Stir Crazy

A four-year old with a full leg cast and a walker will break your heart. This has been the scene here in casa-de-Santos for the past week. All-in-all, my son has been a trooper. He has adapted fairly well, with some expected bouts of frustration. Our greatest challenge this week has been keeping occupied and engaged.

Days are the sunniest

Jokes are the funniest
Rabbits are the bunny-est

Hives are the honey-est
Elephants the ton-iest

Troubles - they're the none-iest


Everywhere I go! 



We have done our best. Coloring books, puzzles, moon sand, play-doh, writing letters and words.

Straws are the bend-iest

Time is the spend-iest

Cards are the send-iest

Books are the lend-iest

Fun's the pretend-iest 

Friends are the friend-iest 


Everywhere I go! 



But eventually, everything breaks down, and the videos play. In a normal week, my son gets a few hours of children’s television. I always make a point to sit through the shows with him. We talk about the plot and characters. I encourage him to ask questions, and answer as best I can. However, being home for the entire week presented a challenge in limiting time in front of the magic box.

Berries are the fruit-iest 

Shoes are the boot-iest

Puppies are the cute-iest 

Treasure is the loot-iest

Teams are the root-iest

Horns are the toot-iest


Everywhere I go! 



We started off the week strong. I dusted off my Electric Company (once again, thank you Morgan Freeman) and “Free to Be You and Me” DVDs. We tried to identify similarities between the "Kimba" series and “The Lion King” movie (there are quite a lot). After a while, we needed to find some variety.

Birds are the tweet-iest

Candy is the sweet-iest

Socks are the feet-iest

Tricks are the treat-iest

Drums are the beat-iest 

Lunch is the eat-iest 


Everywhere I go! 



We ventured into the world of PBS kids and focused on some pretty good shows: “Between the Lions” has lots of phonics, storytelling, and reading skills. “Cyberchase” involves math skills. “It’s a Big Big World” has a scientific premise, and Snook the Sloth reminds me of several of my friends. “Super Why”, my son’s favorite, features fables and provides wordplay, spelling, rhyming, and problem solving. All of those shows are great, but we needed another source of variety.

Flowers are the smelliest 

Jams are jelly-est

Rain's the umbrell-iest 

Tales are the tell-iest

Wishing is the well-iest

Buttons are the belly-est


Everywhere I go!



We rolled over to the Noggin franchise (HoCo Comcast channel 131). Noggin is the home of Diego, Dora, The Wonder Pets, and an Australian show called the Upside Down Show. Dora and Diego are good for simple identification and mixing in Spanish phrases. The Wonder Pets emphasize teamwork. All in all, not bad shows for a four-year old. However, between shows, a cartoon character named Moose A. Moose provides hosting duties. Most of his stuff is inane, but every so often, he sings this “Everywhere I Go” song (click on the horizontal arrow buttons until you see the flower, click on the flower, then hit play). It has penetrated my brain to the core. I can’t get it out of my head. It is so bad that I can’t even remember any other songs that I could not get out of my head.

Skies are the blue-iest

Cows are the moo-iest

Gum is the chewiest

Ghosts are the boo-iest

Goo is the gooey-est 

You can be your you-iest 


Everywhere I go!

I once heard on NPR (although I cannot find it in the archives) that if you can’t get a song out of your head, you should hum “The Girl from Ipanema.” Apparently, it cancels out all other tunes.

Tall and tanned and young and lovely
Hmm Hmm Hmm Hm Hm HmmHmm …..