaret's with our Margaret. She sat in my lap and he sat in her dad's lap and was overly affectionate. When we got home, I got to be Margaret's daddy and Joy was Margaret's mommy. We have spent this week trying to convince him that most people only get handshakes and hugs. So I ask permission to stop being Nook so Daddy can give him a kiss. The odd side effect is that he has wandered to me and asked to shake my hand. He is very looking forward to playing with Margaret this week for his birthday.

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"Mommy, what's my name?"
Fred
"Nooo!"
What is your name?
"I'm Murray."

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Hyrum would also like me to blog about his time outs and being sent to his room. I'll pass. He's a good kid.


* Joy's disclaimers: We have decided it would be best this year to have only one person over for Hyrum's birthday. So if you know us and you were invited last year, we're sorry. We asked Hyrum to choose only one person, and since Margaret is very popular right now, he chose her. We love you and wish we could have more people over.

Disney Commentary: A British Bank

One of the joys of having a little one is getting to know your Disney movies even better than you ever thought you knew them ... because now you can commit literary analysis on them or try to force your way in with logic. This is less magical, but restores sanity.

In Mary Poppins, Mr. Banks sings a short song/talk as is his wont expressing his dissatisfaction with Poppins' outings. Titled "A British Bank" it is one of Hyrum's favorites from the movie. In the midst of Banks' comparison of a household to a bank, Poppins sidetracks him into believing what he wants is for the children to accompany him to work the following day. It's a very clever piece. Poppins' lines are particularly clever, comparing bankers to "a thousand ciphers neatly in a row." Delicious.

Banks' chief complaint however is unusual. He recites the outings the children have gone on to this point, which I can do from memory by this point:

"In short I am disturbed to hear my children talk about having tea parties on the ceiling. I ask you -- having tea parties on the ceiling! Consorting with race horse persons and questionable outings of every other kind.
*sung*
If they must go on outings, these outings ought to be
Fraught with purpose, yes!, and practicality.
These silly words like ...    [Supercalafragilisticexpialadocious?]
*aside* Yes, well done. You said it.
*sung* And popping through pictures
Have little use! Fulfill no basic need! ..."

Think about that complaint. He is not worried that they are living in a fantasy world and out of touch with reality. He is not worried that they are lying to him. He is not worried that they are on drugs. He is worried that having tea parties on the ceiling is not useful.

That the Banks character is one with his priorities messed up to the n-th degree few will question, but it strikes me that he is surrendering a great deal of rationality and logic. He accepts that these things actually happened. Compare this to the Poppins character in the original books who practically yells at the children when they remind her of the things they saw and did. 'No, that most certainly never happened,' she avers. 'How dare you speak such nonsense!'

On the other hand, this really says that there is some hope for this Banks fellow. If he can accept tea parties on the ceiling and riding merry-go-round horses on a race track as possible if not useful, he may yet come round.... round the bend into insanity, that is. Whither he goes.

Being Pinocchio (and Mario)

One morning Hyrum asked to see the part of Pinocchio where he is brought to life. So we did. Pinocchio has become a regular household name since. He asks that Grandma Boo and Mommy address him as "Hello, Pinocchio." Here are a few other conversations we've had with him:

H: I am Pinocchio. Mommy, you be Jiminy Cricket. You're my conscience.
J: Well, sit down and watch the Tabernacle Choir then.
H: I'm sitting here because you're my conscience.


This conversation happened while Hyrum was in his Woody pajamas about to go to bed.
H: I am Mario, Luigi, Woody, and Pinocchio. I love Pinocchio most.
D: Why?
H: Because he loves his daddy.
[Daddy melted to hear that one and gave the little boy anything he wanted.]

A few minutes later as I get Hyrum into his saque:
D: Okay, are you Mario climbing in the pipe, Woody climbing into your stagecoach, or Pinocchio climbing in the whale?
H: I am Pinocchio climbing in the whale. Daddy will get me out in the morning.

He didn't much want to go to bed, so he didn't want to give Joy, Grandma Boo, Grandma Straw, or Pop hugs. But he was willing to hug Jiminy, Figaro, Cleo, and Gepeto.

Hyrum looked at this blog post and said, "That's Hyrum being Pinocchio. A picture of Jiminy Cricket? A picture of you being Mario?"

After some discussion, we cleared up that he meant a picture of him being Mario. So here are Daddy being Mario (L) and Hyrum being Mario (R)

[Update 5/29/11: There used to be pictures on this post, but we've gotten an insane number of unknown visitors to see them. While we haven't gone private, we aren't necessarily asking for the entire world to beat a path to our door. So I've taken them down. Sorry. - DW]

A morning with Hyrum

Hyrum likes reading his Shel Silverstein "pooms." His new favorite is the Crocodile and the Dentist.

Today Hy is wearing orange and there's a Tigger on his pants, so he isn't running everywhere. He's going "boing boing boing!" and running into things more.

We read about Jesus getting baptized today. I asked him, "Do you want to be baptized?"
"No," he says.
Uhoh. Patience ... "Why not?"
"I want to stay here."
Oh. "Do you want to be baptized when you're eight?"
"Yes."
Oh good.

While reading about John the Baptist, Hy made some unusual connections. I read that people asked John how they should live.
"Like Pinnochio!"
?? He said they should keep the commandments, tell the truth, and
"Like Pinnochio in the cage! Tell the truth."
Yes, Hyrum, just like Pinnochio in the cage. *ahem* John the Baptist was a prophet of God.
"Like Pinnochio!"
No, Hyrum, not like Pinnochio.

Pinnochio

Joy picked up Pinnochio for Hyrum at the library. We've been watching it briefly in the morning. Yesterday he decided that putting on too-big shoes (mine) and his Bob helmet (yellow) turned him into Pinnochio. Then he told Mommy that she was Jiminy Cricket and they danced around. It was a lovely morning activity.

So now there are four people he tries to dress up as: Buzz, Bob, Woody, and Pinnochio. 3/4 require him to wear boots and all require a hat.

Mommy reports that she can't find my church shoes anymore....

New lyrics: sitting in the cat-bird seat

Before bed, Hy and I were listening to that old children's favorite, the green grass grew all around. You know, each verse adds another item to the chorus so you end up with the prettiest little feather that you ever did see, and the feather on the bird and the bird in the egg and the egg in the nest and the ... (Mouseketeer version here - Hy will flip when I show it to him tomorrow morning)

So I sang it to him also while getting him ready for bed and asked him to fill in blanks as usual. He came up with some pretty interesting changes.

And in this egg, there was a _____...
"Pigeon!"    [ahhh, he's remembering chasing birds on the beach, seagulls and pigeons. Ooookay.]
The prettiest little pigeon that you ever did see....

And on this pigeon there was a ______...
"Cat!"         [oh my]
And the cat ate the pigeon and the pigeon in the egg and ....

Cute kid.