Easy Does It

TOKYO ON NOTICE: Our Painted Lady butterfly larvae are growing at an alarming rate. (I have visions of them growing to the size of Mothra and conquering cities.) They're spinning silk and starting to hang out at the top of the habitat. I just know the Big Action (chrysalis to butterfly) is going to go down when we're in Florida. Bad timing on our part (my part, I mean). Sigh.

BOOK MOBILE: Today while Annabelle danced and pranced, CJ and I trudged to the library, Kirby in tow. I had a rather huge-ish bag of books today, as we were returning things due both this week and next (we'll be on a plane next Thursday!).

Of course CJ had to read the title of everything we were returning and offer a brief review, so the process took awhile.

The walk back to the community center was less arduous, and we took the scenic (and a bit swampy) route back, through the baseball and soccer fields. I gave Kirby the longest leash possible and she tore around like a greyhound.

MORE WORDS: Today we three worked on a pre-competition packet in preparation for the World Girl Definition Competition on May 11. The work included identifying synonyms and antonyms, and for one sheet, we had to write definitions for certain words. I asked the kids what kind of a book could help us with that. Annabelle remembered it's called a dictionary.

I pulled a pair of dictionaries off the shelves and asked the kids to find the words on the list. It became apparent quickly that we hadn't done any work with alphabetizing in awhile and boy were they rusty. We basically had to learn it all over again. (Obviously, I need to find excuses to have them use a dictionary more often.)

The first word CJ was looking up was "meteor." He finally found his way to the page where it should have been, but it wasn't there. What a LAME dictionary (Barnes & Noble Books publisher, if you're wondering). I don't think it had a single one of the words we were looking for. Sure, it had lots of pretty photos (taking up space where words should have been), but photos aren't going to help you learn to spell words. Thankfully, the book Annabelle was using (Scholastic Children's Dictionary) was a real dictionary.

PASS THE PB: After our vocab workout, we read "Peanut Butter Party" by Remy Charlip. There was so much NOT to like about this book, starting with its font which was IN ALL CAPS. GRANTED, THIS BOOK WAS PUBLISHED 10 YEARS AGO, BUT EVEN THEN ALL CAPS WAS CONSIDERED SHOUTING ON THE INTERNET. (See how annoying all caps is, and that's only one sentence?)

The book was subtitled "including the history, uses and future of peanut butter." After we read it, Annabelle was quick to point out, "It didn't do that." And she was 2/3 right. It did cover many many uses for peanut butter, but it sure didn't cover its history or future. (Wait, I take that back - on one page a character said "Peanut butter got started in 1809, when people needed something to keep their wigs on." The problem with this is a) it's not true, b) it's presented as fact and c) if it's an attempt at humor that's not clear, because this book isn't funny.

There was one part of this book that piqued all of our curiosities, however - a recipe for peanut butter play dough. We definitely want to try that in the future. (Heck, we would have tried it today, but all we have in the house is chunky peanut butter, and I think that creamy peanut butter is the way to go for that.)

While this book got 6 thumbs down from us, in his defense, months ago the kids and I read Remy Charles' book "A Perfect Day" and loved it.

We didn't do much more schooly stuff for the balance of the afternoon. CJ is still suffering from his cold - if it were a 'normal' school day, I would have kept him home.

YE OLDE CLUB PENGUIN: Big news in the Club Penguin world. From now through May 16, there's a Medieval Party.
There are special games with medieval themes the lighthouse has turned into a stone wizards castle and best of all (at least by Annabelle's estimation) there are fancy new Medieval outfits!

At one point I walked by today and noticed she (SweetAnnabee penguin) had on a new medieval looking dress. However, she was still rocking a shocking blue mop of hair from a previous incarnation. I suggested she might want to update her look and Annabelle said, "Oh, I know," immediately.

Sure enough, she was already flipping through her accessories menu. "I bought this to match," she explained, selecting a perfectly coordinated headdress. "If you have enough coins, you should buy both (the dress and the headdress) so that it's just right."

Just right, indeed. It's important for a medieval penguin to look the part, you know.

OUT OF AFRICA: I received an email this morning letting me know that a photo I took on an MPA field trip to the Woodland Park Zoo will appear "in an animal guide for children living in Rafiki schools in Africa."
Of course, this made me wonder, "What's a Rafiki school?" It took 5 seconds to get an answer (via the magic of the Internet). Love that they're helping orphans and widows. Bravo! Of course in the process, they're trying to turn them into "godly contributors in their countries."

"THE AUTIE ADVANTANGE": Thanks to a Facebook post from the folks at Social Thinking, I was pointed in the direction of an article in New Scientist about the advantages of autism.

The article points out that "People with autism are ... said to have weak central coherence - the ability to synthesise an array of information, such as verbal and gestural cues in conversation. In other words, sometimes they can't see the wood for the trees." However, the article later makes the point that "the flip side of an inability to see the wood for the trees is being very, very good at seeing trees."

An interesting perspective and an interesting article.

EYES TO THE EAST
The email updates from NASA and the Space Coast are nearly nonstop. This morning's news: "At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians working at Launch Pad 39A will replenish the liquid hydrogen storage tank and perform recharge operations for the gaseous oxygen."
The official mission countdown will begin May 11 at 4 p.m. That's when the big countdown clocks at the oceanside launch complex begin ticking backward from the T-43 hour mark. Woo hoo!

WORDS OF WISDOM: One of MPA's Facebook friends had this as their status today:
"You can either complain about the darkness, or light a candle. Your choice."