Sunday, April 12, 2009

Yes, he actually said this....

Last night at dinner: "I bet John Lennon eats naan with spinach on it."

Now, keep this in perspective. First of all, it was toddler-speak, intelligible to nobody except his adoring parents who hang on his every utterance and are inclined to interpret it with a generous spirit. Also, he had already mastered smaller portions of the sentence. Ever since he asked me a few days ago whether John Lennon eats Dora cookies, he has been obsessed with the former (in every sense*) Beatle's diet. After much deliberation, we have decided that it encompasses rice, couscous, cheerios, yams, noodles, yogurt -- in short, whatever Ben is eating at the time. After I responded to some of his queries about John's eating habits with "I bet he does -- I bet John Lennon does eat couscous with yam," he picked up on the phrase. And when he observed last night that the proper way to eat saag paneer is to smear it on some naan, the last piece of the puzzle fell into place. It was just a question of stringing the parts together properly. After several attempts, he managed it, to my slack-jawed amazement and enthusiastic applause.

He has added "Eleanor Rigby" to his rotation, taking some of the pressure off his old stand-bys like "Yellow Submarine" and "All Together Now". Having identified Bob Dylan's image on the Sgt. Pepper's cover, we've occasionally turned our attention to "Tangled Up in Blue". He is also a Jonathan Richman fan, and his favorites there are "Circle I" and (I know I'm going to get some concerned e-mail from Ben's various grandparents about this one) "Lesbian Bar". (Trust me, it's a cute song, primarily about dancing.)

*The astute reader will note that Ben is clearly unaware that the Beatles broke up forty years ago, or that half of them are regrettably no longer with us. As far as he is knows, the Beatles are a going concern, and they spend most of their time in the Yellow Submarine eating couscous and brushing their teeth. Ben is not a keen teeth brusher, and we try to cajole him into accepting this insult upon his person by claiming that it is an established practice among his favorite celebrities and daycare friends.

6 comments:

Elsie Hickey Wilson said...

Ok, one adoring grandparent is weighing in.....Oh, I think EVERYTHING this kid says is wonderful! Now this one...I'm ok about the first part, by maybe the bar is a candy bar or a soap bar or a cookie bar, I'll give the benefit of the doubt! Anyway, we have built in astonishment in this family...that's what middle names are for....Benjamin Wilson Feit!
Oh, yes, I bet John Lennon brushes his teeth everyday! I bet Grammy Wilson brushes her teeth everyday!
He is our WONDERBOY!
Love,
Grammy Wilson

Julia said...

Yeah, Mom, it's a song about soap or candy -- we'll go with that!

Alicia said...

wow...I'm so proud! I've said it before and I'll say it again: the kid's got good taste!

Jess said...

Hilarious post, Julia! Okay, now I want saag paneer.

He has picked a truly amazing imaginary friend there-- much cooler than your run-of-the-mill 6 foot talking white rabbit. I have no doubt that John Lennon, were he around today, would certainly be setting a good example by eating couscous and brushing his teeth in the yellow submarine.

~Jess

leah said...

I love it. The Beetles, the naan, the HUGE sentence he was able to put together, all of it! Let's just hope he isn't too disappointed when he finds out he can't see the Beetles live in concert, lol.

rouchi6 said...

Hey Julia, could you let me know the brand name of that dry and store jars for HA and the site name from where I can have it. I am miserable as she is developing boils again in her ear after 10 days of relief.I am also drying her ears after shower with a warm dryer.Need to see the ENT again.thanks so much.