Hallelujah. Idol finally gets good.

American Idol's on during the night time rush in our house, when I am working all the mama magic I can muster to get the boy bathed, pajamaed, brushed, booked and cuddled and in bed.

Now that Lil E's had a taste of this season's Idol contestants, though, it is good to take a pause, settle into the couch for a few minutes and watch some of the performances while we all wind down.

Last week, we turned on the TV just in time to see Amanda hit the stage in full streaked hair, tight pant glory, belting out some forgettable song or another and Lil E gasped.

"SHE'S BEAUTIFUL!" he yelled out. "I mean, I like her pants!"

Despite my initial shock, it reminded me of his wistful admiration for Gina last season. Apparently, a nice little fascination with wannabe grrrl rockers with bootays, piercings and multi-home-colored hair is developing while Lil E practices singing Row Row Row Your Boat over and over in the living room corner for his own much-anticipated AI audition. That's cool...I guess.

This week, we watched the guys perform and it was my turn to be a little entranced. I'll be honest, they had me at "80s Hits." I loved David Cook hard-rocking the Lionel Richie and even wee David Archuleta's light rock but belted-out Celiney version of Another Day in Paradise.

For me, though, Jason Castro took the night with his soulful version of Hallelujah. Other than tight ribbed t-shirts, I would have never guessed Simon and I have a commonality in loving this song and this performance. Jeff Buckley's rendition of Hallelujah is at the top of my playlist faves as well and without getting all Paula in my praise, I will say that I thought this was a really good one for Jason.

Crank it up for your own mid-day crooning in your cube or at the kitchen table.

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Our hero. Yeah, that's him in the cheap blue gloves.

The Scene:
The living room, after daycare and before dinner.

The Crew:
Firefighter Lil E as played by Lil E
Firefighter Grandma as played by Grandma
Firefighter Grandpa as played by Grandpa
Firefighter LADY! as played by Mommmmmmmy, that's you!

The Costume:
Lil E in full firefighter gear -- fire hat, fire coat, fire boots, bright blue cheapy winter gloves from KMart, safety goggles from play tool set, cardboard paper towel tube for a hose.

The Situation:
A fire, of course, during which every stuffed animal and "baby" must be freed from the imaginary flames and overwhelming smoke in Lil E's room at my parents' house. Thank God, Baby Tiger Woods is safe, albeit without pants and covered in caked-on soot (OK, covered in the daily grime of being dragged all over the city by sticky little nasty germified preschooler hands and that the firefighter will not let me clean more thoroughly than baby wipes and a spritz of industrial-strength organic scrub will allow).

The Flashpoint Action:
We are each given assignments to assist in the rescue -- holding flashlights, demonstrating the stop-drop-roll procedure, administering CPR and First Aid to the babies, carrying the other end of the cardboard tube hose (this is trickier than you might imagine as there's not much grip space after the firefighter tucks the tube under his arm for maximum portability).

The Emotions:
Burning high. Intense. Focused. Serious. No room for jokes without reprimand, as in, "Grandma Firefighter! This is a serious rescue!" snap-to for the giggling grandmother holding the sooty baby doll on the loveseat.

The Interruption:
A call from Firefighter Uncle Seth, who has phoned in for a status report from Firefighter Lil E. And STAT.

The Conversation:
Firefighter Uncle Seth: Hello, firefighter! What are you doing?

Firefighter Lil E: Ummm, I just rescued a baby from the big fire.

Firefighter Uncle Seth: Good job!

Firefighter Lil E: Now I'm hanging out with my best friend Firefighter Grandpa, figuring out all this firefighter equipment. OK, BYE! LOVE YOU!

The Extinguisher:
And with that, the sweetest acknowledgment a boy playing a very serious protector of lives and safety could give one of his willing-play-participant grandparents, especially in the midst of pretend crises and imaginary rescues of highly flammable toys, the fire's out.

But really, it's not over. There are always fires around here to put it out. It's just good to know that in the center of all that heat, the kid's got a trusted best friend and cardboard tube hose holder on his crew.

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One last winter weekend

Well, let's hope it's the last winter weekend. As sure as I type that, all my powers will swirl up inexplicably and conjure up some kind of raging Chicago storm that we'd otherwise only expect some time between late April and Mother's Day.  While I go on anyway about this last snow scene of the year, I won't pack up my boots just yet.

We woke up to snow that melted from the front sidewalk by lunch time. But the back pathway, from the gangway to the garage, was an awkward mix of slush and ice and deep, standing puddles. The yard was packed full of icy snow that made snowballs to hard to aim at each other but that Lil E begged me to throw at the house with him. We dotted the siding with snowballs and then shoveled what we could and scooped up what was left.

And then, because the snow hasn't been amenable to it yet (as evidenced by those very scientific "good packing snow" tests taught dutifully by savvy dads and wise older sisters), Lil E jumped at the opportunity to build our first snowman of the season on what's hopefully the last snow of the year.

How could I say no? So we sat down right there and built up a snowperson (we're gender equitishy around here, thank you very much), not caring much that it was wobbly or wouldn't last long and that the snow was seeping through our jeans and gloves.

When the snow creature dubbed by the boy as Lil E Snowman was topped off with brittle stick arms torn from the lilac bush, grape tomato eyes, a sugar snap pea nose, celery stalk smile and celery leaf hair, I felt pretty proud of what we made. While you might think the vegetable features are some kind of indication of healthy eating around here, don't be fooled. While we try try try to have as balanced meals as a picky preschooler can stomach, let's just say there's no way that there weren't any cheese-filled pretzels sitting around for the snowperson's eyes.

A few hours later, Lil E Snowman melted enough that the vegetables were no longer stuck into the icy head and instead, littered a little pool of slush at his base. 

We saw the deterioration at the same time even though Lil E was outside showing his daddy the result of our afternoon project and play and while I was inside, peering out the window at Lil E peeking in on the snowman.

"AWW!" he cried out, pointing to his pride and disassembled joy. And I laughed that we spent so much time delicately carving out a space for wrinkled grape tomatoes and finding the right bend for the celery smile.

The snowperson was still standing, though, stick arms open to the warming weather and widening puddles of water.  I watched Lil E retreat down the gangway with his daddy, splashing in puddles as he went, boots echoing as they hit the sidewalk. There we all were, bundled up outside and tucked inside, happy for one last afternoon in what's left of the snow so we can fully welcome spring.

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