Friday, October 27, 2006

Frankly Speaking

I'm really enjoying Frank at this age, even though he's definitely got that 2 year old destructive streak (yesterday he got a hold of Gus's Math book, tore out about 1/4 of the pages and scribbled on some more - for some reason Gus didn't seem too distressed).

I love getting glimpses into what he understands and remembers even though his conversation is somewhat limited. Last night I snuggled up with him to get him to sleep and started to try to find a song he would tolerate me singing. (A number of my kids have had this thing at night that they don't want to be sung to at bedtime, unless you happen upon JUST the right song.) Anyway, the song that he decided he liked was "London Bridge is falling down." He had me sing this over and over (4 or 5 times) before he started talking about a movie and bridges falling down. Then he said something about "big bridges hurt me." I couldn't understand what he meant and explained that big bridges are strong and people can drive cars on them. Still he insisted that big bridges hurt him (and something about a movie again). I finally realized that he had remembered a scene from David Macaulay's Building Big: Bridges DVD (one of our favorites!) with the Tacoma Narrows Bridge twisting and turning violently until it fell apart. Then I was able to explain that that was a "silly bridge" (best term I could come up with) that fell apart a long time ago and that they make big bridges strong now so they can't twist around. He really seemed to get it!

Later on (he didn't settle down very quickly) he was complaining about bad guys getting him and I of course reassured him that he was safe and that there were no bad guys here. He complained a few more times and then called for his sword (he has a plastic sword from Target that he adores). Once he had that in his hand he sighed and said that bad guys wouldn't get him. He fell asleep happily with sword in hand.

There was something else he said today that I wanted to note here so I wouldn't forget, but by the time I got around to this post, I did forget it. Perhaps it will return to me.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

How cute. My six year old still sets out his sword and armor by his bedside each night so he can put it on first thing in the morning.

Also, I wanted you to know that I am praying for Katrina.

Dr. Thursday said...

"he called for his sword"

Rgardless of Frank's age, this is not the kind of thing one hears about in this age - but it sent shivers of delight into me!

Ah! It is not just the essence of fantasy - oh my no. It is SO St. Paul - see Ephesians 6:17!

This might be something for a future discussion: how to arm your kids.

none said...

Recently our 7 yr. old daughter was afraid to stand too close to the base of the "big bridge", fearing it might fall down with all those cars going over it. (She might have seen a clip of that video too.)

And I thought you would like this made-up word: "lawnmowering". I bet you guys do a lot of it :) .

love2learnmom said...

Thanks much Rebecca, I appreciate it!!

Dr. Thursday - we have a poster about that verse from St. Paul! You can see a picture here.

Yes, we do lots of lawnmowering and making up words around here. :)

Alice Gunther said...

Frank is adorable!