What do you do with a tail like this?

[this post written for Saffron Tree]

What Do You Do With A Tail Like This?
(A 2004 Caldecott Honor Book)
by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page

Recommended ages: 4-7 years, read-alone
Suggested ages: 1-4 years, read together

Animals use their noses, ears, tails, eyes, mouths, and feet in very different ways. See if you can guess which animal each part belongs to and how it is used.

Thus starts this hands-on, clever, informative book of curious and rare facts about animals.

The book is beautifully illustrated using cut-paper art, presented as an interactive guessing game, with simple text that even wee little ones can follow along.

A set of animals are displayed in each double-page spread - well, mostly their body part relevant to the accompanying text is displayed first to encourage the little minds to guess. For instance, the first two-page spread shows zoomed in views of the noses of alligator, platypus, mole, elephant, hyena - with a simple question "What do you do with a nose like this?"

Part of the fun initially is to identify the various noses as belonging to the corresponding animals. The following page shows the animals in full form, with a brief sentence highlighting what each animal does with its nose.

If you are a platypus, you use your nose to dig in the mud shows an accompanying picture of a platypus sticking its nose in the mud.

Similarly, If you are an elephant, you can give yourself a bath with your nose shows an elephant splashing itself with a trunk full of water.

The answers describe how each animal uses that particular body part (be it nose, or ears, or tail, or eyes, or mouth, or feet) in a slightly differently way.

And so we embark on an interesting study of animals where we discover that some animals use their noses for digging, some use their ears for seeing, some use their feet to walk on water, some use their tails to sting, and some even squirt blood from their eyes.

For older readers, there is additional information on each animal at the back of the book.

Fascinating facts about amazing animals, presented with wonderful visuals through rich cut-paper illustrations in a child-friendly way seems to be the hallmark of author/illustrator Steve Jenkins books. He has published many successful nonfiction books about animals for children like Move, Biggest Strongest Fastest, Animals In Flight, Slap Squeak and Scatter: How Animals Communicate.

And, sure enough, What Do You Do With A Tail Like This? has become one of Ana's favorite books over the last week or so since we brought it home from the library.

Her favorite animal in the book happens to be "sticky feet gecko" apparently because it can walk on the ceiling - and walking on the ceiling happens to be Ana's new favorite thing to do, thanks to her dad holding her up, upside down, so she can pretend to walk on the ceiling - a trend that started with Dr.Seuss' ABC book:Camel on the ceiling C...c...C... :)

One more use for the ubiquitous battery...

Of all the zillions of uses that the regular household batteries are put to, all well-designed and intended to power various gadgets and such, we didn't think it would come in handy to teach a valuable fact of life to Ana - viz., death.

A few days ago, Pugly II, our resident Plecostomus decided to call it quits. D found the poor creature floating belly up one night and promptly fished it out and flushed it. The little school of goldfish in our aquarium didn't seem to miss him much.

Now, Pugly I, the predecessor, lived a full algae-sucking life in our little aquarium till a ripe old age (whatever that is for his species) and quietly left us. Ana was too young to notice (or count) at that time, so, his demise went unnoticed by her.

However, with Pugly II, she seemed to have formed a strange bond: on and off, she would stop to notice where he is hiding in the tank. Pugly II liked to attach himself to the back of this black tube/filter in the tank and sort of blend in and remain there until it was dark enough for him to comfortably move around and suck on the algae. And, Ana liked to count and verify that all our fish are alive and accounted for in the tank.

I had hoped that before she noticed Pugly II's absence, we could replace him with a Pugly III and all would be well, except maybe some irksome questions about why he shrunk a bit overnight...

No such luck. Next morning, Ana noticed that Pugly II was missing and started questioning persistently, refusing to be distracted by anything I could come up with. So, I conveniently oiled out of the Big Lesson About Death by declaring casually, "Appa took it away, Ana... I don't know...".

She repeated it after me perhaps to convince herself that this is an acceptable answer for now, "Appa took it away, Amma... yeah."

When D came home later that day, she ran to him squealing as usual, "Appa is here, Amma... Appa is here!" and parked her cute self on his lap regally.

"Where's the fish, Appa? Where's the black fish?", she promptly questioned.

"He died, Ana" replied D in his blunt, matter-of-fact tone.

"No Appa, black fish? Where did the black fish go?" she persisted.

"Oh, umm... I told her you took it away..." I interjected helpfully, catching a raised brow shot in my direction.

"Oh. I had to throw him away, Ana, in the trash. He was dead", explained D sincerely, while rolling his eyes discreetly at me for the applesauce I had fed her.

"Uh-Oh. Appa threw it away. In trash. Why did you throw the fish away, Appa?", she grilled doggedly, "dead" not being a part of her vocabulary till now.

"Umm... let's see... You know how your guitar stopped making music? and we saw that the the guitar's batteries were not working anymore? Well, the fish's battery was not working anymore. His battery stopped working, so he died." ventured D, by way of a profound explanation.

"Fish's battery was not working. Fish died" she repeated, turning it over in her head, just a tad unconvinced.

And before she could ask why we didn't try inserting new batteries like we did with her guitar, D went over to put on some cheerful music, her current favorite, and let her process the information in due time... and, thereby allowing himself a chance to think of a suitable response for that impending question.

Blue Moo: 17 Jukebox Hits From Way Back Never

Blue Moo: 17 Jukebox Hits From Way Back Never
by Sandra Boynton

Sandra Boynton's books are clever and usually quite well-received by Ana. But, I wasn't quite sure if this particular book and CD set would be well-received, considering that the book is a bit... ummm... how shall I say... different?

I was not prepared for the sweeping endorsement for the music CD that came with the book though. It has gotten to a point of becoming an obsession with Ana. I am not sure what exactly she loves about this Blue Moo... especially since it seems to be geared towards older readership... looks like Everything about it is fascinating to my wee little 2¾ year old!

So much so that, even during the short ride to daycare each morning, she insists on listening to her favorite number(s) by The Uninvited Loud Precision Band on the music CD. Since D taught her to simply call it "March", after the style of music it is reminiscent of, the minute Ana is strapped in the car seat, she squeals repeatedly, "Appa, March! March, please!" until we play the CD. In repeat mode, of course :)

Now, I am trying to convince myself that it is the overplaying, but somehow, the boisterous, loud, catchy, upbeat numbers by The Uninvited Loud Precision Band as they parade (uninvited, of course) through your living room, your kitchen, your grocery store aisles (alphabetically marching from Rows A through Z) has become my reluctant favorite as well.

And, when we do play it at home, she marches around in circles till she is almost sweating from all the exertion!

Never thought she was one for old surf music, but, all on her own, after listening to it a few times, Ana picked up the title words to Speed Turtle sung by Brian Wilson (Beach Boys!) and started practicing it as a duet, with D or I supplying the rest of the few lines we know while she strategically blurts out "Speed Turtle" at the right pauses we make in the rendition :)

We don't get to play much of the other songs in the CD as Ana prefers to be stuck in a loop that repeats the 3 or 4 pieces by The Uninvited Loud Precision Band...

Thankfully, the book/CD is due back at the library soon and I am hoping to get some respite, and finally erase the constant replay of it in my head all through my work day!

"i do it!"

"I do it!" happens to be Ana's favorite phrase these days. And sure enough, she means it. She wants to do everything... well, almost everything... by herself and gets very upset if we try to help! I wonder if I was as independent as she is at 2¾ ...

She insists on dressing herself: she knows which of her cubbies hold the tops, bottoms, socks, panties and tights. And, I made sure they are within her easy reach to encourage her. Easily dictated by her moods (which change by the minute, of course), she manages to put on her overalls, or skirt and tights, or pants with her tops.

She persisted and mastered how to pull and hear the click of the rivet buttons on her overalls! Of course, the only times she needs help is when the snaps, zipper, or buttons are on the back of the dress, and thankfully, she has only a couple like that.

Most mornings, she gets out of bed, rushes out to greet us and get some coffee juice (Ovaltine in milk), chugs it down and rushes to brush her teeth; then, starts the tedious decision of picking what to wear to daycare. She manages fine most days. Unless we are in a hurry, we let her get ready on her own, while D and I go about our morning chores before heading out for the day.

After the peeing in installments phase, we got her a small step stool which she loves. Best 2.99$ we've ever spent. It is light-weight, easy for little ones to carry around and place where they want, yet sturdy and solid that it won't slip or topple over, and just the right height for her to reach the light switch in every room.

One fine evening, I had seated her at the usual spot at the dining table, served her some food and quickly stepped into the garage to grab something. When I came back, she was not in her spot or anywhere in the vicinity.

Boy did I panic and within a span of 5 seconds worked up about half a dozen awful scenarios, none of which logical or rational.

Then, I heard the flush of the toilet. Phew! She had gotten down from her chair, turned on the light in the bathroom, peed in her potty, poured the contents into the big potty and flushed!

All that was left to do was to get on the 2-step step stool as usual and wash her hands! This was a beautiful moment for me for some reason... she didn't need me for her potty visits anymore and she didn't care for her treats after the potty visit anymore either. The nagging sore spot for me still is that she won't poop in her potty. She completely understands the concept, has seen many DVDs, read many books on the subject, and she even goes so far as to pop in to encourage me when all I need is some privacy! All in good time, I suppose...

Oh, and, she loves to dance to music - mainly run around in circles and jump to the music, talking and giggling. And, she loves to sing. Sometimes it is just a catchy tune with "tra-la-la" forming the sole lyrics, sometimes it is one of her favorite nursery rhymes in a loud and confident tone...

She plays independently for the most part, except when her daddy is around. She seems to want to monopolize his time and attention if she spies him. I don't blame her. I am sort of morphing into this monster/bad-guy in her eyes, setting limits and not giving in just because she cries vehemently, and I suspect she is beginning to resent that.

Whereas daddy dear tries to reason with her and just gives in most of the time thus avoiding any clash of wills, I end up giving her a hug and telling her clearly No, that isn't going to happen, Ana, no matter how hard a tantrum you throw...

Sometimes, it seems like she just quietly tolerates me, secretly hoping daddy was around to make it more fun... Well, I guess it is better that one of us firmly establishes who is the adult at home rather than none of us.

It's been a hectic Q1 at work so far, deadlines to meet and objectives to set and adhere to for the rest of the year... but, crocheting, knitting sewing, and reading give me the much-needed diversion and am grateful for that...

the gracious hostess/medic

After relishing endless cups of (air) tea and countless pieces of (air) cake, I figured I must at least mention the gracious hostess here, after all, this space is supposed to be all about her. For the most part.



D presented Ana with a simple Tea Set this past Christmas and she has taken to it wildly. When she is in the mood, she (insistently) invites us to sit at her table and daintily pours us some tea, promptly refilling it as soon as we take a sip and place the cup back down on the saucer. And, she loves to offer slices of cake in the little dessert plates that came with the tea set.

And, some days, she just wants to have a quiet breakfast with her Ducky or Enid paappaa, and we better not bother them - the breakfast could last as long as 20 minutes at times, with Ana helpfully mothering the Ducky... it is rather amusing to watch her place a little booster seat (small cushion) to help Enid paapaa reach her breakfast on the table.

And when she is bored playing the demanding role of a hostess, she easily morphs into an efficient veterinarian, looking after the health of her Ducky and Bunny... and, without second thoughts becomes a confident practitioner caring for her Enid paapaa and Polly baby.



It is quite rewarding to note that the Medic Set I gave her for Christmas is being fully utilized. So far, at least. She loves each piece and tries to use them correctly - well, as correctly as we showed her at least :) Stethoscope happens to be her favorite, with the otoscope coming in at close second. It is quite a delight to watch her make her Polly baby drink the medicine from the medicine bottle...

It won't be long before she gets terribly bored with it. At which point, of course, I'd have to do what mothers worldwide do - simply hide the popular toys and wait a suitable period of say about a few months and reintroduce them into her accessible toy shelf and help her discover the joys all over again...

The other day, D was working on some repairs around the house and dropped something on my foot. My sudden yelp caught Ana's attention and she surmised that I am probably hurt by that thing that dropped on my foot and ran to her room, got her teta-scope (stethoscope) and examined me briefly, kissed my foot and pronounced "All better! Amma's OK!"

And, as bonus, she is not fussy about visits to the doctor anymore and curiously watches her pediatrician examining her, cooperating and volunteering information, even going so far as to boldly try to snatch the otoscope from her doctor's hand and try to check out the doctor! (It's a good thing her doctor is used to such tricks and has a firm grip).

One Grain of Rice

[this post written for Saffron Tree]

One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folk Tale
by Demi (Charlotte Dumaresq Hunt)

Recommended Age: 8-12 years


This book is clearly not for my 2½ year old. I was looking for conceptual/educational story book for my soon-to-be-8-year-old niece and came across this book by Demi.

Based on an Indian folk tale, this book introduces the mathematical concept of exponential growth. The story is about a clever little girl Rani, who makes a deal with the Raja (King) and eventually humbles him.

Synopsis: A Raja believes he is wise and fair, but, each year, keeps the harvest rice for himself. He refuses to share the rice when a famine hits the village. One fine day, Rani inadvertently manages to help the Raja. The Raja decides to reward Rani for it and says she can ask for anything within reason. So, Rani, the clever little mathematician she is, says: I would like one grain of rice, doubled every day for thirty days: one grain of rice on the first day, two grains of rice on the second day, four grains of rice on the third day and so on for 30 days.

Of course, not being familiar with exponential growth, the Raja thinks this is an acceptable, affordable, trifling sort of reward and agrees. By the end of the 30 days, the power of 2 works its magic and the whole village has enough grains of rice, thoughtfully and generously shared by Rani. The Raja realizes his folly and decides to mend his ways.

Demi's illustrations, inspired by Indian miniature style, are exquisite. The increasing volume of rice each day is depicted beautifully by the variety of animals that deliver the grains of rice each day. First, it is just a few birds with grains of rice in their beaks. Then come the big cats - a leopard, a tiger, and a lion each carrying a small pouch in their mouths. After a fortnight, a goat is pulling a cart that carries a bag of rice and so on... until the enormous procession of elephants in the end to bring the one billion grains of rice after 30 days!

This book combines the mathematical concept with lovely art, not to mention the moral at the end that even a little girl can teach the Raja to be wise.

There are many mathematical exercises based on this book - like how many grains of rice make a cup (or kilogram or pounds) of rice; how many people (approximately, on an average) will one billion grains of rice feed? and so on. The last page of the book has a table which shows the actual numerical progression from one grain of rice to one billion.

At first I was skeptical as I thought it might be too advanced for an 8-year old. But, even if the brilliance of the mathematics doesn't register right away, it is a great starting point for the concept, especially with accompanying practical and fun exercises that can be found on the web, as devised by classroom teachers.

While I have to wait probably a good 4 or 5 years to see how Ana takes to this book, I can readily see my niece being intrigued by this book...

Another concept in mathematics that children might grapple with is that of Factorial and I've heard some good things about Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar that I would like to check out next...

Bear Wants More

[this post written for Saffron Tree]

Bear Wants More
written by Karma Wilson,
illustrated by Jane Chapman
suggested age: 3-6 years

I was looking for Bear Snores On a few months back and came upon Bear Wants More and instantly liked it.

Bear Wants More is a charming book about a bear who is coming out of hibernation in spring, and how his woodland friends help sate his enormous hunger.

When springtime comes,
in his warm winter den
a bear wakes up
very hungry and thin.

First, Bear munches on the grass outside his cave but he is still hungry. And just then A mouse scampers by with his acorn pail and says follow me along to the strawberry vale.

So up Mouse hops
onto Bear's big back.
They tromp through the woods
for a fresh fruit snack.

Bear eats and he eats, but he still wants more. And so, each of his friends try to lead him to various food sources - the clover patch, stream to catch fish - and Bear heartily partakes, but he still wants more.

The catchy refrain "Bear Wants More" is repeated often and was a delight to shout out together with Ana.

Unbeknownst to him, his other friends (Gopher, Mole, Raven, and Wren), sensing his ravenous appetite when he comes out of hibernation, arrange for a surprise party at Bear's cave replete with honey cakes while he is being led to various food sources by Mouse, Hare and Badger first.

The aroma of freshly baked honey cakes draws Bear to his cave where, to his dismay, he finds he has already gotten too big to fit in his front door! This was Ana's favorite part for some reason - to discover that Bear was too big to fit in his own cave that he walked out of not too long ago. How much could he have eaten in such a short time?!

His friends yell "SURPRISE!"
when he gets to his den.
But Bear is SO big...

...that he can't fit in!

So what do they do? The resourceful friends move the party outside and the bear eats his fill and is finally full, full full, but.. his friends want more!

The full page artwork by Jane Chapman in vibrant greens indicating the crisp and refreshing beauty of spring, with eye-catching detail and endearing woodland animals, was a visual treat in itself. And combined with the bouncy rhymes and gentle story about friendship, hibernation and various food sources, made this a quick favorite with us.

Bear Wants More is a charming read-aloud book with simple and catchy rhymes packed with descriptive words and adorable characters. The gorgeous illustrations complement the text beautifully while unfolding the lives of the woodland creatures in an imaginative and uncomplicated way.

Interestingly enough, since The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle has been an all-time favorite, Ana ended up drawing parallels on her own: little caterpillar was very hungry and he ate a lot of food, and he wasn't a little caterpillar anymore, he became a big, fat caterpillar. Somehow, this information was picked up and identified in Bear Wants More where Bear is very hungry and eats a lot of food and gets SO big that he cannot fit in his cave! It was rewarding and gratifying to note the connection she made.

Holi Hana, Hana siarad

D got this wonderful Welsh DVD for Ana for X'mas called Holi Hana.

It is a 2007 release children's DVD (3-7 years) with eight 10-minute episodes featuring Hana the Duck who runs a Phone Helpline addressing little problems children face, sort of like Agony Aunt to whom you run to with problems, who listens to you patiently and gives you good advice.

It is created by Jack and Elke Counsell and developed for television by Andrew Offiler of Welsh-based animation experts Calon. It has become an instant hit with Ana and me as it helps children learn how to express and solve problems.



What I like:

• stuffed dolls are the main characters - Rosie the Panda, Cyril the Beaver, Ellen the Ostrich and so on
• stop-motion animation with adorable stuffed dolls whose stitches can be seen - incredibly charming and rustic at the same time
• educational and fun - one episode deals with not standing under a tree when there is lightning and thunder, and how to deal with fear

While I am not fluent in Welsh, I can pick up a word here or there and try to follow along. Ana seems to do better than me in this respect.

It doesn't help that D introduced Ana and me to Northern style Welsh whereas some of the Holi Hana and Nodi , Ffi-Ffi, Smot etc. have Southern style Welsh woven in...

However, it is extremely rewarding when Ana watches it and picks up things on her own. The other day, after watching a few episodes of Holi Hana, Ana felt she was done, so she turned off the TV and came looking for D. When he asked her what happened in her Holi Hana show, she stated (in Welsh) "Uh-oh Mouse... Mae'n ddrwg gen i, mouse"! (pronounced sort of like mine-dhroo-gun-ee)

D understood it. I didn't, of course...

Turns out, as she tried to explain to D in part English part Welsh, the mouse did something bad and was sorry - mae'n ddrwg gen i apparently translates to "my bad" idiomatically. She just picked up the phrase mae'n ddrwg gen i from the show and sort of understood it in context, vaguely at least... which is better than what I can do.

It's a New Year! Again.

I caved in and took Monday Dec 31st, 2007 off from work. I was looking forward to the 4-day weekend... but, it was mostly spent putting the ornaments and Xmas stuff away and recycling the tree and doing piles of laundry to sort out and give away clothes for charity - sort of in the spirit of Boxing Day. So, feels like I need a holiday again!

We didn't do much - just stayed home. I barely managed to stay awake till midnight. D and I take 1st January pretty casually. I take Vishu (Kerala/Tamil New Year) more seriously, of course, and it falls approximately in the middle of April per the Gregorian calendar.

Ana has started picking up after herself and cleaning her room at least twice a day during weekends - once before afternoon naptime, and once before night bedtime. Her room doesn't get very messy on weekdays as she spends most of it in daycare. Now, if I can only get her to clean the living room and the nook, it'd be a great help.

She consistently pees in her potty. But, still will not poop in her potty. She is comfortable in panties, and when she gets the urge to poop, she requests for a diaper. We've gone out on several outings, minus the diaper and it feels quite liberating for me. Except, right after I strap her in and get in the car, she insists she has to go potty! That is to be expected for the next... oh, 10 years at least, I am sure.

Anyway, just thought I'd write a post before months roll by in this new year...

Happy New Year!