Fly Little Birdie, Fly!

For the first time in months, Duncan is in his own room tonight. Well, I guess he is. That's where we put him to bed, at least. We cleaned all the junk out of there over the last few days, put the guest room stuff back in the guest room, and a miracle occurred, and both rooms look much better. Maybe it's the hardwood floors. Duncan did seem a little upset about being in his room at first. But then he started to play and wander around, and he told us, "Night night," which meant, "Get out." And now it's quiet. I won't be surprised if he wants some company in the middle of the night.




I just hope that he doesn't want any more midnight piggy back rides!

"I Love Technology...

But not as much as you, you see."



Kids are always the ones to embrace new technology. They're eager to learn all there is to know. And it's the older folks, the ones who thought that old TV with the bunny ears would last forever, who curl up in a ball at the thought of programming some new device.



And, oftentimes, it's the young people, the children, that end up teaching their parents how to use the new: computer, cell phone, gadget. But that's not what's going on here.



Justin is a nerd, and totally into learning all that new technology himself. Maybe when he's older and crotchety-er, he may need Duncan to help him figure things out. But for now, Justin is generally willing to share his ipod with Duncan, as long as he (Justin) is in control.



Because, you know, those electronic toys are pretty expensive.



And, you wouldn't just want anyone to get his little chocolaty fingers on them. Would you?

Ghost Stories

Toddlers are known for having irrational fears. I remember our niece being afraid of an alligator in her Daddy's truck. Evan started talking about monsters when he was two and a half. Not really out of fear, but seemingly out of the need to explain everything to us simpletons.

We'd ask, "Is Daddy a monster?"
"No, Daddy's not a monster!" he would say, exasperated.
Or, "Is your bear a monster?"
"That's not a monster. That's Bear Bear!"




I made these cute ghosts for Halloween 2007 after seeing some pictured in a parenting magazine. They didn't seem to make much of an impression that first year, but Duncan was only 18 months old. Last Halloween, however, Duncan noticed the ghosts, and every time he saw them he would do a quavery "Ghost! Woooooooo!" (And, somehow, Justin managed to get Duncan to start saying in the same quavery voice, "Toast! Mmmm!") Duncan found our little wispy friends fascinating, and he even gave one a kiss! I packed the ghosts away after Halloween, much to my son's dismay. And not much has been said about them since.





When Duncan visited his Grandma and Grandpa recently, Grandma led Duncan down to The Basement to get something out of the freezer. It just so happens that they have their artificial Christmas trees down there. They have to keep them covered most of the year to keep them clean. I'm guessing they have them covered in white plastic or some other material. And naturally, to the overactive imagination of a little boy, those trees had a certain familiar look. Duncan tugged on Grandma's hand and whispered, "Ghosts!" I'm not sure if Grandma showed him the trees or not.

And maybe this trip to Grandma's inspired the latest round of ghost talk. We've started having some little talks that remind us of Evan and his monsters.

"Is that a ghost, Duncan?"
"That's not a ghost." (Or sometimes, it is!) But my favorite so far was when looking at a reflection in the mirror, I asked Duncan if the boy in the mirror was a ghost. And he said, "That's not a ghost!" He pointed to himself, and said, "That's Duncan!"

A-Muse-Ing

It all began when I got Justin Guitar Hero III for Christmas 2007. He played the game and loved it. And I just didn't get it. Finally, after some coercion, I tried it out, and found out that, yes, it is fun! It was cool to play along with Ozzy on "Crazy Train," find out that ZZ Top has a song called "LaGrange" that can only be described as badass. After months of playing old, familiar tunes, I branched out. I saw some song called "Knights of Cydonia" by Muse. "Hmmm...that's a weird song title, " I thought to myself, "Never heard of Muse." I tried it, and thought the guitar part was challenging (I always played on the Easy setting, so nothing was ever really challenging!) But I thought the song was kind of cool. It reminded me of The Ventures, a guitar heavy band from the 1960's that makes me think of the beach (surf music) plus Queen. You know, one of the greatest (if not the greatest!) rock bands in history. I looked up Knights of Cydonia on youtube. And found a goofy video that was made for the MTV type channels, and lots and lots of live concert footage. I checked the concerts out, too. Awesome. And pretty soon I was listening to everything I could get my hands on by Muse. And Justin was hooked, too.





And pretty soon Duncan was pretending to rock with his own guitar while listening or just singing the bits that he could remember. Then Miranda came along. It's taken her a little while to become a fan, but now if we have Muse playing, she comes up to watch the video. Every. Time. And they're like lullabies. If either child is fussy, Muse is their, well, muse. Both Duncan and Miranda sing along to the songs that they remember. It's a little early for Miranda to ask for particular tunes by name, but Duncan is. Of course, he uses his own title for his favorites, like he calls Knights of Cydonia "Fiyiyi" (with a long i sound.) You can listen to the first 60 seconds to figure out why.




And oh yeah, we're seeing them (and a little band called U2) when they come to the US in the fall! Woohoo!

Knights Of Cydonia: Live At Wembley Stadium 2007

And the song that got it all started - Knights of Cydonia here in a live concert recording. You can listen to the first 60 seconds or so for Duncan' title - "Fiyiyi." (Incidentally, Miranda is peeking over my shoulder right now, singing along while we watch the vid!)

Invincible

Duncan calls this video of "Invincible" the "Robot video." Because there are robots, naturally. He's also all about the robots recently.

Muse Bliss

Duncan calls this one "Fall Down the Hole"! He's obsessed with falling down the hole lately, so this video is really exciting for him!