a bold new era of perpetual motion

This morning Gaz started the day asking questions like, "Mommy, what 'contraption' mean?" The rest of the morning followed that pattern. "What 'freezing rain' mean? What 'disaster area' mean?" Good times. Mark has been eagerly awaiting the twenty-questions phase. It looks like it's pretty much here.

There's also the little matter of magnets. After buying and making a bunch to keep her entertained and ensure that her art does not fall down from the filing cabinet, I found all our old magnets in a box in my closet. Now she has twice as many number magnets, and is having a great time yelling out random numbers and trying to assemble them out of magnets. Today she declared that 85 was 18, so I showed her how to put the one and the eight together and she promptly replaced the one with the five. But we're moving in a numbers direction, so that's good.

We have a little cheapo toy keyboard around the house these days, and Gaz dragged me into the living room to "hear my music! Come hear my lovely music!" Sometimes what she does to the keyboard actually doesn't sound half bad considering that it's still mostly the random mashing of keys. She also does this very careful, deliberate thing sometimes wherein she will play the keys sequentially from low to high on the "saxophone" sound setting. It's really cute, if she makes a mistake (like hitting two keys at the same time) she'll start over. So maybe she's getting the notion that one key at a time is a good thing, and that if you make a mistake you can start over. I know she's heard enough of me trying to remember "Chopsticks" and "To a Wild Rose." Mark, of course, has already figured out the Wallace & Gromit theme. He has some mad piano skills.

While coloring on the chalkboard this afternoon, I wrote "Gaz rocks!" in a blank space, which inspired the following conversation:
Me: (reading off the board) "Gaz rocks!"
Gaz: No, you rock. That same thing.
Me: Well, you rock too.
Gaz: No, you rock same time.
It would seem that we rock simultaneously.

We had dancing time while waiting for Mark to get home from work and Gaz ran circles around me, saying, "I can't stop for my life!" She actually could, of course, but it was a funny thing to hear her say. I'm not sure where she learned that.

Today was also diaper experiment day--she's slimmed down enough with the constant growing taller that she's back in size 5 diapers. Diaper Fairy, make a note of it! It's nice to not have to try to make the giant diapers stay on for a change. I have no idea how long this will last, but at least diapers don't go bad.

It's been a hilarious, intense, wild day. Soon to be followed by much more of the same, I'm sure. Maybe tomorrow she'll slow down enough to nap.

identity and blues

One of Gaz's very favorite things to do right now is yell her name over and over and over. I mean, it's a pretty cool accomplishment to master a three-syllable name, but after a while you start wondering how long it will take for one word to get old to her. It turns out that yelling out a single word over and over and over again never gets old. Or at least it probably won't for another few years. Some days it's a bit grating to the nerves, but I try to keep it in perspective. She isn't, after all, rubbing tofu into the carpet repeatedly (and anyone who suggests that to her will be savagely beaten).

Yesterday we went down to the Blues Fest, and while she was totally into the music and having that whole field thing to run around in, she's really bad at staying out of people's ways (she almost walked right into a number of people and bicycles, even though she was looking right at them) and also not so good at coping with the crowds-and-heat combo of the day. She did get her groove on quite a bit though, and today she said she had a good time, so I think it was a successful trip. It'll definitely take some working up to taking her to something like the Warped Tour.

We are all exhausted but satisfied with the visiting that we accomplished this weekend. Auntie Llydie (aka Auntie Heather) and Auntie Maude (aka Auntie Amanda) got to spend some quality time with Gaz, and we also got in some good social time with Auntie Sarah and Uncle Dave. But now it's time to take a day off or so and rest up for our impending Evansville trip.

Gaz's "Guitar"

Gaz's Guitar
Originally uploaded by georgiegrrrrl

It was a shopping trip gone awry.

Angeli and I had a master plan to hit a couple of music stores to price some instruments, because we're both hoping to take music classes in the fall at the Old Town School of Folk Music, the very establishment wherein Gaz attends Wiggleworms. Today we stopped in at Different Strummer, which is the music store that's actually in the OTS.

Gaz made a beeline for a basket of shakers just like the one she fixates on at Wiggleworms. I've had my eye on some wee drums there that I thought Gaz might enjoy, and lo and behold, there was a tiny djembe-looking thing that was not only inexpensive, it was also on sale! I cheerfully showed it to Gaz, who was much more interested in pawing the mandolins Auntie Angeli was looking at. Or the really expensive ukulele right next to the mandolin Auntie Angeli was looking at. There were althogether too many stringed instruments just laying about at Gaz-height. Insert a volley of distraction tactics.

One thing led to another and before you know it, she had a small yellow ukulele that she was running around cheerfully abusing. It was, I think, a kids' uke; at least is was the cheapest one they had. Eventually she swapped it out for a green one, but it seemed unlikely that we would be able to leave without the uke. We found an inexpensive instructional book and figured that at least one of the big people, if not both, would just have to learn how to play the ukulele.

But of course, Gaz isn't into sharing so much, so we'll have to learn while she's asleep. Anyway, that's the tale of our new ukulele. I'm off to go learn me some chords.

Wiggleworms for Everyone!

I feel it is my moral duty to inform those far and wide who might ever need to entertain a child about the Old Town School of Folk Music's Wiggleworms CD. There are one or two songs on there I haven't heard (or don't remember I've heard) but I'm sure they're just as lovely as the old favorites from our class.

If you've got to listen to these songs, you should listen to these versions. I've been getting weekly doses for about 12 weeks, and I still like them. And the Old Town School is a fine organization to support, so give 'em a listen and throw some cash their way. You'll be glad you did. :)

One day I'm going to blog my very favorite kids music records, but I have to track down some Ralph's World first!