A Real Summer Day

Today finally feels like a real summer day to me. Not because of the heat (we’ve had lots of that) or the sun (we’ve had our fair share of that too) but from some indescribable quality. Maybe it’s because this is the first full week the public schools are out and so all the places - the library, the parks, the stores and restaurants - have switched into it’s-summer-cater-to-the-kids mode. Or because we spent the late morning with friends who we don’t see often enough during the year but try to catch up with in the summer. Whatever the reason, it feels like full-blown summer today.

Before we got into the van, we noticed that one small area (two square feet?) of dirt and plants near our steps was teeming with these neat little red bugs. I haven’t looked them up yet - do you know what they are? (You can click on the picture to see a slightly larger version.)

We went to the library, a park and out to eat with our friends. After trying to contain the buoyant energy of three boys while we were at the library, we let them loose at the park. Annick stayed with the kids while I ran three errands - smushing what normally would have taken an hour and a half with the kids into half an hour on my own. Then we all went out to eat at Wendy’s, because JediBoy had his birthday “free kids’ meal” coupon.

Here are JediBoy and A. swinging…

And BabyGirl swinging with C.

A. even volunteered to push JediBoy. Last year I kept telling JediBoy, “This is the year you’ll learn to pump.” But this year I really, really mean it!

Here are the three boys at Wendy’s. First, no, we did not dress them alike on purpose. Second, no, they are not triplets (the cashier wondered). Third, yes, I do realize what a goofy expression JediBoy has, but all the pictures from lunch looked like this because he would NOT stop talking!

Here is BabyGirl (with Annick) at Wendy’s, doing what she loves best. Eating!

After lunch, Annick and the kids went home but we had one more stop to make. JediBoy had a $3 gift card for Toys R Us (from their Birthday Club) and $4 of his brand-new allowance (more on that in another post) burning a hole in his pocket. We shopped, and shopped, and shopped (and BabyGirl saw the restrooms and asked to go potty, and did pee, a first out in public!). We looked at Legos (too expensive) and Star Wars guys (we had them all) and Turtles (the big ones were too expensive) and Pokemon (just not enticing today) and Kung Fu Panda (the selection was small) and finally he settled on a little rubber band launch rocket. When he paid the cashier with $3 in cash and his gift card, she gave him a balloon and a paper crown for his birthday, and told him the crown meant he was in charge for the rest of the day.

Obviously, she didn’t know who she was talking to! He has been lording the power of the crown over us for the entire afternoon, and here we sit watching Shrek for the three-millionth time. Sigh.

Ball Pit

One of our best garage sale finds this summer was an inflatable mini ball pit that we found two or three weeks ago. The kids have had a blast in it - jumping, burrowing, throwing, using the tic-tac-toe board and bowling set that are part of it, having it be a fort, a castle, a clubhouse, a bed.

It’s great for JediBoy, who is 6, and BabyGirl, who is 19 months, to have this kind of central focus. The ball pit has been a huge draw for both of them and has helped them spend more time actually playing together, not just in the same room.

I love to have something big and physically entertaining in our living room, but I like change too. So this evening we’ll deflate the ball pit and pull out our door-hung basketball hoop for a while. We also rotate the pop-up castle, the wooden golf green and the mini trampoline. Good bye, ball pit - we’ll see you soon!

Build & Grow

In many seasons, we have scheduled activities on Saturday morning, mostly soccer for JediBoy. When we don’t have something scheduled, we like to hit Lowe’s or Home Depot for their free building times for kids.

Today Lowe’s had a Build & Grow workshop to make a little baseball game. JediBoy had a good time (and constantly asserted his superiority by reading the directions himself and refusing to let PisecoDad see). I love a free opportunity for him to do something so hands-on. PisecoDad isn’t really a do-it-yourself kind of guy (and I don’t have the time to add woodworking to our busy arts, crafts and taxidermy schedule) and so JediBoy doesn’t get many woodworking experiences at home - so Lowe’s and Home Depot are perfect for us.

BabyGirl came along for the first time, and asked for her own pair of “nose” - she uses the word “nose” to also mean anything that goes on your nose, like sunglasses or goggles. She was entranced the whole time taking her “nose” on and off, showing them to all the people, having me try them on, etc. We brought her “nose” home with us, but I think I will tuck them away until next time so we don’t wear out the magic.

Suburban Taxidermy… Part I

WARNING! THIS POST IS NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!

Last night as we were leaving the house, I noticed a chipmunk that had been hit by a car just by the foot of our driveway.

Being the good homeschooling mother that I am, my first thought upon seeing the squished critter was, “Aw. I hope the kids don’t get too upset.”

But the second was, “Hmm. I wonder if I could save the fur for our nature box. That would be totally cool.” So I asked PisecoDad to scoop it up with a shovel into an old bucket, I put a lid on it, and we left it behind the house for the night.

I spent the night and early morning contemplating chipmunk tanning, got a little advice from PisecoSis, Pappy and Fran, and this morning I asked JediBoy if he really wanted to do this. He did.

We made a quick shopping trip to buy cheap metal implements: paring knives, crab forks, teaspoons, thumb tacks, disposable cake pans, tongs, kitchen shears and also latex gloves and sea salt. Things that could touch a dead creature and never have to be brought inside the house, much less confused with our everyday flatware.

I really didn’t think I was going to be able to do this. I’m a big eye-averter in the face of gross and disgusting. I never took a single biology class, so I have never dissected anything. We’ve never been a hunting or fishing family so I’ve never skinned anything. But something took hold inside of me and I thought, “This is too cool to pass up. We can do this.”

And we did!

Now I’ve already warned you once, but next I’m going to post several pictures of the work we did, and if you’d look away from road kill, you probably don’t want to see this.

Continue reading »

Author Celebration: Charlotte Zolotow

Semicolon has decided to host author celebrations on Thursdays - to celebrate the birthdays of some of our favorite authors. I just read about it now (so we have no Charlotte Zolotow cupcakes hiding in the wings) but wanted to hop on board to promote a great idea.

Our family loves to celebrate birthdays - we always celebrate the birthdays of A.A. Milne and Dr. Seuss (as well as Mozart), and I get the e-newsletter from Evan Moor Publishing that lists upcoming author birthdays so we celebrate random author birthdays as the inspiration strikes us.

Today we’re celebrating the birthday of Charlotte Zolotow. She is 93 and has written more than 70 books for children. We have read many of them at the library over the years, but four were dear enough that we added them to our personal collection: William’s Doll, Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present, Some Things Go Together, and Sleepy Book.

William’s Doll is a gentle story about a young boy who wants a doll to hold and feed and love. He gets teased by the neighborhood boys and given a basketball by his father, but what he really wants is a doll. His grandmother visits and buys him a doll so that he can practice being a loving father. It’s a good book with a great message for my son, who has always been given toys regardless of the gender stereotype behind them.

Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present tells the story of a little girl trying to decide what to bring for her mother’s birthday, and Mr. Rabbit suggests things too abstract to give as a gift. I like the message behind this book too - that it really is the thought that counts, and that bringing your mother a bunch of grapes because she enjoys the color purple is a lovely idea. The illustrations are by Maurice Sendak, and so quite wonderful too.

BabyGirl has inherited our copy of Some Things Go Together. This one has nice bright illustrations by Ashley Wolff and loving, rhyming couplings of ideas of things that go together - “Peace with dove, home with love” and “Sand with sea, you with me.”

Sleepy Book is on the shelf by our rocking chair reserved for bedtime favorites. The illustrations are soft and sleepy, and the words tell of different animals falling asleep. This is a beautiful book that I never tire of.

Happy Birthday, CZ!

Robot Pals on Hulu

JediBoy and I have been enjoying certain things from Hulu, a free source of video online. Where else can you go to choose from not only Buffy, Angel and Firefly, Bones and House but also Doogie Howser, Buck Rogers, Speed Racer, The Three Stooges and Saturday Night Live? There’s serious parental screening required - he enjoys Speed Racer but I don’t want him watching Buffy or Bones, obviously. The site is geared much more towards adults, but we have found some kid-friendly choices

This morning we watched another episode of Scientific American Frontiers, which we enjoy. This one was about robots and he loved the first two robots especially, and has spent a large part of the morning imitating them and talking about building his own robot. (Donations to his MIT college fund can be sent to … )

I can’t embed Hulu videos on this blog, but you can watch the half-hour episode here.

Busy

This has been a busy week for us, in that tiny, make-work busyness that can get under my skin. Our state’s school year begins on July 1 (that is, as surreal as it seems, next Tuesday) after which I will be Officially Responsible for Officially Homeschooling JediBoy for the very first time. There has been paperwork to put together and planning, in the sense that I plan, which is not nearly what I read many of you are doing! But I have been checking our library catalog to see what additional reading materials I can find for Story of the World, and that sort of thing.

Tuesday JediBoy had his 6 year check-up, at which they pronounced him healthy, growing, and “articulate.” I had to laugh. When I was in public school and we got evaluations on our report cards, there were certain words that followed you throughout your time there - you could count on the teachers always calling me “polite” and my friend “assertive.” At every single physical he’s had from 1 year on up, the nurses and doctors have given us “articulate” and “remarkably verbal for his age.”

BabyGirl has been given “muscular” - plus, of course, her foster family answered the question, “How would you describe her temperament?” with “demanding,” so we have a long road ahead of us!

We’ve also been sharing a cold this week, working on reorganizing the bookshelves, getting my dress fitted for Aunt R and Uncle J’s wedding and making the Lego Lab on Monday. It has been one of those weeks that just slipped away, and here we are on Thursday morning.

Lego Lab

We have a very small house (by today’s American standards, at least) and a very large number of things taking up residence - including large collections of books, board games, toys and Legos. We have tried, and continue to try, to downsize, clear clutter, and otherwise lessen our physical load - but it’s just not in our nature. We don’t collect things to have more or keep up with the Joneses. We gather them to use them, and it pleases all of us to have so many terrific things right at our fingertips. It’s just that, sometimes, I would rather have things more than two inches from my fingertips at any given time!

One of the four tiny “bedrooms” in our Cape Cod is called The Playroom, and is JediBoy’s domain. It includes a small desk, a small toy shelf, a sofa, a large bookshelf for homeschooling materials, a stand-alone shelf for Legos and a heavy old dresser that was part of my grandmother’s bedroom set. The heavy old dresser, unfortunately, has to stay - because it is our linen closet.

For a long time the dresser top held fragile things - then I was wise enough to move them out of a room with PLAY in the title. Next it held various pets - the mice and the hermit crabs most prominently. And since the sad demise of our last living crab a few months ago, it has held - naturally - a big tank of sand with no creatures in it.

Lately, the biggest use of The Playroom has been for JediBoy to work on Legos. He can go in there, shut the door (to keep prowling sisters out) and build to his heart’s content. (Which is a lot. He finished the Imperial Star Destroyer, with over 1300 pieces, on his own, before dinner on Friday.) But he would build on the floor, and then want to leave the Legos out and ready, which meant the hardwood grew a protective layer of nubbly plastic. It made the room mostly unusable for any other venture, and deadly to a certain momma’s feet when she tried to tiptoe across it to fetch the Math-U-See blocks or a Handwriting Without Tears workbook. (Hmm, maybe this was part of his plan?)

It finally, finally dawned on me last night to remove the tank o’sand and USE the top of the dresser.

We have dubbed it the LEGO LAB.

I picked up a piece of foam core board (about 20″x30″) at the local craft store for a whopping $2.49. I brought it home and laid it on the dresser top, which is roughly 20″x40″ - but has a mirror attached on the back, making the width in the middle only around 18″. I measured a space for the mirror and then used an X-acto knife and straight edge to cut a 3″x12″ gap out of the back of the foam core. Now it slides perfectly onto the dresser top and snugly around the mirror.

Then I raided the Lego Bins to find 6 base plates - three full-size and three half-size fit fairly well on the board, since the full-size plates are 10″x10″.

I used rubber cement to attach them to the foam core, making sure to use some Legos for guidance so that all the nubs would line up.

(JediBoy asked me specifically to mention on the blog that he took that picture of me using rubber cement.)

We gave it an hour to dry and then tried it out.

JediBoy likes having a dedicated flat space to work on his Legos, a spot where he can leave some of his creations out at the end of the day, and best of all a spot high enough that BabyGirl can’t get into it (if JediBoy is the one using the stool; I’m sure that BabyGirl could scale the stool if we left her alone with it long enough).

He happily announced, “The Lego Lab is a success!“

Now I just have to refinish that stool I’ve been meaning to refinish since, oh, 2001?

Super Six!

Today’s the day… JediBoy is finally SIX!

We had a fantastic day from start to finish. JediBoy woke up to a living room decorated with streamers and the birthday banners we’ve bought over the years, personalized with his name. He opened a few birthday cards and a pair of Real Binoculars from PisecoSis. We gave him a few fake-out Pokemon presents (just a few cards and figures) before scratching our heads and asking, “Wasn’t there another present here somewhere?” He peeked behind a chair and found the Lego Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer that he’s been drooling over at lego.com for months! He was so excited. (He didn’t like it when I said… “Wait, wait! We have to take it back to the store. It says on the box ages 9 and up. Can you just wait 3 years?”)

JediBoy worked on those Legos for three hours straight this morning! That’s devotion. He has decided he wants to do this one all by himself, with us standing by to answer questions or unpop a piece that got put in wrong. He’s made it to step 24 so far… which is about a quarter of the way through.

He fielded four great birthday phone calls this morning, including one from South Africa that really delighted him (he couldn’t stop talking about that one).

After he couldn’t sit any longer working on Legos, we went to Chuck E Cheese for lunch with Leigh & Paula & kids. He had a blast there, playing games, eating pizza and playing up in the tunnels. When it was time to go, Leigh asked him if he wanted to cash in his tickets or save them for something bigger, and in a very off-handed way, he said, “Oh, I’ll just save them.” It’s the first time he hasn’t wanted at least a lollipop from the prize counter.

We came home for about an hour and a half so BabyGirl could nap, and JediBoy put in some more time on the Star Destroyer. Then it was off to t-ball - the last game of the season - and out to dinner with Aunt R, Aunt T, Uncle M and Cousin C. He got some presents at dinner too - knight- and Kung Fu Panda-themed.

Riding home from dinner, he couldn’t stop talking about what a wonderful, perfect, fantastic, terrific birthday he had!

Homemade Chalk Paint

Today’s make-a-mess-at-someone-else’s-house project was Homemade Chalk Paint. JediBoy and I made this once or twice last summer, and I’ve seen it popping up on several blogs this month.

The recipe is simple: Put 1/4 cup water into a plastic cup. Add 1/4 cup cornstarch and several drops of food coloring - the neon colors and recipes on the back of the box add extra choices. Stir - then paint! The paint works well on sidewalks and driveways and will wash away after a few rains.

The five kids loved the paint and made some great creations, mostly on the garage floor to stay safely out of the way of cars and a steep driveway.

We gave BabyGirl a cup to paint with too, but didn’t add any food coloring so that she wouldn’t get too stained. She tasted it, dipped her hands in it, painted the railing and splattered the floor. What a great time!

Here’s the weird phenomenon we noticed: when BabyGirl dipped a piece of regular sidewalk chalk into her cup of cornstarch-and-water, Leigh pulled it out immediately and saw that the chalk had a hard coating. We experimented with more pieces of chalk, sometimes dipping it into several colors of chalk paint and creating several layers of coating on the sidewalk chalk.

Does anyone know why this happens?

(FYI, Leigh has suggested that I add a new category to my blog, and so I have.)