Ba

THEGIRL and I watched a Wiggles movie last week, and we must have danced in front of that TV for nearly an hour.

And she knows the dances too! I could only do like I used to do back in gym class: I'd semi-mimic her steps and hope she wasn't watching me too closely.

***

I was noodling around on the guitar last night. Wolfboy, quite brilliantly, used it as an excuse to stay up past bedtime. He started making requests.

Him: "Behind Blue Eyes!"

Me: "I don't know that one. I used to."

Him: "That Beach Boys song!"

Me: "Barbara Ann?"

Him: "Yeah!"

Okay, fine. It's a I-IV-V chord progression. I started trying to find that first note in my head.

I asked MOBB to help me out. "What's the first note in that song?"

She started humming.

"It's a 'ba,' Dad," said Wolfboy.

***

I did discover that knocking out an impromptu "Iron Man" is one sure way to entertain both Wolfboy and BB.

***

And you should have seen us at the Sonic on Glen Rose last week, doing the robot dance to "Mr. Roboto," one of Wolfboy's new favorites. We laughed like madmen. And maybe that's what we were, having traipsed around in the sun all day looking at dinosaur stuff, then hitting Sonic at 10pm for ice cream. We had great belly laughs as we did our little dance.

***

Wolfboy's favorite songs:

"Mr. Roboto" by Styx
"Iron Man" by Black Sabbath
"Maneater" by Hall & Oates
"Barbara Ann" by the Beach Boys
"Do Ya?" by Jason Falkner

***

And he asked me last night if I'd come to music class and play "Iron Man" on my guitar for everyone.

"Uh, I don't think I can do that."

"Why?"

"Well, the song's kind of scary for little kids. It's got all that stuff about killing and time travel and all."

"Oh come ON Dad. Come do it in music class! You can come! Mr. Daly comes and READS to us, so you can come and play for us!"

***

I don't think it works quite like that. I can only imagine addressing a roomful of bewildered kids: "Okay, I hope you liked that one from the Paranoid album. And now for another Black Sabbath ditty, this one from Master of Reality, "Children of the Grave"...

***

I've got a brownie calling my name. Ya'll take care.