The Hair Cut Game

Joe and Julie have a new game they play after the read books and before Joe goes to bed. It's called Hair Cut, even though, confusingly, as you will see, the game entails a lot of pretend hair washing. Ted shot this video* yesterday, quite literally as the game had its genesis, and was in the midst of being refined. In particular, Julie had to explain to Joe that water shoots out of hoses, not fire. The way the game goes is this: Julie asks Joe if he knows what's in his hair. Joe says no. Julie says something outlandish like pickles. Joe collapses in giggles as Julie washes the pickles out. Then Joe asks Julie if she knows what's in her hair, and the whole thing repeats, back and forth. Tonight when they played, and Julie needed to buy some time to think of something wild that was in Joe's hair, she embellished the standard exchange with things like "It's unbelievable," and "You're not going to believe this, but. . ." and "This is incredible!" Now, Joe almost always says to Julie, with utmost seriousness, "This is unbelievable." Julie has to admit that the more unusual things are often found in her hair, made up by Joe. Tonight, for example, all three of the following things had to be washed out of Julie's hair: macaws**, leprechauns, and London Bridges. Last night, during the game's inception, Joe returned again and again to "blue sky." Blue sky being in Julie's hair was hilarious.

*Julie is practically whispering since Clara was sleeping, so you may have to turn the volume up. Joe will be loud because his default volume is such that you would assume everyone to whom he is speaking is deaf.

**Macaws are a kind of parrot. The only reason we know this is because they are often featured in the Bright Baby series picture books. Julie has always found this a completely ridiculous label and so always says, "This is a macaw, which is a kind of parrot, which is a kind of bird." Whoever heard of a macaw?! And then here our Hero whips out with macaws in Julie's hair!--!!!!!

Good Times With Pinks McGee

Brigade, Birdie has had a rough go of it lately! On the heels of strep throat, she caught a cold that is still with her, then, she got that nasty bonk on her chin, and then, today, she came down with pink eye! Nothing could keep Pinks McGee down for long though--literally: Birdie's nap lasted less than two hours. Then, she was ready to get back out there. Julie strapped her into the stroller and they took and a long walk around the neighborhood with a break at the playground. When the Birds arrived, there were a fair number of older boys playing (and walking up the slides after sliding down them). Brigade, you should have seen Our Bird! She marched right into the thick of it, and up the steps, and just stared at those boys until it was her turn, and then off she'd go! Here she is doing her thing not long after they'd left.

Keen-eyed observers (and especially those familiar with this particular playground) will note that that last video ended with Clara making her way up the open-with-no-railing-to-speak-of twirly steps, at the top of which is another open slide. She tried these steps just this past Saturday and asked to be lifted off about half way up. Brigade! This video was shot minutes after the one above. Look at her go! The video is rather lengthy, but stick with it to see her identify herself as Clara(2:46), Julie as Mommy (2:48), and cheering herself at the very end (3:39).

After the Rain, Here Comes the Sun

As you know, Dear Readers, we have been endeavoring to have more "family dinners" here at Raleigh House, despite the fact that Joe and Clara's mealtime is generally smoother all the way around if they eat by themselves without an audience. There are some nights, however, where family dinner is not only civilized, but downright charming.* Tonight was not one of those nights.

It's been a while since we've had a tantrum of the two-year-old variety, rather than the three-year-old variety. Both should be ignored, of course, but somehow, it is difficult to remember that fact when one has a pre-schooler bringing the relative youth of the toddler into sharper relief than would be the case if one was faced with just the wailing toddler in isolation, and vice versa. In other words, t is easy to think of Clara, "Oh but she is so little!" and of Joe, "Argh! He should know better!" But really, though Clara is quite little, she often does know better; and Joe, though he does, in fact, often know better, is of course still learning the ways of this complicated world. All of this usual madness was compounded tonight by the fact that Clara acquired rather an awful bonk yesterday**, and has picked up a cold right on the heels of the strep.

Look at that!--!!!!! She's can't be feeling terribly wonderful. In short, it can be difficult to shift gears in the moment, and from man to man, as we try to keep up on the field of play, but tonight, we managed, in relatively short order, to ignore the squall at our feet and, in relatively short order, it passed, and the sun came out in Clara again.

*See the recent post D is for Dork, Dorks, and Dorky.

**Clara was pushing a truck in the hallway, and when it got away from her, she went splat.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

The other night, just after Julie had deposited Clara in her crib, Clara grabbed Julie's index finger on her right hand, and started moving Julie's whole arm back and forth. Julie realized Clara was rowing, as she sang Row, Row, Row Your Boat (and yes, it was a pretty heart melting moment). Boat is not a go-to song for us, so we figure she has picked this tune up at school where it might be a standard part of the libretto in her new, big girl, twos room. In any case, the song (and its attendant motions) is climbing Birdie's Billboard chart.

At the Zoo

At the Zoo, the book, and thus, the song, has been enjoying a renaissance around Raleigh House. Simon and Garfunkel enthusiasts may recall that, toward the end of this lesser-known tune, there is the line "What a gas!" Clara gets into the act by crying out "Gas!" with much glee when we reach this page. Joe, for his part, is trying to nail the whole thing. In this clip, you can hear him practicing (while sitting on the toilet--which is why what you'll see is the bathroom shelf; it's more about what you hear of course).