Zoo!

It was hot. Most of the animals were just lying around--hot panthers, hot wallabies, hot zebras. The camels' humps were droopy. The gibbon nursed her new baby while swinging slowly from the,er, monkey bars.

Charlie went on his first pony ride. The second we entered the corral he zipped to the mounting post and was up and on the horse's back yelling, "go!" while we ran to catch up. Luckily that hot, tired pony was used to ignoring the dictates of three-year-olds.

We had a picnic of fried chicken, biscuits, and local strawberries before heading home over South Mountain. We were tired. It was good.

Almost TOO Nova Scotia

John and Charlie went to the beach tonight. I stayed home to slice up a dozen quarts of local, no-spray strawberries and stick them in the freezer for winter.

Mise-en-scène: While they were building a sandcastle, a team of horses came along pulling a wooden wagon full of children. They trotted down the beach, then pulled the wagon along through the shallow water for a piece.

Charlie chased crows and danced in the surf. He threw rocks in the water. He scrambled over boulders. Then they came home to me, to strawberries and love.

I Think We Have a Theme Song

What could be better suited to an unschooled trumpet afficionado than this?

Big, big thanks to Eggmama for the recommendation!

Extrovert

Charlie and I have been enjoying Boohbah on the French channel (TV is pretty simple at our house; we get the 'French' channel and the 'English' channel). He asked if we could get it on DVD. "I don't know, we could ask at Blockbuster," I answered vaguely.

Fast forward a week. We go to Blockbuster. Charlie wanders around the kids section, searching the shelves. Then he marches up to the front counter. "Um, excuse me," he addressed the clerk, "do you have any Boohbah?"

Sadly, the answer was no. The clerk was taken aback by his behavior. "How old is he?" she demanded of me.

I've been getting that one a lot these days. Charlie's exploding verbal skills and fearless social nature, in conjunction with his slightly elfin size, knock a few people off kilter. It's fun.

Charlie Bird

Charlie was pretending to play the trumpet today by blowing on his finger while making trumpety noises. He explained the music process to me.

"See?" he said. "The music comes from my heart (pointing at his chest) and it comes up here (pointing to his cheeks) and out my mouth. Then it goes in your ears and down into your tummy and then you have a heart, too."


And that's jazz, baby.

That's Our Boy

Charlie: "Look Daddy, I'm drawing an airplane. See? Here's the propeller and this is the battery and this makes it go."

Daddy: "Oh? Who's providing security for the plane?"

Charlie: "The Man, Daddy."

What's in an Image?

Yesterday John and Charlie took a stroll down to the harbour to look at the ships, as they often do in nice weather. Unfortunately, the Bluenose was not in port. After having a look around at some of the other vessels, Charlie spotted a dime lying on the dock. "Look, here it is!" he exclaimed. "It got small and went on the dime!"

And yes, there is indeed an image of the Bluenose on the Canadian dime. There's no convincing Charlie that the ship on his "lucky" dime is anything but the original deal. Gotta love the magical, mystical world of three year olds--and there's no better place to nurture it than here.