Day 839 - Crazy Grandma Ichikawa Storytime

What's crazier than trying to get a blog posted with a video you cut together but then you realize that you can't post the video because the blog program you use updated their site but stupidly made it impossible to embed video into an entry so while you wait for the site to fix the problem you end up having to write another blog entry? Why it's...Crazy Grandma Ichikawa Storytime!

Every night before we get the kids ready for bed, I take my laptop computer out and have the kids video chat with Crazy Grandma and Lazy Grandpa. The video chat engages the kids for about five minutes, but after that they're off to more interesting things like picking their nose or picking each other's nose.

The first thing that pops on the computer screen is the top half of Lazy Grandpa's head. The video camera is almost never focused on the entire head so the kids now believe Lazy Grandpa speaks through his nostrils. And then the excitement begins: Crazy Grandma sits down to talk to the kids.

Crazy Grandma is a little like Carrot Top or Gallagher because she likes to use props when she speaks to the kids. One day she showed some coloring books that she bought for the kids at Target. The next day she held up a gigantic teddy bear doll. There was even one day when she sculpted bowling pins and a bowling ball out of rice and screamed into the camera, "Rook! Rice bowl!" Hmm...I guess she's more like Carrot Top then.

Emma and Andrew refer to Crazy Grandma as Gaga. It's an abbreviated way to say 'Grandma.' They also like to call her Nomo. That's an abbreviated way to say 'No more!!' Tonight the conversation between the kids and Crazy Grandma went something like this...

"Hah-low! It's Gaga!" shouted Crazy Grandma.

"Gaga!" said Andrew.

"Gaga!" said Emma.

"Gaga! Gaga! Dat me! Gaga! Gaga!" repeated Crazy Grandma over and over again.

"What Gaga doooooing?" questioned Emma. Only if I had an answer for that...

"Rook at Gaga! Gaga dancing!" Crazy Grandma began to swing her arms and kick her legs at the computer.

"Gaga kick! Kick!" shrieked Andrew.

"Gaga dance!" laughed Emma.

"Dat right! Gaga dance! Rook at me! I'm Lady Gaga! Call me Lady Gaga! Whoo-whoo! Just dance! Lady Gaga!" demanded Crazy Grandma.

So with apologies to Lady Gaga...