Are You Stalking Me?

Are you stalking this blog? According to sitemeter this blog has over 350 readers, which is, of course, a pittance compared to major blogs. It would be a sad, sad showing if I was trying to make money blogging, which I'm not.

As a blog reader, myself, I confess to having more blogs in my reader than I have time to read everyday. Some posts I stockpile for later, some I check out the title of the post for relevancy, and some I read with religious dedication (well, sort of).  And if a blog requires me to click through to the actual website to finish reading? I almost always skip it.

It's very true I don't comment on every post everyday. Who can? I hope I've commented on the blogs I read regularly from time to time, to let those bloggers know I'm out there... reading them.

So now I want to know...  are you reading this blog? Do you skip some posts, and only read ones on a certain topic (as you can see from my above statement, I think that is totally fine)? Are you a dedicated reader (I love you.)? Or do you just mostly skip me (in which case, you probably haven't even read this far).

So go ahead, take a moment, leave me a comment on this post, let me know that there are in fact more than 10 people actually reading this blog.

You'll make my day, and I might just come over and visit your blog, too!

Practical Life: The Urban Grocery Store

One shock I got when I moved to the city is the seriously narrow grocery store aisles. I suppose if I had a car I could drive somewhere to do the shopping and luxuriate in obscenely wide aisles in some huge carbon footprint big box store, but what's the fun in that?

Instead, I sent hubby and Kiddo to do the grocery shopping on Saturday morning. You see, I like them to have stereotypical manly experiences over which they can bond.


Our fantastic grocery store has aisles in which two carts can only pass each other with many "excuse me"s and several "sorry"s. Occasionally I do find I have to take both boys into the store with me, and keeping New Kid's hands away from all the enticing balls fruit is a feat in and of itself.

I suppose there are some who would complain about shopping under such conditions. But when I traded wide aisles for New York City, I definitely came out on top.

It's in the Cards

Kiddo loves card games. I use it as an excuse to acquire the splendid card games made by eeboo. They are designed by children's book illustrators.

I am in love with all of them. Here we are playing Melissa Sweet's Animal Rummy, but I also adore Chris Raschka's Crazy Eights.

Pay It Forward Picks

Thanks to those who said they'd like to "pay it forward."

I used random.org to pick the winners:

Joyful Learner

Sarah Slaven

Scott

Please send your snail mail addresses to momandkiddo [at] gmail [dot] com and I will send you a lovely treat from Brooklyn in the next week or so!

Even if you didn't get picked, you could start a new own pay it forward chain on your own blog!

Why I Let My Child Read Books About Burping and Underwear

I would like to introduce you to three of Kiddo's favorite series:

Stink--the main character is given this charming nickname by his older sister, Judy Moody (she has her own series, "for girls"), Stink loves to use lots of super silly-willy words.
George Brown, Class Clown-- George periodically lets out an uncontrollably enormous burp which magically causes him to act incredibly silly... until another burp comes along.
Captain Underpants-- a school Principal's alter ego is that of a superhero who prances around in his tidy whiteys.

Do you sense a theme?

I understand there are parents out there who really try to edit what their children read based on whether or not the content is "appropriate." (A word which means different things to different people) In general, I'm not one of those parents. Part of this is due to laziness, yes, because once your child starts reading on his own, who can read every book first? But mostly I want my sons to enjoy and read books that interest them. And if that means books that heavily feature burps and underpants, so be it. Plus, I just love hearing Kiddo giggle uncontrollably while he is reading.

Now, of course, I don't think Kiddo should be reading -- at the age of 6, To Kill a Mockingbird, or Night. Although both are terrific books, they're just not age appropriate (there's that word again!). But I think you'll agree that burping and underpants are a far cry from racism and the Holocaust.

When I was a kid I read everything, (seriously, I had no social life, all I did was read) and probably a lot of books my parents would not have thought "appropriate." So, I just don't think it will damage kids to read books in which not everyone is couth and properly dressed. You wouldn't believe some of the garbage I read -- including all the Sweet Valley High books, which I read in the corner of the library because I was too embarrassed to check them out. Boy did I love those books. But seriously: gar-baaahhhge. However, somehow I managed to grow up, earn a PhD, have progressive ideas about gender roles and know that it is not a good idea to burp at the dinner table.

Right now he loves burping and underwear, but I'm confident he'll read War and Peace one day, too. Well.... at least Tom Jones.

This is a potentially huge topic and it's obvious I have not covered all the points or gone into depth, but I'm curious: do you, or do you plan to control your child's reading?

I'm linking to What My Child Is Reading

Friday Do-Over: Moon Mess

Another Moon-themed Friday Do-over for your enjoyment. See all of my moon themed activities by clicking here. First published 10/8/09.
In the back of one of our Moon books was an activity for making moon craters using flour.
OK, let's be honest. This activity was waaaay more about having fun making a mess than it was about learning how moon craters form.
Witness:
Supplies needed.
Kiddo really liked measuring to make sure there was one inch of flour.Drop rocks or marbles into the flour. When you remove them you will see craters (and handprints). The concept is that the larger the object the greater the amount of flour (ie. moon dust) that explodes into the air, thus the larger the crater.
He did this over and over and over again.
If you are afraid of mess, do this outside. Personally, I am not afraid of mess. I am afraid of my children making me crazy. My child was not making me crazy while he made this mess AND he was willing to help clean up with the promise of being able to do it again sometime.

Reading Assignment:
The Moon Book
The Moon Seems to Change
Midnight on the Moon

Squeak, Squeak

If you read this post, you will never pee in the dark again.

NEVER.

Playing the Slots, Second Round

In my last "Playing the Slots" post you saw the ol' popsicles in the container trick.
Here are two more varieties that I've made.

The one on the left is milk bottle caps (to read about our terrific milk, follow this link). The one on the right is pom pons. For that one I made three different sizes in the lid (which features New Kid's signature decorating style). Both of these versions require New Kid to work a little harder to push the objects through the holes than he has to  with the popsicle sticks.

Even though I made these for New Kid, Kiddo cannot help himself... he must do them, too!

Cat Tales

I noticed that we have been reading a lot of books about cats lately. This was not by design, we simply love cats. We read many, many cat books, but here are some of our favorite tales about our feline friends.

There Are Cats in this Book. Hands down the best cat book there is! Kiddo loved it and now it is New Kid's favorite. One of the most fun books on the planet.

Six Dinner Sid. No good meal(s) goes unpunished. Wit, wit, and more wit.

Jenny and the Cat Club. Cats with personality roam the streets of Greenwich Village. Old Fashioned Fun.

Mr Putter and Tabby Pour the Tea. The best cats are not always the beautiful ones.

So what cat books do you like? Or are you one of those dog people?

I'm linking to What My Child Is Reading.

P.S. Check out this post from two years ago featuring lots of cuteness and another favorite cat book!

Friday Do-Over: Waxing and Waning

I haven't been able to be very bloggy-bloggy lately so it's a good thing I have Friday Do-Over to fall back on. Get ready for some moon viewing with this easy moon phase activity. First published 9/23/09.

This was a super easy moon activity designed to reinforce the concept that the moon's phases run on a monthly cycle. Also, its a good way to use all those charity calendars.Using office supply stickers and one calendar already marked with the moon phases, Kiddo identified on an unmarked calendar which days in the coming months the moon will be new, waxing half, full and waning half.

Easy, fun and kept him occupied for a time, what more could I want?

Reading Assignment:
Billy the Bird (chapter book read aloud)
The Moon Seems to Change
The Birth of the Moon

Kitchen Magic

Kiddo has declined helping me with the cooking recently. I think it has to do with the fact that his little brother also wants to join us, thus starting a cascade effect of pushing, fighting, and general whining mayhem. When that starts up,  I am perfectly happy to work by myself, thank you very much.

Instead, I find ways to talk about cooking while we are eating dinner. I tell Kiddo the ingredients of the food, how I made it, etc. But my favorite thing to do is discuss the magic of cooking!

"Isn't it amazing," I say, "that flour and water turn into bread when heated in the oven? Isn't it cool the way a runny egg white and yolk turned into this custard-y frittata? How did this hard kernel turn into popcorn????? Amazing. It must be magic!"

Or just maybe..... it's a sneaky chemistry lesson.

How do you encourage a love of cooking in your home?

Oh, and we also read books.
Extra credit reading assignment:
Cook-a-Doodle-Do
 Fannie in the Kitchen: The Whole Story from Soup to Nuts of How Fannie Farmer Invented Recipes with Precise Measurements