J is for Jelly

Sometimes I wonder if the child can "read my mind." If so it is not a fully realized skill, at least based on this week's Alphabe-Thursday post. I thought for sure she would pick Jelly Beans for her J word...especially since her first field trip by school bus this past year was to a local Jelly Bean factory.

After some false starts she settled on the word Jelly. (Close, but not quite, Mom.)

Jelly is another staple around here. This week we just have grape, and it's just the generic store brand, so not that exciting of a photo...I know. All kind of plain isn't it...but in my book there is little better than hot buttered toast with a bit of grape jelly. Yum!

It is a bit of a bone of contention, though, too. Sometime in the middle of the school year the child started asking for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in her lunch. Not a problem. She generally gets on a streak where she wants the same thing for weeks on end. That's not a problem either, except that evidently she burned out on PB&J. Now it is Summer and we do a fair amount of packing lunches to take them on road trips, or to the park, or whatever. The easiest thing to pack is sandwiches and now she no longer wants peanut butter and Jelly. For a while she would eat meat and cheese, but no more. I personally like peanut butter and Jelly, but not together, so I've tried one half of each, but that was not satisfactory. To make matters worse, the boy has a mild peanut allergy, so I usually just give him Jelly and then...that's what she wants, but she needs the protein and he drinks milk (which she won't). It all sounds very minor until you know that when she isn't happy about something it displays with aggression, sometimes even hours later when I think the whole problem has blown over. When it's over something that I don't feel I can compromise on (like ingesting some protein) it's like being caught in a trap. Well today maybe I got a break. We had sandwiches for lunch and without batting an eye she requested peanut butter and Jelly again. You're sure? Yep.

So what was that all about? I'll never know...

Maybe Alphabe-Thursday just did me a huge favor!

Jump on over to all the other Jubilant Jiffies here.

I is for Ice Cream

We are home again - first day back - so this will be short and sweet (literally!)

It didn't take the child long to think of something that starts with I, and then ask to have it for dessert. Luckily we had some in the freezer.

Ice cream is kind of a staple around here. It is rare to find us with no Ice cream in the house. My husband is a dessert hound, and has passed this on to his children quite nicely. When she asks for Ice cream I really don't mind. She refuses to drink milk, so this is one way to get some calcium in her, and since she is so active she is skinny as a rail. Yes, she gets that from her daddy, too.

I scream

You scream

We all scream

for Ice Cream!

Go get some...you know you want it...

Then hurry back to Investigate other Imaginative Inventions here...

H is for Harness

Here we are at Grandma's House, and just squeaking in for the Alphabe-Thursday letter H through the eyes of the child.

In unfamiliar territory it took a while to think of a word that starts with H, but the one she arrived at is very fitting in a sweet and sad kind of way. It used to be, you see, that a big part of the thrill of going to Grandma's House was getting to see Grandma's dog. Grandma's rambunctious, rascally, over-excitable, but beautiful, brindled boxer. Our children viewed McKenzie as sort of a long-distance pet. We have no pets of our own, and the fun of walking, feeding, and playing with Grandma's dog never got old (we went Home before that ever happened.) Sadly, McKenzie died about six months ago, somewhat suddenly though not unexpectedly. It has been very sad for Grandma, who misses her constant companion, and a great loss for the children as well.

Grandma is not quite up to the task of taking on another pet (though she would if we didn't put our foot down) and so there is a great void now at Grandma's House.

Today when asked for a word starting with H, the child thought for a long time, and then said, "Harness - McKenzie's Harness that we used to walk her," then promptly went to the closet and found it in its usual handy hanging spot. Luckily, the child had also brought (400 miles, in the van) our large stuffed dog which was more than Happy to model the Harness. Then I realized that she probably brought this dog to try to fill the void. Even after I snapped this photo she "walked" the dog around the house, much to our amusement.

In loving memory of sweet McKenzie, and all pets everywhere who have brought us so much joy.

Head over to Ms. Jenny's Headquarters to read more Heavenly Headlines

G is for Green

We are now departing noun-land. So far everything the child has decided I should photograph was a noun: apron, blanket, cup, dresser, elephant, fireflies...GREEN. Maybe there just wasn't a noun in sight that started with G, or maybe she realized photography is visual and you can take a picture of a adjective, too. Maybe she remembered that Green is one of my favorite colors.

Can you take a picture of something Green, Mom?
Sure. What Green thing should I take a picture of?
The palm leaf.

Silly me at first I thought she meant one of Daddy's beautiful house plants. Nope.

No she wants me to reveal to the world (well some small portion of it anyway) that we still have Easter decorations up in plain sight at our house. Yep.

This is a palm leaf made in Sunday School by Little Brother on Palm Sunday (so technically Pre-Easter Decorations.)

He even embellished it a little with some green paint. So it is Green on Green...very Green. And yes, it is (past) the 4th of July, but we all know people who keep their Christmas trees up until Valentine's Day or so, so what's the big deal, right? Go ahead, enjoy a laugh at my expense.

Then Go Gander at other Great Goodies here.

F is for Fireflies

Time for Alphabe-Thursday Fun with the child. This week's letter is F, and when I asked the child to help me think of something that starts with F we Floundered a bit at First. Furniture? File? We have lots of both, but they are not very exciting to look at.

Then over breakfast we were discussing a recent craft from storytime at our local library and it hit us - Fireflies!

Fireflies - of course!

Each child got to make their own Firefly at the library. The parts were already cut out for them, and we just glued them together. This was one of the first craft times that the kids all worked relatively independently and I just watched them in action. It was a special camping-themed story time, so there were also coloring sheets, but only the child did one of those. Nice blue hair, no? And the bear, in case you're wondering, is a polar bear. But I digress...

We were discussing the fireflies and who made which, and which was "better." There was a model to follow, you see, but each kid "followed" it in their own way. Little boy made his firefly friendly - see it waving hello? Little girl made her firefly in flight. We decided the child's firefly was standing in profile - one wing behind and one in front. And so, I concluded, I like all of the Fireflies...very much.

To Find the other Fun Follies click here.

E is for Elephant Fun

When I asked the child for an E word this week she said, "Who is making us do this, Mom?" he he he...
"It's just for fun," I said. And then she proved me wrong. Last week I said I think she just looks around and says the first thing she sees that starts with that letter. Well for E she thought about it and said, "Elephant." Needless to say there weren't any elephants around. So I asked her which elephant she was thinking of. We actually have lots of elephants at our house, because I happen to love elephants. They are my favorite animal. A couple of years ago I was so happy to get to ride an elephant in a natural environment when we visited Bali. I have collected elephant pictures, books, figurines, and stuffed animals. So she caught me off guard, again - it is her specialty - when she said she wanted me to take a picture of the Elephant from Monkey Dunk.

In case you are not familiar, Monkey dunk is a Milton Bradley game from Hasbro. It is sort of a take off from tiddlywinks. Each player is given four plastic monkeys (yellow, red, green, or purple).

These monkeys jump when you push on their backside. It is a little tricky for small fingers, but with a little hand over hand and encouragement I got the four year old twins jumping monkeys in no time.

The object is to jump your monkeys into the swimming hole. The elephant guards one of the swimming holes, and also acts as a timer for the game. When you push the bottom of the elephant in it sets a spring that slowly unwinds and then...POPS! When the elephant pops some of the monkeys jump again. Each player counts how many of his monkeys end up in the swimming hole and takes a banana token for each swimming monkey.

The bonus of getting this game out to take photos of the Elephant is that the kids are all now happily playing monkey dunk while I write the post. It's a super fun win,win, win.

To see other Excellent Excerpts on E click here.

Disclaimer: in case the spontaneous nature of this post wasn't clear enough...no compensation (except laughter and fun times) was provided by Hasbro for this advertisement. Good deal for them, no? 

D is for Dresser

When I asked the child for a letter D object to photograph she immediately said, "Dresser!" I'm noticing that she basically looks around and says the first thing she sees that starts with the letter of the week. I may have to be more careful of her surroundings when I ask her for a word! Luckily her Dresser is not looking as bad as it sometimes does. I just cleared it off and "reorganized" it a little over a week ago.

To be fair, this is one of the few places the child can put things that she doesn't want her siblings to mess with. They can't quite reach up there yet, and it is certainly out of sight for them, so they usually ignore whatever is up there. These may be among her most prized possessions.

The jewelry box on the right is a music box with lots of little drawers to hide treasure in. You may also see her John Lennon glasses, her "fossil" and clay fairy that she made in 2nd grade, and her cherished "Squinkie" salon play set. Less important (to her) the clothes stowed inside. The purpose of the dresser in her mind is to protect her special things.

Where is your treasure?

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." - Jesus

(Matthew 6:19-20, NIV)

I know you want to delve into more dutiful D delicacies, so click here.

C is for Cup and Cop

I'm continuing the alphabet series with the child's input on what I should photograph and write about as we work our way through the alphabet. This week is Crazy with the end of the school year upon us, so I'm a little late, but this is what she came up with.

When I asked her for a C word she was getting ready to go outside with Daddy. So maybe Daddy was just on her mind. His cup was sitting on the table nearby, and that settled it. "Cup," she said, "Daddy's Cup." and then she had second thoughts...

"I can think of another C word, Mom - Cop. But there aren't any cops here to take a picture of." (Thank Goodness.) After a few minutes of pondering she went to the box where our train set pieces are and found this police woman. "Here's a Cop, Mom."

I think it's fun that the character is a police woman. I want my girls to grow up knowing they can do any job they set their hearts and minds to. I also think it's fun that these are both that cobalt blue color that I love so much.

Daddy complains that this "cup" is more of a glass, but we'll just let that slide for now, 'mkay?

For a Complete Cast of C Compositions, visit this link!

B is for Blanket...and book

I almost forgot to ask the child to tell me something that starts with B that I could take a picture of. When I remembered, she was already snuggled up with Daddy for Bedtime Stories. When I asked she said, "Um..." and in the intervening pause I gave her a suggestion (Bad Mommy...) I'll include my suggestion below because I'm so dang proud of it, but first, I'll show you what she came up with on her own several minutes later. She finished her story with Daddy and came out to the kitchen to tell me she had thought of another idea for B, "Blanket! My Rainbow Blanket." Since the Blanket is a bedtime must I had to take a quick photo and pop her Back into Bed.

Her "Rainbow Blanket" is another gift from Grandma. Noticing a trend here? I think she got it when she was one. She is now eight and she still loves it and takes it everywhere except camping. She doesn't want it to get dirty so camping is not an approved activity. I love the Noah's ark imagery. She loves it because it is colorful.

What I had suggested to her is Book. She was very excited that she got to bring home her Poetry Book from second grade yesterday. She had been looking forward to this project since we toured the second grade classes on open house night about a year ago. Writing has been an increasing challenge for her, but her teacher says that poetry was very encouraging for her. Maybe because it is short. Maybe because poetry is unconventional anyway. Maybe she just likes the "free spirited-ness" of it. Her dedication at the beginning of the Book says it all "I dedicate my poetry book to my mom and dad for letting me do what I want." So here are some pictures of the front (left) and back (right) covers of her Book. They were asked to decorate the covers with fireworks and these were her original creations.




And one sample of her poetry... (a color poem)

Red is a smooth brick.
Orange is the cap on the glue.
Yellow is the bright sun.
Green is the field grass.
Blue is the cold ocean water.
Purple is a sweet plum.
Pink is the evening sunset
Gold is some autumn leaves
Peach is some skin.

Yes, this girl loves her colors!

 

To see the other B posts don't

forget to visit the Linky List here!

A is for Apron

I am trying something new for a while. A friend of mine suggested taking a blogging break. It seems my kids need me more right now and blogging is (sadly) the most dispensable of my activities. I think my official sabbatical will be June and July, but I'll be "winding down" a bit in May...moving away from the heavy hitting. I am going to TRY to keep up with alphabe-Thursdsay each week, but I'll be keeping it simple (what else) and hopefully giving you a little glimpse into the child's brain at the same time. Each week I will ask her to help me find an object in our house that starts with that week's letter. It has to be a physical object that I can photograph, and they will all be her ideas. Disclaimer - photographer I am not...

When I asked her to help me think of an A word, she said, "How about apron?"
"Which one?" I asked (we have several.)
"Mine. Yours are all boring!"

I see. So here is a hastily snapped photo of her apron, the one her dear Grandma sent. We use it for baking and also for art projects. I love that it is wipe-able. She evidently finds it non-boring.

To see the other A posts, click here.

It's Raining...finally

Here it is January, and the dreaded rain has finally come, only now that it's so late to show up it's more to be desired than otherwise. The only thing I like less than a Rainy Winter is a Droughty (is that a word?) Summer. I don't know if the rain is here to stay or not. I know the forecast for the next few days is wet. More than a few days "trapped" Indoors and my kids start to get out of whack - and so do I - "Cabin Fever" at its worst. So I thought I would brainstorm for myself, if not others, what we can do on these lovely wet days in front of us...besides watch TV, I mean. Meanwhile we're celebrating the letter "I" because it is time for another round of:

Imbibe games. We got some really lovely preschooler friendly (no reading, no complicated rules) games for Christmas and Birthdays this year. We already had Candy Land, Shoots and Ladders, and Cootie. Now we have Hi-Ho Cherry-O, Monkey Dunk, and Don't Break the Ice added to our collection. We also have a couple of "concentration" games. These are all easier for the child to master, too, and she loves to be In charge of the game. The kids love to play these and usually once I get them started I can even sneak out for a round or two.

Invest in puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles are great, too, for problem-solving, visual-motor coordination, fine motor skills, and ample opportunity to layer on the praise and self-confidence. They require a little more supervision around our house since my kids love to mix the pieces together and use them as mini-frisbees and such. Keep an eye on all of this.

Images in paint. My new favorite art activity for the kids is watercolor. With a heavy, broad-bottomed cup of water an inexpensive brush, and some paper - scratch or otherwise - some pretty impressive art can occur with minimal input from Mom. Clean up is pretty easy, too. Rinse the brushes and throw the cups into the dishwasher. Put the masterpieces somewhere to dry and voila, we're ready for the next activity.

Investigate outdoors. At the first signs of rain my kids are usually eager to get out in it, believe it or not. The sensation of fresh water bouncing off their skin is Irresistible, it seems. Last I checked children don't melt. We have nice raincoats and boots that were just made to get wet, and even if their regular clothes get a little wet, what's another load of laundry compared to some fresh air and exercise?

If it sounds like I'm giving myself a pep talk, I am. I've mentioned before that the long rainy days of Winter can get the best of me. This too shall pass, but until it does, I want to remember these gray days as opportunities to make fond memories, not as days endured with clenched teeth.

Got any more Ideas for me? Please pass them along by clicking on "comments" below. Thanks! Don't forget to check out the other creative "I" riffs here.

Fallen Stars

I scrunched along the sidewalk with my littles this morning, trying to enjoy the forced march from our light rail system to our home after dropping the minivan off for repairs. The kids were thrilled to see autumn leaves littering the sidewalk. I don't mind autumn too much, but I dread what comes after. Winter for us means rain, and lots of it...cabin fever with three children is not high on my list of enjoyable activities...so every pile of autumn leaves carries with it a sense of impending doom.

photo by Anja Jonsson via Flickr

As we shuffled along crunching leaves underfoot one leaf grabbed my attention. A bright red maple leaf somewhat separated from its mates lay in stark contrast with the dark gray cement of the sidewalk. It looked for all the world like a bright star fallen to earth. I started to look around me more carefully, the wonder of a child renewed in my heart. No wonder my dear hearts like to scoop these up by the handful and carry them home where they sit in one place or another, first beautiful then slowly decaying into brown bits of dust that I scoop up and toss in the mulch bucket. Reds, yellows, and oranges each carrying a bit of heaven to our feet. We can carry the stars in our hand, just like a child, if we will open our eyes.

I am linking up with Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday fest, except it's Autumn break, so no letter this time around, just the prompt: Autumn Colors. What's Autumn like in your neck of the woods? Head over to Jenny's to see the vast palette of colors He has given us to enjoy this season.