My son turned 11 months old yesterday - he's been rather enjoying the "little piggies" game where I count off his toes as little piggies, until finally the little one goes "wee wee wee, all the way home," and my fingers run up his body and tickle him. Hmm, after second thought, I think I enjoy it as much, if not more than he does, particularly because his laugh is one of the most wonderful and beautiful sounds I hear.
The deal is supposed to go like this:
Big Toe: This little piggy went to market
Second Toe: This little piggy stayed home
Third Toe: This little piggy has roast beef
Fourth Toe: This little piggy had none
Pinkie Toe: And this little piggy went . . . wee wee wee, all the way home
While I've always felt a little compassion for the little piggy that didn't get any roast beef (blessed are the meek and all that), since I recant this little number regularly, I've found it fun to exchange the "roast beef" for other fun foods, like Fran's ever-favourite "roast beast" (from Dr. Seuss), or substituting in "a slice of pizza", "chicken wings", "a pile of cookies", "carrots and peas" etc, etc. Similarly, I can exchange "market" with "to the movies", "for a walk" and other fun things. (Perhaps it satisfies my need to attempt to be creative).
But it did get me to thinking about why it was "roast beef" in the first place. What if the little piggy is a vegetarian? Or what if the piggy's religion forbade the eating of beef? Then I remembered, we're talking about pigs here - do pigs even eat roast beef? Why doesn't the little piggy just eat truffles?
Then I realized I was analysing this too much and went back to tickling Alexander and basking in the simple pleasure of hearing him laugh.
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