Smile

If you really want to make people smile, teach your three-and-a-half year old to sing "Hey Mister Tally-man, tally me banana, daylight come and me wanna go home."

If you want to smile yourself, watch this version:

Alex's first pony ride

Have I mentioned that Christian is a menace?

Yes, he's stuck. Yes, I took a picture before I helped him.

Like he died and went to heaven

The City of Bern Fire Department had an open house today in celebration of its centennial. Alex was able to tour the fire station,



sit in fire trucks



and police cars,



watch the Rega demonstrate an airlift rescue,



and meet real firemen.



And then his head exploded.

Duck, typewriter

One of Alex's preferred stories is Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type. The cows want electric blankets and they're not going to give up their milk until they get them. After a series of typed missives go back and forth between the cows (that type) and Farmer Brown, they strike a deal: the cows will trade in their typewriter for the electric blankets. Duck is to act as the middle-man (middle-duck?) and deliver the typewriter after the cows receive the blankets. We've read this story hundreds of times. It's the story that taught Alex to "moo," the story that taught Alex the word "barn," the story that distracted him for many miles of his first trans-Atlantic flight. There are no surprises anymore in Click, Clack, Moo.

Until last night, when I came to the part of the story in which the cows send their proposal to Farmer Brown: "We will exchange our typewriter for electric blankets. Leave them outside the barn door, and we will send Duck over with the typewriter."

Suddenly Alex turned to me and asked, "Can a duck even bring a typewriter?"

It's a valid question.