Aidan was riffing on some knock knock jokes:
Aidan: Knock knock
Mommy: Who's there?
Aidan: Banana
Mommy: Banana who?
Aidan: Banana head!
Aidan: Knock knock
Mommy: Who's there?
Aidan: Banana
Mommy: Banana who?
Aidan: Knock knock
Mommy: Who's there?
Aidan: Orange
Mommy: Orange who?
Aidan: Orange I didn't say banana!
Aidan has the new Classical Baby DVD: The Poetry Show. I highly recommend the whole Classical Baby series. Aidan has watched it several times and has come away with it with an interest in poetry. I have an anthology of children's poetry and rhymes and I read him several a day. His favorite, by far, is Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat:
I
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'
II
Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?'
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
III
'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.
Aidan has me read it over and over. His favorite part is when the pussycat calls the owl an "elegant fowl." All last night he was saying, "Mommy, you elegant fowl!"
You all know the classic knock knock joke that goes like this:
Knock, Knock!
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?
Knock, Knock!
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?
Knock, Knock!
Who's there?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange ya glad I didn't say banana?!
Here's Aidan's version:
Knock knock
Who's there?
Banana.
Banana who?
Knock knock
Who's there?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange banana!
Frankly I like his version better
Aidan has this routine when drinking out of his sippy cup. He twirls his hair while he drinks. Last night he had a sippy cup right after his bath and his hair was wet. He had his cup, but he didn't drink. He was watching a night night show (Futurama) so I figured he was hypnotized. About a minute later he said:
Aidan: Mommy, I'm going to wait for my hair to dry so I can drink my baba.
Mommy: Why is that?
Aidan: Because I swirl my hair when I drink and it's too wet now.
Mommy: That's right, you twirl your hair when you drink.
Aidan: Yeah, that's what I like to do.
He knows what he likes.
I walk. I'm a walker. I work downtown, so I walk a lot of my errands. I walk to the post office, the library and to lunch. I like to know the mileage I've walked, and I sometimes drive my car on the route to check the mileage. Now I've found the perfect website. It's the website that I've always wanted, but didn't know existed. Map My Walk awesomely lets you draw your walking route and then it calculates the mileage for you. I walked .34 miles to Kinko's and back this morning, good to know.
I have a surefire way to knock the blues right out of you. I guarantee that if you sing the backup part of this song you wont feel bad anymore. It's important to sing it as loudly as possible (in the car is ideal). The video is a little creepy. Please avert your eyes when Huey Lewis looks into the camera and says, "I wanna love you all over." You may have to bathe your eyes in holy water.
Feel better now?
Yes, the cat. His name is constantly evolving. Here's the evolution as it stands now:
Snaz
Sniz
Snizzles
Berlioz
Snizzle Bizzles
Ickle Bizzles
Icky Bizzles
Little Icky Bizzles or Little Icky Biz or just plain Bizzles
That's what we call him now, Little Icky Bizzles. He's a clever cat. We let him go outside once or twice a day. Aidan calls these his adventures, "Mommy, Bizzles wants to go on an adventure." And we let him out. Lately he's been bringing back a "present" everyday. He's brought home 2 grasshoppers, 3 lizards and 2 field mice. They're all alive of course. So far we've managed to let the "presents" free before god knows what. We live in a fairly rural environment. We see owls, snakes, quail, rabbits and coyotes regularly in our neighborhood. I'm just waiting for the time Bizzles shows up with a coyote in his mouth.
Here's Bizzles on our back wall looking for prey:
My rating System:
*****Lawrence Block and Ross Macdonald (THE BEST OF THE BEST)
****Double Thumbs (GREAT!)
***I liked it (GOOD)
**It's not that bad (OK)
*It's Bothering me (BAD)
I have this habit of picking an author and reading all of their books from first to last. I've done this with Lawrence Block, Tony Hillerman, Ross Macdonald, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Sue Grafton and so on. I've enjoyed reading books this way. But lately I've been reading authors that are good, not great. The latest author I've been reading is Ian Rankin. He's good:
*** Strip Jack by Ian Rankin
*** The Black Book by Ian Rankin
*** Mortal Causes by Ian Rankin
See, good, but not great. Then, one of my favorite authors came out with a new book and reminded me what great was:
***** Hit and Run by Lawrence Block
And it occurred to me, why am I wasting time reading authors that are merely good. I need to find great again. I need to find the kind of book that I can't put down and that I bring in the car with me so I can read at red lights. I love having a book like that. I decided to give Ian Rankin a rest and try out some new authors and and old stand by. I've been fairly successful:
**** Down River by John Hart
**** The Triggerman's Dance by T. Jefferson Parker
**** Cold Pursuit by T. Jefferson Parker
***1/2 Where Serpents Lie by T. Jefferson Parker