Goodfellas

I love the scene near the end of Goodfellas where Henry is making tomato sauce and he’s got to pick his brother in the wheelchair up and he’s got to make a stop to sell the guns and then home to make the meatballs with his wife and then a quick stop at his girlfriend’s apartment to do some DIY chemistry. Along the way he’s got to stop to make calls on payphones and he’s being chased by an FBI helicopter. To end his wild day, the babysitter says she needs a ride home because she needs to retrieve her hat. As he rolls out of the driveway, he’s arrested by the FBI and his life is pretty much over.

Dear Children, when you are finally able to read this running diary of our family and want to know why Dad took two years off from writing, it’s because the three of you beautiful boys have turned my life into the end of Goodfellas minus the drugs and guns.

My idea of a nice Saturday is a big breakfast at home around 830, maybe mow the lawn, throw the ball around in the backyard and watch an afternoon movie I’ve seen 35 times before eventually falling asleep on the couch.

Karen’s idea of a nice Saturday is go to breakfast around 725am, be at the park no later than 9, stop at the library at 1015 for a local author’s read aloud, run into Old Navy to return some swim items we bought six months ago at 1130, home for lunch that nobody eats and Danny’s nap and start a 3,000 piece puzzle at 1215, begin organizing the hall closet at 1pm but until we realize it's windy at 120 so we start building a homemade kite and you get my point here.

We had Thomas all by himself for a few years and it was totally manageable. Jackie came 3 years later, and it was a little more hectic, but we were still able to give everyone the attention they needed and still have some time left over to be alive people. Danny is here now, and we’ve had to bring on another full-time adult to help run the house and if you ask me, we are barely treading water even with Tara. In order to dial back the chaos, we then got a puppy, and the pot has boiled over and the stove is basically on fire all the time now.

Daisy is a good girl and deserves her own post some other time, but her favorite things are being on the couch right up on you, going for long walks through the woods, and eating any and everything that is not dog food. She needs a lot, but she gives a lot too. It’s been a pretty good deal.

Thomas turns 9 today. I don’t feel like I’ve been a parent for 9 years, but I also feel like I’ve been a parent for 19 years? It’s hard to explain. Thomas has a very distinct and contagious laugh. He laughs easily and often and usually at the right parts of jokes. He loves reading almost more than anything besides screens right now. He is a wonderful little athlete. He’s the fastest kid on his baseball team and becoming a really good pitcher. He does great at soccer and I’m so excited to see how he skis this year assuming mountains are open for skiing. Tom has made huge strides in his behavior too. He is so good with his baby brother and his dog. He plays with Jack a lot and after this unprecedented year, the two of them have become much better brothers when they are not poking each other in the ribs. Thomas my assessment of you at 9 is that you are capable of doing just about whatever you want in life. I hope you pick something meaningful.

Jack started kindergarten in August, and it’s been so great. When Tom was in Kindergarten, I always wanted to be able to watch through one of those two-way mirrors and see what things were really like. With e-learing, I’m getting a pretty good idea of what goes on in there and the teacher deserves a lot of credit, but Jack is also a really great student. He’s reading and can do some wild math… a few weeks ago he kept doubling numbers until he got to like 2048 or something. He’s a great singer and the artwork he’s been completing is beyond what I’m capable of creating. Jack is doing soccer this year too and most games his coach calls him over to the side to say he’s not allowed to score any goals anymore. I don’t think we’re talking about English Premier League here, but he’s been really great this season. Jackie is also the best hugger and kisser and snuggler in the house and we pray that doesn’t change because his older brother now hugs you the way you would hug the UPS driver if he asked for one. Jack beat me at Othello the other day and I was trying to destroy him. He’s great at strategy especially when it comes to irritating Tom. Almost everyone who meets Jack mentions how sweet and kind he is and I’m especially proud of that.

Daniel James Patrick is two and a half and speaks about as well as Jack. Dan answers most questions in a complete sentence.

“Dan, did you like your dinner?”

“Yes, I did. It was so very good and I loved it and I ATE IT ALL UP!”  

Danny spends most of his time during the day with Tara and they read for hours and go on long walks with Daisy and play with play doh and play pretend and. Daniels favorite thing is “let’s go in the basement” to play with all of our 2^nd rate toys and check for mice in the crawlspace. Danny gets less pictures and videos taken of him in a year than Tom or Jack got in any month of their first 24 and we’re sorry Danny. Everything you do is worth recording, but we’re so busy making tomato sauce we can’t even get our phones out in time to catch it. Daniel wakes up usually way to early and turns on his turtle until he gets bored and then without taking out his choochie yells “MAMA I’M READY TO GET UP NOW COME AND GET ME RIGHT NOW AND TAKE ME DOWNSTAIRS AND READ TO ME… MAMA!”

I do not remember much about 2019 but I’m sure it was lovely. 2020 I will remember very well and it has been less pleasant but on the flip side, we have gotten to spend more time together this year than I think we could have ever imagined. And spending time with each other is my favorite thing in the world to do.