Chalk and Cheese Chronicles

Center of Attention

The young comedian stepped up to the podium and grabbed hold of the mic. The stage lights were shining brightly into his face, blocking out the audience, but he could feel them there. It was a full house. "Knock 'em dead, " I wanted to shout, but I knew that would be distracting to him. "What? What did you say, Mommy? Who's dead?" he'd ask, stepping off the stage.

"Say hello, say your name!" I suggested instead.

"Hello, HELLO! My name is Cheese Boy and I'm here on stage..." he announced, his voice echoing.

But the audience booed! Yes, they booed at a 3-year-old during his first moments on stage! What an unforgiving audience! Hmf!

But Cheese Boy kept smiling, though he looked up at me for reassurance.

"Say your joke, " I encouraged.

"Knock, knock...who's there?" he began, then changed his mind, "Why did the underwear cross the road?"

The audience burst into laughter, even before the punchline was said.

"They loved it!" I yelled from the sidelines.

Cheese Boy laughed nervously.

"Underwear!" he repeated, for emphasis.

"Boooooo! Booooooo!" the audience retorted.

"Oh, they didn't like that one this time, " I cautioned.

"Why not?" replied Cheese Boy, still smiling but looking a bit unsure.

"Why did the underwear cross the road?" asked Cheese Boy, boldly trying out the same joke.

The audience roared, again before the punchline was delivered.

"Because the carrot was waiting!" continued Cheese Boy as the audience clapped and whistled in approval.

Cheese Boy went on to try out a few more fragmented jokes that only a preschool boy might find amusing. His jokes were hit and miss. Sometimes the audience ate it up, sometimes they booed and hissed. What an emotional roller coaster for my little stand up comic, but that's exactly what the experience of the MIND exhibit ("Center of Attention") was supposed to be, a simulated experience in front of a "live" audience. 

"Come on, " I said, stepping out of the limelight within the photo sized booth, its tiny walls covered in black fabric, "Let's go find the shadow box!" And with that, we skipped off through the Exploratorium, in search of strobe lights.

Original Chalk and Cheese Chronicles blog post.

A Boy With Taiko Dreams

Ei Ya Sa Ta Ya Sa!

Ei Ya Sa Ta Ya Sa!

Ei...Ya...Sa! Don! Don! Don! Don! Don! Don!

Omiyage, how can we forget you? You are our taiko souvenir. For months and months, we'd run around shouting out this phrase like maniacs. Sometimes we'd have our bachis (drum sticks) in hand which Grandpa made for us from dowels he found at Home Depot. Sometimes, we were forced to air drum, like we did that time at the Farmer's Market when we were bored. My brother even air drummed while doing the taiko stance, which is the way you stand when you bang a taiko drum, with one leg straight and the other one bent. People probably looked at him funny, but he didn't care. Sometimes we would beg our mom to pop in our taiko DVD and try to copy everything we saw. My brother would say, "Today, I'm Maz" but I usually tried to be Michelle even though I'm a boy.

It's not always easy trying to be a taiko drummer when you're only three years old. Toy stores just don't sell taiko drums. We've smashed through all of our toy drums. But we were lucky to inherit our Uncle Russ's old taiko drum which he told our mom he'd made out of a wooden salad bowl. We think it's super neat, but wish we had larger drums like the ones we see the real taiko drummers play. So sometimes we have to improvise, dumping over our two big, round bins of toys just so we can use the bin. This drives our mother crazy, as she doesn't like to see the room a mess. We steal our little Ikea table chairs, turning them upside down so they can be drum stands. Did you know that Grandma's wooden plant stands make excellent taiko drum stands when turned upside down? They do!

Grandpa's Garden

My Dad is always out in his backyard. Doing exactly what, my Mom and I are not sure. But he's always doing something. He never has fewer than a half-dozen projects going at one time, digging this, pruning that but in between, he takes the time to show his two grandsons the joys of his backyard.

My boys get to dig up carrots, pluck beans from vines, plant sunflower seeds and sample some of the best organic fruit around. From a tiny harvest of blueberries (all 30 of 'em) to the prolific offerings of the plum tree, fruit is always bountiful, always organic. My boys water plants and learn how things grow and how some foods get to our dinner table. They search for bugs and were happy to have Grandpa fasten a snail house out of strawberry baskets (see photo below) so they could observe snails up close. They are fascinated by bees. My boys love to run around the garden naming the different types of plants. They know that backyard intimately.

Wind-Up Car in Silicon Valley

We spotted this car today while on our way to summer camp this morning. My boys loved watching this "wind-up" car zip along, it's mechanism unwinding. It really did look like a toy car.

"That's a car that doesn't pollute, mommy!" announced my boys.

Ah, if only it were true. I'd get a wind-up car over a Prius anytime!

Original Chalk and Cheese Chronicles blog post.

Coloring, drawing and cutting in MY house?

My twin boys spent their first year of preschool almost exclusively playing outside. The preschool was set in a little house which I think my boys viewed more as a giant obstacle standing in their way of getting to the outside. My boys were young (just shy of age 2) and this was the free range mommy-and-me program within a parent participation preschool which meant my boys could do whatever they pleased. I chased those boys everywhere!

The front room was always filled with fine motor activities. Puzzles, beading, and manipulatives galore. My boys would just blow past this room and head for the great outdoors. They loved climbing and hammering trees (don't ask) and learning to ride on scooters. They would almost always skip the art, even when I tried my darnedest to engage them.

When they did dapple in art, I would get this:

So much fun, yet so very messy! On cold days, my boys would still prefer to play outside. Bundled up in a sweater, I would supervise my boys' outdoor play, envious of all the other moms who got to remain inside the warm house, helping their girls children paint pottery. I rarely had any art to take home.