All around the mulberry bush...

I was chasing Boom around the house the other day, having riotous fun.

I sang a tune as we ran tight circles from the front room into the hallway, and back into the front room through a different opening, and reversing directions!, and then chasing again, and so on.

The tune was a familiar ditty:

All around the mulberry bush
The monkey chased the weasel
The monkey thought 'twas all in fun
Pop! goes the weasel

Longtime readers of this blog might (or might not) grow nostalgic at the mention of mulberries, featured in posts first towards the end of my 6 months as a stay-at-home dad for Boom and then a year later.

Anyway, I was going through the tune again as we chased each other around, and then Boom broke in.

He said "My weasel popped!"

You just can't make this stuff up.

By coincidence, we went out for dinner tonight at El Limeno, the neighborhood Salvadoran place run by a really nice couple. Boom started asking Ma Chere for berries, seemingly out of nowhere, and she didn't know what to tell him. But as it happens, there is a huge mulberry bush across the street that Boom was looking at through the window.

I am sure that he was thinking back to some of our earlier mulberry exploits while walking the dog in this area. Maybe all of our time together plays readily at the front of his memory. Now I'm nostalgic again.

I told him that the berries weren't ripe yet, and that we would have to wait for mulberry season.

First word

Blueberry said her first words today.

It was "da da."

That's the kind of feedback that really keeps you ticking as a part-time stay-at-home dad.

Contrast with Boom's first efforts. (Incidentally, I found this post by searching this blog in the upper left hand corner of the page for "first word.")

Shortly thereafter, she said
"
" which sounds like "gorgor," meaning "older brother."

For the rest of the day, she proceded to wear out the word "da da." Including charming variations such as "da" and "da da da."

It's great.