No gods, no kings, no billionaires
Over the last year, Alex and I have been practicing a bunch of acrobatic moves. With me lying on my back, he has been standing on my hands. I’ve been throwing him up in the air and catching him. And just this last week, we managed to nail his first somersaults. The picture below links to a (20MB) video clip of him doing backwards somersaults in our garden. I’m still giving him the initial boost, but just wait another year or two…
As I arrived home one evening this week…
Alex: (Running grinning down the stairs with a piece of plastic tube in his hands.) Dad! Dad! This is my boomstick!
Me: Your boomstick?
Alex: (Brandishing the plastic tube proudly) Yeah!
Me: Your boomstick. Um…..
Abi: (Calling through from the living room) It’s his broomstick. He’s Harry Potter.
Me: Ohhhkay.
(For the uninitiated, here is the full quote from Army Of Darkness: “Now listen up, you primitive screwheads. See this? This… is my boomstick! The 12-gauge double-barreled Remington. S-Mart’s top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That’s right, this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Retails for about $109.95. It’s got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger. That’s right. Shop smart. Shop S-Mart. You got that?”)
Some of Fiona’s favourite phrases right now:
Abi has just launched the web site for the commercial side of her bookbinding activities: Evilrooster.com. Abi will also continue to run the Bookweb, where she presents instructional articles on the craft of bookbinding.
The stuff she has for sale (and is displaying at the Worldcon art show) is amazing. My wife totally rocks.
Despite only having a dozen or so words in her vocabulary, Fiona is already using them to get into arguments with her brother. Take, for example, this gem from the other night, just after I’d put them both to bed:
[Fiona] “Dada!”
[Alex] “I’m not Dada, I’m Alex.”
[Fiona] “Dada!”
[Alex] “I’m not Dada, I’m Alex.”
[Fiona] “Dada!”
[Alex] “No, I’m not Dada, I’m Alex! Listen to what I’m telling you!”
[Fiona] “Mama!”
[Alex] “No! I’m not Mama! I’m Alex!”
[Fiona] “Alex!”
[Alex] “Yes.”
[Fiona] “Nooooooo…”
[Alex] “Yes I am!”
[Fiona] “Nooooooo!”
[Alex] “Yes! I am! I’m Alex! I’m Sandy!”
[Fiona] “Alex.”
[Alex] (Pause)
[Fiona] “Dada.”
[Alex] “Dada’s downstairs.”
[Fiona] “Dada!”
[Alex] “Dada’s downstairs!”
[Fiona] “Mama!”
[Alex] “No, mama’s downstairs too!”
[Fiona] “Mama!”
And so on…
Fiona has been cruising for months now, and walking hand-in-hand with us for a few weeks. While we were in France, we were tricking her into walking the odd step on her own. But today she finally decided that she was going to do the walking! (Click the picture for a 2MB video clip.)
Yay Chuffy!