Dunst

Zeb has created his own soundtrack when he plays with his Hot Wheels. Its a lot like the macho music that's played on his Tonka Joe computer game whenever a bulldozer rolls across screen.
We call them "action songs.'' In a gruff little voice he sings, "Duh duh DUH! Duh duh duh DUH! Duh duh Duh DUH! Duh duh DUH!'' It sounds something like the melody to the Sean Paul song "Get Busy,'' a favorite of both my kids.
In the past few weeks, however, he's modified it. Instead of saying "duh,'' he sings, "Dunst duh DUNST! Duh da da da DUNST!'' We can't explain the addition of "dunst'' and neither can he. As far as we know, he is unaware of Kristen Dunst, the actress. He seems to just like the way it sounds.
He gets very irate when we sing the songs along with him. "People can't sing it,'' he shouts. "It's just a song the cars sing!''
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Zeb also has a softer side, his feminine alter ego "Deb.'' She's a college girl with a driver's license who likes to cook and go to school. Its a character that surfaced over the summer when we were renting a house in the Adirondacks.
Zeb and Lulu liked to sit in our parked car and pretend to be driving. Somehow, Lulu convinced Zeb that in one scenario he was her older sister and that's why he could drive. I think she was the one that named him "Deb.'' But he liked it enough to resurrect it every now and then.
When he does, he'll insist on being called "Deb'' and offer to drive us around. Sometimes, he works at Lulu's play stove, cooking bacon, fish, cheese and green beans.
Often, as Deb, he gets Lulu's back pack and pretends its time for school. He'll be a little wistful about saying good-bye, but eager to start his day. At school, he sits at a desk and does "homework,'' mostly drawing scribbly pictures of monsters and trucks, until its time for me to pick him up.
Apparently, these scenes are from an earlier part of Deb's life, since she seems to be in elementary school. When she drives, we know she's grown-up Deb, who goes to an all-girl institution called "Pollege'' college.