Magna Doodle

I didn't have Magna Doodle as a kid. It entered my life seemingly innocuously a few years ago as a present for the kids thanks to D... er.. Santa. It has given me, um... the kids, countless hours of fun.

Bah, I might as well come clean. Yes, I love it. Have loved it since that first little strawberry shortcake one Ana had till this larger-than-my-laptop-screen one that Oggie can't seem to get enough of. And it seemed about time I accepted and acknowledged it duly. Why else would I dedicate a whole post for it, right?!

Initially, the physics behind it fascinated me, but nowadays, just doodling on it feels like a much-needed relaxation technique.

Anything magnetic works, and that's the best part for me and the kids. Ana used to write "messages" for us with the Melissa & Doug™ Wooden Magnetic Letters that somehow always littered the floor near the fridge or dishwasher rather than adorn the said appliances.



When Oggie discovered he could use the Tow Truck from one of his wooden "puzzles" for drawing on Magna Doodle (as it has a little magnet to tow the other vehicles in that puzzle set), it didn't take him long to draw an Octopus with reasonable likeness. (Looks more like a spidery bug, but, Og insisted it was an Octopus, apparently, the missing legs/tentacles are behind him).



Ana had a lot of practice drawing and writing on Magna Doodle saving paper. Of course, the trouble was, if it was something particularly well-executed (in her opinion, at least), she wanted to "save it" - i.e., not erase it. Which was a bit of a problem.

"Mama, can you draw a rooster?", "Can you make the rooster run?", "How about a Polar Bear?" "I want a spider, with a web", "Is this a pollywog?", "Can you show me how to do a caterpillar?", "Can you write the letters? How about start with A?", "Can you draw a hexagon?", "How about a Brachiosaurus?", "I want to draw a silly face and angry face"...

Over the last year, I've spent quite a chunk of time drawing on the Magna Doodle for/with Og, and it hasn't gotten tiresome at all. So far.

Laying in bed this past weekend, with our temperatures hovering around 101°F, Oggie and I could only moan and whine till that latest dose of Ibuprofen allowed us to sit up in bed and try to find something to keep us distracted from our temporary agony.

Besides the Monster Trucks (Mark Todd), Little Blue Truck (Alice Schertle, Jill McElmurry), Cars & Trucks and Things that Go (Richard Scarry) that kept him entertained (and my throat abraded), Magna Doodle and Ed Emberley's Animals kept his spirits up.

I like that there are some shapes that came with it - circle, triangle etc., making it easy for a toddler to make a composite image without much effort.

Ana is slowly outgrowing the Magna Doodle, what with Mama's stash of various Wood Accents, Stencils, and Rubber Stamps offering fresh set of activities to explore. But, before Oggie outgrows it as well, I wanted to jot it down here.

smart traps

Most mornings, if you tuned into our home radio station, it will probably be broadcasting some version of me asking

"Ana! Inga vaa... put on your panties, please... Ana?, Anaaaa..."
(Inga vaa = come here)

To which, the wee little adamant voice would reply

"No, Amma, no, Ana no ishio gwisgo panties"
(ishio = eisiau = want, gwisgo = wear, in Welsh)

At which point, knowing I have the smartest trick up my sleeve, you'll hear me casually coercing one of our kitties, with not a hint of chuckle in my voice

"OK. Twt, Twt, come here Twt, you can put on Ana's panties... Twwwtt..."

When the said kitty Twt starts walking towards me, you'd hear frenzied tinkling of anklets accompanied by baby feet thumping, and a resolute Ana declaring

"No Tukkie, no! My! Not Tukkie's panties... Amma, Ana's panties, Ana gwisgo panties!"
(Tukkie = Twt, one of our kitties)

And you'll probably not hear the wonderful smirk I would be sporting, beaming with the Mission Accomplished feeling.

Of late Ana has learnt to say "My!" (mine) and somehow knows that it laid claim to whatever it is she is pointing to, holding, or trying to grab out of others' grasp...

Now, being the typical toddler with the implicit understanding that the whole world revolves around her needs, her likes, and her moods, Ana has had a little bit of a possessive streak in her. Which, as all smart mommies know, can be leveraged in several ways to get some desired constructive outcome, as demonstrated...

All would be fine, if only I hadn't realized what a trap my smart mind has set up for me to fall into down the road: we are trying to teach her to Share now, and my little trick has come back to bite me in the you-know-what!

So, next time you tune in, if you hear me asking

"Twt, Twt want to share panties?"

try not to laugh at me :-)

Am just another mommy trying to unlearn and relearn...

can't fool me, Amma

Ana likes to sit on her little potty every time we ask her about it. Or every time I need to use the toilet, she likes to follow me in and ape me.

She giggles excitedly when grabbing a long piece of toilet paper and throwing it in her little potty, which sits next to the big potty.

Then, she likes to pull the flush lever on the big potty when she is done pretending to do her business... she never has actually successfully deposited any droppings in her little potty so far.

All in good time.

What I find cute is, she now knows to pull her pants down and take off her diaper before sitting on her little potty. Hurray to elastic-waist pants. I am waiting for summer when i can let her run around in the buff so potty training will be even easier...

Of course, after declaring she is all done and jiggling the flush lever on the big potty, she wants "dye-po noudh" (diaper newdd, newdd=new in Welsh). She promptly opens the cabinet door under the sink, and throws her old diaper away clearly stating, "taash" (trash).

Perfect so far.

But, even if the diaper is quite unsoiled, and has just been put on her a few seconds before the potty visit, she wants to throw it away.

Being the penny-pinching (environmentally conscious) mom that i am, i tried to save the diaper before she threw it in the trash, in an attempt to use it again. (She does use cloth diapers on and off on weekends when we are at home...)

Anyway, so, I tried to sneak the few-seconds-old, barely-used, potentially-reusable diaper back into one of the closet shelves where we keep her diapering essentials. Well, seriously, it was bone dry, and i had just put it on her a few seconds before she decided to take it off... i wouldn't compromise hygiene, no way!

At diaper change time, I pulled out the barely-used diaper to put on her. She noticed that it was not quite brand new and started kicking up a fuss, repeating: "no, Amma, No. Ana ishio dye-po noudh" until i put on a spanking new one on her. (ishio=eisiau, Welsh for want)

Right after, she picked up the said barely-used one and took it to the diaper-trash-can and threw it in clearly stating, "Amma, ditty dye-po" (dirty diaper).

I laughed and let it go. But, made a mental note to fold and press the barely-used one next time so that it looked more like new. My mommy-brain reasoned that her main objection might have been to the fact that it was a little crumpled and didn't have the brand new look.

So, last evening, I tried the same trick again, when Ana took off her 2-second-old diaper... i folded it flat and brought it out to the changing-mat on the bed where i change her.

Of course, there is no fooling her!

Like she knew what I had been up to, Ana kicked and screamed, wouldn't let me put the barely-used one on, actually supervised me till i threw it away, and got on a brand new one!

She will be two in two months or so. And, I am trying as best as I can to encourage her to get potty trained... At this rate, we might be solely turning a profit for the diaper industry over the next few months...