More fun.

The daughter is back from staying by herself with the grandparents ("by herself" meaning no parents). Overheard from the other room: "No, I don't think we can wear swim flippers to bed..."

Catch-up

Since I discovered FaceBook, I've been using it as a much more convenient posting of random fast observations and recollections. It has been pointed out that I'm neglecting some of Gaz's best bits here, and there's a segment of the audience that doesn't use FB. Therefore, let me go through and see what I can mine.

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Hoarse from all the high-pitched shrieking on both sides that is an intrinsic part of Daddy-Daughter Tickle-Time. But it's good cardio.

April 4 at 7:33pm

• Josh Dearing All is fair is a tickle war. April 4 at 11:30pm ·
• Mark Mitchell Including a 40-year-old man cackling like an overcaffinated Wicked Witch of the West. April 4 at 11:40pm ·

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Me: Wait, did you just say, "I'm a child of Death?"
Daughter: No, I said I'm the child of Death.
Me: How is that better? Why do you say that?
Daughter: Because... I... spread death? I spread Death!
Me: How do you spread death?
Daughter: I put it in a simple little bag. And then I give it to people.
Me: I gotta say, I haven't seen you do any of that.May 1 at 8:33pm

• Mark Mitchell Me: Are you doing this just to get me to post it on Facebook? Daughter: YES! I just want a Facebook page all my own! May 1 at 8:34pm

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Wife: (upon Daughter's discussion of something objectionable) Let's not talk about that at the dinner table.
Daughter: Okay, I'll go talk about it in the other room. (leaves the table, goes into the other room, speaking is heard indistinctly, returns) Okay, I'm done talking about it!

May 18 at 6:07pm

• Cristina George Rizen The something objectionable was omitted from this post because we already have all the future embarrassment material we need. More would just be tacky. May 18 at 7:36pm

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Daughter wants me to read her the Tickle Monster book that comes with these Tickle Monster gloves. I keep saying "You're not going to tickle me" as she wiggles her fingers in the gloves.
Daughter: Come on, I have to! My fingers are hungry for tickling!May 19 at 8:31pm

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Just finished reading the Daughter an hour of collection 1 of "Thor: The Mighty Avenger." It's an all-ages book, got a bit of (non-graphic) violence, some suggestions of complex themes, but nothing up front, and quite a bit of action of the "smack it with a hammer" variety. And the art is gorgeous, the faces expressive, the framing and action just wonderful. So, yeah, a good hour well-spent, there.

May 21 at 10:13pm

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That's my girl! Thanks, Greg!

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g60/golem21/agathablockingbullets.gif

May 22 at 11:42pm

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She's a little less controlled on her sword-work, but we have time to fix that.

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g60/golem21/agathaswordfighting.gif

May 22 at 11:53pm

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Daughter was reading parts of her homework aloud, and doing it in weird voices from word to word.
Wife: "It's like living in a Monty Python sketch."

May 25 at 6:55pm

• Jesika Sanders Ellis I suspect she comes by this naturally ... May 25 at 6:57pm
• Mark Mitchell Ahem. I have no idea of what you speak, madame... May 25 at 6:57pm
• Tim McQuaide What.... Was she saying: "Ni, Ni, Ni"?! ;^)
• Mark Mitchell No, more " soft LOUD" over and over, then she shifted to " EVERYBODY only me" over and over, and continue for pretty much anything that passes through her consciousness. That reminds me, she may be up for some Monty Python soon, but they sometimes get weird-gory, so I'm not sure about that. May 25 at 7:01pm

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Gaz has been changing up lyrics lately. She sang "Bat Hat!" recently ("na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na, BAT HAT! BAT HAT, BAT HAT, BAT HAT!) and now she's singing "Pink Fluffy Death-a-Corns Dancing on Rainbows." She's pretty nuts; glad we kept her!June 7 at 7:29pm

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I hate to always make these posts about Gaz, but honestly, she's the most significant thing that happens to me on a daily basis. Today we did our shopping while she was dressed as Batgirl, with the mask and everything. And she insisted on hitting the comic shop to show off.
June 12 at 11:05pm
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So it's been a long and cranky day for the girls, and very tiring for me, too. But on the way home from an "emergency" dinner out, Gaz and I get to talking about Doctor Who again. She wants to be a Companion, both on the show and in real life. And she wants the Doctor as her dad. On the show only, she reassures me with a squeeze of my hand.

June 15 at 9:47pm

• Mark Mitchell After that, the plans get a little impractical. June 15 at 9:47pm

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(after a trip)
Made it in, and Gaz's front tooth is so loose it hangs out of her lips, looking like a cartoon baby mouth. I arrived and she immediately started trying to bite me. Tonight, after some reading (Marvel Women graphic collection; they also picked up a Wonder Girl collection), I asked her how her day was, she said:
Daughter: "Crunchy."
Me: "Crunchy? Is that all?"
Daughter: "And meaty."
It's all about the tooth.June 25 at 2:04am

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Also, this exchange at bedtime:
Daughter: "I'm going to sleep, but you may see me sleeping with my eyes open."
Me: "... I think that means you're just going to be faking being asleep."
Daugher: "Huh? What was that? You woke me up!"
June 25 at 2:04am

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Spent much of the evening helping Gaz create a character, then for tonight's reading, it was the introductory sections of the "Star Wars Role-playing Game - Revised and Expanded Edition." West End Games version, of course. She said "It's really interesting, and it's also boring, which makes it perfect!"June 28 at 9:15pm

• Mark Mitchell Her character is Starfire Strawberry, who is as tall as Mom and has pink hair with blue streaks. She's got good Dexterity, superb Knowledge, Strength, and Technical, and she excels at Blaster and First Aid. We figured her archetype is "Young Action Scholar." Overall, I figure she's going to be a kick to see Gaz play. June 28 at 9:17pm

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Going to be an early night for me, but I had to report that Gaz was talking about accidentally washing herself with "death" today (she says she thought it was her soap, but it was a bar of death) and then she is a Dalek out to give me death. She's even got the rising-strident-voice of the Dalek delivery down.June 29 at 8:08pm

• Mark Mitchell It's scary how much she's adapting the things we show her to her own craziness. And she's still all pink and girly. Weird. June 29 at 8:09pm
• Char Iversen I would not want to meet your daughter in a dark alley way... June 29 at 8:14pm
• Dillon Moorehead Davros is not pleased with the soap June 29 at 8:56pm

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Today, going to pick up dinner, Gaz and I chatted Star Wars, specifically Starfire Strawberry's background. I asked about her parents, and she said her planet had been blown up! So naturally, I assumed she was from Alderaan. This makes it easier for her a) to join the Rebels, and b) to have either Mom or Auntie Aaiiee play one of her dead parents' family friends, who look out for her. Good drama, little girl!

July 1 at 7:56pm

• Mark Mitchell There was also a thing about going to the Imperial Academy, but realizing it was evil during her first class and walking out, arriving back at her home planet in time to see it all rubble-ified. We worked that part out together. July 1 at 7:57pm
• Mark Mitchell She also wanted to be friends with Princess Leia. I said probably not before the explosion, but I understand she makes a concerted effort to meet survivors, afterward. So, yes, Star Wars princess-meeting can be achieved, dear. July 1 at 7:59pm

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Not to detract from my previous post about the wonders of AC, but the girls are now home, and Gaz is watching The Avengers cartoon (I should say re-watching) in her costume of paper-plate mask and former-Halloween-costume axe. She's an axe-wielding superhero. It's too bad that Axe Cop is already taken!

July 24 at 5:52pm

• Mark Mitchell Kang the Conquerer: Greetings, Avengers. I have come from your future to deliver a message to Captain America. July 24 at 5:56pm
• Mark Mitchell Gaz: That message is "die!" July 24 at 5:56pm

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Things I found out during Gaz's bath. 1) we die suddenly and for no reason. 2) evil babies eat us. 3) we repeatedly turn into many things, such as tables, scrubby toys, automobiles, and lamps. 4) evil babies continue to come eat us. 5) Gaz likes singing about evil babies.

July 24 at 8:17pm

• Mark Mitchell Also, a) at some point, we become spirits and/or souls, depending. And that's when the dinosaurs come eat us. Also b) dinosaurs eat souls, apparently. July 24 at 8:18pm

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(while watching animated Thor put the smack-down on some Frost Giants with lightning)
Daughter: Wow, those guys are really dead!
Me: Actually, they could just be shocked unconscious. Frost giants are pretty tough, you know.
Daughter: (singing a sprightly tune)
They are so deaaaad
Hooray they are deaaaad
We'resohappyyou're deaaaad

Dead-dead-dead-dead-dead deaaaad

July 26 at 7:33pm

• Mark Mitchell As I was writing this, I asked for a reprise so I could get the rythym, and she added "then the evil babies will cooome/and eat all of the deaaaaad..." July 26 at 7:34pm
• Greg Collins Yep. They're dead. D-E-A-D, dead. Thor doesn't mess around when it comes to Frost Giants. : ) July 26 at 7:39pm
• Mark Mitchell Yeah, but it's a kids cartoon! WE know Thor don't hold back, but the kiddies don't get to look at murder too much... July 26 at 7:41pm
• Greg Collins Hmm. Good point - hadn't thought of it that way. Guess it could fall under the Coyote/Roadrunner syndrome... What would Thor do if he ran out of Frost Giants, anyway? July 26 at 7:42pm
• Mark Mitchell If no frost giants existed, Thor would have to invent them. July 26 at 7:44pm
  

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Gaz Types: frst you die, then the evl babes et yoou. then the evil cows et yor skeluten. then the evil babes tac out yor har. then yor har ets yor bran.

July 27 at 6:08pm

• Mark Mitchell Mark again. She said this is how I'm going to die. You heard it here first, folks: my hair will eat my brain. July 27 at 6:09pm

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Thing I Actually Found Myself Saying To A Six-Year-Old Tonight: "No, he's not a zombie. Well, he is dead, and he's reanimated, so I suppose he's kind of like a zombie. A science fiction zombie. Look, Kai's just this walking dead guy, and he never lets you forget it..."

July 28 at 9:44pm

• Mark Mitchell And it all started because there are times when I can't stop myself from humming or singing this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYoq6sovr8Y

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Gaz and I are about to go on the birthday-party-day shopping trip, but she's too busy talking to Auntie Aaiiee (Angeli) about the evil babies, once again. Girl invents a cosmology, she sticks to it. Surprising for a 6-year-old.

July 30 at 9:37am

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So, we were reading about animals in National Geographic Kids, and she tells me about these bees that landed on her arms, but didn't sting her. This sounded awesome, but then she commented she could see their mouthparts moving saying "hi." Then she spoke of these three foxes she spoke to and hugged and spoke to before they ran off, showing imagination in full force. "I swear, I must be some sort of Nature God," she says in wonderment. "Except alive, of course."

August 6 at 9:27pm

• Mark Mitchell I just gotta love the basic assumptions of the universe she shows. Like all gods must be dead, or something. It's awesome. August 6 at 9:29pm
• Keith Gapinski You ought to start a religion. I'd join. =) August 6 at 9:37pm
• Dan Shike I knew your child would be awesome in such a fashion. August 6 at 10:38pm
• Mark Mitchell As it turns out, Gods are invisible and influence things secretly, like the spirits of the ancestors (which she's familiar with because of G's Mexican heritage), so logically, Gods must also be dead, just like the ancestors. Makes sense, don't it? August 6 at 10:43pm

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So, we agreed that if she wanted to, Gaz could start watching The Fellowship Of the Rings. And she did! She managed her way through the first disc of the Extended Version (longer, yes, but better, and it comes with that convenient half-way break). We had a number of pauses to remind her of names, relationships, goals, and prepare her for spooky bits. But she got a grin and a shiver from "If you want him, come and claim him!" like I hoped she would.

August 14 at 11:08pm

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Second half of Fellowship went down easy this evening. She reacted to a few jump-scares (which she correctly identifies, now), and didn't really have issues with the fight scenes. It kept her attention generally pretty well, but as soon as they started talking about destiny or "no one chooses to live in the times they do" then she starts babbling or looking around or whatever. It'll come, it'll come.

August 15 at 10:18pm

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Since then, we've seen The Two Towers, and this afternoon, while G sleeps off some of her icky feeling, we're looking at the Return of the King. Well, I am. There's a lot of talky stuff, so Gaz is fidgeting with a Mr. Bump cooler that's been left out. She'll get more familiar with this stuff later, I'm sure.

Hope that catches everyone up!