A Boy's Head

A Boy's Head

In it there is a spaceship

and a project

for doing away with piano lessons.

And there is

Noah's ark,

which shall be first.

And there is

an entirely new bird,

and entirely new hare,

an entirely new bumble-bee.

There is a river

that flows upwards.

There is a multiplication table.

There is anti-matter.

And it just cannot be trimmed.

I believe that only what cannot be trimmed

is a head.

There is much promise in the circumstance that so many people have heads.

-- Miroslav Holub

I think I can see the anti-matter!

The night before Simon turned ten, we tried to get a look inside his head. We were a little skeptical about the multiplication tables, you see -- but it turned out they were in there, all right.

The next morning -- his birthday, which also happened to be Halloween -- we were more concerned about what to put on this boy's head. He had announced weeks before that he wanted to be Waldo, but circumstances had prevented us from assembling the necessary garb ahead of time. Fortunately, Aunt Lexi had taken charge the day before, and managed to find a red-and-white striped shirt, white ski hat, and a pair of glasses at a thrift shop on Broadway (Thank you, Aunt Lexi!)

But we still had to find a way to give the white ski hat a red brim and pompom. A strip of red fleece transformed the brim without too much trouble. And a call to Kristin, our neighborhood Knitting Queen, resulted in a lovely visit to her house, during which we delivered a latte, heard all about her daughter's last-minute costume conundrums, and learned, not only how to make a pompom, but how to make a pompom maker. When we got home, Simon had to try it out for himself. All you need, really, is cardboard and scissors. And yarn, of course. First you cut out two C shapes.

Then you sandwich a piece of yarn between them.

It should look like this:

Then you wrap the C with as much yarn as you can stand to wrap. You can tuck the ends of the sandwiched strand in a little bit so they don't get in your way.

When it's all full, you untuck the sandwiched ends and pull them tight. Then you slide your scissors in between the two layers of cardboard and slice through all that wrapped yarn. (This can take a while. Be patient!)

Tie that knot nice and tight, and you're done!

Simon's costume was a big success. (See if you can spot him in the crowded dinner table scene below.) Trick-or-treatees mostly recognized him instantly: "Waldo!" several of them cried. "There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere!" 

The hat had come off by the time the cake arrived, which, given the size and questionable stability of the new red pompom, was probably a good thing.

Happy Birthday Simon! We love you. And your head. And all the weird and wonderful stuff that's in it.