Showing posts with label Xander. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Xander. Show all posts
Monday, May 3, 2010
daily transcription of Xander's convo
...um and uh actually I was Captain Rex. We were playing the one with the virus. Um, you were playing Ahsoka and I remember that Daddy was playing a regular clone. Oh no he played a droideka. He knew somersaults he was 16. I mean he was 30. So he knew lots of cool things that droidekas do. And people on the stage they were hiding somewhere and they were where the droideka was they were throwing blue things so it was like the droideka was shooting. Is that cool? And um, Levi and Zoe was and Levi was Jar Jar Binks and Zoe was Padme. And Aunt Laura no she was Ahsoka and Uncle Rob was a regular Clone Trooper too. Cody wasn't in that one. Oh Uncle Rob actually played a medical droid. What did Daddy play? (thinks a while, drinks soup). Who was the droideka (I consult my notes). Me: Daddy was the droideka. X: I think everyone in Tennessee played in the movie. I know that lots of kids played battle droids and clone troopers like I played one. And it was hard work playing a clone trooper. And (slurps soup) also lots of kids played droidekas. Yeah. Um I was a um a virus person because I was Rex. And he had a virus. And you were a virus person because you were Ahsoka and Zoe was a virus person because she was Padme. Levi was not a virus person because he was Jar Jar. Lots of clones were virus people. Lots of regular clones were virus people. There was just one Jedi and that was Ahsoka. And, yeah. Me: That was your dream? X: It really wasn't (whispers) I was pretending so I would have that dream. And if I told you the dream you might have it too. And I really wish that I was on stage. Yeah. Yeah. Me: Doing a show? X: Yeah. Me: Cool. X: Who drives the witches thing on Narnia (doing a reign movement)? A reindeer or the caribou? Why does she not kill them? She just tells them to do bad things I think. That little boy on the Secret Garden he's like I'm just so mad at those people like Professor McGonagall that they call him a selfish jerk. I'm so mad at those people I think I'm just gonna kick their butt off.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Due Dilligence
If I'm going to rise up (while sitting) I'm going to have to start tomorrow. Those messages that have grown louder throughout the year, those messages saying "use it" and "write it down" won't be quiet - like some sort of p.s.d. for creative types. I go on and on about jumping into the deep end and taking chances. I also fully realize that I am quite the chickenshit (or have been up until now) in so many instances, and the time for fessing up and doing more than dipping my toes in the pool (however lukewarm) is NOW.
Xander said yesterday that "All babies start as circles", and I went on to explain how cells work in the simplest way I knew. Which is the only way I really know. He nodded his five-year-old baby chick head (it's the color of a baby chick) and looked at me with those borderline zealot eyes (his eyes are certainly intense for a five-year old) and I knew that he understood me. I could tell he knew that I understood him. I hope he always knows that.
So how to give due diligence to this amazing situation that I've been given? How to make this short spin so much more than an episode of True Life: I'm an Angsty Recovering Addict who Claims to Have All the Answers but Would Love to Just Sit Here and Look at Sephora All Day?
I'm not sure. But I know I'm supposed to start tomorrow. It's midnight, you know.
Once I stop praying
after I get the message
that all will be fine
I seem to click back
after leaving the dais
to my former state
of pacing the floor
and biting my wet knuckles
and doubting my voice
Should it end right now?
Can I strangle rhetoric?
I'm a pacifist.
Xander said yesterday that "All babies start as circles", and I went on to explain how cells work in the simplest way I knew. Which is the only way I really know. He nodded his five-year-old baby chick head (it's the color of a baby chick) and looked at me with those borderline zealot eyes (his eyes are certainly intense for a five-year old) and I knew that he understood me. I could tell he knew that I understood him. I hope he always knows that.
So how to give due diligence to this amazing situation that I've been given? How to make this short spin so much more than an episode of True Life: I'm an Angsty Recovering Addict who Claims to Have All the Answers but Would Love to Just Sit Here and Look at Sephora All Day?
I'm not sure. But I know I'm supposed to start tomorrow. It's midnight, you know.
Once I stop praying
after I get the message
that all will be fine
I seem to click back
after leaving the dais
to my former state
of pacing the floor
and biting my wet knuckles
and doubting my voice
Should it end right now?
Can I strangle rhetoric?
I'm a pacifist.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Random Ruminations of Refrain
My son has ceased his violin lessons for the time being, and I will admit that while it was the sweetest vision: his tiny 1/10 scale violin clutched in his little hands, his brow furrowed in concentration...he really wasn't all that "into" it even though he was learning quickly. He's four. We decided not to push it (especially since he'll start violin in Kindergarten at the Elementary School we're zoned for) and concentrate again on the play of music. Because seriously? Isn't that the best early childhood music instructor?
Rhythm sticks, tambourines, maracas, castanets; we've found most of these at thrift stores and from family members. Some have been found inexpensively at specialty stores like Imagine Childhood. During my time at the library the giant part of my story times was music - something about cracking out that giant, jingly bag with all the hand bells, tambourines, shaking eggs stirred the preschoolers into a frenzy. It's so simple. Make it nothing but fun, the theory can come later. Last weekend we went to a kids drum circle and while Xander enjoyed the drumming, it was a little organized for his taste (he wanted to know why he couldn't play a gong) and we only stayed for a half hour or so. But it was enough...we came home and he was pounding out the rhythm the leader had taught the kids on his little cylinders (oatmeal containers) that he's turned into his drum set.
Just last night we pounded on his makeshift percussion and watched Sigur Ros w/Bjork live on youtube, doing one of Xander's favorite songs: Gobbledigook. The uninhibited JOY that was had in this home, so late at night, so past his bedtime was almost tangible. Xander has actually been exposed to little "kids" music besides Dan Zanes and a smattering of Schoolhouse Rock. This isn't a snobbery decision, just a personal preference for us. At two he would beg to hear "JackWhiteMahDoorbell" (White Stripes - My Doorbell) and "Wittle Ghost" while we danced hyper-breakbeat style in our basement. I guess I should just close this scattered, smothered, and covered essay with one of my favorite things, a list. It's Sunday morning and little dude has a cold, so I'm a bit preoccupied.
Some of Xander's favorite songs/artists:
1. Dan Zanes - especially "I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister" (anything with kids singing in accompaniment he adores - most kids love to hear other kids sing)
2. Black Lodge Singers - "Mighty Mouse" The Black Lodge Singers are a traditional Native American drum circle. Who happen to perform loads of TV theme songs. Oh, sweet justice CHECK IT OUT. I've found that most kids (in story time, too) LOVE anything drums and especially Native Drums. It's the heartbeat thing. They can totally feel the ancient beats in their feet and chests. It rules to see them stomp out, no one shows them, they just start stomping out in beat to the drums. Did you know that the old "hi ya ya ya" beat has been traced to several ancient cultures? They found it in Ethiopia, in Greece (the beat itself is translated there to God is the beginning or something like that)...Anthropologists found this same sequence all over the world.
3. Anything Sigur Ros (especially the aforementioned Gobbledigook.) He (and I) have really grown attached to this unreal Icelandic group.
4. Anything vibrant and classical. When Xander was two and three and in that influential memorization age, he could tell you what was Beethoven and what was Mozart just by the sounds...we could probably start drilling him on this or something to impress our friends and coworkers, but we won't. Intelligent kids tend to attach themselves to lists of facts. There was one boy who used to come into the library who could tell you who wrote and illustrated famous children's books. He was three. You'd say, Goodnight Moon! And he'd say, Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd. Cute, until he stopped wanting to do it and his mom kept pushing him. He usually ran away to the listening station to get away from her (seriously!). We don't want to be that kind of parent, so...we don't quiz him in parts of the violin if he doesn't want to play that game or the composer game.
5. Star Wars theme, Darth Vader's theme, Luke's Theme, etc. For obvious reasons.
6. New Orleans Playground! One of those Putamayo Kids records. I think I've talked about it here before...but man, were those songs a hit at story time. Again, they're not kids music produced for kids but songs selected and recorded that kids really, really enjoy. Adults love them, too. I guess the big thing with so many examples of kids music is its patronizing tone. Kids can handle and enjoy the real thing. Expose them to it. Side note: Kids LOVE Louis Armstrong.
7. When Xander was a newborn, we sang to him to calm his frets and soothe him to sleep. Every song we knew some nights. I remember singing some Replacements, some Elvis, a little classic lullabies like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Alouette. But nothing, I mean nothing soothed him like me singing Blackbird (Beatles) and Baby Mine (from Dumbo)...funny, when his father sang to him he calmed down to the theme from Indiana Jones. I couldn't get that effect from him (almost instant calm) with John Williams scores but Blackbird calmed him every time for me. So much that I put it on a loop during some rough days around his one month birthday. Blackbird, fly.
He's sick now with a small head cold, so I'll put on something ambient and mellow. Like the soundtrack to Lost in Translation.
My lesson for him is this: there is nothing more full of the stuff of life than music - and that's even coming from me, the reader of all books. If that's what he gets out of our little informal "lessons"...I'll be feeling harmonious.
Rhythm sticks, tambourines, maracas, castanets; we've found most of these at thrift stores and from family members. Some have been found inexpensively at specialty stores like Imagine Childhood. During my time at the library the giant part of my story times was music - something about cracking out that giant, jingly bag with all the hand bells, tambourines, shaking eggs stirred the preschoolers into a frenzy. It's so simple. Make it nothing but fun, the theory can come later. Last weekend we went to a kids drum circle and while Xander enjoyed the drumming, it was a little organized for his taste (he wanted to know why he couldn't play a gong) and we only stayed for a half hour or so. But it was enough...we came home and he was pounding out the rhythm the leader had taught the kids on his little cylinders (oatmeal containers) that he's turned into his drum set.
Just last night we pounded on his makeshift percussion and watched Sigur Ros w/Bjork live on youtube, doing one of Xander's favorite songs: Gobbledigook. The uninhibited JOY that was had in this home, so late at night, so past his bedtime was almost tangible. Xander has actually been exposed to little "kids" music besides Dan Zanes and a smattering of Schoolhouse Rock. This isn't a snobbery decision, just a personal preference for us. At two he would beg to hear "JackWhiteMahDoorbell" (White Stripes - My Doorbell) and "Wittle Ghost" while we danced hyper-breakbeat style in our basement. I guess I should just close this scattered, smothered, and covered essay with one of my favorite things, a list. It's Sunday morning and little dude has a cold, so I'm a bit preoccupied.
Some of Xander's favorite songs/artists:
1. Dan Zanes - especially "I Don't Want Your Millions, Mister" (anything with kids singing in accompaniment he adores - most kids love to hear other kids sing)
2. Black Lodge Singers - "Mighty Mouse" The Black Lodge Singers are a traditional Native American drum circle. Who happen to perform loads of TV theme songs. Oh, sweet justice CHECK IT OUT. I've found that most kids (in story time, too) LOVE anything drums and especially Native Drums. It's the heartbeat thing. They can totally feel the ancient beats in their feet and chests. It rules to see them stomp out, no one shows them, they just start stomping out in beat to the drums. Did you know that the old "hi ya ya ya" beat has been traced to several ancient cultures? They found it in Ethiopia, in Greece (the beat itself is translated there to God is the beginning or something like that)...Anthropologists found this same sequence all over the world.
3. Anything Sigur Ros (especially the aforementioned Gobbledigook.) He (and I) have really grown attached to this unreal Icelandic group.
4. Anything vibrant and classical. When Xander was two and three and in that influential memorization age, he could tell you what was Beethoven and what was Mozart just by the sounds...we could probably start drilling him on this or something to impress our friends and coworkers, but we won't. Intelligent kids tend to attach themselves to lists of facts. There was one boy who used to come into the library who could tell you who wrote and illustrated famous children's books. He was three. You'd say, Goodnight Moon! And he'd say, Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd. Cute, until he stopped wanting to do it and his mom kept pushing him. He usually ran away to the listening station to get away from her (seriously!). We don't want to be that kind of parent, so...we don't quiz him in parts of the violin if he doesn't want to play that game or the composer game.
5. Star Wars theme, Darth Vader's theme, Luke's Theme, etc. For obvious reasons.
6. New Orleans Playground! One of those Putamayo Kids records. I think I've talked about it here before...but man, were those songs a hit at story time. Again, they're not kids music produced for kids but songs selected and recorded that kids really, really enjoy. Adults love them, too. I guess the big thing with so many examples of kids music is its patronizing tone. Kids can handle and enjoy the real thing. Expose them to it. Side note: Kids LOVE Louis Armstrong.
7. When Xander was a newborn, we sang to him to calm his frets and soothe him to sleep. Every song we knew some nights. I remember singing some Replacements, some Elvis, a little classic lullabies like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Alouette. But nothing, I mean nothing soothed him like me singing Blackbird (Beatles) and Baby Mine (from Dumbo)...funny, when his father sang to him he calmed down to the theme from Indiana Jones. I couldn't get that effect from him (almost instant calm) with John Williams scores but Blackbird calmed him every time for me. So much that I put it on a loop during some rough days around his one month birthday. Blackbird, fly.
He's sick now with a small head cold, so I'll put on something ambient and mellow. Like the soundtrack to Lost in Translation.
My lesson for him is this: there is nothing more full of the stuff of life than music - and that's even coming from me, the reader of all books. If that's what he gets out of our little informal "lessons"...I'll be feeling harmonious.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Could you spare a moment...
...I know we're all super busy, and our minds are jumbled and strained (I know mine is...) but could you spare a moment to pray for my new nephew David? The little guy, not even a month old came down with a raging fever and intestinal problems...which can be very scary for such a tiny fellow. My sister is staying in the hospital with him, which I'm sure is not the way she envisioned her (too short) maternity leave. If you pray, could you send up a little message for David? He's a little munchin pumpkin muffin:
On another note, I've had a very lucid dream regarding a work of fiction I NEED to write down.
On yet another note, I've discovered I have a lot in common with the Icelanders.
Those two notes have something to do with one another.
That's X sledding for the first time.
Over and out.
On another note, I've had a very lucid dream regarding a work of fiction I NEED to write down.
On yet another note, I've discovered I have a lot in common with the Icelanders.
Those two notes have something to do with one another.
That's X sledding for the first time.
Over and out.
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