Sunday Sound Quilt

Chas has been playing with words. He watches my mouth pronounce his favorite words, and he is eager to repeat adn repeat:Ball, mamamamamama, dee dee (which means “baby doll” to him), dog, hieeeee (hi), bye-eeeee (bye), bah-bah (basketball), and various barn animal sounds. His favorite monologue is the repetition of the word “hot.” He repeats, “Haaaa-Tuh, haaa-tuh, haa-tuh” for himself to hear. He enjoys the way it feels. It’s sweet to watch him circle about the house, signing and saying the same word in a happy, meandering trance. It’s a layer of music.

The other layers include the IndiePopRocks simulcast, set on low. I think Damon enjoys the living soundtrack. It’s mellowing.

And then there is Ford on electric guitar and Damon on Ford’s classical guitar. They sit beside one another, playing guitar-babble of their own. Of course, it sounds nothing like babble, but it’s the same little dance. They are feeling out for sounds they like. Ford has the advantage of not having to develop and fortify his ego right now; he is at a wonderful stage in his life where these things are already robust. So he sits there, exploring the sounds that he makes without the want to play like another, or sound like another. At this point, it is only sound. It’s like learning how to talk; he and Chas are very much on the same page, in that respect.

In Case I Forget to Mention It

With the return of daylight savings, preparing dinner is a delicate but manic dance around a demanding and danger-prone toddler and the fact that Ford leaves school at dusk, right about the time Chas turns into a werewolf. It’s a crazy juggling act trying to get dinner, or something that resembles dinner, on the table for everyone. It’s even harder trying to get the boys to eat it. But that’s another story. Tonight there’s one thing I want to remark on, because I know Ford is getting older. This cute little thing he’s done all year that has been so fun to watch will, most likely, eventually phase out:

I love the moment when the plates are all on the table, and everyone has a glass and a fork and a knife and a spoon and a napkin, and the burners are turned off and we finally begin to eat. It is at that moment, when we take our first bite or have our first sip of wine (after an obligatory “Cheers!”), that Ford always begins, in upright posture and a tilt to his head,

“So, how was your day, Mommy?”

See? Small talk never sounded so good.

Speed of Sound

Click on the photograph below and wait eternity for the movie to download, but it was my moment of zen today and I thought it was fun enough to share.

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