Why was Nancy Pelosi wearing a lariat of Twizzlers?
Was it her emergency snack for the all-night session?
Photo by Yuri Gripas/ Reuters
Showing posts with label imagination. Show all posts
Showing posts with label imagination. Show all posts
Monday, November 9, 2009
Health Care Debate: The Necklace Edition
This is the first and least relevant of my questions about the health-care bill that passed the House this weekend ...
Why was Nancy Pelosi wearing a lariat of Twizzlers?
Was it her emergency snack for the all-night session?
Photo by Yuri Gripas/ Reuters
Why was Nancy Pelosi wearing a lariat of Twizzlers?
Was it her emergency snack for the all-night session?
Photo by Yuri Gripas/ Reuters
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Girls in Their Underwear Taking Over the World
My 6-year-old has a bit of a fixation with girls' underwear. Is this a normal phase? (It's not one they put in the parenting books!)
This afternoon we played with our Cars movie cars, and one of the characters was at first capturing everyone else, and then suddenly he began to put purple girls' underwear on all his prisoners (this part is all imaginary, mind you -- the prison was made from Magnetix), and then it became an underwear store for the rest of the cars, with the prisoners now being models for all the different styles. One car ordered underwear with decals of underwear on it! Yikes.
That was probably my fault. I know he thinks underwear is funny, so yesterday I pointed out a drawing in a book we were reading, a little girl holding her dress up above her waist so you can see her panties.
Did I think that out first? Uh, no. Another brilliant parenting moment by moi.
"Why is she doing that?" DB asked after he stopped laughing. Well, the drawing shows break time at preschool, and the 2 kids to one side of this character have obviously just used the bathroom (one is getting his overalls snapped and a second is drying her hands on a towel). So I think that girl is next in the bathroom and she's getting ready.
And, preschoolers do that -- they don't know not to yet; in fact we had 2 of them in the front row of the winter concert hike their skirts -- so I think the artist was just being realistic. It's subtle, she's in the back of the picture (the main focus is on the 8 or so characters in the foreground having their snack).
But he really liked it ... to the point where tonight at bedtime he asked me, "Can you show me the picture of the girl in her underwear again?"
We looked at it again, and then he asked me, "Mommy, can you give me something to think about so I don't think about girls in their underwear, taking over the world? Because when I'm bored I think about that."
I made a suggestion based on the scenes we watched tonight from the Cars movie. But what on earth am I supposed to do with that knowledge about what's going on inside my son's head???
I did reassure him that girls and boys go back and forth liking and not liking each other and also noted that I didn't expect him to be thinking about that type of thing until oh, 7th or 8th grade.
This afternoon we played with our Cars movie cars, and one of the characters was at first capturing everyone else, and then suddenly he began to put purple girls' underwear on all his prisoners (this part is all imaginary, mind you -- the prison was made from Magnetix), and then it became an underwear store for the rest of the cars, with the prisoners now being models for all the different styles. One car ordered underwear with decals of underwear on it! Yikes.
That was probably my fault. I know he thinks underwear is funny, so yesterday I pointed out a drawing in a book we were reading, a little girl holding her dress up above her waist so you can see her panties.
Did I think that out first? Uh, no. Another brilliant parenting moment by moi.
"Why is she doing that?" DB asked after he stopped laughing. Well, the drawing shows break time at preschool, and the 2 kids to one side of this character have obviously just used the bathroom (one is getting his overalls snapped and a second is drying her hands on a towel). So I think that girl is next in the bathroom and she's getting ready.
And, preschoolers do that -- they don't know not to yet; in fact we had 2 of them in the front row of the winter concert hike their skirts -- so I think the artist was just being realistic. It's subtle, she's in the back of the picture (the main focus is on the 8 or so characters in the foreground having their snack).
But he really liked it ... to the point where tonight at bedtime he asked me, "Can you show me the picture of the girl in her underwear again?"
We looked at it again, and then he asked me, "Mommy, can you give me something to think about so I don't think about girls in their underwear, taking over the world? Because when I'm bored I think about that."
I made a suggestion based on the scenes we watched tonight from the Cars movie. But what on earth am I supposed to do with that knowledge about what's going on inside my son's head???
I did reassure him that girls and boys go back and forth liking and not liking each other and also noted that I didn't expect him to be thinking about that type of thing until oh, 7th or 8th grade.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Speed Racer
Over 2 hours, and DuckyBoy was as good as at Cars, maybe even better. The graphics were amazing, and I think he was even able to follow the plot -- enough, anyway.
I was surprised at a couple of "bad words" -- a** is the one I remember. DB hears them from time to time but I didn't like to find them in a predominantly kids movie.
Husband and I enjoyed it also. I looked at my watch twice, which is always my benchmark of the pace of a movie. But this time once was just out of curiosity as to how much time had passed, and the second was because DB was concerned that at a certain point it might be just about over (there was still 20 minutes left).
We were just as happy to have missed most of the previews, though, because that would have clocked us in at over 2 and a half hours in the theater. As it was, the 11:05 showtime meant we all had popcorn and pretzels for breakfast!
This afternoon, DB was grouchy -- as grouchy as he was in the morning, shortly after I got up, when he wanted to play but was just ... too ... bored. So this afternoon I suggested he watch his triops swim around -- we have, like, 7 this time around! -- and wonder of wonders, he did actually find that relaxing. Yay, sometimes my ideas work!
He also wanted to paint a box to look like Mach 6, Speed Racer's car. When I was unable to produce a big enough box for him to sit in, he decided he wanted to repaint The Duck Truck -- an old cardboard apple box from 3 or 4 years ago that's seen a lot of action as The Duck Truck, thanks to me drawing wheels on the sides in crayon way back when. (Plus it has a door cut into one side, since when we first made it he was too small to climb in and out.)
So we did, and it looks great. Two things impressed me -- the length of time he was able to focus on painting one whole side of it; and his willingness to use the beloved Duck Truck for a new, bigger-boy interest.
As Trixie says in the movie, Cool beans!
I was surprised at a couple of "bad words" -- a** is the one I remember. DB hears them from time to time but I didn't like to find them in a predominantly kids movie.
Husband and I enjoyed it also. I looked at my watch twice, which is always my benchmark of the pace of a movie. But this time once was just out of curiosity as to how much time had passed, and the second was because DB was concerned that at a certain point it might be just about over (there was still 20 minutes left).
We were just as happy to have missed most of the previews, though, because that would have clocked us in at over 2 and a half hours in the theater. As it was, the 11:05 showtime meant we all had popcorn and pretzels for breakfast!
This afternoon, DB was grouchy -- as grouchy as he was in the morning, shortly after I got up, when he wanted to play but was just ... too ... bored. So this afternoon I suggested he watch his triops swim around -- we have, like, 7 this time around! -- and wonder of wonders, he did actually find that relaxing. Yay, sometimes my ideas work!
He also wanted to paint a box to look like Mach 6, Speed Racer's car. When I was unable to produce a big enough box for him to sit in, he decided he wanted to repaint The Duck Truck -- an old cardboard apple box from 3 or 4 years ago that's seen a lot of action as The Duck Truck, thanks to me drawing wheels on the sides in crayon way back when. (Plus it has a door cut into one side, since when we first made it he was too small to climb in and out.)
So we did, and it looks great. Two things impressed me -- the length of time he was able to focus on painting one whole side of it; and his willingness to use the beloved Duck Truck for a new, bigger-boy interest.
As Trixie says in the movie, Cool beans!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Saving Every Little Thing
This post was inspired by a post I came across earlier today, from a mum, er, mom in Australia. I love how the Internet has enabled those of us with hit-or-miss chunks of time to share common experiences at the times we have available, yet it’s still able to be interactive and timely. Anyway this started out as a comment on her blog post and I ended up saying so much that I cut it short and thought I’d muse longer in my own space.
I save most of DuckyBoy’s artwork and his school papers. I even try to keep the homework in order, though it does pile up haphazardly.
Most schoolwork I keep in a drawer. Last year for the preschool stuff and so far this year, I've managed to fit everything in one dedicated drawer. At the end of the school year last year I went through and got rid of a few duplicates, transferred the rest to a box and put it who-knows-where.
I want to keep almost everything, even the handwriting exercises from school, so I have a record of where he was at this point. Those of us with a child on the autism spectrum get a little freakish about tracking progress (one mom I know even puts everything in a 3-ring binder; I only wish I were THAT dedicated).
Once DB can really write all his letters, I won't be so in love with the preliminaries anymore and can toss them then... maybe. Or maybe I’ll let him decide once he’s old enough that I can keep all the boxes in HIS closet. Meanwhile, he seems to enjoy looking back through the homework to see what he’s learned.
I've dedicated a whole wall to artwork I can tell he's proud of. Occasionally I take something down to make room for a new favorite; by then there's usually something old enough that I can stand to say goodbye (only as it goes into the drawer, not discarded, mind you).
And I've got a couple of favorites I want to frame, like the homage to Joan Miro they did in art class. In kindergarten! Wild. And the one I scanned and put on DuckyBoy’s blog. I wish I had the technical enthusiasm to do more of that. But even if I scanned everything, as someone suggested to the Aussie mum, I’d still never throw out the original! Especially after I deemed it scan-worthy, it must be archived properly!
I do sneak the lesser-loved pieces into the recycling bin by folding and burying them ... things like drawings on the back of a diner placemat, and other things he scribbles while trying to occupy himself somewhere. Generally I let them lay around for a week or so first until we're all tired of the pile.
We have issues with saving things larger than paper, too. It pained me to get rid of "the clubhouse," which started life as the gigantic box that our 65-inch flatscreen TV came in. We had a blast with that for a long time, even moving it from one room to another when it got in the way. It lasted through multiple playdates, even a party. We turned it on its side for awhile and it became an indoor lemonade stand.
But, after a couple of months, it was just … in the way. I got tired of the compromises I had to make to keep it – like not being able to get at DuckyBoy’s bookshelves. Not only were we limited in which books we could reach, uh read, but also I couldn’t put any away of the ones we did finagle out.
And as for the craft projects—well, let’s just say I have 2 Mars rovers and one moon rover I don’t dare get rid of. Because, God forbid we read or see something about a moon rover and our model made from a broken plastic car, tin foil, a straw, and a cupcake liner is no longer accessible! It would be a disaster of Biblical proportions! At least, I think so. The best-case scenario would be that we’d have to immediately make another one. So I might as well keep this one.
We also have a felt octopus and a toothpick-prickly sea urchin. The octopus is from a Cheerios recipe book, but thankfully we never got around to putting the O’s in place, so I don’t mind it sitting around.
DuckyBoy was on a kick for, like, 6 weeks, where he was bringing home a craft book every week from school. I thought we were gonna have to move to a bigger place!! Fortunately he didn’t insist on making every project, and we didn’t even have to do one from each book after a couple of weeks, but it was still a sweat for me. Which I really, really didn’t want to let show, because I love that he likes to make things from found objects, and I’d bet he picked up on my enthusiasm for the first craft book and wanted that to continue.
He especially loves the Crafts for Kids Who Are Wild About... series, which I see on Amazon is about 10 years old and also, I might add, aimed at grades 2-5. I’m sure he also enjoyed that Mommy had to read it to him!
He also loves to make things from the 2 bins of materials—from foam trays to coffee tins to cardboard tubes—that I keep “just in case.” In fact, the other day he wanted to make a marble run, so I went to get the (expensive, I might add) heirloom-quality wooden marble run set from the closet. But no, he said, he really wanted to make one from “the stuff,” which means I have to fashion a Rube-Goldberg creation that never really gives us much marble action (a fact which is lost on him).
*Sigh.* Can I love this in him and grow weary of it at the same time?
I save most of DuckyBoy’s artwork and his school papers. I even try to keep the homework in order, though it does pile up haphazardly.
Most schoolwork I keep in a drawer. Last year for the preschool stuff and so far this year, I've managed to fit everything in one dedicated drawer. At the end of the school year last year I went through and got rid of a few duplicates, transferred the rest to a box and put it who-knows-where.
I want to keep almost everything, even the handwriting exercises from school, so I have a record of where he was at this point. Those of us with a child on the autism spectrum get a little freakish about tracking progress (one mom I know even puts everything in a 3-ring binder; I only wish I were THAT dedicated).
Once DB can really write all his letters, I won't be so in love with the preliminaries anymore and can toss them then... maybe. Or maybe I’ll let him decide once he’s old enough that I can keep all the boxes in HIS closet. Meanwhile, he seems to enjoy looking back through the homework to see what he’s learned.
I've dedicated a whole wall to artwork I can tell he's proud of. Occasionally I take something down to make room for a new favorite; by then there's usually something old enough that I can stand to say goodbye (only as it goes into the drawer, not discarded, mind you).
And I've got a couple of favorites I want to frame, like the homage to Joan Miro they did in art class. In kindergarten! Wild. And the one I scanned and put on DuckyBoy’s blog. I wish I had the technical enthusiasm to do more of that. But even if I scanned everything, as someone suggested to the Aussie mum, I’d still never throw out the original! Especially after I deemed it scan-worthy, it must be archived properly!
I do sneak the lesser-loved pieces into the recycling bin by folding and burying them ... things like drawings on the back of a diner placemat, and other things he scribbles while trying to occupy himself somewhere. Generally I let them lay around for a week or so first until we're all tired of the pile.
We have issues with saving things larger than paper, too. It pained me to get rid of "the clubhouse," which started life as the gigantic box that our 65-inch flatscreen TV came in. We had a blast with that for a long time, even moving it from one room to another when it got in the way. It lasted through multiple playdates, even a party. We turned it on its side for awhile and it became an indoor lemonade stand.
But, after a couple of months, it was just … in the way. I got tired of the compromises I had to make to keep it – like not being able to get at DuckyBoy’s bookshelves. Not only were we limited in which books we could reach, uh read, but also I couldn’t put any away of the ones we did finagle out.
And as for the craft projects—well, let’s just say I have 2 Mars rovers and one moon rover I don’t dare get rid of. Because, God forbid we read or see something about a moon rover and our model made from a broken plastic car, tin foil, a straw, and a cupcake liner is no longer accessible! It would be a disaster of Biblical proportions! At least, I think so. The best-case scenario would be that we’d have to immediately make another one. So I might as well keep this one.
We also have a felt octopus and a toothpick-prickly sea urchin. The octopus is from a Cheerios recipe book, but thankfully we never got around to putting the O’s in place, so I don’t mind it sitting around.
DuckyBoy was on a kick for, like, 6 weeks, where he was bringing home a craft book every week from school. I thought we were gonna have to move to a bigger place!! Fortunately he didn’t insist on making every project, and we didn’t even have to do one from each book after a couple of weeks, but it was still a sweat for me. Which I really, really didn’t want to let show, because I love that he likes to make things from found objects, and I’d bet he picked up on my enthusiasm for the first craft book and wanted that to continue.
He especially loves the Crafts for Kids Who Are Wild About... series, which I see on Amazon is about 10 years old and also, I might add, aimed at grades 2-5. I’m sure he also enjoyed that Mommy had to read it to him!
He also loves to make things from the 2 bins of materials—from foam trays to coffee tins to cardboard tubes—that I keep “just in case.” In fact, the other day he wanted to make a marble run, so I went to get the (expensive, I might add) heirloom-quality wooden marble run set from the closet. But no, he said, he really wanted to make one from “the stuff,” which means I have to fashion a Rube-Goldberg creation that never really gives us much marble action (a fact which is lost on him).
*Sigh.* Can I love this in him and grow weary of it at the same time?
