Just when you thought you
A) had most of The Answers
or
B) have no idea what in the Sam Hill is going on
or
C) finally admit that you can't think on you feet for sh*t
...you get nailed by a four year old with one of Those Questions.
One of those life-pondering question that leaves you trembling like The Grinch when Cindy-Lou-Who asks, "Why, Santie Claus, why?" Remember that look? Where he's biting his nails?
Riley (who is vaguely related to me by marriage, sort of...barely at all....) asked me a really good question. Almost a stinker. Definitely a Grinchy nail-biter. His Great-Grandfather had died a little less than a week prior. We were at his Poppa's 50th surprise birthday party. (Poppa is Riley grandfather, and my step-daughter's step-dad. Follow me?) Riley had been at his Great-Grandfather's funeral, so I got the whole, "Poppy's died," thing. (Poppy and Poppa. Confused yet? I still am.)
After Riley informed me of this fact and remembered that Marty and I were there when Poppy was in the box, he asked me, "Why is everyone sad?"
Oh, that's a good one. (Where in the he** is his Mom? This is a Mom-type question. Or an Auntie-type question. Someone other than basically a perfect stranger.) He's standing there, with his big, bright eyes and cherubic hair, head tilted to one side, waiting.
This is one of those moments when you either choke and come up with the usual caveat: Go Ask Your Mom. Or your heart grows "three sizes that day" and your brain clicks into gear. You can do this. You might comes up with a good answer for a four year old.
"Well, everyone is sad because they can't hug Poppy any more or talk to him and have him answer back. They can't see him with their eyes or hear his voice with their ears. So they're sad. But Poppy is always with you. You just have to listen with your heart instead of your ears and right now, that's hard to do because they want to see him, and touch him."
Pause. He ponders this grown-up standing before him for a moment. I think his little brian was working that one out.
"Oh. OK," and the trundles off to do some little four-year old boy thing.
I can breathe again. Phew!
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Few Things Are Cooler...
...than a laughing Baby! And yes, the idiot making all the funny noises is Yours Truly! I'm trying to load the video......ah, technology!
Adventures In Baby Sitting
Fist of all, my great nephew is pretty darn cute.
Second of all, my sister is a truly capable person and a great (new) grandmother. (I'm not supposed to say "Grandma" by the way.)
Dani and Bryan (aka Daddy Chop) had asked Margit and I to babysit Baby B for a few hours while they went to a movie. No sweat, right? My sister is an experienced Mom and I'm a quasi-experienced Auntie and (step) Grandma, right. (See, I don't mind being "Grandma...") Piece of cake, right?
The Parents leave. Baby B starts to fuss a bit. I'm checking that diaper like it's my job. We're holding and rock-walking this kid. Bottle, maybe? Uh, then again, maybe not. These new darn diapers would hold back the sea, how in the heck do you know if he's wet? I changed him twice, just to make sure. Neither of us has panicked. Yet. (I was starting to, I admit.)
"Oh, please don't be one of THOSE kids. The ones you can't leave."
Fuss, fuss, fuss. Crud. Ok, maybe he wants to be naked. He likes being naked. I throw one of those baby blankets (the little cotton ones) on my leg and he is digging being naked.
"Hey, Margit? (Pause) Oh...sh*t, yeah, he just peed all over me! Guess those two other diapers were dry."
She's trying not to laugh but it WAS pretty funny. He peed all over my shorts and his shirt. Thank heavens he didn't hit the couch! Margit gives me her shorts as I'm changing him (so she could wash my stuff) and we're both trying to comfort this fussy kid in our undies, which is even funnier to me! At this point, I'm finding the movie info on my cell phone, thinking, "This stupid movie better NOT be as long as TITANIC! How long has it been....?"
At one point, he did fall asleep on me. But it was a only a cat nap!
We're getting ready to resort to The Car Routine. You know, driving the kid around until (finally) they pass out and gingerly, cautiously, like it's a Faberge egg, quietly take the sleeping kid and car seat OUT of the car, praying they do NOT wake up.
Before we had to resort to TCR, The Parents arrive. Collective sigh of relief. All my experience had gone right down the toilet. But it's all good. And we hope to do it again. Soon!
Here is a picture. He seems to be saying, "Don't kiss me, Auntie Mima. It won't work!"
Monday, August 16, 2010
Baby B Meets More Family
Poor kid, he got inundated with family (and extended family) on Saturday and Sunday! He was so good, really great! Everybody held him! He is a really good baby, very accepting. I'm so glad he's having these experiences. He won't remember them but I think they'll stand him in good stead for future adventures.
Auntie Alexandra is a natural; so much better than I was as a New Aunt and Godmother all those years ago! I was terrified and klutzy.
God, I look like hell in that picture, but he liked my singing! I guess that's all that matters!
Wait for "THE ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING" Blog! LOL!
Auntie Alexandra is a natural; so much better than I was as a New Aunt and Godmother all those years ago! I was terrified and klutzy.
God, I look like hell in that picture, but he liked my singing! I guess that's all that matters!
Wait for "THE ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING" Blog! LOL!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Auntie Mima & Uncle Marty Meet Bryan
I met my Great Nephew for the first time today
Here is a link to a slideshow that I hope works....
I think you just watch the thing run! I dunno. I've never done this before!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Terror On The High "C's!"
(More like Middle C, since I'm more of an alto.)
I had two, count them, TWO singing gigs in July. This is a plentiful harvest as I have not sung this many in a month in years. I'm very grateful!
They were both for seniors. One was at a Retirement Home or Senior Living joint in Canton, Ohio. Whatever the P.C. thing is to say. A place where Seniors live in apartments. It's pretty swank. I did a gig there in March or April and ate dinner. The food was astonishingly good. I was stunned. Last Friday's gig was for the Akron South High Class of 1949. That doesn't seem that long ago, considering that my brother was born that year. I did a lot of research for that one. Musically and news-wise too. Found out some interesting stuff.
I've been working with this 70-something pianist, Leo. He's a good player, very musically learned (even though I think he was an engineer of some sort). He played piano during the Korean War for service clubs over there. He's kind of a fussy dude and doesn't have a terrific sense of humour but he's nice. His wife died last year. She was Force To Be Reckoned With. We met doing a Canteen style show for the benefit of the Humane Society ("Bow-Wow Boogie") last year. I'm glad I did it, I figured it would be for a really great cause and I might meet some nice people. I these gigs are the 5th and 6th I've done with Leo. It may be a few more.
Anyway....
The one for the Canton Seniors was fun and easy. I learned a couple of new tunes, no worries. It's nice to learn new tunes. They are a great crowd and they sing along with darn near every one. They are a very participatory and appreciative crowd.
Now I really think I have a pretty good working musical vocabulary. For Standards or what is now called euphemistically "The Great American Songbook." However, I discovered that while it's hard to stymie me with WW2 era tunes, my musical education seemed to skip from V-J Day to the mid-50s. I somehow missed 1946-1950. Leo took the research I'd given him on top tunes of 1946-49 and ran with it. Like a sprinter! When he presented his preliminary suggestions I d**n near fainted dead away. "Uh," I muttered to myself,"Ooooh-kkkkay. Yep, I'm screwed!" On his first list (about 40 songs, I knew --- really knew, like "I could sing them NOW" knew --- maybe five songs. I had heard OF most of the others but some were unknown to me. Panic set in.
As he honed down the list to about 20-25 songs, I still shuddered. I knew almost NONE of these tunes. I did more research, this time listening to his choices, which seemed to include WAY more Perry Como than I ever wanted to hear. (I'm not a fan. Perry Como always seems to be Sinatra or Tony Bennett on Valium. A lot of Valium.)
My personal issue was not with the music necessarily. Some of the songs he suggested were really nice, like MY FOOLISH HEART and I WISH I DIDN'T LOVE YOU SO (which he ended up cutting). Some were cute, like PERSONALITY, a really adorable Dinah Shore song that must make women libbers want to load their Uzis or SHOO FLY PIE (I had to look it up; it's a sugar pie). Some I dislike. RAG MOP comes to mind. Ugh. Stupid, stupid song. Leo's final list contained "15 Songs I Did Not Know." Crap. I really worry, albeit perhaps unnecessarily about MEMORISING stuff. It seems more challenging than ever. I was and am really scared of fowling the whole thing up, looked stupid, and getting "fired!" because I don't know the music. The really frightening part was not only did I NOT know the lyrics (often the case) but I didn't know the MELODIES either! Two weeks to learn this stuff. I had become complacent and this was unnerving me.
"Maybe I'm not as good as I think I am."
So I started listening to the stuff. Writing down the lyrics and making cards for each song. I haven't had to do this many songs in this short of a time in decades. I kid you not. Thank God for a cell phone that holds MP3s. Thank God for the darn technology! I could find the original song by the original artist and buy the tune on Amazon or Rhapsody.
One song was particularly tough and Marty, bless his heart, was absolutely NO help at all. It's called "It's Magic" and it was a gi-normous hit for Doris Day. However, Bugs Bunny also sang it! With other words. So while I'm trying to learn:
"You sigh, the sun begins/ You speak and I hear violins/ It's Magic," my darling husband is doing his best Bugs Bunny impression:
"Oh, carrots are divine/ You get a dozen for a dime/ It's Maaaaaaa-gick!"
Groovy. Thanks, Marts. Now I've got the d**n Bugs version in my head and it's not going away. We finally made a pact; he wouldn't do Bugs until after the gig was over. As soon as I had done the song (number two in the program --- Leo is big on Programs), I sang that stanza for the audience. At least it was out of my head. I had one Porky Pig moment (PERSONALITY), and had to use my cards for 2 songs but other than that, it went well. I just had to glance at the cards, not read word for word. One song ("To Each His Own") I dislike and my brain just does not want to memorise songs it hates. I hate "Rag Mop" too but I got through that one. The other one I heeded the words for was Choo-Choo-Ch'Boogie: it has more words than the Declaration of Independence! I love the song but it's hard. Both songs I just needed the cards for security purposes.
It's strange how songs get stuck in your head, isn't it? I just didn't need "Oh, carrots are divine," in mine. It's also strange this that gig shook me up. In some ways, my confidence is still shaken and stirred. And it ain't no James Bond Martini either.
I had two, count them, TWO singing gigs in July. This is a plentiful harvest as I have not sung this many in a month in years. I'm very grateful!
They were both for seniors. One was at a Retirement Home or Senior Living joint in Canton, Ohio. Whatever the P.C. thing is to say. A place where Seniors live in apartments. It's pretty swank. I did a gig there in March or April and ate dinner. The food was astonishingly good. I was stunned. Last Friday's gig was for the Akron South High Class of 1949. That doesn't seem that long ago, considering that my brother was born that year. I did a lot of research for that one. Musically and news-wise too. Found out some interesting stuff.
I've been working with this 70-something pianist, Leo. He's a good player, very musically learned (even though I think he was an engineer of some sort). He played piano during the Korean War for service clubs over there. He's kind of a fussy dude and doesn't have a terrific sense of humour but he's nice. His wife died last year. She was Force To Be Reckoned With. We met doing a Canteen style show for the benefit of the Humane Society ("Bow-Wow Boogie") last year. I'm glad I did it, I figured it would be for a really great cause and I might meet some nice people. I these gigs are the 5th and 6th I've done with Leo. It may be a few more.
Anyway....
The one for the Canton Seniors was fun and easy. I learned a couple of new tunes, no worries. It's nice to learn new tunes. They are a great crowd and they sing along with darn near every one. They are a very participatory and appreciative crowd.
Now I really think I have a pretty good working musical vocabulary. For Standards or what is now called euphemistically "The Great American Songbook." However, I discovered that while it's hard to stymie me with WW2 era tunes, my musical education seemed to skip from V-J Day to the mid-50s. I somehow missed 1946-1950. Leo took the research I'd given him on top tunes of 1946-49 and ran with it. Like a sprinter! When he presented his preliminary suggestions I d**n near fainted dead away. "Uh," I muttered to myself,"Ooooh-kkkkay. Yep, I'm screwed!" On his first list (about 40 songs, I knew --- really knew, like "I could sing them NOW" knew --- maybe five songs. I had heard OF most of the others but some were unknown to me. Panic set in.
As he honed down the list to about 20-25 songs, I still shuddered. I knew almost NONE of these tunes. I did more research, this time listening to his choices, which seemed to include WAY more Perry Como than I ever wanted to hear. (I'm not a fan. Perry Como always seems to be Sinatra or Tony Bennett on Valium. A lot of Valium.)
My personal issue was not with the music necessarily. Some of the songs he suggested were really nice, like MY FOOLISH HEART and I WISH I DIDN'T LOVE YOU SO (which he ended up cutting). Some were cute, like PERSONALITY, a really adorable Dinah Shore song that must make women libbers want to load their Uzis or SHOO FLY PIE (I had to look it up; it's a sugar pie). Some I dislike. RAG MOP comes to mind. Ugh. Stupid, stupid song. Leo's final list contained "15 Songs I Did Not Know." Crap. I really worry, albeit perhaps unnecessarily about MEMORISING stuff. It seems more challenging than ever. I was and am really scared of fowling the whole thing up, looked stupid, and getting "fired!" because I don't know the music. The really frightening part was not only did I NOT know the lyrics (often the case) but I didn't know the MELODIES either! Two weeks to learn this stuff. I had become complacent and this was unnerving me.
"Maybe I'm not as good as I think I am."
So I started listening to the stuff. Writing down the lyrics and making cards for each song. I haven't had to do this many songs in this short of a time in decades. I kid you not. Thank God for a cell phone that holds MP3s. Thank God for the darn technology! I could find the original song by the original artist and buy the tune on Amazon or Rhapsody.
One song was particularly tough and Marty, bless his heart, was absolutely NO help at all. It's called "It's Magic" and it was a gi-normous hit for Doris Day. However, Bugs Bunny also sang it! With other words. So while I'm trying to learn:
"You sigh, the sun begins/ You speak and I hear violins/ It's Magic," my darling husband is doing his best Bugs Bunny impression:
"Oh, carrots are divine/ You get a dozen for a dime/ It's Maaaaaaa-gick!"
Groovy. Thanks, Marts. Now I've got the d**n Bugs version in my head and it's not going away. We finally made a pact; he wouldn't do Bugs until after the gig was over. As soon as I had done the song (number two in the program --- Leo is big on Programs), I sang that stanza for the audience. At least it was out of my head. I had one Porky Pig moment (PERSONALITY), and had to use my cards for 2 songs but other than that, it went well. I just had to glance at the cards, not read word for word. One song ("To Each His Own") I dislike and my brain just does not want to memorise songs it hates. I hate "Rag Mop" too but I got through that one. The other one I heeded the words for was Choo-Choo-Ch'Boogie: it has more words than the Declaration of Independence! I love the song but it's hard. Both songs I just needed the cards for security purposes.
It's strange how songs get stuck in your head, isn't it? I just didn't need "Oh, carrots are divine," in mine. It's also strange this that gig shook me up. In some ways, my confidence is still shaken and stirred. And it ain't no James Bond Martini either.
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