Friday, August 22, 2008

words boring. pictures good.

The people have spoken. Or actually, not spoken. Here's your fix:

Ah luvs me a close-up series. Yes, I did exclude some. These are about a quarter of the shots I got at our new favourite playground on St. Mary Street almost two months ago.








I got scolded very abruptly and rudely at Indigo on Bay for using my camera in the store. No "please," "excuse me," or "sorry." Just "It's the law." Yeah right. You're worried about getting sued for copyright infringement or a patron/employee complaining about privacy violation. No one is being charged or sued for photographing her own son, fully dressed, in a public place. Sheesh.


On the swing at Allan Gardens. This hat gets a lot of "compliments." It's pretty outrageous.



PEEKABOO!

Monday, August 18, 2008

randomness

Let's see.

How to mince onions in a food processor. As tempting as it seems, do not use the grating tool. This produces onion puree. Rather, run it through the chopping tool twice. Incidentally, any ideas on what to do with 3 onions worth of onion puree?

Adam's bedtime habits. He's taken to kicking us out of his room with "'Night 'Night Bye Bye" and then proceeding to chat to himself or his seal or walls or something for a very long time. almost two hours once or twice. Tonight it was a only around twenty minutes but it was extra cute. At bedtime he commented on my wedding ring, "Ring!" And so, I started singing, "Ring Around the Rosy." "Again!" "Again!" "Again!" And so later we heard over the monitor: "ashes, ashes, dOWn" over and over again.

Back-to-School Dreams. The usual. not prepared for class in my dreams.

Adam's vocabulary. just for the record, i.e., boring. Words with an asterisk may not be intelligible to strangers but they are clear and consistent. Does not include words where he is merely repeating sounds from a poem or song. He also has two Cantonese words: tek (kick) and ma (wipe). I'm sure I'm forgetting some but whatever. I thought I'd attempt a list before it becomes uncountable. I think I'm happy that mine, me, and Adam don't yet appear on the list.

food/kitchen: bread*, noodle, rice, cereal*, beef, chicken*, fish, egg, bean, broccoli*, onion*, avocado, grapes*, banana, peel, orange*, melon, blueberry, strawberry*, plum, peach, apple*, cheese, milk, yogurt (25), fork, knife, spoon*, bowl, lid, cup*, bottle*, bib, tray*, pot, whisk*, hot, warm (13)

animals: dog, cat, bird, squirrel*, duck, turtle, pig, chicken (only counts once), horse, goat, cow, sheep, whale, lion*, bear*, crocodile*, fox*, monkey*, bunny rabbit* (18), moo, baa, oink*, ruff ruff, bow wow, meow, neigh, roar, tttt* (9)

people: baby, Daddy, Mum, Norm, Matthew*, Dave, George* (7) It was clear but we haven't seen him in a while; so, I'm not counting Rob.

body: hair, head, eyes, ears, nose, cheeks, lips, mouth*, teeth, tongue, arm, (finger) tips, (belly) button*, penis*, bum, leg, knee, toes (18) hat, coat*, shirt*, pants*, diaper*, socks*, shoes* (7)

bath: bath, soap*, pee, pooh, flush, (tooth) brush, (tooth) paste*, comb, towel, wash (10)

"toys": toy, baby (doll), book, disk, blocks, ball, balloon, magnet*, keys, phone*, seal*, choo choo (train), car, truck, beep-beep (15)

other nouns: garbage (can)*, chair*, wall*, door, pillow*, blanket*, zipper*, snap*, button*, piano*, guitar*, ring, light, swing*, moon, money*, wallet*, time (means clock), pen (19)

numerals: 9, 10 (2)

exclamations: yes, no, no-no, hi, bye bye, hello*, again*, more, uh-oh, oops, 'night-'night, please, gesundheit*, help* (14)

particles: up, down, back, this, that (5)

actions: pull, push*, press*, hug*, crash*, close*, open*, sneeze, rock, sit (11)

other adjectives: nice*, silly, mad*, loud, (at/gone) home, wet, mess (7)

Total: 150 English, 2 Cantonese. This is about double what I was expecting to count.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

protovocabulary - this time Dion's

I've noticed that Dion answers to Baba as automatically as he does to Daddy. Dion's noticed too.

I've been meaning to post Adam's vocabulary before he gets dangerously close to the 18-month explosion. I'm guessing 50 to 100 spoken words that are intelligible to me. Maybe I do it after my course finishes tomorrow.

Sunday, August 03, 2008

fantasticcontraption.com

Thanks Kevin, thanks Sharkey. I've lost sleep I'll have you know. If you want to lose sleep also, try: fantasticcontraption.com.

Move the pink object into the pink goal area with sticks, wheels, and motors placed within the blue box. Dion built a catapult but I like my simpler device better.

SCENARIO: "Unpossible"
INITIAL CONDITIONS
FINAL CONDITIONS