Wringing out the towel of happiness

My kids love Elvis.

Primo was the progenitor of the family's current Elvis craze. For a long time, he's been hard-core into the crooners -- Frank and Dino, in particular -- and from there, he leapt to Elvis. He has introduced his sisters to it and the King pleases them all, especially the baby. I think it's that simple, driving beat that is so baby-friendly, letting her unleash her frenetic dance moves in all their glory.

Yesterday, Primo cued up "Hound Dog" and the kids had an impromptu dance party in the living room. The baby shrieked with delight and ran over to her sister, grabbing her hand and leading her into the middle of the carpet, while Primo, in a bow tie and suit shirt, joined in. They all bounced up and down like bona fide teeny boppers, wild, joyful smiles spread across their faces, sporadic giggles erupting from their mouths. Does this sound like a Hallmark moment? Good. It was. It was a super-sized feel-good moment that makes your heart so warm, it's molten.

"This is what I imagined when I told you we should have another child," I said to David. "I told you I could see us side by side, watching three crazy kids being loud and ridiculous and laughing their heads off in the middle of shenanigans and I could see us looking at each other and shaking out heads, full of wonder and joy and exhaustion."

"Yes," he agreed,"This is that moment. And you better enjoy it, because it will last approximately three more seconds."

As he finished his sentence, the baby's frenzied dance moves propelled her into the wall, and she started bawling her head off. Right on cue.

David is right. We get those Hallmark moments -- and for our family, they're never the quiet moments of repose, but explosive moments of cacophony, where the three children collide together into a fleeting, thunderous communion of spirit. We get those moments, I'd estimate, once every week or so. The moments where you feel a joy so expansive you can barely contain it. A fullness. It's transcendent. And it never lasts more than 10, at most 30 seconds. Then it's over, and reality descends with crying and squabbling and anxiety and disappointment.

But, when you think about, 10 seconds of transcendence and joy is really a windfall. The trick is not to miss it. So, this year, among my other resolutions, I think I'll work on sucking every last ounce of those beautiful moments in, right down to the dregs. You could call it savoring the moment but I imagine it as a  bit more violent: wringing the towel of joyfulness out until that stingy thing releases it's last drop.

Happy New Year, folks. May you wring the SHIT out of your happiness.

Pipe Dream or Nightmare?

So we were in the car last weekend, listening to a song David wanted to play for me and the kids. It’s called “Spanish Pipedream” written by John Prine and performed by the Avett Brothers. Its not a particularly kid-appropriate song, but I only learned that just now when I googled the lyrics, which make it clear the song is actually about falling in love with a "topless lady" who is "on the road to alcohol" but you can't really understand what the hell those Southerners are saying until the chorus which is really funny and G-rated and it goes like this:

Blow up your TV

Throw away your papers

Move to the country

And build us a home

Plant a little garden

Eat a lot of peaches

Try to find Jesus

On our own

I said, “Instead of a pipe dream, this sounds like a nightmare, at least where Primo is concerned.”

Primo smiled, but he didn’t understand, “What?”

“What would you do if we blew up our TV, throw away all the papers you draw on, and moved to the country?”

“I wouldn’t like it at all!”

“I know. And what if we planted a little garden and made you eat a lot of peaches?”

“YUCK!” he yelled. As you may recall, Primo has a serious, abiding aversion to fruit of all kinds. It literally makes him gag, the way a ball of dog shit would make most people dry heave.

“And you can’t find Jesus!” he exclaimed, getting into the joke now, “because he’s dead!”

I could not keep from laughing. Of course he imagined that the task was to try and locate Jesus in person, a la

Where’s Waldo? What on earth would lead him to believe any different?

So I explained that the singers actually meant that they would try to find the spirit of Jesus, but this confused him even more, because of the concept of the Holy Spirit which he doesn’t fully grasp. So I said they were trying to act like Jesus, kind and forgiving and loving and that seemed to make sense to him.

“So that part of the dream is not so bad,” I said.

“Yeah,” he agrees, “But the peaches part is really bad. That IS my nightmare.”

The Song Surprise Mix

This weekend Primo made his first mix tape for a girl. He woke up Saturday inspired, went right over to his father, music fanatic, and proclaimed "Daddy, I want to make a mix." Then the two of them sat down and David pulled song after song as per Primo's instructions, onto one whopper of a mix CD. Primo named it "The Song Surprise Mic" and is giving it to his best friend who just so happens to be a girl. That's how he sees her at least; on her end, there's been some talk of formalizing the relationship with terms like "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" and she did tell me one time that when they grew up they are going to go on a date.

"Oh, really?" I replied, "What are you going to do on your date?"

"Well it has to be at night, " she explained, "And we're going to take a taxi and go to the MALL."

Clearly, she's wedded to the suburban date destination of the "mall" but clearly also understands that Primo and she are a New York romance, so she added in the taxi part as a compromise. Perfect.

"Sounds cool, " I said, "The Manhattan Mall has a lot of good stores,"

Primo, unversed in the ways of Hannah Montana, doesn't really get the "date" idea, which I confess is a relief. But maybe he understands more than he lets on, because he did make this heartfelt mix tape to slip in her locker -- I mean, cubby -- at school.

Since you all lent such sage advice about children's music when I blogged about it a few months ago, I thought I'd share the setlist with you. Be advised: there is more than a recommended amount of music from the Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland soundtrack on there, but the kid has a soft spot for Disney classics.

-'Twas Brillig from Alice In Wonderland (Original Soundtrack)

-Following The Leader from Peter Pan

-Philadelphia Chickens by The Bacon Brothers from Philadelphia Chickens

-Down by The Riverside by Dan Zanes, from Night Time!

-Istanbul by They Might Be Giants, from Flood

-Ah Bos Cee Dah by Johnny Cash from The Johnny Cash Children's Album

-Jenny Jenkins by Jerry Garcia & David Grisman from Not For Kids Only

-A Pirate's Life from Peter Pan

-A-E-I-O-U (The Caterpillar Song)from Alice In Wonderland (Original Soundtrack)

-Let Me Roll It by Drive-By Truckers from Uncle Dave's Killer Covers Mix

-Say It (Over And Over Again) by John Coltrane from Ballads

-Back In The USSR by The Beatles from the White Album

-Little Boxes by Pete Seeger from We Shall Overcome: Complete Carnegie Hall Concert

-Loquat Rooftop by Randy Kaplan from Loquat Rooftop

-The Caucus Race from Alice In Wonderland (Original Soundtrack)

-Mermaid Lagoon from Peter Pan

-Old Father William from Alice In Wonderland (Original Soundtrack)

-A-Punk by Vampire Weekend from Vampire Weekend

-Pay Me My Money Down by Bruce Springsteen from We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions

-The Walrus and the Carpenter from Alice In Wonderland (Original Soundtrack)

-All I Have To Do Is Dream by The Everly Brothers from The Everly Brothers' Best