“Do you think you might want to be a doctor when you grow up?” Art asked Austin. Austin had come downstairs with a Band-Aid in hand and was demonstrating how he can peel the paper and wrap it around his small middle finger without a wrinkle.
Without hesitation he replied, “when I grow up I’m going to be a tennis playing botanist. I’m going to take care of Nature…”
There you have it! Austin has become the doer of many different things, all of which he enjoys and does well. At 4 years and 3 months he has many hobbies mostly because his parents encourage him to try lots of different activities. I think back to when he was two and Jessica getting finger paints out so he could experiment with making pictures. Hayden would take him to the tennis court to show him how to hold his child- sized racket and swing at the ball. Jessica would push him in the stroller on dog walks stopping along the way to point out the beautiful flowers or an unusual plant. Or she’d give him a small shovel and watering can and let him help her as she gardened in the back yard. I remember commenting on Austin’s noticing things in nature especially bugs which he never shied away from but bent down to examine with the concentration of an entomologist.
When I come back from visiting Austin my journal is full of anecdotes I want to remember.
Saturday afternoon Hayden went to play in an adult tennis league doubles match –while we babysat. When he walked in the house two hours later, Austin asked,
“Daddy, did you win?” (Did I mention that Austin is super competitive at 4 and the concept of winning is very much on his mind?)
“No, we didn’t…my volleys were really off. I’m so out of practice…” Hayden replied despondently.
“Here’s a sticker for you, Daddy,” Austin said.
“Gee, thanks, Austin. But why?”
“That’s for trying your best,” Austin told his Dad in all seriousness.
“Awww…thanks, Austy,” replied Hayden.
****
Saturday afternoon while Hayden was playing his tennis match we walked with Austin the three city blocks to the local public library to return and get some new books. There are cars tightly parallel parked all along the street in this inner city neighborhood. Suddenly Austin stopped and pointed to a car at the corner that was parked halfway between the No Parking sign and the corner.
“That car should get a ticket…see,” he points out to me. “He’s over the parking line.” This reminds me that Austin is a stickler for rules and loves to point out signs of what you should and should not do in the city. I like being with Austin because he pays attention, takes rules seriously and is not a rule breaker at 4 nor am I at 72! Jessica taught him on those walks when he was still in the stroller all about navigating city streets, stopping at red lights and crossing on green and only at pedestrian crosswalks.
As we walked into the Rosedale Community Center Public Library branch there are security gates so people don’t walk out with books. Austin was insistent that we walk through the right hand gate because he said “that checks for people with guns.” I was taken aback until he pointed to the sign on the wall that has a line drawn through firearms…Of course, he’s right but who wants to think about that.
***
While visiting this time, we got to pick up Austin after school twice which is always a treat. He lives directly across the street from Miner Elementary School which is probably the closest of any student who goes there. On the way home on Monday he said to me,
“Can you believe that school is almost finished???” He held out both hands waving them up and down to emphasize this amazing fact.
Usually we come right home after school to relax a bit before Austin wants to take the soccer ball and go back to the school playground. Despite the many older children playing on the soccer field, hitting the baseball, kicking balls or climbing all over the jungle gyms and slides, I notice how comfortable Austin is. He’s not intimidated by other children even ones who are much more aggressive. Nor is he at all shy. He put down his soccer ball and kicked it to a little boy who looked about his age and they passed the ball back and forth all over the playground while we kept an eye on him.
Afterwards I asked Austin,
“No,” he answered matter-of-factly…
***
On Saturday afternoon Hayden decided to take Austin to the Miner playground to hit the baseball so that he would get tired out before bedtime. They came back in about 45 minutes both sweaty and hot.
“How about we take a bath together Dad,” suggested Austin.
Turning to us he added, “my Daddy takes up a lot of the tub now.” I think he really meant to say that he, Austin, takes up more room in the tub!
When they both come downstairs all clean from bath time I heard Austin say to Hayden,
“Did you know Art doesn’t have real knees?”
Art overheard and corrected, “remember the new word artificial? My knees are artificial.” Austin repeated the word perfectly but I wondered if he’d remember it.
While waiting for dinner Austin hunted for his little Nerf football he likes to throw around. He couldn’t find it until Hayden located it somewhere.
Art said to Austin, “how come your Daddy found your football?”
“He knows where everything is!” replied Austin.
Over the weekend we watched some of the French Open on the Tennis Channel. Austin likes to watch tennis and definitely knows all the players by name and has his favorites. There was a women’s match on and Art asked where Muguruza, a woman tennis player, was from.
“She’s from Spain…” Hayden said.
“Hey,” piped up Austin. “Isn’t that where you guys just were?”
Austin and Art are green olive lovers. Austin will eat an entire plate of olives. Art said to him, “Austin, ask me how many olives I ate in Spain?”
“How many?” says Austin
“Jars of them this big,” says Art holding out his hands to indicate a giant jars.
Austin looks at him with big eyes.
One of my favorite things to do when we visit is to go on family dog walks in the neighborhood. We were on a dog walk on Saturday with Austin whizzing down the sidewalk pumping his scooter and wearing his helmet. Art was handling Jeter on the leash and Hayden and I were admiring some of the gardens. Austin was way ahead almost to the corner of F Street when he veered out of sight. We got to the corner and Austin was halfway up the front steps of a big house.
“Come back!” Hayden ordered him.
Austin insisted this was his classmate Nora’s house. Hayden hesitated and said he couldn’t remember where she lived. Austin insisted he knew. Suddenly the Dad appeared at the front door. Austin stepped right up to him with no shyness to ask about Nora. A few minutes later Nora’s Mom came to the door with Nora who was excited to see Austin and they sat down on the porch to play. She is shorter than Austin with a head of curly hair and a cute smile. They like each other in typical four year old fashion. We chatted a few minutes with Nora’s Mom when Nora interrupted and said to her Mom.
“I just called Austin, sweetie. Is that OK?”
Nora’s Mom deftly replied “well, that’s what I call you… maybe you should just call him Austin.”
“Ok,” says Nora.
It was almost dinnertime so we said our goodbyes and headed back to 15thStreet.
***
Over the weekend Austin gave me a beautiful painting of shapes and colors he had designed on his art easel. He added four of his handprints, carefully cut out and in all different colors and even wrote his name. I was struck by how seriously he takes his art and what a sense of color and design he has.
“Austin, you are a real artist,” I told him.
“I am not a real artiste”, he told me using the French word. “You know my Pop- Pop, my Grandpa Huber?” he asked me.
“Yes, of course,” I replied.
“Did you know he is a real artiste? “ Austin continued, “He paints real pictures this big…” he held out his arms to show me.
The Huber art genes are definitely present and perhaps a generation or two back are the Cory genes of my grandmother and aunt who were both artists…and my brother, of course.
***
We had a fun time with Austin’s “Alexa” which he takes very much in stride as part of the technological world he is growing up in. He demonstrated for us how to operate an Alexa,
“Alexa, what is the weather in Washington D.C.,” he would say in his most commanding voice. Or “Alexa,” play a hard rock song!”
Art got into “Alexa” and would ask her to play his 50’s and 60’s tunes…”Alexa, play “It’s so groovy…”. Then he would start do his moves. Austin threw himself on the couch giggling, covered his eyes with his hands and exclaimed “Oh, I’m so embarrassed!” We figured maybe he isn’t quite using embarrassed in the right sense because we wondered if a 4 year old could be embarrassed by a grown up. He certainly thought his Grandpa Art was not great with his dance moves!
***
I am home now and my head is full of Austin chatter and I miss him. I can hear him giggling. I can see him standing up very seriously at his easel. I can feel his hand reaching for mine as we cross city streets together. I remember him snuggling against me as we read bedtime stories together in his new "big boy" twin bed. I think about all the possibilities Austin has ahead of him. I can’t wait for our next visit when I must tell him that not only will he be a great tennis-playing-botanist but a tennis- playing-botanist who is a great artiste!
Eating churros con chocolate and doing puzzles ..
Austin's heaven...
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