the other stuff i would say if it wasn’t gauche to post twice in one day
I just want to tell you that Bumbo and Dando were at the Vivarium with us today. And they were wearing hats.
Jonah was talking about them while one of the employees (the place seems to have almost as many employees as reptiles) was cleaning out a cage/lair/glasscontainerthingy. Somehow, said employee/tattooedguy/interestingperson joined our conversation.
Maybe they’re imaginary friends?
Could be, I said. We think they might speak Spanish because yesterday, Dando was playing with Tito.
The guy laughs.
Dando, playwiph TiTOE! says Jonah.
The guy says he had three imaginary friends when he was a kid, only the thing was, they were actually people who had once lived.
That’s really hard to explain to your parents when you’re a little kid, he says.
I get that, I tell him.
And I totally believe him. The Vivarium is one of those places in the world where stuff like that just makes sense. That, and sharing your home with 12 ft bazillion pound man-eating snakes.
We bought yet another 38-cent (after tax) itsy bitsy rubber red-eyed tree frog which, one hour later, I yet again realized was lost. Jonah doesn’t seem traumatized by the disappearance of his frogs at all. At this point, I figure that’s the fee we pay for admission, and I guess he figures tiny rubber frogs are an endlessly renewable resource.
Posted by calm mama on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 10:26 pm in baby baby baby | 2 Comments » | 
the hipster parents’ guide to children’s books
I’m doing it, dear blog friends. I’m starting to just go ahead and review more stuff. On my other blog.
Some stuff will be my own stuff, some will be stuff I borrowed from the library or from friends. Some will be gifts given by people I know and love. And some I’ll score from marketing folks looking to get exposure for their products. This can be very controversial. Longtime readers may remember that I felt conflicted about the togs we got to review for free (and keep) from Kenneth Cole a while back. The deal is, if I get it for free, I’ll tell you. I’ll try to be honest about the product, but as anyone who has gotten free stuff in exchange for a blog review knows, it’s a tough line to toe. So, y’all just let me know if you don’t believe my gushing. ‘kay? And, FYI: I’m more likely to write about something I like than to pan something I don’t like because good karma travels, and bad karma makes enemies and risks slander lawsuits.
So there we are. Click the text below to visit my review of the day. And let me know if I should keep or ditch the monkeys.
Posted by calm mama on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 5:59 pm in baby baby baby | comments » |
bumbo and dando
Jonah has a lot of words. He knows them, says them with startlingly crisp articulation at times. He sings songs. He recites books verbatim.
And he babbles.
A favorite game is to run in circles chanting: Bumbo bumbo bumbo — or — Dando dando dando.
Tonight, I decided to try to get to the bottom of this.
Who is Bumbo? I asked. Where is Bumbo?
At first: Bumbo, in the window siiiiillll, he said, pointing to the curtain.
Oh, I said, is the Jertain in the Curtain? (quoting Dr. Seuss’ Wocket in My Pocket).
Yeah. Bumbo, in the windowww siiiilll.
Is Bumbo a boy or a girl?
He pauses, considers. Boyyye.
Where is he?
Jonah points out the sliding glass door to the back yard.
He’s in the backyard?
Yeah… Bumbo, onnn the BUS. (There’s a toy bus on the wooden trunk next to where we are sitting.)
He’s on the bus?
Yeah.
What is he wearing?
Heez wearringh aHAT.
What color is it?
He considers… Beluue.
What else is he wearing?
Considers again… Shoooz.
What color are his shoes?
Belue.
So he’s wearing a blue hat and blue shoes?
Yeah.
He’s on the bus?
Yeah.
Is he wearing a shirt?
Yeah.
Is it yellow?
Yeah.
I should pause here to mention that Jonah has just started saying “yeah” today — add that to his “yup” and you can see how completely lazy my husband and I are when it comes to speaking English. I should also explain that he is usually very deliberate with Yeah and No. For example, at dinnertime tonight, I ran through the entire contents of the fridge, asking him what he would like to eat. Every item was met with “No,” until I got to peaches. He said, Yeah. And he had a peach for dinner.
So, now we’ve established that Bumbo is a boy, riding on a bus, in a blue hat, yellow shirt, and blue shoes. We may be collaboratively creating this story, but whether it was originally his suggestions or mine, I can tell that he’s visualizing it as we go along, smiles of recognition flitting across his face each time we confirm a detail of the story. Which is so freaking cool.
And then he mentions Dando.
Dando, knock on the Doorrrrrrr, he says.
When you go to visit Dando, you knock on the door? I ask.
Knock Kuh-knock on the DOORrrrrrrr. He’s running in circles while describing this, giggling.
Are Dando and Bumbo twins? I ask.
Yeah, says Jonah.
Does he know what twins are? asks Scott. Yes, I reply, he sometimes plays with the twins that our nanny also babysits.
Dando… playwiph TI-TOe.
We all three consider this new piece of information for a moment.
Maybe he’s speaking Spanish? suggests Scott hopefully.
Posted by calm mama on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 8:39 pm in milestones | 1 Comment » |
ceci n’est pas un blog post
This is several blog posts, and none. A summary. A smorgasbord.
I love Magritte. So I reference him. C’est tout.
Where have I been? Why the blog silence?
Even I don’t have a coherent answer and I’m the only one who should know.
There’s some perfectionism involved. First thing that happened, I was having blog envy after reading another writer’s work and feeling like my posts should be more coherent individual STORIES. And then I wrote no stories at all. So that was useful not.
Then we were in L.A. for almost a week. There’s a part of me that worries about blogging when I’m on vacation because I think someone will come rob my house while I’m gone. Inconvenient since my blog-worthy life experiences don’t stop while I’m gone. I had to break the rule for the f-word post. Wouldn’t you?
And this L.A. trip was about possible futures, new job opportunities for Scott, which would mean relocation for us. I was feeling a lot of different things about that, not all of them pretty. It’s still not a done deal either way, so for this moment, that’s as far as I’m going to discuss it. But, there are several of you, dear blog readers and blogging friends, whom I will be hitting up for advice and coffee dates, should the possibility become something more solid…
While in Los Angeles, of the many activities we enjoyed: toy shopping, clothes shopping, the park, dining out, learning the ins and outs of refined curse words; perhaps the most unusual was The Farm in Tarzana.
A funky old petting zoo, not for the germophobic, The Farm features goats, sheep, emu (is that plural also or is it emus?), llamas, some sad looking ponies for riding (we didn’t), a cow, geese, ducks, chickens, rabbits, a few dilapidated antique tractors. And it’s for sale, if anyone’s in the mood for a unique business opportunity. I’d seen the sign for it when we’d been in L.A. last, as it’s in the neighborhood of the rest home where my 98-year-old grandmother lives.
We did not take her with us to pet the animals. And we didn’t take a picture of her this time. She’s currently wearing these silk babushka scarves that make her seem even older and I’m in denial about it. I think the scarf intimidated Jonah too because he didn’t really interact with her this visit. Here’s a few pictures from our previous trip, back in April.
Jonah and Great-Grandma play peek-a-boo:
And here’s two pics of The Farm. My dad was in charge of the food cup, which made him popular, and I think the emu appreciated how well she matched his shirt:
Jonah enjoyed all of it, especially the tractor:
+++
Jonah’s been talking up a storm as usual. I could kick myself for all the recording of it that I haven’t done, audio, blogging, all of the above. Now it really is happening so fast. Just like everyone said it would.
His latest games: Asks questions he already knows the answers to. For instance, with our cat, Bambino. He’ll say, “Is he black?” and then he’ll answer himself, “Bambino IS black.” — Which is funny, because that’s basically what we’ve been doing with him all this time, pointing to things we know the name of and getting him to name them.
Similarly, he’s onto my singing game. Whereas up to now I’ve gotten him to join in on songs by pausing mid-lyric and then he’ll fill in the next word or words. Now when I pause, he makes me fill in. For example, in Old MacDonald Had a Farm, I sing “And on his farm he had a _____” pausing, and Jonah says, “What did he have?”
When he does feel like filling in, lately it’s moved beyond farm animals to favorite musical instruments, or anything in the room he feels like naming. A table, a drumstick, a bus.
And due to my recent upping of the lullaby ante with everything in my arsenal including the alphabet, Jonah now sings the entire ABC song (including Now-aye-no-mai-A-B-seez-Nex-taim-wontyu-sing-withhhh-me.”
+++
We’ve had some awesome play dates lately. Studio Grow, the Zoo… On Friday we went to the Bay Area Discovery Museum with Laura and Flann, though the peak experience for both boys seemed to be the museum shop, where each picked the toy school bus and we moms obligingly purchased. Then we went on a long walk to the beach at nearby Tennessee Valley Road, and both boys brought their buses along.
Yesterday we spent time with three different sets of friends, old and new. A morning coffee and scones gathering of families with 0-5 year olds in our neighborhood (which made us NOT want to leave this town), a brunch play date with a couple of my friends from high school and our families and an outdoor blow-up pool, followed by a lovely afternoon with Laszlo and Elina and Paul that included homemade chicken pot pie, BART trainspotting, and banjo playing.
Today we mostly hung around the house and rested.
There, now we’re caught up.
Phew.
Posted by calm mama on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 at 10:36 pm in travel, baby pics | 4 Comments » |
thanks, mom
We’re in L.A., visiting Nana and PopPop, a.k.a. my mom and dad. Mom has just finished her rigorous morning workout and is getting dressed so we can take Jonah to the park. The boy and I are ready to go. We’re hanging out with her in her room while she is putting on her shoes. Suddenly she gets a stitch in her side that must feel like having a heart attack because her body torques in half with the pain and she yells with all the gusto of a hard-working sailor: F********ck!!!!!
And guess who thinks that is the greatest word he’s ever heard?
F*ck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck, he shouts gaily.
Um, thanks mom?
This morning, he’s toddling around the house, chanting quietly to himself… f*ck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck.
Oh dear.