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the tower is in great danger!
Jun. 4th, 2006 02:18 pmAs some of you know, I've been reading Stephen King's Dark Tower series. I started reading them, but they get bigger as they go, and I had to change to audiobooks for the sake of my hands. Book 4 was big enough to be difficult for me to read without a table, and relatively little of the time I have for reading is close to a table. It's interesting how listening changes the experience (calling attention to Oy's infuriating whining, emphasizing accent and dialect, slowing everything down). I wanted to wait, and post about the whole story when I finish the whole story. Now I'm in the middle of book 7, approaching the final confrontation, and posting about something that's only peripherally related.
I spent yesterday evening with my favorite little girls. The 5-year-old wanted to build with blocks. I was trying to show her that she could build higher if she did not simply stack blocks directly on top of each other, for a tower of one-block cross-section. Unfortunately, foundations don't help much when there is a 2-year-old waving a wooden spoon around with characteristic lack of caution. The toddler was removed to the bathtub, at her request*. Apparently, one of the great advantages of kindergarden is that architecture can proceed without the dire influence of little sisters. When the little sister came charging into the room later, dripping wet, still waving the wooden spoon, I called "the tower is in great danger!" rather than "free range toddler!" or "come back here right now!" In the 10-15 minutes of uninterrupted construction time, the 5-year-old had built a broad, solid foundation higher than her knees. From there, she used blocks standing on end to build her tower straight up to about the level of her chin. (4 posts, 2 flat lintels, 4 posts at the corners, and on up.) I was very impressed, and said so. She asked me whose tower it should be. When I said it was obviously HER tower, she explained she was too big to live in it, and waved at her collection of stuffed animals and little plastic critters. Whose tower should it be? The horses are too big, the snakes don't stay in place. Obviously, it was the tower of the turtle. Thus, a little bean-bag turtle lived on top of the tower, looking like it was only basking in the sun. But the tower lay in the path of the beam, and also in the path of the wooden spoon, and thus did the wild rumpus start.
*She and I had disagreed earlier. She asked for a drink of water, and tried to float a duckie in the cup, and make waves with the wooden spoon (to which she is very attached.) I told her the water in the cup was for drinking, and if she wanted to play with water later I would put her in the bathtub.
I spent yesterday evening with my favorite little girls. The 5-year-old wanted to build with blocks. I was trying to show her that she could build higher if she did not simply stack blocks directly on top of each other, for a tower of one-block cross-section. Unfortunately, foundations don't help much when there is a 2-year-old waving a wooden spoon around with characteristic lack of caution. The toddler was removed to the bathtub, at her request*. Apparently, one of the great advantages of kindergarden is that architecture can proceed without the dire influence of little sisters. When the little sister came charging into the room later, dripping wet, still waving the wooden spoon, I called "the tower is in great danger!" rather than "free range toddler!" or "come back here right now!" In the 10-15 minutes of uninterrupted construction time, the 5-year-old had built a broad, solid foundation higher than her knees. From there, she used blocks standing on end to build her tower straight up to about the level of her chin. (4 posts, 2 flat lintels, 4 posts at the corners, and on up.) I was very impressed, and said so. She asked me whose tower it should be. When I said it was obviously HER tower, she explained she was too big to live in it, and waved at her collection of stuffed animals and little plastic critters. Whose tower should it be? The horses are too big, the snakes don't stay in place. Obviously, it was the tower of the turtle. Thus, a little bean-bag turtle lived on top of the tower, looking like it was only basking in the sun. But the tower lay in the path of the beam, and also in the path of the wooden spoon, and thus did the wild rumpus start.
*She and I had disagreed earlier. She asked for a drink of water, and tried to float a duckie in the cup, and make waves with the wooden spoon (to which she is very attached.) I told her the water in the cup was for drinking, and if she wanted to play with water later I would put her in the bathtub.
