Wild Thing can read

Startlingly, WT can now read a whole sentence with only occasional encouragement. It still takes a lot of effort, and he gets tired of it quickly. Still, I'm stunned.

Taking convenience to the next level

Tonight, Wild Thing told me he had a Thai restaurant tucked away in the hood of his jacket.

Animal-Related Words Wild Thing Can Read, Apparently

Based on his performance with some old flash cards that surfaced from somewhere:

Rhinoceros
Walrus
Weasel

Obviously there's some hasty generalizing going on here. My guess is that he'd read "rhododendron" as "rhinoceros" as well. But I am gratified to know that he can now read the sentence "I am the walrus." At least in theory.

Friday Random Ten: Post-Deadline Edition

1."Like Dylan in the Movies"--Belle & Sebastian
2."The Young Thousands"-The Mountain Goats
3. "Criterion"--The Ruby Suns
4. "Horseradish Road"--The Mountain Goats
5. "In State"--Kathleen Edwards
6. "Razor Strap"--My Dad is Dead
7. "Road to Peace"--Tom Waits
8. Five Minutes--My Dad is Dead
9. Cobra Tattoo--The Mountain Goats. We seem to be in a rut here.
10. Honor the Lamb--Bellevill A Cappella Choir

Notes on changing habits

Note: This post has nothing funny or especially cute in it. It's mostly a mnemonic aid for us, posted here in case anyone else is at all interested.

Wild Thing has over the last few weeks begun getting out of bed in the middle of the night and crawling into bed with us. I know this is by no means unusual. It would even be welcome as a nice snuggly habit if he could settle down and go to sleep. Instead, he crawls into bed and immediately seems to become incredibly uncomfortable, wiggling and flailing about as though trying to reach an itch on his back or to rid himself of a lumpy spot on the pillow. So he has to be taken back to bed.

He's also developed a new fondness for his stuffed animals, particularly Pooh, Millie the Cow, and Tika the dog. It's sometimes difficult to get him to put them down, even to wash his hands and eat.

-- fin --

Phrase of the week

Scene: Overworked Spouse is trying to hug Wild Thing goodnight. WT presents his back to his mother.

OS: "WT, I this isn't a good way to hug me."

WT: "It's a pointless hug!"

Articulate

Scene: the car. Wild Thing is displeased that Overworked Spouse and I are talking to each other instead of to him.

WT: "No! Talk to me!"

OS: "Well, WT, why don't you say something interesting to us? Then we'll talk to you."

WT [stymied]: "Hmmm. What should I say, then?"

OS: "Well, what would you like to talk about?"

WT: "I want to say some gibberish!"

Gibberish ensues.

Friday Random Ten: Long Week Edition

And a long week deserves a long weekend.

1. April 8th--Neutral Milk Hotel, On Avery Island.
2. Lost in the Supermarket--The Clash, London Calling.
3. Charmers--Richard Buckner, Dents and Shells.
4. You Got to Have More than One Woman--Tim Hardin, Person to Person.
5. Baby, We'll Be Fine--The National, Alligator.
6. Get Up--REM, Green.
7. Try Again--Big Star, #1 Record.
8. LA Woman--The Doors, Best Of.
9. Solo Dancer--Charles Mingus, Ken Burns Jazz. O gloriously blatting horns!
10. Had to Laugh--My Dad is Dead, Out of Sight, Out of Mind.

Flickr on hold

Did I mention that our Flickr account is on hiatus until we can find the battery recharger for the camera? If anyone has seen it, please let us know ...

Getting bigger

Overworked Spouse reports:

We were at the pizza restaurant where we went for his b-day, and I asked him to stay at the table for a moment while I went the across the restaurant (maybe 3-4 table-lengths away) to the counter to get some napkins.  When I returned he was facing me, saying "Mommy, do you think I'm big enough to wait here all by myself?".

An ambiguous invitation

Spam subject line of the day:

"Enjoy an ferocity."

Hmm. I'll get back to you on that one.

It's the details

Wild Thing, napless again, is yelling commands at us from the back seat on the way home.

Me (getting sick of it): "Wild Thing, stop trying to give me orders."

WT: "NO!" [pause] "I don't want to give you orders." [pause] "I want to give MOMMY orders!"

Friday Random Ten: Goin' Mobile edition

1. "Samba Triste" -- Stan Getz, Bossa Nova.
2. "The Fever"--Bruce Springsteen, from the "Lost Radio Show."
3. "Why Can't You Behave"--Ella Fitzgerald, Sings the Cole Porter Songbook.
4. "Teardrop"--Jose Gonzalez, unreleased track downloaded from somewhere.
5. "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner"--Warren Zevon, Genius.
6. "All in My Head"--The Spectacular Fantastic, The Spectacular Fantastic Goes Underground.
7. "Red Balloon"--Tim Hardin, Person to Person.
8. "Cocktails for Two"--Ray Charles and Betty Carter, Ray Charles and Betty Carter.
9. "Mudmen"--Pink Floyd, Obscured by Clouds. Oooohhh, atmospheric. David Gilmour doing finger exercises. What's not to ... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
10. "Lit Up"--The National, Alligator. One of the stronger tracks on a somewhat overrated record.

Fine distinctions

Tonight, Wild Thing had a hard time settling down to eat dinner. Mom's out of town, and he skipped nap today (again!), so his mood was not pleasant. My request that he choose to quiet down or to leave the table was not welcomed.

Me: "Wild Thing, you will need to leave the table if you can't stop yelling and screaming."

WT: "No! I'm not screaming! I'm just yelling!"

Things I didn't expect to overhear as a college-level lit teacher

1. "I hate Shakespeare."

2. "This scene [in Shakespeare's Henry V] really reminds me of Austin Powers."

3. "If I were King James I, I'd have kicked that guy's ass."

Friday Random Ten: Late Evening Edition

I know you've all been waiting for this.

1. "Between the Wars"--Billy Bragg.
2. "Are You Swimming in Her Pools?"--Swan Lake.
3. "For Lack of a Better Word"--My Dad is Dead.
4. "Symphonic Raps"--Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines.
5. "Baba O'Riley"--Who's Next. Well, that's sort of refreshing. But only sort of.
6. "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors"--Radiohead.
7. "Pop Song 89"--REM. Perhaps today's theme is "dated." When this song came out, most of my upper-division college students had just started kindergarten.
8. "We'll Meet Again"--Johnny Cash. Then again, some things are just timeless.
9. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"--The Beatles.
10. "Lover's Lullaby"--Townes Van Zandt.

Fresh ideas in home defense

It's been too busy here for regular posting, I'm afraid. Occasional cute Wild-Thing-isms have been getting lost in the shuffle. Turns out that Overworked Spouse has been overworked for a reason: teaching college students is a lot of work. Who knew?

Most recent WT-ism:

(Scene: WT on his loft bed, preparing to throw stuffed animals on the floor.)

WT: I'm going to throw Pooh into the moat!

Me: That doesn't seem like a good idea. It sounds dangerous.

WT: No! It's safe! It's a moat for kids!