I was going through some of my recordings as I transferred them to my external hard drive, and I came upon this one. I’d completely forgotten that I’d made it. It amazes me to hear him then, and just how little he sounded. To hear him now, you’d think he was practically grown up. We all sounded so happy then. I think I was still working in the Berkeley store, and this would have been right toward the beginning of Flor’s move to working overnight. Time has flown so quickly, and I don’t know where it’s gone. Memories are like that, I suppose…
Included are his observations about Kindergarten, and our attempt to do a decent rendition of “Mortal Kombat.”
This has given me the idea to do a weekly show with the Minkey. It might be kind of fun, and a way to keep up on the page during the weekends, although we should probably look for an endorsement deal from LEGO, as he will most likely only want to talk about whichever LEGO video game he’s currently playing.
I’ll do a test run and we’ll see how it goes. Depending on the results, we might do one Friday night or Sunday afternoon.
Transcript:
Me: So, David, how old are you?
David: Uh…. 5!
Me: And what do you do during the day?
David: Uhhhhh…… play with my LEGOs.
Me: Do you go anywhere?
David: Uh, yeah!
Me: Where do you go?
David: Uh, to Grandma’s house.
Me: You go to Grandma’s house? But Grandma lives in Washington.
David: Uh, yeah…
Me: Do you go to school?
David: Uh, yeah!
Me: What grade are you in?
David: Uhhhhh………………. (trails off)
Me: What class are you in?
David: Uhhhhh………………. (trails off) I don’t know.
Flor: Kindergarten, come on man!
Me: Are you in Kindergarten?
David: Uh, yeah!
Me: What do you learn there?
David: Uh…. I learn Morning Stretches, uh… Calendar, aaaand Workshop, aaand ABC’s, and Recess, and….. E.L.D….
Me: What’s E.L.D.?
David: Uhh… It’s E and L and D.
Me: Yeah, but what does that mean?
David: E! L! D!
Me: Thanks for that-
Flor: (garbled) ABCD…
Me: Thanks- Thanks for that gripping explanation, David. Can you sing the ABC song?
David: ABCD / EFG / HIJK / LMN / OPQ / RST / UVW / XYZ / Now I never will forget / how to sing the alphabet.
Me: Very good.
(assorted sniffings and groanings)
Me: So what’s your favorite thing about school?
David: Uh… well… (sniffs) well… well… d- well, I think that my class did, was playing with cl- playing with Play-Doh, ’cause that’s what we did today.
Me: Today? But today was Sunday…
David: (sniff, snort) Yeah. I played with it. And I made a statue of Batman.
Me: You made a statue of Batman?
David: Yeah. (squirty booger sound). Like this Batman. Yep. He’s totally dead.
Me: Mmmm….
David: Hey will you stop burning me?!!
Me: How much do you love Mommy?
David: Uhhh….
Flor: Little!
David: This much and this much and one hundredy ninety nine! (snorts, sniffs)
Me: (laughs) Are you- Are you King Mocoso?
David: Uh, yeah. (sniffs) I have a stuffy nose.
Me: Oh… what did you stuff it with?
David: Mocos.
Me: (laughs)
David: (assorted mucous noises, laughter) Oh, that’s a (makes sound again) sound in my nose (continues making noise)
Me: Can you do the Mortal Kombat thing?
David: Mortal Kombat! Mortal Kombat! Mortal Kombat!
Me: Finish him!
Both: (laugh)
David: Mortal Kombat! Mortal Kombat! Finish him!
Me: That was close. Just, you should let me do the Finish him.
David: Okay. Mortal Kombat! Mortal Kombat! Mortal Kombat! (voice cracks)
Me: (laughing so hard I can’t follow). Fi- (laughs) Finish him!
Both: (laugh)
Me: So what’s your favorite thing to do?
David: Uh, my favorite thing is playing with Play-Doh.
Me: In general?
David: Yeah. At school.
Me: But what’s your favorite thing to do at home?
David: Well, playing with LEGOs. Playing with LEGOs and Play-Doh sounds fun. Yeah.
Me: Do you- Can you read some stories?
David: Yeah. One day, there was a little boy, out with his father. And they head for a walk.
Me: Then what happened?
David: And then… the little boy named David saw a big footprint!
Me: (gasps)
David: And it was Monster David!
Me: Oh no. What did they do?
David: Well… the monster caught Mommy. And then, there was a knight in shining armor. And then, I gave the dragon a pepperoni pizza!
Me: (laughs)
David: Yeah, ’cause the dragon think Mommy was food!
Me: (gasps)
David: And then, I gave him the pizza. And then he ate it all up and made some big crumbs. And then, David just saved Mommy and then the Knight David catched Mommy. The end!
Me: That was quite a fascinating story.
David: Thank you!
Me: (laughs) Well, is it time to go beddy-bye?
David: Uhhh… not yet. I still have more stuff. (sniffs) So… Um, Daddy?
Me: Yes?
David: Will you do the title?
Me: What?
David: Will you… ta-
Me: What?
David: Uh… would you do the thing?
Me: What thing?
David: That you tell me to do…
Me: What thing?
David: Aww, Daddy!
Me: (laughs)
David: You’re… You’re supposed… David what’d you do today?
Me: Oh, I’m sorry. You want to try it again?
David: (whispers) Yeah.
Me: Okay. David, what did you do today?
David: Well… there were some… dinosaurs at school, a clock at school, even a toy clock at school. Turn the… the hand around, the gears started spinning! And when I turn it really fast, it goes really fast! And then, I slowed it down, and then… it’s slower, and slooower, and slooower, (sniffs) and slooower, and slooower and slooower. And, the end!
Me: Oh- Say goodnight….
David: Goodbye, night!