I was chastising Luc for complaining to me that he couldn’t do something “It is too hard for me” I told him “Rubbish! It is not too hard for you” Luc responded “It is not rubbish!” I responded that yes, indeed it was. He told me “No! It is not rubbish. It is trash!”
Luc started singing the Hokey Pokey to me “Put your wrong hand in…” I corrected him “Put your right hand in...” he laughed and continued to sing with a cheeky grin, “Put your wrong hand in, put your wrong hand out!”
Paul and I were chatting about the movie the Exorcist. Although I haven’t seen the film, I am aware of Linda Blair’s character speaking in tongues with a strange voice. I did my best imitation of this…. and then stopped abruptly when Paul and I heard Nic, standing up in his cot doing his impression of a demonic /possessed child. We looked at him, and he just laughed. He is not interested in repeating words so much, but if a strange voice brings about a laugh…!
Luc is crazy about rocket ships at the moment. Coupled with his love of robots and space, this has spurred an obsession with building rockets. The boys were given a set of Builders and Benders that are an excellent brick building system and are perfect for building rockets, houses, whatever is the obsession of the day. Having given up on me saying “just a moment…” when he has requested me to build things, Luc has really started using his imagination and has built some complex and inventive shapes himself.
Paul bought a compilation DVD of the Thunderbirds TV series. This ‘supermarionation’ sci-fi puppet show has been parodied by everyone from the D-Generation and Trey Parker and Matt Stone of SouthPark fame. Luc adores the shows and has been requesting these frequently. Luc told me the other day that “Nic is scared of the man with the glowing eyes” - a ‘bad guy’ character from one of the stories. How Nic manages to closely watch these ‘glowing eye’ sequences while Luc is in the bedroom, tentatively peeking out from behind the bed toward the TV screen, is beyond me.
The Thunderbirds episodes begin with a countdown of the Thunderbird spacecraft “Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Thunderbirds are go!” We have had to incorporate this counting into many routines with Luc - including counting him out of the bath.
When we were at the doctors a couple of weeks ago, Luc pointed at an occupation poster and said “OH, that is what I want to be!” I looked at the page of children dressed in occupational attire (firefighter, doctor, construction worker, teacher…) and saw his choice, an astronaut! Look out NASA!
I am SO supportive of the cardboard box school of toy design. The most inspiring toys the boys have are their blocks, random cardboard boxes, and the things I make for them out of cardboard and construction paper. These home-made toys disintegrate approximately the same time (sometimes a little before) their usefulness has worn out… but by then, another obsession is taking root.
We were members of a toy library in Brisbane. This was an excellent resource as we had access to a new toy on a monthly basis. We sought toys that were bulky or outdoors in nature and these were returned at the end of the month or when interest waned. Slides, pedal cars, houses, trucks…. were all things Luc was able to play with – without us having to purchase / store / dispose of. I haven’t discovered anything similar to this in Chicago.
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