Miles-blogging #24

[peteryoung]

 
Miles was twenty-one months old a few days ago. He sent me his first typed message while we were Skyping yesterday: "l.o0l.lp0pol.;p0-p;./=-p[;.[;.≥;[]';//';[=[;.;[=][/'\]'/'l;p[p;l.,l;[\] ;'[p-0olop0-0klop0-0o m-pl mko0oop-=[p 0-0ok,mkl;'/" Given the scarcity of much of the Roman alphabet I suspect he was typing with the keyboard configured for Thai, not English, but I also suspect he was saying something like "Want more Pingu and Pocoyo videos!" Last month was when we really discovered kids' animation, mostly via the huge range up on YouTube: he particularly goes for Pingu, Thomas the Tank Engine (narrated by Ringo Starr) and especially Pocoyo (narrated by Stephen Fry). It all started with a DVD of The Gruffalo, followed by The Very Hungry Caterpillar, after which (pictured above) he became completely enchanted by another Eric Carle animation, Papa Please Get The Moon For Me. It's been interesting to see his reaction to a few slightly uncomfortable scenes in some stories: he would regularly shy away from the screen when the Gruffalo first appears (even though he's already very familiar with the story via the book), and there's a scene in Pingu Goes Fishing where Robbie the seal gets hurt, catching his flipper under a block of ice: this simple image of an animated figure in pain would occasionally reduce Miles to tears, albeit briefly. I don't expect that level of complete innocence to last very long but it's charming to witness (as with the innocence on show with many other things he does), and in later years I expect he'll think some more about human causes of animal suffering, especially as he has a thirty-year vegetarian for a dad.

One of the most distressing things we saw last month was at a nearby sanctuary for wildlife: a ten year-old tiger, Miao, who used to be chained up outside an Esso petrol station before he was rescued, with brain damage, arthritis and multiple sclerosis – a really sad sight. He could barely stand up, and fell over twice in the five minutes we spent with him. It was Miles's first tiger, and I don't know if he could sense there was something wrong but he looked a little awestruck, even more so than when he's intimidated by the size of the elephants we sometimes meet in the street. He likes to figure out animals and at the moment finds cats the most approachable, but he's already learned the uncomfortable fact that dogs aren't all friendly and treats them with great respect  – "Innocence dwells with Wisdom, but never with Ignorance." (William Blake).

Comments

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

"the elephants we sometimes meet in the street". If only that were true here...

[hnpcc]

Can I recommend Aardman's "Shaun the Sheep" and "Timmy time" animations? Watchable on many levels, both for adults and kids. I have to say I have a real soft spot for Timmy time - the basic story is the lamb from Shaun the Sheep goes to kindergarden and things happen. No dialogue - all the animals talk in their appropriate noises (my favourite are the Owl kindergarden teacher: "Who. Who who who who who?" and the kid getting hiccups: "Meh... hic! Meh... hic!")

Shaun is more of an action oriented one, again no dialogue but great spoofs of well known action sequences.

I also introduced my three year old niece to "The Wombles" the other day, she found them quite entertaining

[evil-mogwai.livejournal.com]

I agree with Shaun the Sheep... Alan is practically addicted to those!

[grytpype-thynne.livejournal.com]

Soon he'll be ready for Phineas and Ferb, the only kids' cartoon I can recall warranting its own discussion panel at an Eastercon....