Bubbles

Dozens of bubbles drift in the air

Over your shoulders and around your hair.

Your hands clap and bubbles pop.

Your giggles call, Don’t stop! Don’t stop!

Around and around soap bubbles fly,

Whisked by the wind towards the sky.

A shiny bubble slowly twirls

And rests unbroken on your curls

New Words

Joshua babbles a lot, but is going at his own pace when developing distinguishable words.  His first word was "dada," of course.  And in the past weeks he has his own versions of cheese, kiss, and fishies which all sound remarkably similar.  Thanks to grandma entertaining in the car for an hour or so with "This Little Piggy," he says "'iggies" with delight.

But on Father's Day, he mastered a new word, "mama."  But it is more like a desperate command, "mamaMAMAMamam."  We felt the timing was ironic.

The Mastadon of the La Brea Tar Pits

Only fragments remain

Bits of millennia-old bone fossilized

In tar that bubbles below

Los Angeles’ overcrowded avenues.

In the Ice Age, Mastodon was master.

Trampling sloths, skunks, lizards, insects

that scurried beneath feet, 

Deflecting predators with a flick of the head.

But a Mastodon was no match for a lake of tar.

Feet became shackles. 

Tusks a weapon of self-destruction

Digging him deeper into the pit. 

After paleontologists harvested

Teeth, tusks, and jaw, they pieced

The world’s most difficult puzzle together.

Bone stained by centuries of black,

Now the grinning beast

Is suspended from a museum ceiling.

Eye sockets stare through six foot tusks.

Past school children and tourists,

At traffic on Wilshire Boulevard, 

Skyscrapers built over tar

Trampling fragments of prehistory

And humans who scurry across pavement.

A Boy and HIs Books

Joshua loves to read books on his own.  It's as if he studying for his "Intro to Board Books" final.  He is working on skills like turning the pages, reading right side up, and imprinting teeth marks.  His favorite authors are Anna Dewdney, Sandra Boynton, and Eric Carle.  He gets an A+ in my book.