M. Giant's
Velcrometer Throwing stuff at the internet to see what sticks
Friday, October 06, 2006
Doubting Pah-muss
M. Small has a stuffed hippo that we thought he was calling Thomas. "Hi, Thomas. What's wrong, Thomas?" he'd say. "It's okay." And then he'd give it a kiss and a hug and say, "Luh veeyoo." Wonder where he picked that up.
Actually, we were wondering why he was calling a hippo Thomas. He's already got one Thomas in his life -- a creepy, semi-animated tank engine. It's not that he can't keep things straight when they have the same name. For instance, he knows the difference between a turtle and our cat Turtle, and he knows the difference between at least three people with the same first name. But those things were all named by someone else, so that doesn't explain why he would recycle a familiar name on his own.
We were failing to take into account the fact that he's still not completely on top of his T's, K's, and P's. It wasn't until this week that we realized he wasn't calling his hippo Thomas, but "Pah-muss," a contraction of the last three syllables of "hippopotamus." And then it all made sense.
Wait, what? No, it didn't. What kind of child would rather undertake to pronounce "hippopotamus" than simply "hippo" before his second birthday?
Well, probably the kind who's sat through several hundred readings of Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton.
And he has sat through them, willingly. That and any number of readings of any number of other books that his mom and I memorized long ago. We never have to talk him into reading. He brings books to us. It's not like we have to read him Goodnight Moon with one knee on his chest at bedtime. The knee doesn't come into play until he's actually in his crib.
So because his second birthday's coming up next week, Trash and I thought it would be a good time to set up a Donors Choose challenge in honor of his love of reading. Of course, he loves other things, but we had trouble finding any Donors Choose projects centered around ice cream and tickling.
So click on the link at the right. We're shooting for a fairly modest $1000. I asked Trash how much we need to collect before I shave my head, but she shot that right down.
posted by M. Giant
8:49 PM
0 comments
Any money received from advertising this month will go to benefit:
BET RED It's ON. The Tomato Nation/Donors Choose Challange is back, and bigger than ever. As always, all ad money in September and October will go directly to the contest.
Hi, I'm M. Giant. I'm here because while there's no shortage of people hurling their least
significant thoughts and feelings up on the Internet, none of those people are me. I'm
here because I've got nothing to say, and by God I'm going to say it.
My goal with this blog is to spend time writing something, anything, rather than just sitting around
slackjawed. I hope to hone my writing skills, build a small but loyal following, then a slightly larger
and more fiercely loyal following, ultimately culminating in the destruction of my enemies and total world
domination.
Feel free to e-mail me if you like, but only if you don't mind that anything you say is likely to end up on the site.
I can't guarantee that I'll be nice about it.
Thanks to blogger.com for the free hosting and page design template. All content copyright 2002-2007 M. Giant.
You could steal from me, but you'd only be hurting yourself. Using
me as your instrument.
