Getting bigger

On a cheerier note.

The scene: Yesterday, walking back to the car from the playground. I'm talking to Wild Thing about being careful of traffic.

WT: "Daddy, when you're little, and I'm big, I will keep YOU safe from cars!"

Say what you like about that Pol Pot character ...

I don't generally offer much political commentary here. But in light of the events of recent days, I thought I should link to David Corn's recent post, which contains some instructive photographs and commentary on the practice of waterboarding--a favorite technique of the Khmer Rouge and, of late, the Executive Branch.

But don't click if you have a low tolerance for disturbing images. The photos are not graphic, exactly, but I'm having a hard time getting them out of my head.

Here.

Via Crooked Timber.

Friday Random Ten, International Edition

1. "Kansas City"--Okkervil River, Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See. iTunes certainly likes this album.

2. "Procissão"--Bill Frisell, The Intercontinentals

3. "Married"--Ron Rifkin, Mary Louise Wilson, Cabaret (1998 Broadway Cast Recording)

4. "Try Again"--Big Star, #1 Record/Radio City

5. "N'vula"--Urbano de Castro, Soul of Angola

6. "Tiedo"--Baaba Maal, Firin' in Fouta

7. "Karen"--The National, Alligator

8. "The Day John Henry Died"--Drive-By Truckers, The Dirty South

9. "East of the River Shannon"--Unknown Fiddle Player, The Appalachians

10. "At My Window, Sad and Lonely"--Billy Bragg & Wilco, Mermaid Avenue

An overdeveloped sense of irony

Sometimes it's not so easy having a kid who has a sense of humor. For one thing, it's nigh impossible to get a straight answer out of him.

Me: Wild Thing, who did you play with at school today?
WT: Nobody. (Smiling)

Now, I know that's not true. WT isn't the most social kid in the world, but he has a small fan base there that won't leave him alone. I continue:

Me: Nobody? Really? That sounds lonely. Did you have fun?
WT: No! It was terrible! (giggling)

Now, it's quite clear that he's pulling my leg and that he had a fine time at school. But it leaves me entirely unilluminated about how he spent his day or who he likes to play with.

I'm starting to think that my son suffers from RID--Relentless Irony Disorder.

Transition accomplished

Wild Thing has successfully graduated to the next classroom at his child care center. Three cheers! Now, perhaps it will start to dawn on him that he's the only kid in there still wearing diapers, and the peer pressure factor will push the potty training out of second gear.

As he's made this transition, he's picked up a new locution: he's begun to use "like" to report speech. "And so Tracy [a favored teacher] was like 'let's have snack'" and that sort of thing. I'm pretty sure Overworked Spouse and I don't use this particular phraseology anymore, so I've not a clue where he picked it up.

Pop Quiz

Ikea Product or Lord of the Rings Character?

Not-So-Random Three

Wild Thing's favorite songs from The Sound of Music, based on the number of times he talks about them and/or wakes up singing them in the morning, in more or less descending order:

3. "The Lonely Goatherd."
2. "So Long, Farewell." Mostly he just sings "cuckoo," but he has lately attempted to sing "auf Wiedersehen," with limited success.
1. "Do-Re-Mi." More commonly referred to, of course, as "Doe a Deer."

Friday Random Ten: Love is Suffering Edition

iTunes has offered up a sequence that's thematically consistent this week.

1. "I Got Loaded"--Los Lobos, How Will the Wolf Survive? REM and Los Lobos were the first non-mainstream bands I got interested in back in high school. I was lucky enough to have a fairly good semi-alternative radio station that you could sometimes pick up at our house, and they'd occasionally play tracks from this album.

2. "Get Up"--The Spectacular Fantastic, The Spectacular Fantastic Goes Underground. Catchy retro hooks. Though actually this track isn't all that catchy, frankly.

3. "This Never Happened"--Sex Mob, Sex Mob Does Bond. Eccentric jazz/fusion stylings with Steven Bernstein on slide trumpet.

4. "Excitable Boy"--Warren Zevon, Genius. "Excitable Boy" was carefully considered as an alternative pseudonym for Wild Thing.

5. "Winter Moon"--Stan Getz, Bossa Nova. Ah ... I'm going to have to listen to this album more often.

6. "Man Burning"--Josh Ritter, Hello Starling. Wow, this guy is a good songwriter.

7. "Oncoming Day"--The Chills, Submarine Bells. Classic '90s angst.

8. "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Loved You)"--Aretha Franklin, Atlantic Rythm and Blues Vol. 6. She turns 65 next year, in case you were wondering.

9. "The Awful Truth of Loving"--Rainer Maria, Long Knives Drawn. This band runs towards the pretentious and the heavy-handed, but then, so do I.

10. "Agony of Pleasure"--Robyn Hitchcock, Eye. This song features perhaps the most disturbing figurative language of any song I've heard.

Which kitty?

We have two relatively new cats--call them B and C, for short. C is pretty friendly, especially to those (like Wild Thing) who can be counted on to give her cat treats on a regular basis. B, on the other hand, is only friendly to those he knows really well. His favorite tactic when anyone other than Overworked Spouse or me is on hand is to hide behind the cat tree and peer out at us reproachfully. "How dare you bring a guest in here ..." Among the unwelcome guests, at this point, is Wild Thing.

Wild Thing's role play now extends to these two fuzzy characters. His C impersonation involves rubbing his body against us, climbing into our laps, etc. Then he'll cry, "Wait a minute! I'm B!" And then he'll run off and try to hide behind a convenient piece of furniture.

New terminology

Hands over your ears: "ear masks."

Friday Random Ten: Colonial Discourse Edition

OK, this actually has nothing to do with colonial discourse. But I can't seem to get the words out of my head. Curse you, dissertation!

1. Dead Dog Song--Okkervil River (Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See)
2. None but the Righteous--Belleville A Capella Choir (Southern Journey Vol. 11: Honor the Lamb)
3. Baccara--Bola Sete (Tour de Force)
4. I Ma-Zie--Africa X (Zokue Kpole)
5. Women and Men--They Might Be Giants (Flood)
6. Holland, 1945--Neutral Milk Hotel (In the Aeroplane, Over the Sea)
7. Statesboro Blues--Taj Mahal (The Essential)
8. Little Turtle Dove--Bascom Lamar Lunsford (Ballads, Banjo Tunes, And Sacred Songs Of Western North Carolina)
9. Green Grass--Tom Waits (Real Gone)
10. Billy's Bones--The Pogues (Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash)

What's in a name?

Best spam pseudonym this week: Ulysses Nixon.

Sounds like a Pynchon character to me.

Developmental note

Wild Thing is experimenting with ever more logically complex sentences. I thought I'd record one here.

In the bath, WT is pretending that his bathtime buckets are shoes. The problem: none of the buckets matches. He verifies this with me, hoisting a solid red bucket and a red bucket with white stripes with his feet. "Daddy, do these match?"

Me: Not really.

WT: I wish this bucket were red with no stripes. Then they would match! Instead, they don't.

(That's more of a paragraph than a sentence, I guess, but the point is the same.)

Pleasant surprises

So, after violently rejecting the idea of naptime (at home, anyway) for over a month ... suddenly, naps are back in style. His care center has been closed since Wednesday, and we haven't had one nap battle this entire long weekend. (Vigorously knocking on wood.) I have no idea what this development is about, but, wow, is it ever welcome.

It is not the purpose of this blog

to be a mere repository for random lists of song titles. So, here's some Wild-Thing-related bloggin'.

Me (changing WT's diaper--will he never decide that this is too tedious to be endured?): WT, do I love you just a little, or a whole lot?

WT (Enthusiastically): A whole lot!

Me: That's right. You know, there aren't very many people I love as much as I love you. Do you know who else I love as much as I love you?

WT (enthusiastically): Christie!

Now, let it be said that Christie, a collegue of the Overworked Spouse, is a perfectly nice person. It could not reasonably be said, however, that I love her at all, except in the most abstract goodwill-towards-humankind sort of way. I've no idea where this came from.

It does make me reflect on how two-year-olds interpret adult behavior. Christie is, among other things, an occasional carpool partner. Does the fact that we have given her a ride in the car within WT's memory make her seem important to me as opposed to the other people we see with kids his age, who may be more important to him? Or is he only joking?

Only his hairstylist knows for sure.

Friday Random Ten: Job-Related Stress Edition

A busy week, as we proto-academics start to learn where the jobs are (and are not) going to be available next year. In honor of the job search:

1. Egg Radio--Bill Frisell
2. Once in a Lifetime--Talking Heads
3. Daddy's Cup--Drive-By Truckers
4. Greetings to the New Brunette--Billy Bragg
5. Loverman--Charlie Parker
6. London Calling--The Clash
7. Ophelia--The Band
8. South Tacoma Way--Neko Case
9. Floors--Rainer Maria
10. Lit Up--The National