A few nights ago we had rice-and-bean enchiladas for dinner. TB and TG were being poky about eating, with rice flying everywhere. In a fit of desperation, after The Wife had already decamped for the computer, I was seized by the spirit of song (to the tune of “We Will Rock You,” by Queen):
Eat your enchiladas and your beans
I'm getting tired of these dinner scenes
You've got sauce on your face
A big disgrace
Spitting your rice all over the place
(chorus)
We will
We will feed you
Though neither TB nor TG had ever heard the original, they laughed long and well (thereby sending more rice flying), and now it's a running gag.
For full effect, you have to do the da-da-DUMP percussion on the table. Now, they won't let me get through dinner without at least one chorus.
On Saturday TW and I went out to see “Music and Lyrics,” which I highly recommend. Grandma and Grandpa came over to watch TB and TG.
TB and TG stationed themselves by the front door (we have a storm door with a full-length window, so they could see the street) so they could see G&G's car as it drove up. After some whining by TB and TG about how they hated to wait, I decided to share with them the benefit of my various protest marches over the years. We got a chant going:
Who do we want?
Grandma and Grandpa!
When do we want them?
Now!
Start 'em young, I say.
TB and TG each get three books read to them before bed each night. (TW and I switch kids each night.) TB has taken a shine to a picture book about alligators and crocodiles, which was actually a gift from another dean at my cc whose son used to like books about reptiles. There's a page on which a pair of crocodiles fight over a carcass. When we got to that page, I ad-libbed (in nasally voices)
“I get to eat the dead body!”
“No, I do!”
The Boy laughed (and hiccuped) for a solid ten minutes. I actually had to put the book down for a while. There are few sounds more gratifying than a five-year-old laughing and hiccuping.
(TB approaches TG in the living room)
TB: (TG), pull my finger.
DD: HA!
TW: Now look what you've done.
DD: (dissolves in helpless laughter)
TB: I farted. (smiles)
TB and TG laugh at 'farted.' I laugh at 'pull my finger.' TW reflects on the value of graduate education.
TB: Dad, was Sesame Street on when you were a kid?
DD: Yup.
TB (incredulous): Really?
TB: I'm never gonna get married.
TW: Why not?
TB: Because that way, nobody can say anything about my farts!
