Wet on Wet Watercolor

In my never-ending quest to learn anything and everything about early childhood education, I've read a bit about the Waldorf approach. I've found some things about it that I love and have integrated into our lives, some things that I don't like, and some that I just don't understand. One of the things I didn't quite get was the frequent use of wet-on-wet watercolor painting. Since we love to paint, and I was in the mood for something new, we decided to try it.

I didn't really follow any specific Waldorf instructions, but it seems pretty self-explanatory. First, we used sponge brushes dipped in water to wet the entire paper. Then we painted, using only primary colors. It only took us about thirty seconds of painting to realize we loved this technique. Ninna commented frequently about how the colors traveled across the water on their own. I love the spectrum of colors we came up with using only yellow, red, and blue.
I still can't say that I entirely understand the heavy focus on this technique in Waldorf, but I can certainly say that we will be doing it again in our little dining room art studio.

I Was a Mom Before I Was a Mom

Sometimes I think I was always a mom. With the exception of a brief six-month foray into the realm of "I'm not going to have any kids because then I won't be tied down" when I was twenty, after which I panicked and realized that wasn't me, I've always known I wanted kids. Long before I had kids, I would take mental notes of things I wanted to do with my kids, buy little cute things "for when I have kids," and just sort of mentally prepare for those future days.

In 2001, a friend introduced me to The Jayhawks. I listened to Tomorrow the Green Grass from beginning to end, and when I got to song thirteen, "Ten Little Kids," I stopped in my tracks. Before I was halfway through the first listen, I was thinking to myself "when I have kids, I will play them this song--and they will love it." This was at a time when there was nary a kid in sight, four and a half years before I got pregnant with my oldest.

And guess what we did just a few days ago? We spent the day listening to "Ten Little Kids," on repeat, which is Ninna's request for any song she connects with. The first time I played it for her, when it reached the chorus, her eyes widened and she grinned from ear to ear as if she couldn't believe there existed such a song. She danced around for awhile and then retreated into the quiet pillow corner to just listen for half an hour.

I always think this is one of those songs that means different things at different times. Ninna, at three and a half, will think of it differently than she will when she's ten or fifteen. And I now, as a mom of two young girls, see this song differently than I did as an innocent twenty-five year old. And I think I love it now even more than I did then.

This post is part of Steady Mom's "30-Minute Blog Challenge"

Mommy, How do Planes Fly?

A few days ago, after Bojey asked about a loud noise outside and Ninna replied that it was a "low-flying plane," Ninna then asked me how planes fly. My graceful and informed response was this:

"um....let's look it up online!"

I know I learned this at one point in my life, probably more than once, but I really couldn't think of how to explain it. After a few searches like "how planes fly and preschoolers," and "easy flight scientific explanations," I came up with a simple, abbreviated explanation.

The engine first propels the plane forward, and then the wind above and below the wings creates lift. Once the plane reaches a certain speed, the force of the lift pulls it up into the air. Yep, just call me science-teacher mama. And feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

So I explained this to Ninna, and we used the closest plane-like object, a hairbrush, to imitate a zooming plane taking off into the air. After repeating this several times, I showed her a (pre-screened, by me) video of a plane taking off on youtube, which we then re-watched until she (I) was ready to be done. And then, in a moment when everything just comes together, I remembered that I had gotten her a Hotwheels plane for Christmas but kept it when I realized the pile of Christmas presents was already out of control. So I brought out the plane, and she played with it all day.

We extended this "lesson" to today, when we spent an entire morning making paper airplanes. And let me tell you, making paper airplanes is not as easy as I remember it being. I printed templates from this site and then followed their instructions for the folding. Because of the precision needed in folding, Ninna wasn't really able to take part in the initial making.

Ultimately, however, the paper airplane making was a really great multidisciplinary activity for all three of us. It involved all of the following:

**Science (obviously)

**Verbal and analytical skills (particularly with comparing and contrasting how the different types of planes flew, their speeds, etc.)

**Arts/Crafts (we decorated the last batch before folding)

**Fine motor activity (properly holding and launching a paper airplane is not a natural skill for a three year old)

**Gross motor activity (both chicks ran across the house repeatedly to find and bring back the planes after I launched them)

Here is Ninna intently decorating her plane:

I truly felt that, by the end of all our activities, I had given a decent preschool response to the question of "how do planes fly?" I'm looking forward to the next difficult question Ninna asks, but I probably shouldn't jinx myself by saying that.

A Quick Post from a Sick Mama

I have tons of fun posts waiting in the wings half-written, but I have a terrible cold with a fever and plan to go to bed at 7:00 tonight with Ninna. I never post when the girls are awake, but I'm sneaking a moment right now while they are playing after dinner to get something up really quickly.

I'll be back, hopefully tomorrow, with more interesting adventures. In the meantime, here's a photo of my two little chicks cuddling in Bojey's crib, at Ninna's request:

Winter Land Art

Ever since learning about Richard Shilling's book series Land Art for Kids on The Artful Parent blog, I've been looking forward to making some land art. The idea is essentially to make art outside, on the spot, using nature items from the surrounding area. On our winter walk the other day, we stopped off at a tiny public green space around the corner to see what we could do.

Here's what I came up with:

And here is Ninna's final product: Hers actually had many, many elements, but she would put something down, bury it with snow, add another layer, bury it, and so on, creating a sort of mini-archaeological dig.

Bojey's contribution to this activity was to slither around like a snake on the ground licking snow. I suppose I should have taken a photo of her snake trail.

All in all this was really fun, and I'm so excited to do it in the warmer weather when we can pick through things with our fingers to find supplies without freezing our hands.

Shilling has really made some beautiful and amazing stuff. Please read about him and be inspired like I was.

Seven Minutes and Forty-Three Seconds of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ninna made it through exactly seven minutes and forty-three seconds of the "I Have a Dream" speech tonight. It marks not only the first time she has watched or heard Dr. King, but also the longest clip I've ever shown her on Youtube.

I prepared some preschool-level questions to ask afterward, but I let her lead the conversation. I never even made it to my questions because as is often the case, the direction she took was more interesting than what I had thought of myself (and, more importantly, was self-motivated.)

Throughout our viewing and after we were done, she kept commenting on how many people attended the speech. I had told her about how he was speaking about inequalities and how some people, both then and now, didn't have the rights or things that they need to live. I was able to extend her comments into a discussion about how there were so many people there because so many people thought this was such an important problem and how they loved hearing him speak.

It was a short introduction, but hopefully a memorable one. Each year, as she gets older, we'll lengthen our activities for this day, but I felt pretty good about how 2010's MLK Day went with my little chick.

A Simple Winter Walk

Somehow I forgot about going for a walk as a thing to do in the winter. It's not that we don't go outside--we get outside almost every single day, often for playing. And it's not that we don't walk--we walk many to most days to do errands, go to playgroup, the library, etc.

But since winter began, or really, since the cold and snow came, we have not gone for a single actual WALK, just for the sake of walking. I needed to tire out the chicks early today so that we could have an early nap and make it to a friend's afternoon birthday party, so I took them outside and said we were going for a walk.

After a couple of minutes, Ninna asked where we were going. I told her we were going for a walk, and she replied "I know, but where are we going?!" It had been so long since we had gone for a walk just for the sake of walking that she couldn't even remember that one would do that.

Yikes.

We walked around our block and explored for an hour and a half, and everyone had a great time.

The chicks spent quite some time watching a kitty in a window:
Ninna discovered that a tree stump can be a chair and requested that we go back to the tree stump three different times on our walk:
Ninna peeking into a hole in the snow to see if anyone lives there:
Examining a frozen birdbath:
And both chicks, playing a favorite game--the one in which they pretend to wait for the bus. As if the time we spend ACTUALLY waiting for the bus is not enough:

Two thumbs up all around. The chicks were tired out, and we got some much needed fresh air. Next time I won't wait long enough to go for a walk that my kids look at me like I have three heads when I propose it.

The Dolls' Birthday Party

A few days ago it was the dolls' birthday; apparently they were all born on the same day. This was, of course, the perfect excuse for a party. We started getting ready for the party after nap by making blueberry muffins together. While still slightly healthy, they resemble cupcakes enough to pass for birthday party food.

We then all painted birthday cards together with liquid watercolors, and Ninna wrapped up some board books with leftover Christmas wrapping paper for a gift:
This was Bojey's first time painting with a brush, and she did great. She lasted about five minutes before eating the paintbrushes--about four and a half minutes longer than she lasts before eating crayons or markers. Perhaps paint is going to be her medium.

After dinner, we sang "Happy Birthday," and Ninna helped the dolls blow out the candles:

Hilariously, the candles ended up being trick candles. This happened at Ninna's "half birthday" party too. I must have, at some point, put some trick candles into a box of regular candles. Here is Bojey's reaction to the whole affair:

Seriously, I could just eat this baby for a snack.

PS We have composted religiously since the month began! We're halfway to February, and our one small change is looking good.

Bedtime Project: The Nut Bowl

Every night after Bojey goes to sleep, Ninna does what is called "Bedtime Project" (pronounced PROG-jeck). It started out being called "Candlelight Activity," but since Ninna loves all things project-related, and since we ultimately started forgetting the candle anyway, the newer name she gave it fits.

Sometimes I suggest an activity, and sometimes she decides herself, but it's always something quiet and low-key. Tonight she chose "the nut bowl," which means that we pour a bag full of unshelled nuts into a big wooden bowl, and she uses various utensils (tongs, spoons, etc.) to manipulate the nuts. Bojey also loves this activity.

Our Indoor "Sand"box

I really wanted to do an indoor sandbox this year for the winter months, but I wasn't so sure about the sand. There are people who are willing to use real sand inside; those people must be far more tolerant and patient than I. The loads of sand we bring in every day on our clothes and shoes in the summer is just about the maximum I can handle.

So instead of sand, we're using lentils, and it's a huge hit. I can't take credit for the choice of lentils, as I was originally going to use rice. Credit instead is due to my close friend and neighbor downstairs who suggested them. I'd link you to her blog, but she doesn't have one. I think she's too busy doing things like keeping her house clean and remembering to take out the compost.

But back to the lentils. If you find playing with sand soothing, as I know Ninna and I both do, you will love the lentils. They're soft and cool and provide a weighty substance to move around and manipulate. We all played with them together today, and both girls lasted close to an hour before needing to move on to something else.
To set it up, I bought two large bags of lentils at our beloved Middle Eastern grocer, Akhavan, and the rest of the items (bin, tools, etc.) we already had. The grand total was about $10--more than my frugal (cough *cheap* cough) self would usually want to spend, but it was definitely worth it.

PS We took out the compost today. I had to shovel a foot of snow off the top of the bin and repeatedly punch the lever to break the ice so I could open it, but we did it.

One Small Change

From now until April 22nd, the chicks and I will be participating in Hip Mountain Mama's "One Small Change" project (see button at the sidebar). We are required to choose one specific, concrete goal per month towards living a greener lifestyle. The project culminates on Earth Day.

It took me awhile to decide what our January goal would be. Though I know there are always more things we can do, we are pretty good about living green already. I went through the standard list:

**Cloth Diapers...check (we've used them since Ninna was born, with the occasional lazy foray into disposables)
**Cloth napkins, cloth towels, cloth cleaning rags...check (I started using cloth for all of these things 6 1/2 years ago and haven't looked back)
**Walking and using public transportation...check (I'm not as good about this in the warmer weather, but I don't drive in the winter in Montreal. I haven't driven a car in close to a month)
**Recycling...check (we recycle and repurpose whenever possible)
**Homemade, all natural cleaning products...check (I've been making my own for years)
**Composting...check...except--oops.

I've been terrible about composting since winter started. Absolutely terrible. We live on the second floor of a house and in the freezing cold Montreal winter, I sometimes just don't feel like getting a one and three year old completely bundled up just to go take out the compost. So if I forget to take it outside with us when we go out to play or to do our errands, I just end up not taking it at all. And then the bucket fills up, and then I just throw the waste in the trash. I would say that over this winter, I have most certainly thrown away far more compostable waste than I have actually composted.

So our January goal will be to take out the compost! As I'm modifying our regular routine tonight, I will just have to squeeze in "take out compost" as a regularly scheduled item.

I'll be reporting back February 1st to tell you how successful we've been and what our goal will be for February. If you are interested in joining, I believe there is still time. Just click on the button and sign up.

Working Under the Table

Ninna asked me to make a fort the other day, so I moved the dining chairs into the kitchen and put a sheet over the dining room table. She spent two days filling it with toys and various items from all over the house, but she never actually played in it. Finally, at the end of day two, I asked if I could take the fort down, and my request was met with major protest. I told Ninna that I would leave it up if they actually played with it. They spent the next half an hour climbing on top of each other in it and forgetting about the roof and standing up and bumping their heads. Then they came out and never looked back (and never cleaned the massive piles of stuff, I might add). Here they are during the fort's few minutes of actual usage:

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, We're Happy to Reuse You

The girls said goodbye to the Christmas tree today. This is the longest I've ever left it up. I'm one of those who feel that once the holiday is done, it's done. I'm ready to move on. Every year, I agonize for a few minutes about what it means, environmentally, to buy a new Christmas tree. I feel a little better living in Montreal, where the city picks up our trees and recycles them into woodchips. I recently read that an Australian researcher did a study comparing the carbon footprint of a real tree and an artificial tree and found that getting a real tree was more environmentally sound than getting an artificial one unless the user kept the artificial tree for over twenty years.

I decided to keep "using" our tree beyond Christmas this year in two ways. First, Ninna and I clipped branches from the tree to keep in jars for a few weeks so we can continue to enjoy their smell. We added strips of fabric to give them a little more personality:

Secondly, I sawed off a piece of the trunk, with which I plan to make these. Hopefully I'll be posting them in the future. In the meantime, this has been added to the creative clutter of our house:

What all of this boils down to is that I will do as many things as I can to justify having a real tree every year because I have no intention of stopping, and I'm pretty sure my two chicks would agree with that sentiment.

For Posterity

There is no photo in this post because I'm using it to talk about Ninna's imaginary friends. We don't call them "imaginary friends;" in fact, we don't even call them her "friends" at all. To her, they are her kids. Her first kid, "Shakes," showed up a few months ago, and her origin is a story for another day. About a month later, "Ooobakes" showed up, and for quite some time, she would talk about Shakes and Ooobakes.

About two weeks ago, she was obsessed with a book about Franklin (the syndicated turtle character) for exactly 48 hours. That was long enough to add Franklin to the clan, so then it was Shakes, Ooobakes, and Franklin.

Today, she added the "new kids." No, not those ones--the ones I'd like to pretend I didn't listen to circa 1989. These new kids are on a kids' CD she listens to at her dad's house, where they keep "Three Blind Mice" on repeat. They became her kids today, and it turns out that instead of staying there, they decided to come home with us. She says she knows their names and ages but just can't remember.

Phew, that's all of them for now. I always think I'm going to remember these things, but they are really so fleeting. The other day my brother asked me if Bojey still makes "that noise." It took me a minute to realize what he was talking about. When he had seen her over the summer, she was constantly walking around saying "dik-um, dik-um, dik-um," and it seemed like such a significant part of who she was at the time, like I would never forget. Four months later, I could barely remember, and I'm sure after another ten months, it would be gone. Thank goodness for blogs since I have two very lovely, expensive, and almost empty baby books sitting on the shelf in my closet.

Happy 2010!

With the dawning of both a new year and a new chapter of my life, I've decided to start a new blog. It will still focus largely on my children, but it will be different from my previous blog. You'll see more text along with the photos, and I'll be going into more detail about certain aspects of our lives, like arts and crafts, cooking, and my concern about maintaining an environmentally-friendly, frugal, ethical lifestyle.

Because I'd like to leave open the possibility of participating more fully in the blogging community, I've chosen not to use my children's real names or to include other identifying information. My three and a half year old, who can be frequently seen wearing getups like the one in the following photo, will go by "Ninna":

"Ninna" is the name her baby sister uses for her, on the rare occasion that she actually says her name. It has caught on as a nickname in our house, and, given my tendency to play with names to an absurd degree, sometimes morphs into "Nins," "Ninny," "Nin-nins," and yet even more annoying names you'd prefer not to hear.

My one and a half year old will go by "Bojey," (pronounced Bo-jee). This rather unfortunate derivative of her actual name has become one of the nicknames Ninna uses most frequently in reference to the baby. When she's feeling particularly sassy, she refers to her as "The Bojents," after which I can't possibly keep a straight face. Here she is during a particularly cute moment (which is pretty much every moment for her):

I hope you'll enjoy the new blog. I know I'm very excited about all our forthcoming adventures.