Friday, December 28, 2007
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
A Ha Ha
We like the classics around here. Probably the all-around favorite cartoon in our home is is this episode of Speedy Gonzales.
We all watched it together last night. Afterwards, Charlie announced that he was Speedy Gonzales and that, furthermore, he was going to go get cheese. John and I sat upstairs and listened to him run around the house for twenty minutes escaping an imaginary Sylvester, shouting, "A ha ha!" (Arriba!)
He came back with some cheese sticks. We were impressed, and sang "La Cucaracha" in tribute.
We all watched it together last night. Afterwards, Charlie announced that he was Speedy Gonzales and that, furthermore, he was going to go get cheese. John and I sat upstairs and listened to him run around the house for twenty minutes escaping an imaginary Sylvester, shouting, "A ha ha!" (Arriba!)
He came back with some cheese sticks. We were impressed, and sang "La Cucaracha" in tribute.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Imagination
Today Charlie:
1) Created Santa's village out of playdoh with his infinitely-more-artistic-than-Mom babysitter--and I mean elves and reindeer and the whole shebang. It took them almost 3 hours;
2) Disassembled a spinach pocket, stuffed all the spinach into an empty playdoh container (I found the playdoh under the radiator later on) and ate it out of the can like Popeye; and
3) bit a licorice stick into several sections and then arranged them criss-cross to create a "net", with which he pretended to catch a bird.
Three is a fun age.
1) Created Santa's village out of playdoh with his infinitely-more-artistic-than-Mom babysitter--and I mean elves and reindeer and the whole shebang. It took them almost 3 hours;
2) Disassembled a spinach pocket, stuffed all the spinach into an empty playdoh container (I found the playdoh under the radiator later on) and ate it out of the can like Popeye; and
3) bit a licorice stick into several sections and then arranged them criss-cross to create a "net", with which he pretended to catch a bird.
Three is a fun age.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Spirit of the Season
Well, now that we're into December it's all Santa, all the time in our home. There are Santa pictures on the walls, Santa music emenating from the speakers, and plentiful piles of Santa books. We especially love How Santa Got His Job by Stephen Krensky and Where's Prancer by Syd Hof.
The fact that we don't do a "better be good or Santa won't come" schtick--or anything too literal at all--allows us a great deal of freedom in our relationship with the big guy. Charlie loves to put on the red hat and pretend to be Santa, just as he loves to pretend to be Curious George or Speedy Gonzales. He gets quite irritated with me for being so inflexible about a visit to the roof to check on the reindeer. "But they're my reindeer," he remonstrates.
When he is older we'll talk about the mythological tradition of Santa, stretching all the way back to the pre-Christian, reindeer-lovin' Icelandic shamen who wore red cloaks and crawled down smokeholes into doorless huts to go on vision quests. But for now we're having plenty of fun with his modern incarnations. "Ho ho ho," Charlie solemnly chants, as he hands me a rock wrapped in a well-used scrap of snowman paper. "I bring da presents!"
And I agree. For it's true, the very best gifts come from his presence.
The fact that we don't do a "better be good or Santa won't come" schtick--or anything too literal at all--allows us a great deal of freedom in our relationship with the big guy. Charlie loves to put on the red hat and pretend to be Santa, just as he loves to pretend to be Curious George or Speedy Gonzales. He gets quite irritated with me for being so inflexible about a visit to the roof to check on the reindeer. "But they're my reindeer," he remonstrates.
When he is older we'll talk about the mythological tradition of Santa, stretching all the way back to the pre-Christian, reindeer-lovin' Icelandic shamen who wore red cloaks and crawled down smokeholes into doorless huts to go on vision quests. But for now we're having plenty of fun with his modern incarnations. "Ho ho ho," Charlie solemnly chants, as he hands me a rock wrapped in a well-used scrap of snowman paper. "I bring da presents!"
And I agree. For it's true, the very best gifts come from his presence.
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