Thursday, January 29, 2009

Stale Buns and Magritte

This might give a hint at why I’m fond of surrealism. My husband and I sat finishing up lunch with my eleven year old son, who was busy attacking the remains of a semi-stale cinnamon bun. In between bites, he launched into a monologue about how he was the maker of all things manmade. It went something like this:

“I make the screws on the toothpaste caps. I put the toothpaste in the little tubes. I trim the hedges in all the yards (not a chainsaw). I cut the trees. ..”


My husband and I started laughing, but he kept right on. His delivery was deadpan.

“I make the printing appear in the books. I get inside the computers and make the letters that people type…”

At this point his address was interrupted just long enough for him to spit a small white clump onto his plate. It looked like a glob of icing, but made a ‘clink’ when it hit the plate. He continued …

“I make the light bulbs, and operate them. I make the cars. I put all the little parts together…”

Then, noticing my confused expression, he stopped to clarify, “That was a tooth.”

“No, it wasn’t,” I argued.

“Yes, it was,” he said. He picked the little white object from his plate and stuck it in his mouth, into the hole where it had just been. It fit perfectly.

“You didn’t tell me you had a loose tooth!” I said.

“It was just a little bit loose,” he said. Then he continued:

“I make potato chips and put them in their little baggies…”

My husband and I borrow a line for these little moments of random weirdness:

I am the walrus.

Koo koo ka choo.

For more surreal fun, check out this cool video inspired by the paintings of René Magritte:


14 comments:

Lily Cate said...

I love listening to kids ramblings.
My four year old has been telling my in-laws some wild stories lately, about "dead" cousins, and his three wives, and the cars everyone used to drive when he was "a little fat baby".
I don't think they get that it's about a 70/20/10 mix of Totally made up, Vaguely accurate retelling of a story he heard somewhere else, and Absolutely true - just out of context.

Brenda said...

I love how kids can just go on like nothing has happened...If only we adults could have that ability...grin..

Kelly Polark said...

That is so funny! Clink! Kids certainly are amusing.

Kelly Polark said...

Cool video, too. Is that Paul Simon singing?

Adrienne said...

Lily - I love the ramblings, too, although my kids can go overboard with the nonesense. They get mad at me because every once in a while they try to tell me something serious, and I'll have already tuned them out!

Brenda - It's funny the stuff they shrug right off...but other times they'll ruminate over the tiniest things :-0

Kelly - It is Paul Simon - I thought the song was interesting. Supposedly it was inspired by a caption written on the back of a photo.

PJ Hoover said...

He doesn't lack confidence or creativity!

Bish Denham said...

What a hoot! And the video is beautiful.

Keri Mikulski said...

Kids are the best! :)

Rena Jones said...

OMG! How funny!

Anonymous said...

I have a HUGE mom-crush on that kid! Hilarious!

LW said...

Too funny,,
what a kid...
thanks for the big morning smile .…

Louise

ICQB said...

“I make the printing appear in the books. I get inside the computers and make the letters that people type…”

That was my favorite rambling.

Hope the tooth fairy is generous, such creativity should be rewarded!

Mary Witzl said...

Ooh -- I'm far from being a kid, but I can do this too! Tell your son about the flatman who lives in every computer. He directs our fingers and sometimes he gets so bored, he just has to make us screw up -- hence typos. My kids are firm believers.

I'm filled with admiration for your son, though -- not milking that loose tooth for all it was worth. My kids did what I used to do: the minute a tooth was just the tiniest bit wonky, it obsessed them to the point of hysteria. The whole household got caught up in loose tooth mania.

Anne Spollen said...

The tooth in the middle of it all -- lol