Tuesday, June 12, 2007

The Big Klonk

My nephew's son John is the only son of the only son of my deceased sister. John and his older sister Shauna are still well-loved, but they are sometimes completely nuts. John, whose middle name is the same as mine, was not named for me--we were both named for the first Clifton, my deceased father who was dead before the kids were born. He would have liked them, too.

But John is crazy. Just in the way that all kids are, I guess. Just like his sister before him, he can watch the 2 or 3 Barney tapes around here over and over again. I'm sure he's seen them hundreds of times. It is therefore peculiar to me that one of the commercials before the Barney Movie scares John and makes him go hide. He acts like he can't stand the commercial for a version of the stage play "Cats". The other day he screamed like a banshee and ran behind a large chair to hide from the monsters--the Cats! I had the feeling the same thing had been explained to him before, but his mother took the time to explain how it's just people dressed up to look like giant cats, that's all. He nodded and accepted her logic so quickly and with such an earnest look that I was reminded of a "scare" that I used to pretend to have when I was little, though maybe a bit older than 3. I may have started out really being afraid of cemeteries when the family car passed by them, but I ended up pretending to be afraid long after I knew it was no big deal. I'd cover my head and then start grinning! It was fun to pretend there was some Drama going on! Just as well I remember that; it'll maybe keep me from klonking John Clifton on the head with one of his shoes! Silly Rabbit.


11 comments:

  1. I love that habit - wanting to be scared. I guess it is a chemical rush. We used to have a manx cat who would put himself in an uncomfortable situation, like the middle of a room of people, then runawayrunawayhide, only to do it again and again.

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  2. Obsession/Compulsion must be a trait shared my many young ones. My nephew is the same way about certain programs.... over and over and over.

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  3. Apparently kids see the world differently than we do.

    My grandson love the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, but when we took him to Disneyland he freaked out in the ride.

    He wasn't scared of the pirates, skeletons or ghosts -- no, he didn't like a mechanical crab that he saw crawling along the ground.

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  4. Good little piece that gave me a little more insight of the man that calls himself a rat.

    I like it very much.

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  5. Happy International Webloggers Day!

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  6. This is a side of you, Ratty, that we rarely see. Very sweet.

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  7. Did someone mention a MANX CAT? Hand it back, you bounder - you know it belongs back here!

    Yeah, almost a sweet post, if you overlook the compulsion to whack the bonny little lad.

    Anyway, I have first dibs on OCD, Autism Sam is a grand master at it!

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  8. If I'd been that close to you, the Manx cat would not be the first thing I'd take. Besides, your cat already ran away from Critcket. That little bastard must have a rocket up his ass.

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  9. ah, nostalgia :) I remember having a few moments of drama myself at that age

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  10. I bet you were a little actress in the making!

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