Smile

HOLE IN THE HEAD: CJ has been a snaggletooth for a couple of days now. One of his top front teeth was FINALLY ready to come out and by gum (get it, get it? By gum!), today was going to be the day.

CJ wouldn't help it out himself, and was skittish about anyone else getting near, but around noon I told him, "This is ridiculous, it's coming out, now."

He steeled himself and it took me all of 5 seconds to gently pop it out.

Needless to say, CJ has spent a significant part of the afternoon and evening with his hand in his mouth, feeling that big ol' hole in his grin.

CJ was a little concerned about how his sudden lack of tooth would affect his diet.

"When it's lunch time, you just go with the flow and try to eat your food," assured Annabelle, a veteran of one tooth lost to date.

ALL THAT JAZZ: In my effort to keep a music focus on Friday mornings, today I pulled "The Jazz Fly" off the shelf. Written and performed (it came with an audio CD) by Matthew Gollub.

There's a quick video of Gollub on his Web site. It's, um, interesting. ... Mr. Rogers meets Liberace comes to mind. ...

That aside, his Web site has lots of smart goodies and the kids loved the singsong nature of the book. I see that there's a Jazz Fly 2 out now. No doubt we'll be hunting that down at the library.

RECORDING ARTISTS: Awhile back, I scored a kids' cassette tape recorder/player at Goodwill for a couple of bucks. It had two microphones, which I thought the kids would appreciate. I unearthed it this weekend while cleaning the basement, finally remembered to buy some C-cells for it and this morning we fired it up. It works like a charm.

Annabelle recorded herself playing the xylophone and singing and a harmonica solo. I had her practice each a couple of times first, telling her that's what professional musicians do before they record a tune.

CJ opted to record a game review. Rather than just let him start blathering into the microphone, I suggested to him that we script it a bit, because that's what professional reviewers would do - they'd have at the very least some kind of notes/crib sheet when they go in the studio to record their review. So he generated a bulleted list of highlights, which I wrote down for him. He did a good job of hitting the high points.

The little unit also works as a PA, much to Annabelle's delight (and our chagrin). This evening she carried it about the house, blathering incessantly and reveling in her amplified voice.

SEGA SCORE: We were at Value Village today looking for a couple of items for an 80's themed party we're going to this weekend. In the course of our scouring the store, we came across an old Sonic game for the antique Sega system I found last week. Score! CJ was very happy. A Nintendo aficionado, "I'm not a Sega fan," he made sure to tell me, "but I want to get this game!"

OK, CJ. It was under $5.

Interestingly, at home Annabelle played it for longer than CJ. She seemed to really like it.

HIDE AND SPEAK: This evening Annabelle asked Christian to play hide and seek with her. At one point she ran into the kids bedroom to hide. When Christian was done counting CJ popped his head out of the bedroom door and said, "Wherever she is, she's not in here."

That's a dead giveaway, of course.

ULTIMATE IN D-I-Y: I've roofed a house. I've framed in a window. I've installed bamboo and maple flooring, done acres of tile. I've painted whole homes (inside and out), as well as intricate murals. My list of DIY projects is looooooong. But there's one thing I haven't done - built a satellite. Wouldn't that make an excellent MPA science project? I think it would ...

I saw on Discovery News today there's a kit that people can order from Interorbital Systems for just $8,000, and it includes everything you need. Awesome.

BTW, Interorbital is also in the orbital tourism space flight business and they're presently selling orbital expedition tickets. They claim the "regular" price is $5 million, but if you drive it home today, you can get in on their "special advanced promotional fare tickets." For just $250,000 you get a "spaceline ticket" for a week in orbit. But here's the best part - you get a full rebate two years after your orbital mission. "That's the equivalent of a $5 million Ticket To Orbit For Free!" they note. But you better hurry - they are only selling ten "spaceline tickets" at this price.