Mummy Sainte-Marie

Check out this great blog post by my friend, Alex Mlynek, for Today's Parent, about how they should start showing breastfeeding mothers on Sesame Street again. After watching the clip Alex posted of Buffy Sainte-Marie nursing her son, Cody, I found this other sweet video of Buffy singing to him on the show. What a couple of cuties!

Awesome Blossom

Hats off (pun intended) to Mayim Bialik for a pretty great article about parenting that you can read here.

Mads & Dads

I just came across a bunch of pictures from earlier this year, of Maddie wearing one of her dad's baby sweaters. I had intended to use them for a father's day post, so Eric, Happy Father's Day (oops)!

Eric in the sweater, with his dad, circa 1986:

Maddie in the sweater, with some chalk, circa April of this year:

(She even wrote her first word that day, "Tim", which I'm pretty sure is an FNL reference.)

Weg the Dog

I nearly forgot about how much I love William Wegman. Shame on me.

FOR.EV.ER

It's almost summer weather here. Trying to brush up on my storytelling skills for those nights around the campfire. But it might be hard to top Squints Palledorous.

I just realized that the kid who played Squints, Chauncey Leopardi, also played Alan the bully from Freaks and Geeks. That guy never would have ended up with Wendy Peffercorn.

Best in Shows

Maddie is starting to actually sit for a reasonably long time to watch TV. At this point she'll watch pretty much any kids' show that happens to be on, but when we she does ask for something I can't help feeling happy that it is usually "Lalo" (Charlie and Lola) or "Peepee" (Pee Wee's Playhouse). Here are the following reasons why I prefer these shows to others:

1. They have characters that sound and act like real kids. PWP has the Penny Cartoons, which are claymation representations of the kind of rambling and incoherent stories kids tell, and C & L features voice work by actual children, talking the way actual children talk (with extra points for the British accents, reminiscent of another Charlie).

2. They have interesting art. Lauren Child is the author and illustrator behind C & L, and I like how messy her drawings look, not unlike the work of frequent Roald Dahl illustrator, Quentin Blake. The PWP sets were designed by punk artist Gary Panter (who is said to have had a big influence on Matt Groening), and animation by Nick Park of Wallace & Gromit.

3. They teach lessons, without being preachy. Both shows will teach that being nice is good, and being mean is bad, but they usually tell stories that promote using your imagination instead of just shoving a moral down your throat.

4. They are actually funny. Say what you will about Paul Reubens the actor, but Pee Wee Herman the character is hilarious. And even after watching the "Lalo" DVD we got from the library on repeat for a week, it's still pretty darn cute.

Uncle Brad Reading Hitchcock, 1972

We just installed a carbon monoxide detector in our house-- something I asked my mom to do because everyone in the house has been having crazy dreams lately. Ever since I heard a Halloween episode of This American Life about a family that thinks their house is haunted (but they are actually experiencing the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning) I've been convinced there is a gas leak every time I hear a creak.

I know it's still nine months until Halloween, but I've been thinking a lot lately about being scared and how I used to love it. I read so many R.L. Stine books, and watched shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark. It seems so weird to me, because I actually hate being scared now. I can't watch horror movies, I get freaked out seeing people dressed up for those zombie walks, and I still refuse to look into a mirror with the lights out. But I feel weirdly nostalgic about being scared as a kid. I guess when you're little it's fun to be scared by ghosts, and now that I'm a grown-up I don't enjoy it. Maybe there are too many other things to be worried about, like carbon monoxide. (Seriously guys, that's how Weird Al's parents died!)
Madeline pushed a button on the detector the other day, causing it to make a painfully loud noise. She burst into tears and I had to cuddle her for a good minute or so before she calmed down. The poor girl was freaked out by the very thing that makes me feel safe.


Anyway, this whole spiel was inspired by this photo I came across of my Uncle Brad reading a Hitchcock book. I love the flood pants, the glasses, the posture. He's wearing a suit, so I bet it's a sunday. Just reading some scary stories after church. It's one of my favourite kid pictures of all time.
Also, does anyone remember this creepy Disney movie, The Watcher in the Woods? "Narek"!

Little Britain

The Hucklebones spring/summer 2011 collection does little to disprove my theory that British children are all insanely adorable. I can just imagine each of these girls sounding like Lola from Charlie and Lola.