Little Treasures

Nearly every day that Gamma Rita was here this past summer she and/or I would take Nate and Seth for a walk and come home with handfuls of "little treasures". The boys just loved to stop and pick foxtails, dandelions, "alligators" and other curbside weeds on a stroll around the neighborhood – and after the first couple of trips we knew where to find all the best ones. Eventually we ended up taking a bag along to collect the treasures since hands could no longer contain our bounty as summer went on. When we'd get home, we'd dump the bag and the boys would spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying all their free loot. It made a terrible mess in the backyard at times, but they loved it (in fact, I'm sure the mess was the best part).

Yesterday we got a surprise package in the mail with a whole lot of little treasures from Gamma Rita's backyard. Since she lives on the West Coast, many of them were backyard treasures you can't find around these parts.

I think it goes without saying that it was a big hit!

Gamma Rita sent a box filled with some very nice rocks, knobbly sticks, chestnuts, pressed fall leaves and dandelions. There was even a piece of fir tree (AKA "prickly pineapple").

Unfortunately the last one ended up as a casualty of a 6 day trip through the mail, but that hardly mattered because there was this:

I can already hear Gamma Rita having a good laugh over the look on Nate's face in that picture. I also decided to take a picture of whatever is it before it got completely demolished by the boys:

The sticks and rocks were the real show-stoppers though. The boys were having a contest to see who could hold their stick up the highest*:

We also heeded Gamma Rita's advice to hold the leaves up against a window to really see all the pretty colors, and the boys were suitably impressed.

Of course, there were a couple more things in the box aside from rocks and sticks, etc.

The bag in the background is what I like to call Mommy's "little treasures", and like all treasures that are truly prized I've done my best to keep them out of sight of any and all who would like to steal them.

- L.


*Every time I look at that picture all I can see are the boys auditioning to play Harry and Ron in a pre-school production of Harry Potter. 

When Pollock Met Van Gogh

It's been a long time coming, but this post is the (long awaited, much anticipated?) update to a poll that ran awhile back regarding art and how it is best served. The choices were fairly simple and it was about as close to a yes/no answer as a poll can get: do you prefer your art on paper or on the face?

And much like our last poll, it was another landslide victory:

Let's take a moment to check in with the winning candidate to see how (or if) knowing the results swayed his artistic stylings in any way. 

– I not sure I agrees with you lone voter, even though
I mostly tries it your way 'dis time.

– Seriously though, does 'dis look like I is having fun?

This round might have turned out with a little less art on the face. By the time all was said and done, I'd say it affected things about 7%. 

So good on you lone voter*! We are officially making a little bit more art on paper thanks to you. 

The last time we got messy with paints and I finally got a little weary of paintings of "alligators" after the 57th one, I put on my thinking cap and asked the boys if they could paint pictures of each other and Mommy and Daddy too. Seth was a little more on board with this exercise at first, but by the end Nate got into it and did a full family portrait.

I found the results far more telling than I anticipated when I came up with a simple suggestion just so I wouldn't have to look at alligators anymore.

For what it's worth, this is an alligator (WARNING! It's possibly a blood thirsty one and might not be appropriate for sensitive viewers): 

"Alligator" by Nate.

My boys are very much into alligators and things that look like alligators or even things that don't look like alligators but they call alligators anyway. I'm sure you get the idea.

So the rest of our gallery was pretty amazing all things considered. The titles are from the artists themselves.

"Mommy and Seth" by Seth.

"Blast Off" by Nate.

"Seth" by Seth.

"Nate" by Seth.

"Mommy, Daddy, Seth and Nate" by Nate. (clockwise from top left)

- L.

*I would have sworn up and down that Gamma Rita was the hold-out for art on paper, but she's flatly denied it and I believe her. At this point in time, I have no other likely suspects. Really though lone voter, you voted for paper over this? 

PS. I must not have looked back far enough through the post-pending archives last night for a happy post, because this would have been much better choice.

"I Steal Them!"

While I don't endorse stealing in general, I have to admit I've enthusiastically encouraged the "stealing" of my shoes at least. Lately, we've branched out into "Mommy's boots" and I get a laugh out of the boys clomping around the house in my winter boots while I'm fixing a meal shouting, "I steal them!".

Today my boys discovered the much coveted "Mommy's blue jean jacket!" was within arms reach, as was "Mommy's big jacket!". They needed a little help putting them on, but it was worth stepping away from the kitchen counter to assist. They even stood pretty still while I grabbed the camera, although Seth was looking a tad over it by the time I snapped the shutter. 

– Are you there God? Is me, Seth. 

Still, if you've seen anything cuter than this (at least today), I don't want to know. I'm not sure my eyeballs could take it.

- L.

A Penny Saved Is A Penny Earned, But This Is What A Nickel Can Do

Or rather this is what a nickel can do if you're an incredibly industrious type of person whose apple didn't fall too far from the tree where it grew – and you happen to live in a part of the country that charges a deposit on pop-cans and refunds you 5 cents if you collect said pop-cans and return them to the depot.

Gamma Rita isn't a soda consumer, but she does an excellent job locating discarded pop-cans. Along the way she's recruited some excellent helpers also. By now, everyone in my mom's building knows she collects cans and other bottles that are refundable and will either drop them by or give her a call for pick-up. In turn, my mom has taken those cans and bottles in for collection (sometimes bags and bags of them, sometimes more than one run in a day), and every single one of those nickels goes into something she calls the "Pop Bottle Fund".

One and five and twenty-five cans at a time – this is the house that Gamma Rita built.

Just look at what a nickel (or 5000 of them) can do: 

– 'Dis our nickel fortress, everyone!

– Thank you Gamma Rita and everyone who help!
We give you nickel tour now, so to speak.

– First, 'dis thing has groovy climbing wall so we show you how that work.

– Also platform to levitate jump on.

– And handy spy scope to look out for cuties.

– Or to look at self.

– Is also great place to show off miraculous bebo.

– Or tease the cuties with promises of bebo.

– Did we mention it has secret bunker?

– We also get some fun new outdoor toys from Grandma Leslie
and 'dis is good place to hide them.

– Is also more spacious than it look. There's room for two...

– ... and some cuties too! I be on lookout in case any happen by.
If 'dis fortress had a sign I think it say "girls allowed".

– Fort and climbing is all kinds of fun, but 'dis thing also has slide.
Also I like to point at logo and say "Little Tikes!" sometimes before I slide.

– Slide also fun thing to climb up as it turn out.

– And top of slide is great meet-up place for some impromptu "FORE-STAINS!".

– At least until it isn't.

– Also we get ideas that manufacturer probably not intend.
Like sliding down climbing wall for example.

– As it turn out, 'dis not such a great idea but we both do it anyway a half dozen times
before we stop trying to make it work. At least for today.

• • • • • • • 

Unrelated to the nickel fortress, but this post wouldn't be complete without the following: 

This is Seth discovering a dandelion gone to seed. I was attempting to show him how to blow on it and trying to take pictures at the same time. It didn't go so well and he ended up with a mouthful of dandelion fluff. No pics of that unfortunately since I put the camera down to assist him. 

I did get this picture a few minutes later though:

– Something not right here, everyone.

... and even though I didn't know it at the time, that look on his face is because I missed one of those dandelion fluff-bits.

- L.

PS. Gamma Rita – you have no idea how much fun the boys have had playing in their nickel fortress, and I can't wait for you to come and see for yourself. Thank you for working so hard to give your grandsons something so wonderful, but mostly just thank you for being my Mommy. 10 more sleeps. Hope you enjoy the pics in the meantime.

Maggot Tiles

A few months prior to Christmas there was a lot of buzz among internet Mommies about Magna-Tiles®.

More specifically, the buzz was about the Clear Colors Magna-Tiles® – and out of the line of Magna-Tiles® products, these would be the obvious choice as they are both colorful and see-through – being suddenly hard to come by. Private retailers though Amazon were jacking up the prices at an alarming rate which is mostly what the hullabaloo was about.

To be honest, I had no idea at the time whether this toy was a hot seller otherwise or not (turns out it was) – but I knew without a doubt that this would be a great toy for my boys. Seth loves building things and Nate loves figuring out how things work – and I love finding things that are within their parameters developmentally while providing a little challenge. 

Sadly, the escalating prices were due to the flooding in Thailand where the toy was manufactured. We managed to find a set at the regular price at a local retailer which was awesome, but regular price on the much coveted 100 piece translucent tiles set is still not cheap – although I justified the expense by telling myself that even if the boys didn't care for it, I would gladly play with the Magna-Tiles® myself. 

And I would have too, except the boys love them*.

Oh, and also they call them "Maggot-Tiles" in case you were wondering about the title of this post. I wanted to get that out of the way in case there was any confusion between Magna-Tiles® and their halt on production. Rest assured, in case you come across a set that isn't priced beyond belief at this point, it has nothing to do with maggots.

A few weeks ago, my boys still needed a lot of help with this toy so it was something I'd only bring out if I had an hour or more to sit and play. Now my guys are fairly solid if you help build the initial structure and then just let them play**.

Of course, this post be meaningless without some photos: 

– Oh hi everyone. Is us. I is having a good time figuring out how things work.
– Oh yes, hi everyone. I is figuring out how to make Nate work since I already knows my way around construction site. 

– First I points here and barks out orders.
– 'Dis not go over so great. 

– Since that not work out, I points here and explains personal architectural vision in great detail. Nate do the work alright, but he look a little less than impressed.
– "Personal architectural vision" also not go over so great. 

– Finally I gets hands on. Nothing worse than a grumpy crew if you knows what I mean.
– 'Dis nice toy, but would be better with set of earplugs right about now.

- L.

* My boys really loved this toy right out of the box, but I would caveat my recommendation by saying that they were easily frustrated by it initially even with an adult present. The magnets hold a structure together for great temporary play and collapse easily when done. Unfortunately, they also collapse easily when you're not quite done if you happen to be 2. The lack of permanence, despite the love of all things Magna-Tiles®, was actually a bit frustrating for us all.

** The structure in the photos was approximately 50% legitimately built by my boys. They have mastered a cube (which is mostly what you see here) and have recent skills at building a pyramid. The fancy stuff on top was adult-built. To be honest, I was more impressed that they managed to play with it long enough for me to think, "Hey, this is awesome – I should probably go grab my camera!", then grabbing said camera and spending awhile taking photos without any devastating cave-ins/mass destruction/fits of general hysteria***.

*** In case the "fits of general hysteria" is throwing you, keep in mind my boys are 2. They get semi-hysterical over lint at this point.

Sharp Dressed Men

Blue jeans, no shoes;

I not know where I is goin' to.
Clean sweater, new hat;
Don't tell the cuties where I is at.
They come a runnin' just as fast as they can;
'Cause all the girls crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man.

- It not easy being 'dis cute, you know.
– Tells me about it. *sigh*

- L.

PS. The new hats – or as my boys would say... "AAATS!" – were a birthday present from Auntie Karen and Uncle Brent.

As you already know, my boys can never have enough hats. Really. And if things don't work out with their futures as basketball all-stars, professional chefs, future Olympians, architects or entertainers of some persuasion (particularly the dramatic arts) and/or if their in-home cleaning service goes bust, I think it's safe to say they can always fall back on their millinery background since they have to pretty much be experts at this point.

PPS. Auntie Karen and Uncle Brent might want to rethink their careers and at least consider becoming baseball all-stars, because they definitely hit one out of the Pahk this year.