January 2

'Oooh, I just hate that!"
"What's the matter, Bud?"
He's watching pbs - Cyberchase had just been on.
"That Go! I hate when they say it! It drives me crazy!"
"How come?"
"Because they spell it G O I! Go isn't spelled G O I, it's spelled G O!"
(I was actually impressed with that.)
"I see. That's not an i, Bud, it's an exclamation point. Here - let me show you.
All stories and sentences have what's called punctuation." (writing this stuff down for him to see.)
"Let's take the bear is over there - now you could say The bear is over there and put a period at the end. Or, you could say the bear is over there and put a comma, which means that you are not done yet - The bear is over there, and he is looking hungry. Or you could say the bear is over there and put an exclamation point - which means it's very exciting or important. The bear is over there!"
Here's the great part - "Oh-ho-ho!" He actually laughed. Laughed. (Notice my astonishment that my child was totally engaged in this conversation, as was not dismissing me and my Boring Self explanation as blahblahblah....) "Now I see!" then off he ran - "You can go help Maddie, now..." who was hollering from the tub.

"How do you spell bath?" from Maddie.

"Look, Mom, don't I make great Chinese?"

"Oh, yeah!"
"Well, Japanese, actually. Tokyo. Isn't Tokyo Japan?"
"Yup."

Mama: "Hey. How 'bout we clean up, then have a Talent Show?"
Trev: "Aaaw, I don't think I want a Talent Show."
Madd: "I want a Talent Show!"
Mama: "Mmm, well, let's clean up!"
'Yes, Ma'am!!!" (Yes, I keep the camera by my side for just such moments. Gotta capture that OLM, don't you know.)It's so dang funny when he does that. Though he doesn't put his pointer fingertip on the tippety-top of his head anymore for his salute - this one is more conventional - it's still adorable, especially since we're not salutory kind of people around here (or even ones to insist on 'ma'am' or compliance, for that matter)....

Trev "goes Alien" for clean upnamely the handy-dandy XLR8! Very helpful, that. He moves on the fly, let me tell you!
Then Wild Mutt. Not so helpful, that one.

But (this would be the vacuum hose)eventually we got it (the den at least) done.
It's showtime!!!
Trev - as usual - decided to participate after all.
So.
We got out the props.
And fired up the spotlight.
Trev was up first.
His performance I'm still a little vague upon - it had something to do with magic and Wild Mutt (a Ben10 character), and I was the magician, and there was a blanket. I think it went something like "you put this blanket over me, I'll be xxx, then I'll turn into WildMutt!"
Or something. (Sorry, Trev.)

Then Maddie (shuffling from foot to foot) singing something about "I've been workin' on the railroad, put your finger in the air, in the air, she'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes..."

Then Trev on the cowbell....And next was Maddie on the keyboard.Evidently it was a Most Inspiring Performance, for after that Trev took his turn at it.... Then when he was done, "Where are you goin' with that, Bud?" 'Well, usually in Talent Shows they go back..." long pause for trying to figure out the elusive terminology that he was seeking....
"D'you mean back stage?"
'Yeah. They go back stage!"
"Oh." lmao - on the inside. "Alright."

Exclusive picture from Back Stage
(diggin' in the prop box)Next is The Alphabet Song as performed by Madeleine "Your turn, Mama!" insisted The Littlest Butternut.
Mama's turn, then.
She chose her childhood (age three) favorite song, "Delta Dawn" by Helen Reddy.
Of course - no one knows that song but me.
I honestly should have performed my piece with the camera around my neck, for the reaction of my audience was priceless.
They looked... frightened.
Frightened, I tell you.
Ahem!... nor did they demand "Encor!" as I had so graciously done them.
Hmmph!

sigh.
Moving on to....
Juggling!Er, imaginary marbles, with a Grand Ending - they all landed perfectly on the tip of his nose!
Tada!

Evidently Madeleine was concerned with the mental health of the audience during my haunting performance, for she chose to erase it out of their collective memory with a tambourine performance of her own...and then another and then Just One More performance to baptize the minds and leave a much better taste in the mouth, in the form of yet another abc overture... Eventually she had decided that the Minds of Man were once again in a satisfactory state, and The Floor was handed over to her brother.

Who chose a Puppet Show.
Which was about a boot, The Boot, and Hamm, the hamster.Which was staged behind the prop box.
His sister then followed suit with a show of her own Our show, to be sure, was undoubtedly The Greatest Show In Town.

Shortly thereafter Daddy got home. He was feeling a bit blue and depleted. We told him of our Talent Show.
Then we offered a Repeat Performance.

Eventually he was gracious enough to join in and perform for us.
( I decided to forego my belting of Delta Dawn, and chose to bemuse and delight my audience with a tapdancing rendition of Tea for Two. Evidently it was most elegant and charming, for Maddie copied it for several of her performances afterward. Hmmmph. [the Mama pats her hair in satisfaction])
Back to Daddy - he is a RockStar, so he chose music. The drums, to be exact.
Accompanied by The Melvins.
His fans were absolutely not content to stay politely in their seats.
They insisted upon amplifying
and accompanying him on their various instruments.
And there was dancing.

and stage diving.

And our Talent Show Winner?

Trev crowned his Daddy as the winner.

"And The (invisible) Grand Award goes to...." Trevelyn said...

It's been an hour, and Daddy keeps promising threatening to shower, but onward go those drums....

An' that's us.

Ah. Life's Good.