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larryhammerTBD is four years + eight months old.
Achievements unlocked this last month: actually, I noted nothing new -- but lots of practicing towards mastery, including, especially, drawing and coloring and writing, as well as verbal coherence. Not reading yet, but there's been some sounding out of short words. Holiday visits to grandparents and by a slightly older cousin contributed, no doubt, to all this (travels and visits always seem to provoke leveling up -- one especially noted this time: while TBD typically follows the lead of older children, they would respond “I don't want to do that” to dubious cousinly suggestions).
We’ve been treated to a plethora of invented super-villains. My favorite is Boring Grownup, who keeps talking about grownup stuff until you are SOOO tired. We've featured him in a few bedtime stories, as well as the Shoe Taker. Not as often though, either one, as Lex Luthor, the current go-to not-quite-competent antagonist. (Somewhere, a DC writer weeps...)
Media consumption: we are full-on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. (Hanukkah gifts included a Rainbow Dash stuffie, a coloring book, and a comic book.) Some episodes, especially season enders or openers, are scary enough TBD wants a parent sitting with for reassurance, but regular episodes, we’re All In.
… and while I’m sure other media was consumed, aside from a few eps of Transformers: Rescue Bots, I can’t think what. And don’t have much more to note.
(Though last update I did forget to mention that, now that sundown is earlier than bedtime, we're watching ISS evening transits again, whenever possible. Yes, there are apps for tracking it. Waving to the astronauts is looked forward to.)
I do however have a lot of good talking, talking:
“Guess what, aliens are real in space.”
(runs by chasing a friend while trailing a balloon)
“But how do we tie you up?”
“Rrr Hulk smash!”
(used several times as an announcement of “I’m frustrated!” — which is pretty good coping, especially when there’s no actual smashing)
“Let’s talk about stuff.”
(bedtime, comma, stalling for time at)
“I wish you would say, He smiled a wicked smile.”
(bedtime, comma, instructions for a story at)
Janni: “So this is a story about the time Lex Luthor decided to run for mayor.”
TBD: “No. He stole all the flowers from the city.”
“Why would he ... ?”
“He’s a super villain.”
“And taking away the joy in people’s lives?”
“Yes.”
(more bedtime)
TBD: “Where is God?”
Me: “Well, there’s different stories. Some people say God is everywhere.”
TBD: (nods) “If God made everything, he must be everywhere.”
(We’ve never talked directly about God, but he’s present in Hebrew prayers, and TBD alternates Hebrew School at Janni’s synagogue and First Day School at my Quaker Meeting — so the concept’s in the environment.)
“Good job, me.”
“If I’m naked, the toys can’t see me.”
(meaning, the toys won’t see the “giant” moving/playing with them) (Did TBD immediately strip and run through the house giggling? —yes, they did.)
(to Janni, nonsequitously)
“Can I tell you a story for you to write? It’s about an owl family and they lose all the babies, but then they find them. Then they all are lost and they find their way home. A helpful person puts them back in the nest. That kind of a story.”
(This was followed by an admission to the effect that she’d have to fill in the details to make it a full story, otherwise it’d be too short — a “baby story.”)
A few days later, they asked if Janni had written and illustrated the story yet. Janni is still thinking about it.
---L.
Subject quote from “The Vision of Sir Launfal,” James Russell Lowell.
Achievements unlocked this last month: actually, I noted nothing new -- but lots of practicing towards mastery, including, especially, drawing and coloring and writing, as well as verbal coherence. Not reading yet, but there's been some sounding out of short words. Holiday visits to grandparents and by a slightly older cousin contributed, no doubt, to all this (travels and visits always seem to provoke leveling up -- one especially noted this time: while TBD typically follows the lead of older children, they would respond “I don't want to do that” to dubious cousinly suggestions).
We’ve been treated to a plethora of invented super-villains. My favorite is Boring Grownup, who keeps talking about grownup stuff until you are SOOO tired. We've featured him in a few bedtime stories, as well as the Shoe Taker. Not as often though, either one, as Lex Luthor, the current go-to not-quite-competent antagonist. (Somewhere, a DC writer weeps...)
Media consumption: we are full-on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. (Hanukkah gifts included a Rainbow Dash stuffie, a coloring book, and a comic book.) Some episodes, especially season enders or openers, are scary enough TBD wants a parent sitting with for reassurance, but regular episodes, we’re All In.
… and while I’m sure other media was consumed, aside from a few eps of Transformers: Rescue Bots, I can’t think what. And don’t have much more to note.
(Though last update I did forget to mention that, now that sundown is earlier than bedtime, we're watching ISS evening transits again, whenever possible. Yes, there are apps for tracking it. Waving to the astronauts is looked forward to.)
I do however have a lot of good talking, talking:
“Guess what, aliens are real in space.”
(runs by chasing a friend while trailing a balloon)
“But how do we tie you up?”
“Rrr Hulk smash!”
(used several times as an announcement of “I’m frustrated!” — which is pretty good coping, especially when there’s no actual smashing)
“Let’s talk about stuff.”
(bedtime, comma, stalling for time at)
“I wish you would say, He smiled a wicked smile.”
(bedtime, comma, instructions for a story at)
Janni: “So this is a story about the time Lex Luthor decided to run for mayor.”
TBD: “No. He stole all the flowers from the city.”
“Why would he ... ?”
“He’s a super villain.”
“And taking away the joy in people’s lives?”
“Yes.”
(more bedtime)
TBD: “Where is God?”
Me: “Well, there’s different stories. Some people say God is everywhere.”
TBD: (nods) “If God made everything, he must be everywhere.”
(We’ve never talked directly about God, but he’s present in Hebrew prayers, and TBD alternates Hebrew School at Janni’s synagogue and First Day School at my Quaker Meeting — so the concept’s in the environment.)
“Good job, me.”
“If I’m naked, the toys can’t see me.”
(meaning, the toys won’t see the “giant” moving/playing with them) (Did TBD immediately strip and run through the house giggling? —yes, they did.)
(to Janni, nonsequitously)
“Can I tell you a story for you to write? It’s about an owl family and they lose all the babies, but then they find them. Then they all are lost and they find their way home. A helpful person puts them back in the nest. That kind of a story.”
(This was followed by an admission to the effect that she’d have to fill in the details to make it a full story, otherwise it’d be too short — a “baby story.”)
A few days later, they asked if Janni had written and illustrated the story yet. Janni is still thinking about it.
---L.
Subject quote from “The Vision of Sir Launfal,” James Russell Lowell.
no subject
Date: 3 January 2018 03:45 pm (UTC)There seem to be an awful lot of them about!
no subject
Date: 3 January 2018 03:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 January 2018 04:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 January 2018 06:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 January 2018 04:08 pm (UTC)These are wonderful, especially the owl story, which has a beginning, a middle, a twist, and an end.
no subject
Date: 3 January 2018 06:20 pm (UTC)TBD is getting remarkably sophisticated with their story construction. We often, at bedtime, get given not just the initial situation/prompt, but what happens next and then what goes wrong/the twist (usually as we reach those points). It’s making me think hard about how plots works and how plotting works. And what fresh villainy can I come up with tomorrow night.
no subject
Date: 3 January 2018 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 3 January 2018 06:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 January 2018 05:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 4 January 2018 03:32 pm (UTC)