Tiny Destroyer Disguised as a Bellywog

Yesterday I was with Edward in the supermarket, and he immediately walked over to the large display of apples and pears (4 or 5 bins worth), and knocked them all to the floor. Apples and pears flew everywhere. I guess he did not know that the bins were on wheels and not fully attached, so he just yanked them out, and down they went. The store manager sighed heavily and told me that it was fine, so I ran away at top speed.

This is not the only story I have in this particular vein. In fact, I saw a contest online a while back over at DadNCharge, asking for stories of your “tiny destroyer” in action, so I sent in an edited version of the time Edward tried to destroy a restaurant. And I won! Winning, as you know, is very exciting, so I was thrilled. The contest was to promote Keith Munslow’s new album, appropriately called “Tiny Destroyer,” and included in the package were all of Keith’s CDs, a t-shirt, and an original drawing by Keith of whatever the winning incident was. Pretty sweet prize pack!

Now, my first question of course was, “who is Keith Munslow?” I had never heard of this person before, but according to the internet he lives in Rhode Island and puts out CDs of kids’ music (and some grown-up music too). Hey, it was all free, right? Who cares?! The day finally arrived when a large package came to our door, and inside was a note from Keith apologizing for not sending our prizes sooner, all of his CDs, two tshirts (as an apology for the delay), and an indication that the sketch would be coming separately by tube mailer.

We haven’t gotten the sketch yet, but oh my goodness this was an amazing prize. First of all, Edward loves his t-shirts. He is wearing the Bellywog shirt in the picture up there. The Bellywog is a story from one of Keith’s albums, and my kids were cracking up listening to it in the car. Especially the Goldilocks part. They keep asking to listen to it again, but it is a 22 minute story! I wish it took 22 minutes to get to the store, but it just doesn’t! Anyway, they love it. Keith’s albums are full of both stories and songs, and also poems, and it is pretty much all amazing. It’s all I can do to get the Bellywog shirt off of him!

We haven’t listened to everything yet, and partly that is because there are 7 albums to get through (and we’ve had them less than a week!), but also because the whole “Tiny Destroyer” album has been on heavy rotation, both at home and in the car. The title track is what Ruby refers to as “Edward’s song,” or “the song about Edward,” and it is a lot of fun. My personal favorite, which Ruby refers to as “Daddy’s song,” or “the song about Daddy,” is “Dad is Takin’ a Nap.” This is an excellent song, and one I hope my children pay a lot of attention to.

Mom has her own “song” on the album, as decided by Ruby, and that is “Get Along Little Kitty.” This track describes the actions of one person repeatedly attempting to push an animal off of the bed so that they can get some sleep, and I can tell you from personal experience that this is something my wife can really relate to. Ruby has not found her own song yet, but that is because she likes all of them too much to pick. I tried to tell her that “The Last Chicken Wing” was her song, because she wants to eat it, but she did not believe me.

I have to tell you, these songs stick in your head, and you will be humming them at unexpected times and places. I was pumping gas and humming something, when I realized it was “I Can Still Say I Love You,” which is far too heartbreakingly sweet of a song to be that dang catchy. Thanks a lot Keith Munslow! Also, thanks Keith Munslow. A lot. It’s an awesome prize, and I know my family will be enjoying it for years to come. Can’t wait to see the drawing!