Kids Art: Recycled Wrapping Paper Thank You Cards

This is a fun and unique set of greeting cards we like to make at home after Birthday parties and Christmas and such where kids get gifts wrapped in wonderful wrapping paper.

Recently, we made this set of Thank You cards right after Og's birthday to write a personal note of thanks for all his friends who were able to come and celebrate his big day.

Items Used: Wrapping paper from the presents Og received, white glue (diluted), card stock paper, brown paper bag, scissors, glue stick, old flat paint brush, decorative edge scissors (optional)

1. Rip the wrapping paper pieces into smaller bits and keep handy in a basket/tray/container; this is the part Oggie enjoyed; some bits might not be as usable as others, in which case we use it for hand-made paper later, so, some sorting might be needed before step 3 below
2. Dilute the white glue with water - I just eyeball it - it should be thin enough to paint it on but not too thin that it soaks the paper and makes it buckle right away
3. On a card stock paper, generously "paint on" the diluted white glue, and before it dries, have the kids paste on the bits of colorful wrapping paper that was ripped and ready to go, till the whole cardstock paper is covered; allow to dry
4. Make cards out of  brown paper bag - simply cut the required size from brown paper bag, use decorative edge scissors to make it a bit more appealing
5. Cut out the dry cardstock paper (that was glued with colorful wrapping paper) into smaller shapes to fit on the brown paper card front - we went with simple rectangles; glue on with glue stick (Oggie works better with glue stick than white glue)

There you have it! A unique set of cards which will let the recipients of these Thank You note cards know how much we appreciate their thoughtfulness.

Of course, we do this with bits of tissue paper as well, and any other nice and colorful paper, and bits of hole-punched papers we didn't have the heart to throw away... 

Role Reversal

After a bountiful trip to the library, we came home laden with a dozen+ as-yet-unread books that seemed to promise hours of absorbed reading all evening and possibly well into the night.

Of course, I had to visit the in-house ladies' (and gents') room as soon as we got back, and left Oggie with the impossible task of arranging his subset of books in the order in which he wants to read them, while Ana, as is her wont, chose to ignore everything/everyone except the book in hand - which happened to be: The World's Most Famous Ghosts by Daniel Cohen, a hand-me-down from D.

Understandably, after a reasonably short few minutes, Oggie got tired of waiting for me and burst into the ladies' room declaring, "I stacked up the books, Mama, come let's read!" [shut door ≠ locked door]

And then realized I was in no position to emerge immediately and so took matters into his own hands: charged out of the room, came back with the Food for Thought by Joost Elffers/Saxton Freyman (which, incidentally, landed the coveted top-of-the-stack spot), parked himself next to me on the step stool and started reading to me by way of encouragement for my task at hand.

And, unlike my mom whose delicate sensibilities would require that she morally constipate herself under these circs., I maintained my relaxed meditative pose and enjoyed an innovative and funny book, knowing such moments can only happen with preschoolers.

Now, even though it leans towards the too-much-information category that I tend to shy away from in my posts, this déjà vu moment with recently-turned-four Og became rather priceless considering how vividly I remember Ana doing the same at about that age, and how our roles have reversed in this context.

And has also served to reiterate a parenting dilemma of accidentally setting a precedent.

Kids Art: Spring Chicks Collage

Feeling the irresistible urge to commemorate Spring Equinox in some way, I wanted to share this simple collage that kids and I made with our favorite textured papers, and a few other readily available materials at home. Arts/Crafts supplies are usually handy at home, all on low shelves for kids to reach and use at will.

What with being hit by a few storms back to back, and little snow flurries even though Spring is around the corner, I was looking to do something to lift our spirits, and this collage just suggested itself one wonderful night. (Boy am I glad I have the "Ideas Book" by the bed to jot down such things.)

Oggie made the background paper using his current favorite technique: Watercolor Plastic Wrap. I restricted the colors to the ones seen in the picture to keep the theme of Spring. Just mixed the 2 colors rather dilute and told him to do one color at a time, blue for the sky and blue+yellow for the grass/ground.

Ana helped with the Pom-Pom Chicks: Simply cut open a fat/large pom-pom so it has a flat side that makes it easier to glue it on the paper; plus gives a fluffy new baby chick look. Add eyes and beak and it is too cute to let go.

I did the eggs just for fun: card stock paper with designs using markers. Used a small piece of accordion-folded paper to 'pop-up' the eggs so it looks like the chicks are just hatching.

We were going to add on some strips of finely shredded tissue paper and yarn and maybe twigs from the garden to make a nest where the chicks are hatching, but, this looked simple and bright enough that we left it there.

I had a spare mat that I used to frame this work - it turned out rather cute according to the kids. I agree :)

Shamrock Run

Thanks to some wonderful friends whose enthusiasm was completely contagious, I signed up for the  Shamrock 5K Run (beneficiary Doernbecher Children's Hospital Foundation) way back in January when the New Year euphoria was powerful enough to shake me out of the inertia that the after-holidays season tends to put me in.

Well, we were expecting freezing weather, it did snow a bit today, didn't stick. But for the bit of rain which Portlanders don't seem to notice, the run was fun.

The sheer numbers was overwhelming - droves of runners - hard to push through and make a dash for the finish. (Not that I was in any condition to, of course).

Thankfully, 38 minutes after the start, I managed to cross the finish line in one piece, still breathing steadily and not anywhere near collapse (which I would have been had I undertaken this 5K venture 3 years ago).

I am not really a runner, although I'm working towards feeling comfortable enough with 5K to move on to 8K one of these days. I wanted to jot down this event if only to look back and motivate myself for the next event where I can hope to improve upon my performance if possible. And, considering I only started running reluctantly, when I ran out of excuses, about 2 years ago, I have a long way to go...

I met some awesome ladies/moms who run 15K without so much as breaking a sweat. I can only imagine the training and conditioning they must've undergone to get to that comfort level.

Being conscious and vigilant about privacy, especially others' and kids', I decided to blur the picture to keep others anonymous. Since a post feels incomplete without a picture, I desperately wanted to include this which a friend was kind enough to click  right before the run and share. I particularly liked the bright green shirts we sported for the Shamrock Run - and the bright green striped leg warmers which is covered by my long pants.

S is for Shamrock

S is for Shamrock : an Ireland Alphabet (Discover the World)
written by Eve Bunting
illustrated by Matt Faulkner

Discover the World series of books present some interesting notes about each country working through the letters of the alphabet from A to Z in each book to showcase the country's best features.

We've read a few books in the series. Some were more appealing than others to the six year old; and some were, to be honest, rather tiresome and contrived, possibly because it is not easy to find things that neatly present the letters of the alphabet while highlighting something interesting about the country..

B is for Bagpipes (Scotland), C is for Ciao (Italy), D is for Dancing Dragon (China), T is for Taj Mahal (India), and P is for Piñata are a few of the Discover the World books we've read so far, over the course of a year.

However, S is for Shamrock readily appealed to Ana. Possibly because she loves Ireland and Wales for some reason. Although the book did not garner repeat reads, it had some things that fascinated her, like: B is for Blarney Stone, F is for Fairy Rings, I is for Irish Wolfhound, L is for Leprechauns, O is for O' (O'Brien, O'Neill, O'Dea), R is for Riverdance and of course, S is for Shamrock.

I liked it right away possibly because the author - Eve Bunting - is one of my favorites. I have tremendous respect for her. As the notes at the back mentions, Ms. Bunting has published more than 250 books, many of which have won awards, voted by children. Honored with Pen International Special Achievement award for her contribution to Children's Literature, she was also named the Irish American Woman of the Year in 2002 by the Irish American Heritage Committee of New York.

The language could be a bit demanding for the 6 yo but it is a great exercise to get her out of her comfort zone. And she can easily follow along from context even if some of the expressions are new to her. For example:

I is for Irish wolfhound
The wolfhound is a noble dog.
He'll seldom gallop, prance, or jog,
but strides along with stately grace
befitting his exalted place!

Each double page spread is dedicated to a letter of the alphabet. One side has a verse about the featured item as above, while the other side of the page has a few paragraphs of descriptive text about that item. Reading this description helps understand the verse better, but can be omitted for younger audience.

For instance: on the I is for Irish wolfhound page, we read that
The Irish wolfhound is the tallest of all dogs....
Bred in Ireland to hunt wolves and giant elk, it could be owned only by kings and noblemen...
Strong and courageous, the hounds rode with their kings into battle...

and some more interesting facts which might not impress a very young reader but was quite interesting for me.

[image source: amazon.com]

Just another mundane moment, or two

I was busy in the kitchen one Saturday evening when the kids and D were watching a show on Ancient Egypt. Snatches of the narration was automatically forming images in my head as I went about getting dinner ready.

Considered one of the successful pharaohs of Egypt, Hatshepsut...

She was one of the most prolific builders, a fine warrior leading successful military campaigns...

Her step-son Thutmosis III led her army and was co-regent...

Thutmosis III was short, standing only five feet tall as his mummy reveals..


"Did he say tot-mozis? " I queried from the kitchen adding, "...doesn't sound familiar."

"Thutmosis, yes", D replied.

"Huh? Tot What again?"

"Thut mosis", D repeated a bit slowly and rather loudly.

Not to be quelled by a loud reply till I figured this puzzle out, I persisted with, "Tot moses? How is it spelled?"

"Bird Eyeball Bird Cleaver Fox..." D rattled off without pausing for breath as I keeled over with a bout of hysterical laughing fits.


D doesn't talk much. Not much at all. A few sentences a week is about as much we hear from him. A few necessary and terse sentences. Well, he is not home a lot. Or rather, he is not available for us at home a lot... keeps himself very busy...

Hmmm... this isn't going where I am headed.

Let me try again.

D is a man of few words, about as talkative and animated as a dormant lump of clay. I tell myself that Still Waters Run Deep, for what it's worth.

Wait. That wasn't that much better.

But, I best move on. This is no Tale of Two Cities and I am no C. Dickens with pithy lines.

The fact is, I grew up with a lot of talking and laughing in my family. My dad could've been a fine stand-up comedian - he finds humor in a lot of unlikely places and loves to make us laugh. Not just telling jokes, no. His turn of phrase, tone, accent all add up to quite a listening experience even when he is telling an everyday event, in just a few well-chosen words.

So, it is quite a bummer for me to not have that for my kids. My mom was never the jokester, she had her plate full, she had no time to be funny. And, I am not much of a joke-maker even though I do find some everyday things funny and laugh to myself.

I could ramble on pointlessly here, can't I? Especially if I am typing away late at night when kids are in bed...

Well, before it slipped my mind I wanted to chalk down a couple of random things D threw out last week that had me doubling over with laughter while fighting off an automatic stinging, "No, I mean..."

On Sunday, when kids were watching Land Before Time, I caught a particular scene where one of the creatures was falling down a cliff - a moment calculated to be full of suspense and drama no doubt - is he going to crash to death down below? How can an effective rescue be mounted at this impossible hour?

...when at the eleventh hour an arm shoots out and grabs the falling creature's arm, hanging precariously at the edge of the cliff while trying to pull up this downward-bound creature...

Of course, gravity and momentum being what they are, the rescuer at the edge of the cliff will probably hurtle down as well. Right?

I've seen this ridiculous stunt in so many action movies and it has managed to irk me so much that it pinched a nerve and made me blurt out, "But, that's just so insane! I wish they wouldn't perpetuate this nonsense..." all hot and bothered.

And, D quietly asked, "Insane? Which part? The cute talking cartoon dinosaurs? Or the daring rescue?"

I was in no position to answer him thanks to breaking out in convulsive giggles about my absurd reaction.

Well, as these moments are getting fewer and far between, I felt like I needed to record it here - an everyday moment made precious by just happening.

Kids Craft: "Pop-up" Penguin and Snowman Card

One mid-week night at bedtime reading  (which she does next to me on my bed while I read my book or knit or crochet, unless she requests that I read to her sometimes) she laid Ramona and Her Mother (the next book in the series she is currently into) down on the bed quite suddenly and reached for her "Ideas Book" and pencil which reside on the nightstand, always handy and accessible. You never know... some wonderful ideas have a way of popping into the head when in bed and it is a shame to not jot them down right away.

She scratched away with her pencil on the little Ideas Book, not letting me watch too closely. And then declared, "I had an idea for the card I wanted to make for Oggie's birthday, Mama, and I just had to write it down. I am going to make it this weekend and I didn't want to forget it."

Sure enough, she got to work that weekend - a weekend before Og's birthday - assembling the materials and shutting the door for that much-needed privacy to keep it a surprise for Og.

Of course, this closed-door policy is not for Mama: when I was in and out of that room quickly putting clothes away I glimpsed some salt sprinkling work going on; and when I was getting materials for my own project I noticed some cut paper of recognizable shapes; and when I went to get the puzzle that Oggie wanted to do I saw the assembly and gluing... so, although I tried not to peek, I couldn't miss it.

"So what? It's just a card", my mind tried to nay-say when I thought of writing a whole post on this. "It's not earth-shattering or uber-ingenious".

Why then have I dedicated a post to a simple card?

As I stared at the details and recognized the effort and was finally offered a few explanatory notes by Ana, I was touched by the thoughtfulness. Hopefully, Oggie gets to read this post when he is ready, and is able to better appreciate his sister's affectionate gesture someday, even if they get on each other's nerves and can't go 10 minutes together without being disagreeable.

1. The salt sprinkled painting is the background ice; not just a colored background.
2. The penguin pieces were cut out meticulously and assembled - the feet can be tricky to cut out.
3. There are 4 penguins as Og is turning 4: each penguin has only one word to say which makes up the message of the card.
4. And, not the least of all, the penguins are "pop-up" of sorts: a small accordion-folded piece of paper holds them up from the background giving the extra dimension!

She admitted that next time she would like to use a dark blue card rather than light blue as the salt-sprinkled icy terrain of the penguins are lost on this light blue background. Since we didn't have any dark blue, and white didn't seem special, she settled on the readily available light blue card seen here.

Oh, and the "pop-up" snowman says, "From: Ana" at the back of the card.

Ten Years of Cable-TV-Free Living!

A fine day few months ago marked the completion of 10 years of Cable-TV-Free life!

A little over a decade ago when we moved to this wonderful city, the other half and I were both unemployed, steeped in student loans, with zero savings to speak of. So we took whatever jobs we could find (including an unexpected stint at a pizza place).

Naturally inclined to frugal living - frugal, not miserly - we splurged on what we thought was important, conscious not to fret over a carelessly misspent penny.

That was the time we decided that Cable TV was a frivolous indulgence we didn't need.

And we've not regretted that decision to this day.

Of course, the trend of consuming home-entertainment has changed over the last few years with TiVo and streaming videos on the Internet. Gone are the days when getting popcorn ready, making sure the beer was cold, and bunking out at the coziest spot on the couch at the appointed time to watch a sitcom or drama show was the highlight of certain evenings.

As a student, I remember rushing over to a friend's house to watch Star Trek TNG or X-Files as a group, savoring the togetherness and the common experience. Today, I catch Jon Stewart on hulu in weekly doses and don't feel left out of the water fountain chats; and D manages to watch whatever interests him at his convenience on his handheld. Kids do get to watch PBS and some DVDs and Instant Play shows via Netflix - it has never been zero screen time for them - selective and specific, a balance of education and entertainment...

I am rambling...

I just wanted to dedicate a post to celebrate that decision we made a decade ago which has freed up endless hours for me to pursue my interests, enjoy the kids, manage my commitments, even if I feel disconnected as I didn't know what happened last night in Mad Men or Breaking Bad or Merlin or John Colbert. I can always find out 6 months later from a weekend of binge-watching :)

[p.s: I can't seem to write a post without having pictures in it, as if the pictures somehow emphasize and validate my thoughts... so I made one up in a flash thanks to free clipart!]

Oggie Turns Four

He is still the cuddly little ball of energy that he was a few days ago...

Nothing has changed visibly.

Not that I expected it to. But, he did.

And, that tells me how aware he is of this 'growing up' thing, and incidentally, of  birthdays.

My mind races to list all that he has learnt in the last year, and, so far in his tender years; it wants to share all the little things he does that seem thoughtful beyond his years; it tempers these rushes with the stark fact that kids around the world undergo this developmental phase- I did once...

But, that doesn't diminish any of his leaps forward which I quietly tuck away for recalling and reveling in later.

For now, just the strong involvement and drive he had for marking this special day when the earth has gone around the sun four times since his birth is all I want to savor here.

He zeroed in on the venue and manner of celebration with his friends - outside of school - very firmly requested it; repeatedly.

He picked exactly one thing he wanted as present, leaving no wiggle room for us. He graciously said he can wait for Santa to bring that present for him if he doesn't get it for his birthday.

As soon as he spied me hanging up the Paste Batik Birthday Flag a few days before the special day he knew the festivities have begun in right earnest.

He busied himself making some of the hand-crafted items that was to go into the goody bags; helped make the goody bags; drew/wrote a special message for his friends in a slip of paper (even if the said friends have no way of decoding this message); he remained positive and happy throughout the special day, and the days leading up to it.

He picked out trail mix, licorice sticks,and fruit leather - three of his favorite treats - to give his friends; made bookmarks to share with them; picked out brand new rubber stamps and color inks at the store to add to the goody bag.

Along with Ana, he helped make seed paper, much like we usually do the hand-made paper at home.

The watercolor plastic bag art paper he helped make a while back came in handy for making cute little 3"x3"blank cards for his friends, to go in the goody bag. He chose 4 basic shapes - circle, triangle, square and leaf; watched me closely as I cut them out; helped me paste them onto the card front; gave up following on the envelope-making, satisfied that the end-product was as we had discussed.

Excited beyond the acceptable scale, he managed to stay calm and composed all through his birthday celebration with friends, playing, chatting, eating and merry-making.

Was suitably thrilled and impressed with the Penguin Cake Pops that Ana (and I) wanted to surprise him with. And ecstatic at the Penguin cake (pictured at the top of this post) I made especially for him, considering how enamored he was of these tenacious flightless birds.

Was pooped out enough after a long day, ready for bed on his birthday night without a fuss.

But not before giving me a kiss declaring, "You are my love, mama", which naturally managed to melt my heart and ooze out my eyes...

Many Happy Returns of the Day, my cuddly-sweet love!

Kids Crafts: Rubber-stamped Fabric Goody Bags

Oggie was completely involved in preparing for his fourth birthday - from pinpointing the venue/activity to celebrate with his friends, to making the goody bags + some of the items that went into it.

We have quite a stash of rubber stamps. I chose one of the larger ones I had (the fish) to make it go faster, but, Oggie insisted on using the smaller bugs stamps explaining, "I want my friends to have bugs on the goody bag, mama. They will really like bugs and find it funny."

So we chose a few stamps we wanted to use; got some acrylic paints ready; and stamped away in two sessions over two different evenings.

Items Used: unbleached muslin fabric, acrylic paints, foam rubber stamps

1. Stamp the fabric
2. Hang it up for drying
3. Heat-set it by ironing on the reverse side
4. Cut to required size and sew, attaching a piece of ribbon or yarn to serve as a tie

I sorely missed my serger. What would've been a breeze turned into a bit of a challenging task as my sewing machine didn't want to co-operate initially. No matter. It all turned out acceptable anyway.

Kids Art: Textured Paper Bookmarks

It's no secret that we love making painted textured papers at home. The kids and I try various materials to create textures, and over time, I have settled upon a few trusted favorites to produce the effects we like and keep going back to: #12 flat brush, natural sponge, scrubber sponge, paint roller, toothbrush.

As always, any available paper is game, but a staple is the plain backside of used copy/print paper.

Anyway, this set of papers were such fun as Oggie was zooming on full throttle, raring to go: picked out the colors we should mix, settled at his table with a stack of papers and materials, ready to paint away.

I doled out some lightly diluted red, yellow, blue, and white tempera paints in small canning jars, as usual. And gave him one of my paint palettes to start mixing. We talked about what we wanted to use the textured papers for: to make fruits collage for the Bookmarks, something that celebrates books, and something that inspires...

Which helped us zero in on the colors we wanted to end up with during the mixing process - purplish blue for plums, orang-ish red for strawberries, orange for oranges,  green plus a bit of yellow for pears.

Now, we did toss around ideas for various fruits until we agreed on the fairly good-sized ones (I *might* have steered him a bit towards fruits that are easier to cut out and collage). Blue for blueberries was a given, but, little tiny blue circles seemed a bit tedious to cut out as I would be in-charge of the cutting.

Inspiration comes from many places and am sure we were strongly influenced by a firm favorite book on our bookshelf, which set the direction for our work.

After painting the papers, we set it out for drying; I cut out the shapes; Og helped glue many of them (not all) on to the bookmarks; I added a few words; and they were ready!

Except, we were using a couple and found that the precious fruits kept wanting to snag on paper; so we decided to laminate the bookmarks

A Story A Story

A Story, A Story
retold and illustrated by Gail E. Haley


Ever wonder where the stories came from - any story, all stories? And why Ananse, the spider man, seems to be linked and intertwined with all the stories we know today?

Once, long long ago, all the stories belonged to Nyame, the Sky God, who kept them locked in his golden chest. Ananse wanted the stories. He spun a web up to the skies and bowed before the Sky God and requested for his stories. Amused by this brazen display, the Sky God stipulates a seemingly impossible set of tasks, at the fulfillment of which the stories will be released to Ananse.

Anase, being a clever trickster, manages to accomplish the 3 tasks set by Nyame, the Sky God. And true to his word, the Sky God hands over the golden chest of stories to Ananse.

And as Ananse brought it back down to earth, some stories spilled and scattered, including the one you are now reading.

Having read quite a few Ananse stories, this was an interesting beginning/back-story for the 6 yo; the 3 yo liked it enough to request it for bedtime read several nights in a row, with his own commentary on the events, "Silly fairy. Dolls don't move, mama. Dolls don't talk either. The fairy is angry and is hitting the doll, that's not okay..."

The illustrations are unique, bright, and beautiful, with a distinctly African feel to them as the 3 yo said, "This book is from Africa, Mama. See the pictures? These are African pictures."

The woodcut illustrations in this book were cut and printed by Miss Haley, who researched African folklore for writing this book.


There are many African words in this story, and sometimes the phrases/words are repeated to show emphasis - for instance to say something is very very teeny tiny, they say "so small, so small, so small"... which resonated with me as this particular language aspect is present in my mother tongue,Tamil, as well, along with liberal use of onomatopoeic words in the vernacular.

Ananse ran along the jungle path - yiridi, yiridi, yiridi - till he came to Osebo the leopard-of-the-terrible-teeth.

It is raining, raining, raining. Should you not fly into my calabash...


The book reminded me of another favorite Why the Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears (Verna Aardema/The Dillons) published much later than A Story A Story, which retells another interesting West African tale.


[watch youtube video about this book]

[image source: gailehaley.com]

Happy WRAD 2012: World Read Aloud Day!

Since every day happens to be Read Aloud day at home, we are probably not doing anything special or different... Maybe we'll try to get the family together at the same time and take turns to read our favorite book(s)/page(s) aloud.

Maybe one of these days I'll get to volunteer my time elsewhere and read aloud to more kids than in my immediate circle...

Random tidbits...

... at home that made me smile, and sometimes, laugh out loud.

When D sincerely brought home Ramona and her Father by Beverley Cleary, the next one Ana was waiting to read in the series,  she absolutely refused to read it citing: 'The illustrations are weird and it makes me unhappy.'

Turns out D had picked up the version illustrated by Alan Tiegreen (orange cover) which is a bit quirky compared to the Tracy Dockray illustrations that Ana got used to with the first 3 books.

And, of course, the Tracy Dockray illustrated Ramona and her Father was devoured with pleasure when we managed to borrow it from the library.

Illustrations in chapter books are just as important, I guess... at least to a certain 6 yo.

[image sources: pueblolibrary.org, applebybooks.net]

---

Oggie, being close to four, loves a reaction; an especially hysterical and disproportionate one that his 6 year old sister manages to offer on a pretty consistent basis. So, naturally, when he is bored, he seeks out this form of entertainment, which is in endless supply at home. And that's when I get to hear:

" Ana! I farted in your room!"

"Ana! I pulled my undies down and sat on your bed!"

"Ana! Look! Your doll is naked now, I took off its clothes!"

"Ana! I took something out of your cubby - come and see!"

And it doesn't matter if all he took was his own pair of socks that he deliberately put in her cubby to take out and let her worry about it...

Well, of course, Ana gives as good as she gets, but in a more crafty way than I expect from the usually docile little girl...

---

"Mama, look! I made a cutie Spring mitten for Og. It even has a heart sewed on. I am going to make more and more of these. And then I want to sell them. How much can I sell them for, Mama? How about 10 dollars? Then, we'll have lots of money, and we can give some of it to kids who are hungry in the world."

"Why does everything say 'Made in China', Mama?"

"I really wish I get a guinea pig for my 7th birthday. A guinea pig and a dog."

---

I have this self-imposed restriction on things I should post here - rather, things I shouldn't: no detailed medical data that will compromise kids' privacy, nothing jarringly personal along the lines of 'too much information', minimal kids-say-the-darndest-things quotes, nothing negative, nothing controversial... I just want it to be a pleasant place I'd like to hang out in, a place where I can celebrate the positive things, the things we like as we take this journey of life together...

But then again, what are rules for if I don't break them every once in a while?! ☺

Happy Birthday, Dr.Seuss!

For the last few years, since kids arrived in our midst, Dr.Seuss has become a wonderful part of our family, much like he has become an honorary member of many families across the world.

A couple of years ago, I had asked my fellow contributors at Saffron Tree to share their favorite Dr.Seuss and it was a blast exchanging our best-loved books.

And, last year, I couldn't let the day go by without paying a simple tribute to Dr. Seuss who has given hours of joy to my kids and me.

One Fish, Two Fish by Dr. Seuss has been a consistent favorite with Oggie for the past couple of years, always choosing it as stand-by bed-time read from our bookshelf if the new set of books from the library didn't resonate as much.

In fact, I know it made such an impact when one fine morning Og wanted to make a book One Cat, Two Cats.

"I like the 'new fish', mama, he is such a cute baby", Ana states, while Oggie declares, "I like ALL the fish, mama", and adds, "I also like the mouse that cut the wire." As an afterthought, Ana mentions, "I wish I had the pet with blue hair that I can brush and comb".

I Wish That I Had Duck Feet is another favorite with both the kids, often sought from our bookshelf, inspiring them to come up with a few fun additions of their own, exercising their rhyming skills and of course also attempting made-up words.


I wish that I had yellow nose and I will tell you why
I'll think it is a banana and eat it up and cry.


Ana shares, "I like the part when he is in a cage with a lion", when Oggie interjects with, "that's when he is a which-what-who, mama, remember?"

McElligot's Pool, a classic Dr.Seuss, always drops me into the summer time calm of fishing and relaxing (even though I don't have summer breaks, or fish, or manage to relax), showing the promise of optimism.

Oggie simply loves the pictures in this book, all the different kinds of fish, and especially the one with the checkerboard belly.

Ana likes the eel with a head on each end; all of the book actually, although she cannot pinpoint what about it she likes the best yet.

With your wonderful meter and rhyme, those wacky made-up words, the silly creatures, and the beautiful messages in some of our favorites like The Lorax and The Sneetches, you have enriched our lives and inspired us to be more creative and enjoy the process. You are much-loved, Dr, Seuss!For that we are eternally grateful!

[image source(s): www.seussville.com, www.drseuss.org]

Diwrnod y Llyfr 2012! a Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus!

Happy World Book Day 2012!

Happy St. David's Day!

St. David, or Dewi Sant, the patron saint of Wales, was a 6th century Celtic monk, abbot and bishop.