This has become a regular occurance now not only in the morning during breakfast but just about anytime Monkey is in the kitchen. He’ll request, “SONGS!” And this was really cute, so of course, we obliged.

Then it became, “MY SONGS!” He would no longer tolerate DH playing some BT or me playing some Leonard Bernstein. It had to be HIS songs, various children’s music I have downloaded or purchased. Finicky little bugger.

It’s not so bad. I could shoot myself for one of the albums I bought where the children who are singing the songs are so shrill you just want to strangle something. But others aren’t so bad, and I have a strong recommendation for Snack Time, by the Barenaked Ladies or Here Come the 123s (The Disney Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), by They Might Be Giants, should you be in the market for pleasant, non-suicidal children’s music.  My favorite song is Raisins from the Barenaked Ladies.  Give it a listen.  Very catchy tune with just enough wit to amuse a parent and nonsense to amuse kids.

It was really cute even though he didn’t mean for it to be.

He was playing with his pretend kitchen set.  Cooking up some rocks — real rocks people, not crack.  I was sitting behind him a few feet away just watching as he imitated what he thought “cooking” involved.  Suddenly, he wips around and looks at me with slightly squinted eyes and slightly pursed lips, “No touch.  HOT!”  And then continued fake cooking.  I couldn’t help but giggle a little.  So cute.

Then later this evening, we were wrapping up eating his REAL dinner.  He had climbed down from his chair and still had a banana in his hand.  Slowly he backed into our dining room where there is carpet — where he’s not supposed to have food — all the while looking at me.  As he stepped, he said something which took me a while to decipher.  At first, it sounded like, “ook a ee, I touch butt.”  Then I realized, he was QUOTING a line from Finding Nemo!  The part where the little fish named Sheldon says, “Ooo, look at me!  I’m going to touch the butt!”

Not only was his memory good enough to remember the line, but the motion associated with it.  Moving backward toward something he wasn’t supposed to touch!  The inflection in his voice was almost perfect, too!  AMAZING!

Now I know I’ve proclaimed my love for all that is Pixar before, but I absolutely LOVE, I mean LOVE WALL-E!  It’s NOT a kid’s movie by any means and I know of a lot of people who judged it critically based on that criteria.  But if you watch it as you would watch any other film, I think you’d realize how incredibly insightful, beautiful and heartfelt the movie really is.  The first, I’d say, 45 minutes of the movie doesn’t have much dialog which was another downside for some but the interactions and robot movements were sublime in how they expressed feeling and thought.

The graphics are, of course, flawless and magnificent.  The soundtrack also plays a major role in this one.  The “divine dancing” track has become a favorite at work when I need to block out sound and listen to something soothing but inspiring (yes, I downloaded the entire soundtrack).

The the humor is interwoven well as well as eco-friendly message the creators obviously wanted to convey.  The message does make you think and provides further depth for the plot (can artificial intelligence save humans?) — it all came together perfectly.

Plus, the fact that they can make a robot endearing and make us question whether non-living objects can have a SOUL, something that permeates the being and outlasts its parts, is amazing.

Needless to say, if you haven’t seen the movie, see it (preferably sans enfants).

P.S. What happened to Robert Downey, Jr?  Man, he’s HOT! Whew!  Mommy enjoyed all that was Iron Man as well!

However, as we’ve gone through all of the pages now, I’ve noticed some things that aren’t really kosher by today’s standards.  The book was originally published in 1964 and re-copyrighted in 1992 according to the inside of the book.  Here are some examples which I think if published today, might not make it to the printing press:

The first one — the mother bear spanking the baby bears — is a little disturbing. I understand that in the 60s, corporal punishment was acceptable by many, maybe most people. Today this is not usually recommended to parents as hitting teaches children that violence is a means of getting what you want.	Little disturbing ...
The second one, is deprecated nomenclature, now considered very politically incorrect unless spoken by a comedian trying to make a joke (Todd Glass or Lisa Lampanelli have both made jokes about this distinction)	Hmm ... is this politically correct?
This one uses the stereotypical “Indian” depiction again but I included it because Monkey thinks he’s a bunny rabbit and each time we get to this page, he makes the sign for rabbit!	Monkey thought he was a rabbit
I included this one just because I think it’s funny. One, because for some reason the word “nut” cracks me up. I’m immature like that. Plus, the annoyed look on the monkey’s face is pretty hilarious.  I guess I’m a sucker for slapstick, even in print.	This one is just funny.

Sarah Palin Baby Name Maker (btw, mine was Falter Locust Palin)

Time for Some Campaigning (from the folks who brought you This Land in 2004)

Barack: He Completes Us (from the Daily Show — great video, sums up the extreme ideas about the man from both ends and is, of course, hilarious.)

Have fun!