We decided that WALL-E was a good choice for Hayden’s first movie theater outing. Because Kris is more of a geek than I am, we decided I would be on Gabe duty while they went.
They went to the 1:30 showing on Saturday. Due to a technical glitch, they had to see a showing an hour later than planned… but that gave us two free tickets to the theater.
Hayden and I went to see it this morning. It turns out that purchasing tickets from an actual person (and not the internet) has its advantages, at least to a preschooler. The powers-that-be of the movie, which is based on the premise that humans destroy the earth with their material greed, decided that cheap plastic watches were a good choice for a free opening-weekend gift. I have to assume that at least a few of the powers are parents, as Hayden loves it…
Which brings me to my favorite three-and-a-half year old line of the day:
Playing monsters vs. superheroes
Hayden (superhero) to Kris (monster): *looks at wrist watch* “Time to kill you.”
** To the readers who might be gasping: Yes, we play monsters and superheroes and allow the word “kill.” We don’t have any actual toy guns in the house, though Hayden is good at creating them with legos. (He then calls them “Bwuem-bweums.” His sound effects are classic.) He’s a preschool boy, with a terrific sense of imaginary play. He prefers to play the good guy, and he knows it’s pretend. I call that a winning scenario.
I may have, on occasion, directed people to various incarnations of Avril Lavigne’s song or video, Girlfriend.
There was a time when I couldn’t go five minutes without hearing that song somewhere, so in order to soothe the growing darkness within me I may have foisted this song on unwitting people (a la rickrolling)
I swear I never meant for this to happen. I didn’t consider the consequences of my actions, and I’m sorry for hurting you internet.
To make up for it I’ll send you to a lovely song that accurately describes our bedtime rituals, 5 More Minutes
The Last Battle doesn’t feel like the other Narnia tales. Perhaps it isn’t supposed to, in that it is not only the end of the story as we can know it, but the beginning of an unknown. In some ways, it is the final coming-of-age tale, in that the adolescence of earthly life is over, and the cast of characters can begin to appreciate the fullness of a paradise life.
The absence of one character is discussed within a two page span, and while some readers may question this choice by Lewis, I have to say that I respect it. After having other portions of a Christian belief stuffed down your throat, the need to stay on track with belief, the need to keep your faith a focus, the need to want the connection and to have those lessons shown with such strength, clarity and brevity was a welcome relief.
All in all, this is my least favorite of the series, but still worth reading, if not as often as the others.
Today at work I was having a conversation and I decided that I didn’t want all of the information to be public knowledge, so in order to cover up my private details I started spelling out the word I didn’t want everyone to hear. It turns out that my coworkers are not three and a half.
I’m thinking maybe I use that mechanic a little too frequently at home.
How about a Gabe update? I started a post on Father’s Day about how Gabe was just on the verge of movement and speech.
We’re still on the verge of communication. We’ve heard a few “Da”s, “Ma”s, and “Ba” (for ball) that seemed deliberate, but we’re not totally sold on them yet. Our primary methods of communication are still raspberries (pictured below) and our sign for more food seems to be banging the spoon on the table.
He’s been scooting here and there for awhile but not seriously moving anywhere. He’s been sitting up by himself for a long time and has recently started to show interest in standing.
Well in the mere days since I started this post we’ve gotten into full blown movement. Not just scooting a few inches to get to a toy. We’re talking crossing the floor to get to the ottoman, pulling himself up - and holy crap there are Transformers there with little pieces and where did we put the baby gates and the outlet covers! - moving.
He doesn’t actually crawl so much as half crawl/half walk. He very much wants to skip crawling but doesn’t quite yet have the strength to stand up from the floor, so instead he keeps one knee on the ground and pushes off with one foot.
Have I mentioned that he puts everything in his mouth? God help us. There are some bonuses to that. We could some extra time before dinner because he found some of his teething biscuit from earlier under his high chair.
I adored the first half of this book, as Auster explores his memories of his father. Figuring out who a father is beyond your memories as a child is a task that every son or daughter should do. While my early childhood had a amazing father figure in my grandpa, and my later childhood with that of my step father, I can still completely relate to the mystery of who your father is and why he is such.
The second half was more of a challenge for me. Perhaps I was so drawn into the discoveries of the man behind the father figure that what felt like a rather abrupt change outside of this realm me was too much for my mind to handle.
Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis is more a story about belief and how that can draw barriers than it is an adventure. For the adult in me, that’s a more interesting read, though I have to admit, it makes a more difficult movie (and therefore I can understand a lot of the changes the producers made).
The portrayal of the youngest child being the strongest believer is another theme within this, the second published book of the Narnia series. Lucy, a child whose faith is so pure, is the one who can lead the others. But Lewis is also clear that the child can be pushed away from faith easily enough, too.
I am not sure how I want to read into the idea that Peter and Susan are too old to return to Narnia (yes, I know Peter returns in The Last Battle). Is faith something that diminishes in adolesence and adulthood, only to return in a person’s golden age? Or is it that as a child, faith can be magical? As an adult, faith has to be grounded in order to be lasting?
I’ll be re-reading the entire series, for probably about the tenth time in my life. Then I’ll make my final analysis.
Last night we attended a Johnathan Coulton concert, which was utterly fantastic. For those unfamiliar, Coulton is a former software engineer who quit his job to pursue music.
Coulton is charismatic and quirky and the general tone of his music is fun. He still misses the occasional chord, but laughs it off. His show is simple; just him and an acoustic guitar. Though he does break out the occasional odd instrument (a Zen drum?) and have the opening act (the very funny Paul & Storm) assist on backup.
Coulton’s music ranges from the quirky:
Code Monkey - which as a code monkey appeals to me directly.
Re: Your Brains - a request from a former d-bag coworker and current zombie for your brains)
To the saccharine:
I’m Your Moon - a song from Pluto’s moon, Charon, to cheer Pluto up after he’s been demoted to a dwarf-planet.
The Future Soon - about an awkward adolescent boy who consoles himself that his awkwardness is temporary and that when he grows up he’ll do great things.
I’ll leave you with one of my favorites, Skullcrusher Mountain. A story about an evil genius in love.
Edit: I completely forgot to mention that that fucker Rollroll’d us in the middle of a song with that Zen drum thing. That was hilarious!
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