Toddler Tracks: Lit Fan, Media Junkie, and all-around Weirdo

I’ve realized a large percentage of what E says on a daily basis is a quote from something. Usually a book. Here are some examples:

• “Crank, crank, up the ladders. Slide the pole. Hose, people, firemen!” (From The Fire Engine Book. These aren’t verbatim excerpts… but we get the gist.)
• “Nice to meet you. Seahorse. Crab. Nip on toe.” (From Lorette Broekstra’s Baby Bear Goes to the Beach.)
• “Bump, clump. QUIET DOWN THERE! Out of clothes, past the moon. Mama! Papa! Stir it, bake it!” (From Maurice Sendak’s In the Night Kitchen.)

Then there’s the more esoteric “Litany”, by Billy Collins. You see… there’s this kid we love to watch at our house:

E was fascinated by this right away. He started asking to see “bread knife” whenever one of us had their computer open. Soon, we realized he was remembering bits of it. He could fill in the blanks if we started each line for him: “You are the bread and the…” “Knife.” “The crystal goblet and the…” “Wine.” “You are the dew on the morning…” “Grass.” “And the burning wheel of the…” “Sun.” Then, the other evening, we were driving home from an evening with friends, and E was talking to himself in the backseat. Suddenly Sean realized he’d overheard “Boots in the corner” and “Cornflowers at dusk”. (E worked quite hard on the word “dusk” for a minute or two.) He’s really taking it ALL in.

He asks to see bread knife pretty much daily, and when it’s over he’ll say “‘Nother baby,” and YouTube always has another baby video ready. So we came upon the following, and we’ve watched it twice:

And now E’s saying, “The shiny guy. He’s worried.” (He’s never seen Star Wars, although it’s probably high time.)

The latest quotable that knocked me for a loop just this evening was from the Barenaked Ladies’ album “Snacktime”. He’s been singing the word “Eeeeeeee-raser” from that one for a while, but it just dawned on me tonight that he was talking about the song “Food Party”, a conversation between flavours at a soiree. I caught the phrase “bitter greens”, and then, when I wasn’t sure if I’d heard right, he confirmed by saying “Corbijn.” (That comes from the end of the song, when one of the boys comes on as a gravelly-voiced DJ to say, “That was the final movement from Anton Corbijn’s ‘Food Party’.”

You must think I’m hallucinating. No, no – the kid just has synapses in overdrive, I tell you!

Here’s a li’l book video from the lit fan:

And in case you think my child is too cerebral for his own good, I’d like to reassure you that he still plays games:

And then there’s this, the antithesis of intellectualism:

I think he’ll be okay.

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