lifeasdaddy

lifeasdaddy - Edward's development

Edward has been progressing in all sorts of areas in the past couple of weeks.

Gabrielle was helping him with his computer mouse skills and that's resulted in his ability to use some simple kids games by himself.  One example is colouring-in on The Wiggles website.

This was a solo effort.

He has also started singing songs.  We've been singing to him since he was born, but he hasn't been keen to join in. This week he has sung verses of Jingle Bells,  Hot Potato,  and Fly Through The Sky.

Must be that music therapy kicking in.

When we've been reading stories, he has been asking me to read the blurb on the back cover of books.

His play has started to involve wanting us to take on named personae.  For example, yesterday when we were playing a train game, he wanted me to address him as "Train Driver Edward" and he called me "Passenger Daddy".  He must have liked thhose titles, because he kept calling me that for hours later, and asking me to keep calling him "Train Driver Edward".

He's nearly three.

lifeasdaddy - Various for 17 Nov 06

U.S. Mommies get hot and bothered about The Wiggles. 

Inside the Googleplex: Building a 'Googley' Workforce.

Miss Israel exempt from carrying rifle during her military service.

New British high-tech passports already hacked.  [tip from Schneier]

lifeasdaddy - The Wiggles story book reader speaks with a funny accent.

Edward likes the Wiggles and Yesterday we were exploring their updated website.    There's a story book section with vision and sound of a story.  The story is read by a man with a North American accent.  Look and Listen here.

The Wiggles are proud to be Australian.  So it's an interesting choice of voice actor.

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lifeasdaddy - Edward & friends in the Big Red Car

I've documented Ed's love of the Wiggles' Big Red Car  here, here and here. 

He's adding a new element to his play with the Big Red Car. A bit more imagination, and his desire to involve some of this personality toys in play.

This evening he pointed to a cardboard box and said, "I want to drive the Big Red Car, Daddy."

First he wanted to fill it with petrol (gas to Americans), and then he wanted to have his friends Teddy, Bunny, Doggy and Henry ride in the car too.

I told Ed that the green cup in the picture held some pretend petrol, and he then poured it into the corner of the box.

lifeasdaddy - The Wiggles live in concert

Yesterday Edward and I went with Thomas and my brother-in-law Ben to see The Wiggles in concert at the Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL Club.  I thought I'd write a review of The Wiggles Concert.

The Wiggles are great!  They put on a show for about 1hours and 10 minutes (I didn't time it exactly) and they go all out for the whole time.  Their well known friends Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags the Dog, Captain Featherword, Henry the Octopus, and the Wiggly Dancers all feature prominantly.  If you are familiar with The Wiggles' canon, you'd have seen a few clips of their live shows here and there in their DVDs and videos.  They are just like that in concert.

The room where they appeared held about 400 - 500 people, and twice during the gig Jeff Wiggle and Murray Wiggle wandered through the crowd greeting children and having a few words to say to individuals here and there.  They weren't mobbed by kids, because all of the kids were pre-school age and don't have a mob mentality.  It comes as no surprise that the four Wiggles all relate to children exceptionally well.  Greg really does sing, and very well too.  Murray plays his guitars, and at other times during the show Greg and Anthony play guitar too.  Jeff plays his keyboard.  These guys are very musical.  All kids are encouraged to dance.

The Wiggles friends - Dorothy, Wags, Henry, and the Captain - are all given plenty of time in the spotlight too, so anyone who had a special favourite wouldn't go home disappointed.

Edward and Thomas had a great time and loved the show.  Most of the adults I could see had a good time too, and enjoyed singing and dancing with their kids.

The Wiggles have got concert dates upcoming in the UK (30 June - 13th July)and the USA (28 July - 27 August) so this seems to be a series of shake out gigs for that.

As a bonus for my American readers, here's the transcript of an interview The Wiggles did for Australian TV.

lifeasdaddy - Ed's learning to swim.

Edward has been learning to swim since he was 4 months old.  He takes a weekly group lesson.  The class includes his cousin Thomas, who is just 6 weeks older than Ed; they like to have a lesson together.

Here's a few pics of Edward's lesson today. I think that you'll be able to see the big smile on Ed's face in the 3rd photo - he loves his swimming.

Added:  Ed goes to the Hurstville Learn to Swim school for his lessons.  Worth noting that the head teacher, Patrick Warn, and the background of the swimming pool appear briefly on The Wiggles' DVD Top of the Tots.  Keep your eyes peeled during the song Let's Go Swimming.  I first noticed it a few months ago when Ed was watching it and said, "There's Patrick, there's Patrick.".  I thought he was just playing a pretend game, but no, there was Patrick.