Partial View

Games people play

2008-05-03T20:53:00.000-07:00

So, Wild Thing's great uncle has learned that it's dangerous to gloat when you defeat a four-year-old in a game of Uno. He got ejected from the game.

The GU commented that in Vegas they sometimes break your kneecaps when you go on a suspicious winning streak. WT immediately threatened to break his kneecaps. We worry how this new idea is going to play out at school.

WT responded better to my comments about his style of dealing, which is pretty chaotic. I told him that wouldn't play in Vegas, though he could probably get away with it in Laughlin.

Wild Thing update

2008-05-02T09:53:00.000-07:00

Wild Thing is enjoying reading on his own a bit more now. He still prefers to be read to, mostly, but will wander off and read Curious George by himself from time to time.

He's also mastered the rules to the card game Uno. When asked this morning whether he prefered Uno or Go Fish, he replied, "Uno. Because it's more challenging."

An ambiguity

2008-02-28T22:33:00.000-08:00

Tonight Wild Thing saw a sign that read, simply, "Watch Repair." He read the sign.

He paused, then asked "So ... Does that mean you can go there to watch repairs? Or do they repair watches?"

Postmodern fairy tales

2008-01-18T12:18:00.001-08:00

Wild Thing (not yet a misnomer, though he is tamer than he used to be) is playing with some online coloring website. It's one of those where you click on a color and then click on some black-and-white picture on the screen to do some "virtual coloring."

WT is clicking everywhere; the whole scene is turning blue. He shouts,

"Everyone's got a blue disease!"

Pause.

"They got it from a wicked giant."

Friday Random Ten: Intermittent Edition

2008-01-18T11:37:00.001-08:00

1. "Rocky Dennis in Heaven"--Jens Lekman, Oh You're So Silent Jens.
2. "Section 19 (When the Fool Becomes a King)"--The Polyphonic Spree, Together We're Heavy.
3. "Sanchez"--Calexico, Spoke.
4. "Long is the Way"--Jehro, Jehro.
5. "Blues Chair"--Django Reinhardt, Best Of.
6. "Redwoods"--Hayward Williams, Another Sailor's Dream.
7. "You Are the Everything"--REM, Green.
8. "Oil in the Fields"--Paul Duncan, Be Careful What You Call Home.
9. "Another Radio Song"--Okkervil River, Black Sheep Boy Appendix.
10. "Broken Hearted Blues"--Etta Baker, One-Dime Blues.

FRT: The easiest quarter draws to an end edition

2007-12-07T16:20:00.000-08:00

1. Tin Pan Alley--Sunnyland Slim, Sunnyland Train.
2. Hobo's Blues--Paul Simon, Paul Simon.
3. Feather--Page France, Hello, Dear Wind.
4. You're the Top--Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook.
5. Itzcuintli-Totzli Days--The Mountain Goats, Beautiful Rat Sunset.
6. I Wish I was a Mole in the Ground--Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Ballads, Banjo Tunes, and Sacred Songs.
7. No Self Control--Peter Gabriel, Plays Live.
8. Millionaire--The Eames Era. No idea where this came from.
9. Coming in From the Cold--Bob Marley and the Wailers, Uprising.
10. Odds and Ends--Bob Dylan/The Band, The Basement Tapes.

New videos

2007-12-06T00:40:00.000-08:00

Some recently uploaded videos of Wild Thing are available on Youtube. I'm not linking to them here but you can find them at

http://www.youtube.com/user/[my real name, no spaces]

Fussy reader

2007-12-04T18:58:00.000-08:00

Mimi attempts to show Wild Thing the cover of Ceramics Monthly. "Isn't that a pretty design?"

Wild Thing's reply: "Hmm. I don't want to look. I only like New Yorkers."

Potty blogging

2007-12-03T19:43:00.000-08:00

Wild Thing used the potty at school today!

He was very proud ...

Reading

2007-11-30T10:48:00.000-08:00

Wild Thing read this book by himself this morning. This was a positive development both because he read a book on his own and because it helped him cool off after getting angry with me this morning.

Friday Random Ten: Nothing Left to Burn Edition

2007-11-30T10:03:00.001-08:00

1. "Calendar Girl"--Stars, Set Yourself On Fire.
2. "Why Don't You Stay Home--Nina Nastasia, On Leaving.
3. "Black Wings--Tom Waits, Bone Machine.
4. "I'm Leaving Now"--Johnny Cash (with Merle Haggard), American III: Solitary Man.
5. "I'm Going to Walk Your Log"--Cat Iron, Cat-Iron Sings Blues and Hymns.
6. "Our Pasts, Like Lighthouses"--Rock Plaza Central, Are We Not Horses?
7. "You and I"--Ray Charles and Betty Carter, Ray Charles and Betty Carter.
8. "Saint Cloud"--Six Organs of Admittance, School of the Flower.
9. "Song for a Clock"--Portastatic, Be Still Please.
10. "Quattro (World Drifts In)--Calexico, Feast of Wire.

Now, off to the library ...

Easy come, easy go

2007-11-30T10:02:00.001-08:00

Things have cooled off with Adriana, I guess. Why? "She was rude to me." Oh well.

It's love

2007-11-28T21:16:00.000-08:00

Wild Thing was pensive on the bike ride home tonight. Then, abruptly, he blurted out, "I love Adriana!" Adriana is his favorite playmate at school. I guess things have taken a more serious turn. I asked him whether she knew yet; he replied that he'll tell her tomorrow.

The ADA in Action

2007-11-25T09:44:00.000-08:00

Wild Thing this morning used his building blocks to construct a model city. He pointed to a strategically placed block: "That's the handicapped ramp."

Joke

2007-11-21T09:31:00.000-08:00

Wild Thing, to Overtired Spouse, at 6:20 this morning: Knock knock!

OS: Who's there?

WT: Ilove.

OS: Ilove who?

WT: I love you!

He's still unclear on the whole knock-knock joke concept, but he certainly can charm his parents when he's got a mind to.

Cheesy musicals in the canyon

2007-11-18T10:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we did part of this hike. We didn't make it up to the homestead, much less the spectacular view, but it's a pleasant-smelling and relaxing trip along the canyon floor. Best of all, from Wild Thing's perspective, it got us out into nature where, if we were lucky, we might stumble upon the magical town of Brigadoon.

Mind you, he hasn't actually seen Brigadoon yet, though we are going to a showing this afternoon (if he can calm himself enough to sit through part of it). But for some reason the idea has really, um, enchanted him.

Indeed, he is so invested in the tale that his own biological functions appear to be necessary to the functioning of the town and its spell. For example, he informed us that his own flatulence gave the town the energy to appear. "If I don't have gas, then it won't appear again." For this reason, he informed us, it wouldn't be necessary for him to say "excuse me."

The Tale of Gothie

2007-11-18T10:18:00.000-08:00

Wild Thing told me a story this morning and asked me to transcribe it for him. (OK, he didn't use the term "transcribe.") I thought I'd share it here. It's not bad, considering it was composed entirely while he was sitting on his potty chair.

Once there was a little boy named Gothie. He went outside and played when nobody was looking. Then along came a woman who didn't know where he was and he ran away.

Then the woman found the boy, and she threw him into a cage.

Then along came a man who put the boy in a different cage with no toys and nobody to play with. The boy scraped his knee on the hardwood floor and then he bonked his head on the metal bars above him.

Then a witch came and asked the boy if he wanted to escape on her broom. She said, "I'm nice."

The boy did--and he was saved from the wicked old bad guys.

THE END.

Friday Random Ten: Breathing Room Edition

2007-11-16T14:55:00.000-08:00

Oh, why not.

1. "Lovely Rita"--The Beatles, St. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
2. "Settled Down"--Richard Buckner, Bloomed.
3. "Baltimore"--Lyle Lovett, Joshua Judges Ruth.
4. "Pony"--Tom Waits, Mule Variations.
5. "Wanted Man"--Johnny Cash, The Essential Johnny Cash.
6. "Promised Land"--Johnny Allen, Alligator Stomp.
7. "Tears of Rage"--Bob Dylan/The Band, Basement Tapes.
8. "Yardbird Suite"--Charlie Parker, Ornithology.
9. "Names and Dates and Times"--Ani DiFranco, Puddle Dive.
10. "Pili Pili"--Ernest Ranglin, In Search of the Lost Riddim.

Benchmarks and signposts

2007-11-14T18:52:00.000-08:00

Brief notes on a few recent developments.

Wild Thing's reading skills are still growing. He's gaining confidence and can often read a complete sentence and make sense of it with a bit of prompting. He still jumps to guess a word on the basis of a couple of letters sometimes, but is increasingly patient enough to sound them out. He still limits most of his reading to things he's not officially supposed to be reading; his own books he's much rather we read to him most of the time, so we learn about new words he knows when he reads them off a sign.

WT also has found his first teacher that he actively doesn't like. It's not entirely clear what happened, but there seems to have been some sort of diaper change/potty usage dispute. Whatever the cause, he will now announce on the weekend--"It's not a school day? Good. Now I don't have to see Vanessa!"*

The return from daylight savings time has been hard on everyone's sleep schedule...

* Not her real name, of course ...

Ear Infections: No Fun

2007-11-02T21:48:00.001-07:00

The subject line says it all. Sleep? What's that?

Prefixes

2007-10-29T23:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight, Wild Thing was grumpy. He was tired and had a lingering low-grade fever. So it's not surprising that he got angry with us and decided to go mess up the living room. After moving some boxes and toys around, he returned to the kitchen and proudly proclaimed, "Daddy, I un-cleaned the living room."

Obviously, this whole "coming back online" business was somewhat oversold

2007-10-21T21:57:00.000-07:00

But I am going to try to start updating this again at least weekly.

Wild Thing has been less wild over the last week or so. Something seems finally to have clicked with him--this ability to regulate emotion that we've been reading about is finally starting to kick in, I think. Part of this might be sleep-related, too--he's sleeping about as much as he did six months ago, but he seems to need it a bit less. He is decidedly tired at the end of the day, but he no longer seems completely drained before we even start eating dinner.

Tonight I expected a relapse at dinnertime. He'd been acting a little testy, and when we asked him to wash his hands for dinner, he initiated the startup procedure for a meltdown: yelling, taking a tiny little swing at me, crying. But: he then announced that he was going upstairs to take a nap. He disappeared for a few minutes, and then came back downstairs with equilibrium restored. He announced that starting he was never going to cry again and would always listen to us from now on.

Now, we want to keep reassuring him that crying is fine and all that. But this sort of self-calming is something that he's really mastered only in the last little bit. And WOW is it a relief ...

Romantic poetry for preschoolers

2007-10-21T21:49:00.000-07:00

Wild Thing's latest obsession is pirates. Tonight at dinner, he made the following request:

"Daddy, can you tell me a story about the buccaneer who shot the bird? Not about the time he shot the bird--a different story."

I was at something of a loss. Buccaneers shooting birds? I thought he'd perhaps picked something up from the cover of one of the various eighteenth-century travel narratives I have lying around the house. Then it dawned on me ...

About two weeks ago, at something of a loss when asked for a story to tell him, I for some reason offered him summary version of Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." This is what he gets for having an English professor for a father. I usually assume these things are like water off a duck's back, but apparently this one stuck with him. I told him that, given the nature of the Mariner's story, there could be no other stories about him, but that I'd happily tell him a story about a different buccaneer. Happily, this proved to be an acceptable alternative.

Coming back online!

2007-09-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

The relocation is mostly accomplished, so soon tales of wonder and cuteness will resume.

Ow

2007-08-15T21:46:00.000-07:00

Making corrections to your dissertation footnotes is not good for the health of your back. Just in case you were wondering.

Preschooler with a Thousand Faces

2007-08-10T11:36:00.000-07:00

This book is a current favorite with Wild Thing. There are a slew of these "trickster" books for kids, and I'm planning to look for a few more.

Oddly, though, I noticed this morning that the author, Gerald McDermott, is a consultant for the Joseph Campbell Foundation. Who knew that such an entity existed? Apparently they're trying to indoctrinate my son with dangerous ideas about comparative mythology.

Anyway, the book is good. We may go for this one next.

Friday Random Ten: Strange Forms of Life

2007-08-10T11:05:00.001-07:00

1. "Strange Form of Life"--Bonnie "Prince" Billy, The Letting Go.
2. "It's a Curse"--Wolf Parade, Apologies to the Queen Mary.
3. "Darkness on the Edge of Town"--Bruce Springsteen, Darkness on the Edge of Town.
4. "It'll Never Happen Again"--Tim Hardin, Person to Person.
5. "Riley"--Joe Armstrong and Group, Southern Journey, Vol. 13: Earliest Times.
6. "Meaulnes"--Palace Brothers, Days in the Wake.
7. "Peg & Awl"--Carolina Tar Heels, Anthology Of American Folk Music, Vol. 1A: Ballads.
8. "I Believe"--Louis Armstrong, Blues for Yesterday.
9. "Road Movie to Berlin"--They Might Be Giants, Flood.
10. "Maine Island Lovers"--Okkervil River, Down the River of Golden Dreams.

Back, sort of

2007-08-09T22:07:00.000-07:00

Busy busy busy. I almost forgot about this whole blog thing. But, since I'm here.

Tonight we went to a concert in a local park. They're free, and there's one every week all summer. Tonight was a local country band, mostly doing covers of classics by George Jones and Johnny Cash and that sort of thing.

On the way home, we checked in with Wild Thing. "So, did you like the music?"

WT pauses. "Yeah." Another pause. "Was it Japanese?"

I guess he needs a more thorough introduction into American musical genres.

The Intermitent Random Ten: A, B, W edition

2007-07-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

OK, now that things are sort of under control again, at least for the moment, I should be able to offer some intermittent posts again. Including ...

1. Westfall--Okkervil River, Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See.
2. Bone Chain--Tom Waits, Orphans.
3. Again--Bill Frisell, with Dave Holland and Elvin Jones.
4. All Mine--Portishead, Portishead.
5. Beautiful--Me'Shell Ndegocello, Bitter.
6. I Had No Intentions--Damienn Jurado, And Now That I'm In Your Shadow.
7. Black Eyed Man--Cowboy Junkies, Black Eyed Man.
8. Georgia--The Viking Moses, Crosses.
9. Boot Hill--Johnny Winter, Alligator Records 20th Anniversary Collection.
10. Blues for Yesterday--Louis Armstrong, Blues for Yesterday.

Passed on without comment

2007-06-29T23:36:00.000-07:00

Wild Thing, watching Julie Andrews performing in The King and I on Youtube:

"I wish I was her."

Hmmm.

Friday Random Ten: Skipping the Details Edition

2007-06-29T23:31:00.000-07:00

1. "I Won't Back Down"--Johnny Cash, American III: Solitary Man. Not my favorite song on this record; one of his few covers from this period that doesn't improve on the original.

2. "In the Backseat"--Arcade Fire, Funeral.

3. "On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)"--Frank Sinatra, Strangers in the Night.

4. "Fishermen, Strawberry and Devil Crab"--Miles Davis, Porgy and Bess. Ah, very nice.

5. "All Mine"--Portishead, Portishead.

6. "I Hate Banks"--Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper, Frenzy. Crude populism at its best.

7. "Ronnie and Neil"--Drive-By Truckers, Southern Rock Opera.

8. "Don't Hurt Me"--The Spectacular Fantastic, Goes Underground.

9. "Promising Actress"--John Vanderslice, Cellar Door.

10. "Lay Down the Law"--My Dad is Dead, Let's Skip the Details.

Flavors for discerning consumers

2007-06-22T20:20:00.000-07:00

Wild Thing ate his first gummy bears tonight. Sorting through them prior to biting, he began guessing their flavors. The yellow: "banana." The red? "Raspberry."

He picked up the bright green one, quizzically.

"Cucumber?"

Evaluation

2007-06-22T20:10:00.000-07:00

Wild Thing, teasingly: "Daddy, you're lame!"

Me: "WT, that's not a nice thing to say. Where did you learn that?"

WT: (pause... then) "Daddy, what does 'lame' mean?"

Me: "Um ... well, I guess it means 'not very good.'"

WT: "Oh. So you mean broccoli is lame to me?"

I will be your hero

2007-06-17T00:44:00.000-07:00

Superman's powers, according to Wild Thing:

1. Super hammock-pushing ability.
2. Super tree-climbing ability.
3. Super marching-band-leading ability.
4. Very strong.

Friday!

2007-06-15T11:08:00.000-07:00

1. Subterranean Homesick Blues--Bob Dylan, Bringing It All Back Home.
2. Buford Stick (The Legend of Sheriff Buford Pusser)--Drive-By Truckers, The Dirty South.
3. In the Ghetto--Elvis Presley, The Essential.
4. Hold On Magnolia--Songs: Ohia, The Magnolia Electric Co.
5. Your Song--Elton John, Very Best of.
6. "She Belongs to Me"--Bob Dylan, Bringing it All Back Home.
7. Moon Dreams--Miles Davis, Birth of the Cool.
8. If I Have To Go--Tom Waits, Orphans.
9. Sweet Lady--Tim Hardin, Person to Person.
Peter Mulvey - Every Word Except Goodbye, The Trouble with Poets.

New directions in international cuisine

2007-06-01T21:23:00.001-07:00

Wild Thing tonight was keeping the Overworked Spouse in "jail." Her sentence: 100 minutes for "running into the street."

It being dinnertime, he summoned me to provide OS with a meal.

OS: "What sort of food is this, Wild Thing?"

WT: "It's veterinarian food."

OS: "You mean vegetarian?"

WT: "Um, yeah."

OS: "What would veterinarian food be?"

WT: "Oh, you know. Like Caribbean food! At the Caribbean restaurant!"

Friday Random Ten: Long Goodbyes edition

2007-06-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

For those of you with no interest in this, cruise over to our Flickr page for some new photos ...

1. "World War III," Dos Gringos, Live at the Sand Trap.
2. "Johnny Come Home"--Fine Young Cannibals, These People Are Nuts!
3. "Lazy Man"--Essex Green, The Long Goodbye.
4. "Dead and Lovely"--Tom Waits, Real Gone.
5. "Ngalam"--Orchestra Baobab, Pirate's Choice.
6. "Three O'Clock in the Morning"--Dexter Gordon, The Blue Note Years.
7. "Onukpa Scwarpo"--Bokoor Band, Bokoor Beats. I haven't the faintest idea where this came from, but it's quite nice--lo-fi and rhythmic.
8. "Dollars and Cents"--Radiohead, Amnesiac.
9. "Sounds Better in the Song"--Drive-by Truckers, Decoration Day.
10. "Dumb I Am"--Nina Nastatia, On Leaving.
11. "Irene"--Leadbelly, Leadbelly's Last Sessions.

A system of tubes

2007-05-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

Tonight we explained to Wild Thing how choking works. Two tubes in your neck, one for breathing, one for swallowing, etc. This explanation followed a minor incident in which WT got some carrot stuck in his throat while waving his head around madly at the table. Coughing ensued.

I finished my explanation and asked WT if he understood that his food had "gone down the wrong way."

"Yeah. I think that piece of carrot went into my arm."

The Triumphant Return of the Friday Random Ten

2007-05-25T09:57:00.000-07:00

1. "Lonely Weekends"--Charlie Rich, Best of Sun Records V. 1.
2. "Manha de Carnival"--Bola Sete, Tour de Force.
3. "I'm an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)," Sonny Rollins, Way Out West.
4. "Lambori"--Batman Samini, downloaded from this marvelous site.
5. "A Lover Sings," Billy Bragg, Back to Basics. Ah, back to college.
6. "Eighth Cognition/All You've Left," Six Organs of Admittance, School of the Flower.
7. "We and Dem"--Bob Marley & the Wailers, Uprising.
8. "Did it for Me"--The Spectacular Fantastic, The Spectacular Fantastic Goes Underground.
9. "Charley Patton Songs"--Gomez, How We Operate.
10. "Mexican Special"--Rebirth Brass Band, Feel Like Funkin' it Up.

Love and geography

2007-05-23T23:31:00.001-07:00

Wild Thing is increasingly fond of describing his love for us in spatial terms. "Daddy? I love you all the way to Australia!" Very nice, and of course reminiscent of this book. Of late the comparisons have become charmingly incongruous. "Mommy? I love you all the way to the top of that tree. And, all the way to Pluto!"

OK, let's get back on track

2007-05-20T22:58:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weeks have been pretty crazy, between midterms and visits to our exploratory trip to our soon-to-be new home near the research university where we'll be next fall. But we do have a few Wild Thing tales kicking around, if I can remember them long enough to hack them out here in a timely way.

The most telling, to me, is the new sympathy ploy. On Friday night, Overworked Spouse and I were watching a movie downstairs when Wild Thing (who sleeps upstairs) walked in distraught and frightened. I asked him if he'd had a bad dream; he nodded.

"What was it about?"

"Flies."

OK, then. That insect unit at school is sinking in, I guess. But he calmed down with a bit of snuggling and was able to get back to sleep quickly.

He clearly remembered the snuggling part better than the dream itself, though. For the last two nights he's been coming out of his bedroom before he falls asleep. "I had a bad dream, daddy," he says, not looking the least bit frightened.

They learn quickly, don't they?

Attack of the blowfish

2007-05-07T13:26:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we visited a lovely public market in North Vancouver. It's a lively place, full of food stands, wee shops, and vendors dispensing free balloons to the kids. Wild Thing was riding atop my shoulders, red balloon held high, when Overworked Spouse spotted a fish market. "WT, do you want to see a real live crab?"

"Yeah!"

Approaching the counter, we heard a loud pop overhead. Sadly, Wild Thing's balloon had met its only natural predator--the carcass of a blowfish (or several, actually) bedecking the entryway.

There was some sadness, but it was worth it in my view to hear my son say resignedly, "I had a balloon, but then a blowfish popped it."

Learning new things

2007-05-04T00:56:00.001-07:00

Did you know that rats can swim up sewer pipes into your toilet?

Well, neither did I, until about 20 minutes ago.

Eeeeeewwwww!

Truth in advertising

2007-05-02T21:42:00.000-07:00

Sign seen on the back of an early-90s Honda minivan:

"For sale, $2,000. Sweet ride."

Standards for sweetness are slipping, apparently.

More scatology

2007-04-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

Where do they learn this stuff?

Wild Thing, sitting down to breakfast: "This yogurt tastes like .... a GIANT ... HAIRY .... POOP!"

Um, yuk. Hairy?

Input, Output

2007-04-28T23:50:00.000-07:00

Today at the farmers market, we were enjoying our meals (Ethiopian veggies, a salmon burger, and rice with peanut sauce--guess who ordered what?) when Wild Thing put down his bottle of water and offered the following public service announcement:

(Putting down a bottle of water.) "I'm drinking water. AND, I have water coming out of my penis! I'm intending to pee!"

There's nothing one can really say to that.( I suppose I could have pointed out that he was using the verb "intending" incorrectly, but that didn't seem to address the real issue, somehow.)

I should note that this "intention" in no way seems to imply any related intention to actually use the toilet with any regularity.

Basic anatomy

2007-04-28T08:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I tried to explain to Wild Thing what was going on inside his head. (Not that I understand it myself.) "Wild Thing, what's inside your head?"

WT: I don't know.

Me: Well, you have bones inside your head. And inside the bones ...

WT, interrupting: Daddy, I know YOU are inside my heart!

(I know, it's a little Hallmarkish, and he's just repeating something he picked up somewhere, but it still bought him a pretty big hug.)

Science Notes: Bubbles

2007-04-27T20:12:00.000-07:00

Wild Thing's bath time lately is almost entirely devoted to experiments with air pressure. He doesn't know that's what it's called--not yet!--but his favorite pastime is to hold a sippy cup under the water and watch the bubbles come out. "They're filled with air!" he says, quite pleased with himself. He pulls the lid of the cup off. "Where did all the air go?" he asks with a sly grin.

But is it art?

2007-04-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

This gallery needs no comment.

(Via the marvelous 3 Quarks Daily.)

Friday Random Ten: Lucky, Sane, and Patient Edition

2007-04-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

1. "Cocody Rock"--Alpha Blondy, Best of. I still remember hearing this song blasting from a cheap stereo at a sidewalk restaurant in Dakar in 1994.

2. "Focus on Sanity"--Ornette Coleman, The Shape of Jazz to Come. Good advice.

3. "Patience Like Job"--Sunnyland Slim, Sunnyland Train. I don't think it was this song that he was playing when I stumbled upon him doing a show in the student center back in college. Still, memories.

4. "Duck Walk"--Ada C. Washington, Aunty K n'Em(tm) in Pigsburgh(tm). Hmm. More up Wild Thing's alley.

5. "Heartbeat," Angela Desveaux, Wandering Eyes. Memo to self: buy this album.

6. "Lucky Ball and Chain"--They Might Be Giants, Flood.

7. "Who'd Stop the Rain"--Dressy Bessy, Electrified.

8. "Little Johnny Brown"--The Reeltime Travelers, Reeltime Oldtime String Band Music. I have no idea where this came from. But it's pretty good stuff if you like music that sounds just like you would think it would sound based on the name of this album.

9. "Before My Time"--Johnny Cash, American III: Solitary Man.

10. "Lucky"--Radiohead, OK Computer.

No substitutions

2007-04-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

Wild Thing is holding his small Pooh doll with one hand and pretending to slice him apart with the other. "Slice, slice, slice, slice."

A bit concerned about this seemingly violent behavior, I ask calmly, "Wild Thing, why are you slicing Pooh?"

"Because he's a pizza."

Oh.

The dilemma

2007-04-20T17:18:00.000-07:00

So, if Wild Thing takes a nap at his child care center, he is an absolute delight all evening, but he doesn't get to sleep until late. As in, like, ten. This is inconvenient.

If he skips his nap at the center, he is, conveniently, in bed by 7:30 or so. However, he is an absolute monster for the three hours between pickup and bedtime. This is not delightful.

So, in this as in so many things, we can't win.

Friday Random Ten: I Feel a Draft Edition

2007-04-20T17:14:00.000-07:00

Another chapter draft going off to advisors. This is the last one that needed large-scale revisions--or at least I hope so. So, we start off, aptly, with ...

1. "My Life is Right"--Big Star, # 1 Record.
2."Going Up to the Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue"--Taj Mahal, The Essential.
3. "Romance Without Finance"--Charlie Parker, Boss Bird.
4. "Spanish Bombs"--The Clash, London Calling.
5. "For All We Know"--Ray Charles and Betty Carter, Ray Charles and Betty Carter.
6. "Old College Try"--The Mountain Goats, Tallahassee.
7. "Jail-House Blues," Bessie Smith, Complete Recordings Vol. 1.
8. "The Irish Rover"--The Clancy Brothers, Greatest Hits. Hmm, I don't seem to have erased this from the hard drive yet. Not sure why.
9."I See a Darkness"--Johnny Cash with Will Oldham, American III: Solitary Man. Uh oh--a tonal shift.

10. "Cardboard"--Charlie Parker, Parker's Mood.

Reading update

2007-04-06T21:13:00.000-07:00

Wild Thing got an Easter card in the mail today from his (maternal) aunt and uncle. He startled me by reading the card's message to me, almost in its entirety (including the word "springtime"). Yoiks!

Friday Random Ten: "I Got Them King Lear Blues" Edition

2007-04-06T15:05:00.000-07:00

1. "Cousin Mary"--John Coltrane, Giant Steps.
2. "Coming in From the Cold"--Bob Marley and the Wailers, Uprising.
3. "Side of the Road"--Lucinda WIlliams, Lucinda Williams.
4. "Gilton"--Boozoo Chavis, Boozoo Chavis. A Louisiana double-whammy!
5. "The Fisherman"--Leo Kottke, 6- and 12-String Guitar.
6. "I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day"--The Pogues, Rum Sodomy & the Lash.
7. "Careless"--Drive By Truckers, Decoration Day.
8. "Never Too Far"--Tim Hardin, Person to Person.
9. "You're the Kind of Girl"--Mixel Pixel, Music for Plants.
10. "Bees"--Laura Cantrell, Humming by the Flowered Vine.

Teaching note

2007-04-05T00:06:00.001-07:00

Teaching a class of 70 students is, it turns out, qualitatively different from teaching a class of 30 students. More on this later.

Energy crisis

2007-04-03T22:31:00.000-07:00

We've been trying to coax Wild Thing into eating in a more focused way by explaining to him that food has energy in it, and that his stomach turns the food into energy, and all that stuff. He also knows, though, that poop comes out of the general vicinity of his stomach, and that it has some connection to eating, since we are always talking about how blueberries turn his poop blue, for instance.

(I hope no one is eating this while eating lunch--if so, many apologies!)

This, then, is the background for interpreting his recent comment during a potty sit, during which he exclaimed, half-jokingly, as he successfully excreted into the toilet: "Oh no! My energy is falling into the potty!"

We may have to do a better job coordinating our potty-training and dinner-eating regimens.

Wild Life

2007-04-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

Two bald eagles in the city park this morning.

Friday Random Ten: Feeling Sinister Edition

2007-03-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

1. Greasy Heart--Jefferson Airplane, 2400 Fulton Street. I'm not sure how this CD ended up on the hard drive, but this track isn't bad.
2. The Pontiac--Tom Waits, Orphans. Charming in its way, but a bit distracting in the mix.
3. Turkish Song of the Damned--The Pogues, If I Should Fall from Grace with God.
4. Well, You Needn't--Thelonious Monk, The Composer.
5. Peggy's Blue Skylight--Charles Mingus, Ken Burns Jazz.
6. Fairy Tale of New York--The Pogues, If I Should Fall ...
7. El Carretero--Buena Vista Social Club. This might be my favorite track on this record.
8. Magpie--The Mountain Goats, The Sunset Tree.
9. Everybody Talking 'bout Heaven-Unidentified, Southern Journey Vol. 13 (Earliest Times).
10. If You're Feeling Sinister--Belle and Sebastian, If You're Feeling Sinister. Twee, but incredibly catchy.

Color scheme

2007-03-28T23:47:00.000-07:00

Overworked Spouse tries to get Wild Thing to put his wet diaper, freshly removed, into the pail. His diapers come in a wide range of colors, it should be noted.

OS: "Wild Thing, please put your diaper in the diaper pail."

WT: "No! I don't throw away periwinkle things!"

In my book, if a kid is old enough to distinguish periwinkle from cerulean, he's old enough to use the *&^#$ potty.

Growing up

2007-03-27T22:01:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was pushing Wild Thing in the swing in the backyard. I hadn't realized that he's figured out how to kick his feet to keep himself going, so I told him how proud I was of how big he was getting and how many things he could do. His reply: "Yup! I'm just about old enough for high school!"

Don't tell the kids

2007-03-27T21:59:00.000-07:00

The grownups' table, as seen from the kids' table.

Brief hiatus

2007-03-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

I'm off to a conference for a few days. Upon my return, I must grade, grade, grade. So posting will be pretty infrequent--more so than usual--for for about a week.

Maybe he gets this from me

2007-03-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

Overworked Spouse is prowling through a cabinet looking for something as Wild Thing looks on. She stumbles upon a pot that we'd been looking for earlier.

OS: "Aha! Here's that, um, thingy we were looking for."

WT: "That's a pot. Why did you call it a thingy?"

New photos on Flickr

2007-03-17T21:11:00.003-07:00

No link. The anonymity thing, you know.

Tolerance for paradox

2007-03-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when you go outside, it's kind of warm but still a little bit chilly? Maybe the sun is shining and warming your face, but there's also a cold wind. What's the word for that? I don't know, but Wild Thing has a suggestion:

"Daddy, I'm warm-cold!"

Problem solved.

One problem with living in a smaller city

2007-03-12T00:23:00.000-07:00

It's difficult to find a good hibachi restaurant.

Wild Thing said to me during his bath tonight, "I didn't like the show."

"What show?"

"At the hibachi restaurant. You know, the one that has sushi?"

Wild Thing has indeed been to the local hibachi place, which also has a sushi bar, though we haven't investigated that side of the establishment. The skills of the hibachi chefs are, frankly, pretty limited, and I'm not sure I want to experiment with the rawer side of Japanese cuisine there.

The reason Wild Thing dislikes the "show" there--though remaining fascinated enough by it to bring it up out of the blue 2-3 weeks later--is the scary display of fire. The reason WE aren't thrilled with the place is the fact that the juggling chefs really aren't very good. Last time we were there, a flying pepper shaker went flying and knocked over the water glass of the nice young woman sitting next to me. This particular hibachi guy didn't juggle anything sharp, but I still left with the mental picture of a two-pronged fork protruding from my chest.

At the bottom of the sea

2007-03-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

Wild Thing tried on my glasses this morning.

"It looks like everything's under water!"

(Much like what the world looks like to me when I try on Overworked Spouse's spectacles, she being blind as a bat whereas my myopia is a more mild affliction.)

Friday Random Ten: The Dark Lord Rides in Force Tonight

2007-03-09T19:45:00.000-08:00

1. "Song of Our So-Called Friends"--Okkervil River, Black Sheep Boy.

2. "The Battle of Evermore"--Led Zeppelin, IV. Robert Plant, probably in a drug-induced haze, seems to have muddled Tolkien and the New Testament here. Or something.

3. "Hoodoo Voodoo"--Billy Bragg & Wilco, Mermaid Avenue. I think that's the street name of whatever Robert Plant was taking.

4. "The Dark Side"--My Dad is Dead, Peace, Love, and Murder.

5. "Push the Eagle's Stomach"--Man Man, Six Demon Bag. What else is there to say but "Moustache! moustache! moustache!"

6. "Why Do They Leave?"--Ryan Adams, Heartbreaker.

7. "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now"--The Smiths, Louder Than Bombs.

8. "Mexico"--Panda & Angel, Panda & Angel.

9. "Free Four"--Pink Floyd, Obscured by Clouds. Another high school flashback.

10. "Nothing Special"--My Dad is Dead, The Taller You Are the Shorter You Get.

I should be posting something, I suppose

2007-03-08T13:34:00.000-08:00

But, instead, I'm trying to finish my dissertation. I'm sure you'll agree this is a worthy goal.

In any event, I shouldn't really be taking responsibility for writing this anymore. Wild Thing is in charge these days. Just ask him.

One mean menagerie

2007-03-03T15:10:00.000-08:00

Wild Thing, pretending this morning, wanted to do a little role playing.

"Daddy, you'll be a mean tiger. And mommy will be a mean lion. And I'll be a mean ... a mean ... a mean flea!"

I'm going all itchy just thinking about that one.

Friday Random Ten: Black Tales for a Vampire Weekend Edition

2007-03-02T20:16:00.001-08:00

1. Only a Lad--Oingo Boingo
2. American Without Tears--Elvis Costello
3. Still in Love with You--Danielle Howle
4. Walcott--Vampire Weekend
5. Carolina--The Viking Moses
6. The Guns of Brixton--Arcade Fire (Live at St. John's; downloaded from You Ain't No Picasso, I think). Nice clash cover.
7. Tale From Black--Tunng
8. Flying Home--Benny Goodman Sextet featuring Charlie Christian
9. Long Knives--Rainer Maria
10. Polly and Jack--Diane Duaw

Placeholder

2007-03-01T09:18:00.000-08:00

While Wild Thing and I recover from the flu (or whatever it was--we had our shots, but it sure felt like the flu to me), here's an interesting fact to tide you over for a while: sex expert Dr. Ruth spent part of her youth serving as a sniper in Palestine/Israel in the 1930s and 1940s.

It's true.

Real blogging to resume sometime soon.

Wild Thing can read

2007-02-26T21:24:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-24T22:33:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-24T00:29:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-24T00:27:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-22T21:52:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-21T21:08:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-16T21:16:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-16T20:44:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-15T22:41:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-15T22:39:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-10T11:03:00.000-08:00

Spam subject line of the day:

"Enjoy an ferocity."

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

It's the details

2007-02-09T20:16:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-09T10:08:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-07T21:47:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-02T20:51:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-02T20:29:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-02T20:20:00.000-08:00

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!

Wild Thing loves school

2007-01-29T20:04:00.000-08:00

Wild Thing, as the subject line indicates, couldn't be happier with his new school. And we feel much the same. He's learning both Spanish and sign language--he can count to ten in Spanish and sign his name. The bad news is that this means he'll soon be able to communicate with his mother and my mother-in-law without my being able to follow the conversation--unless I pick sign language up myself, I guess.

Though Overworked Spouse and I have both been out of town a lot lately, WT seems unfazed. Overall his mood has been good lately except for days when he refuses to take a nap at school. Which, unfortunately, is most days ...

A thing that I would never say to Wild Thing that he recently said to me

2007-01-29T20:01:00.000-08:00

"I can't give you a hug. I'm too busy."

Sigh.

The Flickr habit

2007-01-28T01:03:00.000-08:00

We're trying to re-establish it. Some new pictures uploaded just now; more to follow.

Scatology

2007-01-27T22:33:00.000-08:00

Scene: Bathtub. Wild Thing is keeping up his usual monologue about his various bath toys.

WT: "I'm going to eat Roo!" (This Roo, as in from the land of Winnie the Pooh, is an inedible plastic squeaky toy.)

Me: "Then what?"

WT: "I'll have a Roo-ey poop!"

How many times can a person become unpleasantly ill in a mere two weeks?

2007-01-15T20:48:00.000-08:00

I'm apparently part of an experiment seeking to answer this question, though I don't remember signing a consent form.

Is this thing on?

2007-01-08T21:49:00.000-08:00

OK, I'm trying to return to something like a normal posting schedule again. This might include something like a few short posts a few nights a week. We'll see how it goes. But I'm teaching a new syllabus this quarter, and could be flying around the country to job interviews (or not--there's no telling), so this schedule is subject to change without notice.

Quick news of the day: Wild Thing starts at his new on-campus child care center tomorrow. We're nervous about the change, but it will be great to have all of us within walking distance of each other all day again. It's been a while since we had that. And we love his new teacher. And his former teacher, who we also love, has agreed to do some weekend/evening child care when appropriate. So, it's the best of all worlds. Maybe. If Wild Thing decides it is.

Friday Random Ten: Placeholder Edition

2006-12-15T10:39:00.000-08:00

OK, next year there will probably be a return to real blogginess of some sort, but right now things are a little too crazy for ruminations and recordings of Wild Thing's charming elocutions. This will have to suffice for my ravening readers until January, most likely.

1. Eighth Cognition/All You've Left--Six Organs of Admittance, School of the Flower
2. Little Emma's Smile--Viking Moses, Crosses
3. Insurance Fraud--The Mountain Goats, The Coroner's Gambit
4. Prayer (Oh Doctor Jesus)--Miles Davis, Porgy and Bess
5. Goodbye--Steve Earle, Train a Comin'
6. Long Vermont Roads--The Magnetic Fields, Old Enough 2 Know Better-15 Years of Merge Records
7. I'll Believe in Anything--Wolf Parade, Apologies to the Queen Mary
8. Firsts--Richard Buckner, Dents & Shells
9. The End--The Doors, Best Of.
10. Come, Gone (Alternate Take)--Sonny Rollins, Way Out West.

Friday Random Ten: The Mysterious Production of iTunes

2006-12-08T13:16:00.000-08:00

1. Picture Day—Richard Buckner, Dents and Shells
2. Anna—Ernest Ranglin, In Search of the Lost Riddim
3. Countdown—John Coltrane, Giant Steps
4. Here at the Right Time—Josh Ritter, The Animal Years
5. Haze—Tessitura, On the Importance of Being Confused
6. Twisting—They Might Be Giants, Flood
7. You Do Something to Me—Ella Fitzgerald, The Cole Porter Songbook
8. MX Missles—Andrew Bird, Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs
9. Alex Chilton—The Replacements, Pleased to Meet Me
10. Left Only with Love—Smog, Knock Knock

Developmental notes: the varieties of affection

2006-12-01T22:49:00.000-08:00

Wild Thing has been working hard at figuring out how to express affection lately. "I love you" is pretty much old hat by now, so he's begun experimenting. Since he's figured out that people who are married love each other a lot (in theory, and, in his personal experience, in practice), he's begun proposing to people. He's recently offered marriage proposals to me as well as to his mother and grandmother.

Yet more charming: yesterday morning, he gave me a big hug and said, "Daddy--you're my best friend." I'm still emitting a faint glow from that one. But it's also fascinating to see him trying to figure out how one expresses strong affection and attachment. The adult world subdivides and categorizes all that stuff in a thousand different ways, and it seems as if he's starting to see that, even though what he feels is still (relatively) straightforward.

A matter of perspective

2006-12-01T22:45:00.000-08:00

Wild Thing sometimes solves conceptual problems in unexpected ways.

WT: "Fee fi fo fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman! Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread!" [Note: this is one of his favorite stock phrases this month.]

Me: "WT, are you a giant?"

WT: "No."

Me: "Are giants big or little?"

WT: "Big!"

Me: "How about you? Are you big or little?"

WT: "Little!"

Me: "So how can you be a giant?"

WT: [brief pause, then ...] "I'm pretending that giants are little."