The Din-Din Man and Poetry Friday

Here is Luke with the "din-din" man.

And here he is explaining why the "din-din" man can't say "cheese" for the camera. (He can only say, "Don't bite!" and "Oh my gumdrop...button.")

Gingerbread Children

by Ilo Orleans (from the out-of-print collection Gingerbread Children)

Gingerbread children
Stand in a row--
Very good children
Always, you know.
The never will jump
Or kick or leap.
Or start to cry when
It's time to sleep.
They never run off
Or look around
And no one has heard
Them make a sound.
Gingerbread children
Are fine to meet;
But, much better stiff;
They're good to eat.

Poetry Friday is being hosted this week by Susan Taylor Brown.

I've been fascinated with The Gingerbread Man (who was considerably less well-behaved than those gingerbread children in the poem) since before Luke was born. Once we decided we wanted to have a baby, I had no trouble getting pregnant. No, my problem was staying pregnant -- I had four miscarriages before Luke "stuck." At the same time, I was trying to write short stories (for adults) with imagery from fairy and folk tales. (Those links are to some very, very short -- and very tongue-in-cheek -- ones.) I never did finish my version of The Gingerbread Man featuring a couple struggling with infertility. I'll have to get back to it.

Jan Brett has a beautiful version of the tale (for children) called The Gingerbread Baby. She provides free masks of the various characters on her site.