Tricks and Toons

FAIRY FLYBY: This morning, Annabelle was happy to find the Tooth Fairy paid a visit last night. This time the Tooth Fairy left a letter in addition to some cash. That was a first.

HMM...: I'm sure you're just dying to know how our Triops growing experiment is going. Wish I had something positive to tell you, but the fact of the matter is, there's nothing to report. Right now it still looks like small bark chips floating in distilled water. No sign of life at all.
We're trying to stay positive. The directions said they'd hatch "with in a day or two." It's been a day. And a half. Hopefully (sung to the tune of "Tomorrow" from Annie):
The Triops will come out, tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar, there'll be some. ...

ISLANDERS: We continued our exploration of tricksters in literature. Today's readings (all from Virginia Hamilton's "A Ring of Tricksters") were three tales from the West Indies. The gullah speech took a bit getting used to, but in the end it certainly made for more authentic sounding trickster tales.

In each of the three stories, one of the lead characters was a spider, Anansi (from the African word Ananse, meaning spider).

FREE READING: CJ spent some of his free time today reading "Nintendo Power" magazine, which is no great surprise. However, he also curled up with "Popular Science" for about a half hour on the couch. Nice!

GAME O' THE DAY: Our discovery of the day was ToonsTunes.com. It's a relatively new Web site, describing itself as a place where kids can experience music, create music and share those creations, play games and make friends.
Though it's nowhere near as big, it reminded me a bit of Club Penguin or ToonTown in that there are several places you can visit on a map, and in each place (everything from a music store to ). The site is in a trial period, and CJ and Annabelle are more than happy to be beta testers.

My favorite part of the site is where the kids can create songs by combining hundreds of different guitar and bass riffs, drum tracks, keyboards and more. They can even adjust the tempo and key. Here's a link to one of CJ's songs, "Mega Ultra." And here's a link to one of Bee's, "First Song." (After you follow the link, give the songs a second to load.)

Annabelle's favorite part of ToonsTunes.com is the social networking aspect. Her buddy list is already bulging and I heard her complaining that she can only be a member of 5 bands. I watched her chatting with a 'friend' who was complaining about their account getting hacked (Annabelle advised her to change her password). I saw that the girl typed back, "Your a nice friend." (At least hopefully it's a young girl ...)

RAISING HAPPINESS: Mothering, good and bad, has been a hot topic here in the staff room at MPA this week. This morning, I came across a sane, humane sounding counterpoint to the inflammatory Wall Street Journal story about "Superior Chinese Mothers."

The article, on the Huffington Post, was by Christine Carter, PhD, author of "Raising Happiness." In it, Carter points out that three decades of research "clearly suggests that such a narrow focus on achievement can produce wildly unhappy people." She also points out that "we are a country full of high-achieving but depressed and suicidal college students, a record number of whom take prescription medication for anxiety and depression."

While we're on the topic of good/bad mothers, we can't forget the horror show that is "Toddlers and Tiaras." I've never watched a full episode, but I've seen tons of commercials and enough of it to conclude the mothers portrayed on the show are fruitcakes at best, potential child abusers at worst. Case in point - here's a lovely video of a mother having her FIVE YEAR OLD daughter's eyebrows waxed.

Unfortunately, Annabelle saw the first part of this and she practically started hyperventilating. :/

BONUS SHOT: I swear, Kirby was just begging me to take her picture today. So I did. Hmm, now that I think about it, Kirby looks like she needs her eyebrows waxed. ..

Falling Arches

ROUND TWO: We got the tank ready two days ago, but I've been putting off pouring the Triops eggs in because, well, I'm afraid of another failure.

As you may recall, we managed to kill and entire Sea-Monkeys colony in less than 24 hours in the not too distant past.

However, we can't just have the tank sitting there forever, filled with nothing but water, sand and a plastic castle. So this morning we took the plunge.

Precisely per directions, we poured one half of the eggs into the tank. And now, we wait. The directions said they'd start hatching in the next day or two.

Fingers crossed. ...

MORE TRICKSTER TALES: This morning we started a new book, Virginia Hamilton's "A Ring of Tricksters." This 111-page book has animal takes from America, the West Indies and Africa.

Today, we read four tales from America. The animals featured included a rabbit, an alligator, a buzzard, a wren, a cat, a rat, a fox and a wolf. There were tricks aplenty, as well as morals to the story. In one, the moral was "Bruh Flop ears is always asking for help. Then he helps himself!" In another, it was, "Never call in a bigger rogue to add, subtract and divide for you. For there's always less than honor among thieves."

WITHOUT WORDS: We also "read" a book called "Time Flies." Before I opened its cover, I asked the kids, "Do you think a book can tell a story without using any words?" They were skeptical.But together we paged through the book. When it was over I gave them a sheet of paper and asked them to write the words describing what it was about.

CJ wrote, "There once was a bird. He/she went to the museum. The bird thinks the dinos are real."

Annabelle wrote, "It's about a little bird traveling through time. Characters: Bird, dinos. The bird flys into a museum then travels in time to when the dinos were alive!"

I pointed out to the kids that oftentimes animation tells a story without words, and I turned to YouTube. There, I showed them three funny shorts in the "Simon's Cat" series. This one was CJ's favorite ...

ON THE INSIDE: CJ asked if he could check out Capcom's Web site, as he was curious about a new Mega Man game coming out. We checked out the fan forums and official Capcom blogs, and didn't find a specific answer to his question, but we did make another amazing discovery. We found photos of some cool sculptures people had created doing cutaways of oversized video game character toys. We found one of Mega Man, revealing his robotic inside; a neat-o one of Mario, guts and all, done by artist Jason Freeny, and then we hopped for Freeny's Facebook page where he posted a step by step of a Yoshi statue.

WADDLE, WADDLE: We headed to the Seattle Children's Museum this afternoon for Art Club. Imagine our surprise when we found out the museum was celebrating National Rubber Duck Day today.
We were there just in time for a Ducky parade. The kids were all issued blower beaks (courtesy of Ride the Ducks, a super fun city tour/attractions). And so a couple dozen kids waddled and flapped through the museum. We had to cut CJ and Annabelle's waddling short, so they could make their way over to Art Club on time.


CASTLE HASSLE: Today's advertised theme at Art Club (a one hour workshop that's free with museum admission), was building a castle. When we checked in, the two women leading the workshop both told me that I didn't need to stick around, that I could wander the Museum, but I had to stay on site. I found that kind of funny, because like your average adult is just dying to get time in the Children's Museum alone. ;) My first inclination was to stay in the room, but I reminded myself I don't need to be hovering over the kids all the time. That said, part of me thinks I should have gone with my first inclination. ...


I sat outside the workshop, surfing the Web on my cell phone. About 25 minutes into class, I notice CJ is roaming the room, definitely not castle building. I decide that would be a good time to check in. ... When I went in he was teary and stiff postured. Everyone else was sitting around a table, trying to build an arch out of croutons and clay - an odd combination, to be sure. And one that didn't work well for any of the kids, might I add. The crumbly croutons did NOT stick well to the terracotta clay. CJ was super frustrated, which I get, but his reaction to that frustration (tears and belligerent "I quit!" type talk) was completely unacceptable. He was acting about half his age, maybe less. We had a little Talk and I worked with him to try to build an arch, but honestly, it was an impossible task given the materials at hand. I told CJ it's not that he can't build an arch, it was just that these materials were troublesome. I told him we could have all sorts of fun building an arch out of marshmallows and toothpicks at home.


The next task at hand was drawing a castle. CJ's creative juices had pretty much run dry during the arch debacle. All he drew was a door. However, as we talked about his door, he explained it was a door to "a magical, mystical castle." I asked who lived in the castle and he said it was a fierce dragon. I asked how people get into the castle (hoping he'd draw a door knob or something) and he said they don't. :) I suggested that maybe people tunnel in. At that, I was told the castle has a metal floor. He did finally decide that smoke from the dragon's fire breath might be leaking out from around the door, so the castle did get that bit of embellishment. (Bee's is left, CeeJ's is right.) Once art was over, the kids had lots of fun in the museum. They spent a lot of time in the multi cultural villages - especially in the Japanese house, where Annabelle whipped up "sushi soup" and they enjoyed it sitting on pillows at a low table, Japanese style. Before leaving we also swung through the theater - an exhibit we'd never seen before. The kids had fun operating the backdrops and curtains and the theater lights. Here, CJ's commanding the stage. ..

Spinning

Photo by Joe Stockton

TASTES LIKE CHICKEN: We started our day with a delightful book called "Love and Roast Chicken - A Trickster Tale from the Andes Mountains."

I plucked it off the library shelves because I knew the kids had recently heard trickster raven tales during their Native American unit at Musikgarten. I thought it would be nice to augment that with a trickster tale from another culture.

The fantastically told and wonderfully illustrated story was about Cuy, a guinea pig, who kept getting the best of a fox. Near the end of the tale, a local farmer is angry with Cuy for tricking him, too, and threatens to feed him to his daughter.

The kids recoiled at the thought of eating guinea pig, but as the author explained, it's not uncommon in some places in South America. I was very happy to have a more personal example to use with the kids, telling them about our family friend Joe who just got back from the Andes. I was able to show them Joe's 100+ photos of the trip on Facebook. There are lots of stunning shots of the Andes, but there were several photos of one of the unique meals he had while there. Photos by Joe Stockton
It was really great to be able to tie "Love and Roast Chicken" to their music lessons and into a geography/social studies lesson. I also found a great teacher's guide online for the book (PDF here) and used some ideas from it.

The kids each took and aced Accelerated Reader tests on the book. They're piling up the points and have visions of prizes in their heads.

CHARTS: We had science homework to do before class this afternoon. The kids were a bit surprised when it ended up being very math homework like. ;)

Last week in class they made mobiles. The homework was a worksheet with a picture of a couple of mobiles and questions about how many pieces of each component (paperclips, rubber bands, straws, cards) a class would need to make the mobiles.

I told them that the best way to tackle the problem was probably by being organized. So, we created charts and plugged our data in and then the calculations were pretty straightforward.And in case you're wondering, that's chocolate frosting on Bee's cheek. (Scientists and mathematicians have to eat, ya know!)

TOPSY TURVY: After noon we were off to Shoreline for science. It's always fun wondering what we'll be doing in class. Today, it was all about tops.

Initially, the kids were given thin straws, some wheel shaped weights and told to make some tops, and that's just what they did.

CJ LOVED this activity. He was inventing all sorts of games (battle tops, obstacles courses) with the tops. Good times!

After class, we headed to the cafe area for some popcorn. The was plenty of popcorn but no bags to put it in. So, we borrowed some plastic cups from the cupboard and the kids sat and ate their popcorn while watching "Bob the Builder" with some classmates. That was nice.

ANCIENT CHINESE SECRET?: There's a story taking the Internet by storm right now. It popped up on three different educational lists I subscribe to, and one friend emailed it to me. It's an opinion piece by Amy Chua, a Yale law school professor, extolling the virtues of "Chinese" mothers. It starts with her list of things her daughters have never been allowed to do: "attend a sleepover, have a playdate, be in a school play, complain about not being in a school play, watch TV or play computer games, choose their own extracurricular activities, get any grade less than an A, not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama, play any instrument other than the piano or violin, not play the piano or violin."

And she's just getting started.

It's a looong, inflammatory (IMHO) article that outlines the writer's opinion that Western parents breed and a traditional Chinese mother's approach is better.

My overriding thought when reading it is, "Wow. I'd hate to be one of her kids!" My second thought is that she is hoping to sell a boatload of her new book "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" by being controversial.

I'll admit, there were a couple of minor things she said that I agree with - things like I don't think all the kids on the last place team should get trophies just because, and I do think the parents need to act like parents and make decisions for their kids, BUT for the most part I thought her approach to parenting sounded downright abusive!

One of her claims: "What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it," hence her young children being forced to practice violin or piano for three hours a day (even depriving them of food or bathroom breaks if they can't PERFECT a piece). She claims, "To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences."

I just don't agree with the second half of that. Yes, you have to work at things to be good at them, but I don't think kids on their own "never want to work." I've seen kids work extremely hard on things especially when it's something they have a passion and affinity for.

Another ridiculous claim: "If a Chinese child gets a B—which would never happen—there would first be a screaming, hair-tearing explosion." First of all, yes, of course it could happen and second, whose hair is being torn by whom?

And lastly, she derides activities like sports and drama and claims "no Chinese kid would ever dare say to their mother, 'I got a part in the school play! I'm Villager Number Six. I'll have to stay after school for rehearsal every day from 3:00 to 7:00, and I'll also need a ride on weekends.' God help any Chinese kid who tried that one." How funny that she has no clue that Villager Number Six would be the lead role. ;) What an idiot.

Call me crazy, but "joy" and "fun" are purposely built into our schedule here at MPA. I suppose that means CJ and Annabelle are destined to be horrible failures by "Tiger Mother's" measure. ...

Snowy Eve

NEXT VICTIMS?: Today we started down the path of another science experiment. This time we'll be trying to grow "prehistoric monsters" called Triops.

Our first steps today involved reading all the directions and setting up their tank (filling it with sand, water and their 'castle'). Tomorrow, we'll put the triops eggs in the tank and hope like hell we don't kill 'em all.
In reading up on triops, I learned that hundreds of thousands of them were taken to space on STS-121 in July of 2006. They hung out on the International Space Station for six months before returing to Earth in late December.

TAKE NOTE: Tuesday is Musikgarten day, so this morning we made sure the kids were caught up on their homework. They had to copy some note pattern cards into their workbooks, and locate those same note patterns in the song "Canoe Song."
MEGA MATH: Today we reached the end of Chapter 5 in the kids' math books. That meant it was time for a review exercise, which was four pages long and included addition, subtraction, some weight-related stuff, less than, greater than, multiplication and division. It was a bit daunting at first. "This is impossible," Annabelle whined.

"No it isn't, Annabelle. Nothing is impossible!" CJ said with gusto. And then they each powered through the pages and only missed one problem apiece. I was very proud of them.

HOW GOES IT: I realize we should have done some helicopter education ahead of their flight on Saturday, but figuring it was better late than never, today I found some great info - including an informative video on the How Stuff Works Web site.

ROOT, ROOT, ROOT FOR THE HOME TEAM: We spent a significant amount of time yesterday getting ready for the BCS (Bowl Championship Series) game last night, pitting Oregon vs. Auburn for the national championship. (I heard on the radio today that game was the highest rated cable broadcast EVER. Amazing.)


We cooked and decorated and cooked and then cooked some more. About the third quarter Annabelle handed Christian and me a note labeled 'privite' on one side. The other side said ...I thought it was pretty darn cute. :)


GREAT GAME: This afternoon Annabelle was playing with the wonderful Nintendo DSi XL. She was playing a Brain Age game - which is actually many games. And one of the games shows the player a list of words for X amount of time, and then the words disappear and the player has to write as many of them as they can recall.


SNOW GO: We very nearly didn't go to yoga today because snow was in the forecast for this evening and I reeeeally didn't want to be stuck up on Beacon Hill in a snowstorm. However, when 4 o'clock came and it was snow free, I decided to take a chance.


Mercifully, the snow held off until about 7 this evening, more than an hour after we were back home from yoga. The kids (and Christian) played outside in the snow for a good half hour - all after bedtime. But it was now or never, as the white stuff is supposed to disappear early tomorrow.

Up, Up & Away

CUTRATE COPTER: Months and months ago, there was a Groupon special offering a helicopter tour of Seattle for three for around $80. Not cheap, but a more than half off price, and a rare educational opportunity, I thought. And what I found especially intriguing about the deal was the helicopter pictured - it was the bright yellow copter we see flying over our house on a daily basis (sometimes multiple times a day). So, I bought it.

We sat on it and sat on it all summer long. And then all fall. And then winter came. And then I got the email that it was going to expire at the end of January. Yikes! Time to book a copter flight. Christian booked it for Saturday, the 8th.

We were sooo lucky. It ended up being mostly sunny on Saturday afternoon!

The liftoff point was right by Boeing Field. Christian and the kids walked toward the copter at about 3:10 and their liftoff was at 3:15. Here's a view of the cockpit ...

And here's a view of me filming them taking off ...
It didn't take long for them to disappear from my sight. ...


The flight plan was downtown, the stadiums, the Space Needle, Lake Union, University of Washington, Lake Washington, Ballard Locks and Ship Canal, Fisherman’s Terminal, Elliott Bay Marina. Here, they're heading over Lake Washington. The 520 Bridge is in the frame.
They flew over Sodo, including both stadiums. They could see the 68,000 fans in Qwest Field rooting the Seahawks on (to a victory)!
They passed downtown and the Space Needle.They flew over Gasworks Park ...
and Green Lake. They flew over Husky Stadium ...
and then westward, toward Ballard. Here's the Ballard Bridge ...
and the Ballard Locks. And here's the railroad bridge just west of the Locks.
They flew over Magnolia - including our neighborhood! The yellow arrow points to our house (the one with the copper toned roof). And here's "hilltop playpark," or Ella Bailey Park as it's more formally known.Puget Sound, Lake Union, Lake Washington, the ship canal - there sure is a lot of water around Seattle.

Needless to say, I was quite happy when I saw the yellow copter returning to the airport, my family on board.

Afterward, we headed over to the Columbia City Full Tilt to score some very limited edition Memphis King ice cream (peanut butter, banana, and chocolate covered bacon), in honor of Elvis' birthday. While there, the kids, of course, played all their classic arcade and pinball games.

A good day, indeed.