Dangers of Songcraft, Even Dubious Songcraft

[dr_pretentious]

Just when I start explaining the necessity of the brute force I'm about to use--as in, You may not take your stick to bed because you could roll onto it in your sleep and poke yourself, now we're done discussing it, kiddo--Dan very wisely bursts into song, as in:

Mama Pajama rolled out of bed and poked herself with a stick...

So far, so good. The three-year-old is now distracted from our power struggle over the sticks-in-bed issue, and if we can just generate a few more lines of song, I might be able to pry that germy impalement hazard out of his little hands. But Dan doesn't have a next line, so I come up with:

"Ow!" she said, and then I read it all on the cover of Newsweek.

Now Dan is in full on Silly Song Mode:

Well, I'm on my way,
I'm taking the stick downstairs now.
I'm on my way,
I'll put it where you'll play with it in the morning.

Oof. Dan has extricated the stick from Gareth's hands, and lost the thread of the song. Gareth gets the Sad Face, and we're about to go back into Power Struggle Mode. Out of pure desperation, I throw in a line straight out of the original lyrics:

Goodbye Rosie, the Queen of Corona

And Dan ties it all off with:

Which is strangely the name of the stick that I'm carrying downstairs!

Gareth allows the stick to go without further argument, but he requests that I sing this verse to him about a dozen more times before he'll go to sleep, and then he asks for it a dozen more times the next day. The stick is now firmly a Named Stick, Rosie the Queen of Corona, and woe betide Dan and me if we misplace her.

Comments

[jeneralist.livejournal.com]

Realtime filking: another under-appreciated parenting skill.

[showingup.livejournal.com]

Hey, at least you can CLEAN Rosie. If he was just grabbing random sticks, you wouldn't stand a chance, but you've made sure he's got one to cling to at all costs, casually dismissing those inferior sticks - bravo!

[monotreme.livejournal.com]

A true story, but Sarah's verses for me are strangely tilted away from scanning.
I've refined it since to scan better, and omit needless words:

I'm on my way, I'm taking the stick downstairs
I'm on my way, I'll leave it where you play in the morning
Goodbye Rosie, the Queen of Corona
Which is strangely the name of the stick I'm taking downstairs.

[thunderpigeon.livejournal.com]

While I don't think I've ever seen a bottle of Corona at your house, I think you should laminate a Corona label and attach it to the stick as a crown. That way,

a. it will be harder for you to confuse Rosie with another stick
b. if you ever do misplace Rosie, she may be easier to replace peaceably, by crowning a new Queen of Corona, and most importantly,
c. so that she can stand in solidarity with all of us Queens of Cheese that you have crowned over the years.

[jasminewind.livejournal.com]

The irrational and excessive attachment to items of nature (sticks, rocks, et al) is why we have fairy gardens in our yard. These items are no longer allowed in the house, they must be placed in the fairy garden.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Urgently googling fairy gardens tomorrow morning soonest.

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Beautiful! I missed you so much on the plane home---you and Dan, Gareth and all my sweet Braided Stream and Clover tribe. I consoled myself by re-reading Closing Arguments again. Your words, they comfort me.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

We've been missing you guys, too. I've been meaning to put feelers out about a belated Ostara with the Clover-folk. Guess I'd better get on that : ). Oh, and did Dan tell you guys we found we'd accidentally brought M's chess knight home with us? We've kept track of it, meaning to make it an excuse to get together with you and yours.

Glad you're safely home!

[violet-moon25.livejournal.com]

I love your creativity-under-pressure! That's a plural you; you and Dan are a great team. I also think we might need a fairy garden.

I have been think of Closing Arguments this week too. We were at a memorial service today. See Thunderpigeon's livejournal for more about that. When someone with a larger than life personality dies it's hard not to start imagining their further adventures in one afterlife or another. It's a small but entertaining consolation.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

What a great loss she must be. She sounds familiar. Did I meet her at the baby shower for Andrew, one Andrew ago?

Super Full Moon

[(Anonymous)]

Hey Sarah, this is Amy, your housemate from Cheverly. I've been stalking your blog for a while now. This entry was particularly delightful to me, as it brings back many fond memories of living with you and Dan. You're both excellent parents, and congratulations on your new little guy. I've got two boys myself, ages 5 and almost 2. (Married to Craig, who I was dating when we last had contact. Living in California now.)

I thought of you today because tonight there is a Super Moon.
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16mar_supermoon/
The last time there was one, in March 1993, I heard about it on NPR as I was driving home from White Mountain Creamery, and ran inside and told you right away because I knew you would want to see it too. You ran outside onto the front walk and said a quick "hello" to the moon. For some reason I have always remembered this.)

-Amy (eimipea at yahoo still works if you want to find me!)

Re: Super Full Moon

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Just the other day, when I was out running errands, I heard "Groove Is in the Heart" playing in a store, and remembered how the three of us were washing dishes one night and broke into interpretive dance with spatulas when that song came on.

It's so good to hear from you. I think the last time we got in touch, Dan and I had just moved into our current house, and maybe I hadn't finished grad school yet. You were in...Asheville, maybe? Congratulations to you and Craig, too, on the kidlets. Do you ever have occasion to travel to the East Coast? We'd love to see you again and meet your family.

I had forgotten the Super Moon. Thank you for bringing back that memory. What a good year that was.

Re: Super Full Moon

[(Anonymous)]

We'll be in Lewes, DE for a week in June. And hopefully in DC for a day or two after that, but not sure. Not sure how far away from Lewes you are...?

I think you were still in grad school when we were last in touch. I was probably in Athens GA, finishing my ...whattaya call it. My degree. The basic kind. Not grad school. hoo boy. Comp lit, you can see how eloquent it made me. Not only that but I fudged it and didn't learn any other languages so as to read things un-translated. I think that is a loophole at UGA that has since been closed. Comp lit majors really ought to be able to read more than one language.

I used to talk about moving to Asheville but I never did it.

I remember dancing with kitchen utensils. That was fun. I also remember singing happy birthday to people who hadn't picked up their ice cream cakes from White Mountain.

I am very excited that you are a published author! I got a Nook for xmas and have your stuff on my "to buy" list.