the OTHER mother

Pearl's Groove

Pearl is in first grade this year. She's doing well in school and can read chapter books on her own. She likes Junie B. Jones, the A-to-Z mysteries, the Magic Treehouse series, and any true story about animals. Pearl joined a soccer team at the Y this year. Her team is improving, but they still haven't scored a point. She's pretty good though. I've been impressed with her athleticism.

Pearl's very favorite activity is still acting out stories that she makes up. Home is for acts, as far as she's concerned. Her favorite tv show is Avatar: The Last Airbender, and her favorite character is Aang whose job, although he's just a child, is to save the world. She wants to be Aang for Halloween.

In her acts, she combines characters from Avatar with characters from other stories that she and Carrie like--Scooby Doo, The Lion King, and the Hunchback of Notre Dame--with characters from their original stories--a baby named Baby, dog brothers Alex and Johnny, and Pearl and Carrie are always characters in the stories too.

Pearl still loves to draw. Her drawings are like comic books, often done in the format of sequenced squares. She loves to make them funny by placing the characters in unlikely places--kings in cages, cats hanging upside-down from trees. She still loves animals. They love her too. As do we, Mama and Baba, so very very much!

This Used to be a Living Room

Carrie and Pearl camped out in the living room last night. With the tent set up in the living room there isn't any living room left, but they didn't care. They noshed on marshmallows and pretended they could see millions of stars!

The Ship That Finally Arrived

It's Noah's ark but Noah didn't build this one. Thanks, Dad!

In the Jungle the Mighty Jungle the Lion and the Cheetah Fight!

In a previous post, I told you about how the girls like to dramatize their stories. Here are a few shots from tonight's tale. Carrie was acting scary; Pearl was on a whirl. Even the cat got into the act.

Don't be afraid, gentle readers, it's all pretend.

Drama for Preschoolers

Imaginative play is the favorite activity here in Grrrlville. It is even more popular than television (maybe because we have no cable or reception?!).

When Pearl and Carrie were toddlers they liked to "tell stories." At first they used plastic animals and human figures as characters. They would tell the stories, and we would all move our characters according to what they said. Papa Pig gives birth to baby T-Rex?  No problem. Little girl celebrates her birthday inside of a tea cup with Alice? Sure.

Their favorite stories when they were young were:

• character has a birthday
• character has to go to the doctor
• first day of preschool
• trips or adventures

We like to incorporate into the stories messages that our children might resist otherwise. Perhaps the mouse should try using his words before devouring that lion?  It also gives us a chance to help them expand their vocabularies and knowledge without actually instructing. As we run from the ottoman to the door, our characters "dash" or "flee" or  "gallop" or even "fly."

Now that they're older, Pearl and Carrie have graduated to "acts." We did not initiate the transition. Pearl started it, and of course Carrie followed close behind her. Many of these acts start with characters from books or movies that they know well. Instead of using the toy animals as the characters, they act out the parts.

A great way to start drama with your preschoolers is to offer them the chance to act out some favorite books. Let me warn you, however, that when it comes to acting, all books are not equal. Sometimes a favorite book is a real dud on the "stage." Our girls loved Time for Bed by Mem Fox when they were young, but it didn't work very well for acting because there's no plot.

This is how we do it. Read the book once. Ask "Who are the characters?" Once this is determined, reread the book.  Then ask, "What character would you like to be?"  Then reread the story pausing after each sentence or page so that your kids can act it out.

Here are a few books that have worked well for us:

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin

Buster by Denise Fleming

Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman 

Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

For younger children or children who are hesitant about this kind of play, some good books might include:

From Head to Toe by Eric Carle

My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss

Here are a few guidelines that have worked well for us:

* no props or costumes unless they're made by your child

* let your child be the director and ask him/her where to stand and what to do

* instead of making suggestions, model

* no corrections from the parent, unless safety is involved

I learned the core elements of this activity from my work with Rice University's School Literacy and Culture Project. If you're interested in the pedagogy, it comes from books by Patsy Cooper and Vivian Paley.

Your feedback is welcome!

[illustrations are from Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats

What's New with Carrie

 

Carrie is 3 1/4 years old, and here's what she's into these days:

Favorite drink = green juice

Favorite food = vanilla yogurt

Favorite vegetable = pumpkin loaf

Favorite song = little bunny foo foo

Favorite object = blue blankie
Favorite book = buster by denise fleming
Favorite animal = puppy
Career aspiration = super hero

10 Things I've Been Meaning to Tell You

In no particular order...

1) Nana flew home Saturday after two weeks with us.  We have been campaigning to get Nana and Papa to move to Htown. No such luck, so far. Your strategy suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

2) We planted herbs, beans, and marigolds in pots on our back porch.

3) My friend Faith died three weeks ago, while battling cancer, chemo, etc. for the second time.  It seems unreal.  Death seems unreal, doesn't it?

4) I submitted a chapbook manuscript to a poetry contest. Although the poems are not new, I'd never combined them in a sequence together. I don't remember ever submitting a chapbook for publication before either.

5) Carrie is making major progress, both in her speech and in her potty training.  Hurray for Carrie!

6) I want a puppy.  Pearl wants a puppy.  But keeping in mind what happened with Jake, I think we're going to wait until Carrie is a little older.

7) Marcia and I got to hear the author of Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi speak. She is brave and funny and smart, a wonderful storyteller.

8) I may become addicted to lettuce wraps this summer.

9) Marcia knows a whole lot about ice cream trucks.

10) Let me know if you want to play Scrabulous on Facebook.  I'm very addicted to it.

But (more than) enough about me...what's new with you?

Puzzle Junkies Rejoice!

Drag the tiles to make one word.  When they link together, they are correct. 

Word Of The Day Puzzle provided by Quote Puzzler.  There will be a new puzzle in this space every day.  Idea provided by Heather.

Procrastination or Bust

When the going gets tough, the tough procrastinate--do other people operate this way or is it just me?   Here are my favorite procrastination websites of the week.  (If you don't like word games, skip down to the next post.)

• The Problem Site
• Babble
• Word Sandwich

Click on the art to send a free ecard via Writers in the Schools!

Details from our Weekend

• Yes, friends, crazy Jojo (Carrie) can sit and twist and shout.  She is a tiny, human tumbleweed, rolling across the prairie of our lives.  And oh, what a screamer!
• Pearl has learned the names of at least 60 of the trains from Thomas the Tank Engine from the toys, the books, and the videos.  Marcia has decided that as long as Pearl is--at this developmental moment--capable of memorizing so much stuff so fast that she's going to try teaching her something useful, such as the name of all the birds.  Or Spanish.  Go Mommy go Pearl go!
• We have the most wonderful social worker helping us with our adoption, and the home visit went well last Friday. The craziest moment of the morning was when Carrie had just gotten up from her nap.  Marcia had taken Pearl to go look for a panda bear (emergency!), and I was holding Carrie in my lap, and I sneezed.  The loud sound scared her so much that she began to sob.  And when the only face she could see was the social worker's (I held her facing out), she began to shed huge, marble-sized tears.  As soon as she saw Marcia return, however, all was well.  Just in the past week, Carrie has figured out that some people are strangers.
• We went to a pride party Saturday night.  It was fun, and we also saw what we thought to be a glimpse into the future.  Among new (to her) folks, Pearl usually sticks close to Mommy and Baba.  At this party, however, she met a 3 year old girl and the two of them played with dolls and a doll house for 2 hours.  Pearl didn't even stop to eat dinner.  The 8 year old girls were so great with the younger ones, even letting them dance to music with them.  At one point, Marcia interrupted the dancing to see if Pearl needed a potty break.  Pearl gave her an adamant NO and waved her out the room!
• Lately I have gotten addicted to a new (to me) computer game.  If you like word games such as Scrabble or Boggle, do NOT click on the link for Babble.  You have been warned.
  
• Inspired by Shannon, I have been trying to cook more lately.  As usual, my intentions are much more impressive than the reality, but I have been serving up whole grains, vegetables, and other good foods when possible.  All yummy too, I might.
• We started a modified cry-it-out routine with Carrie about 10 days ago, and to our great surprise she and we are all doing well with that.  She's slept until at least 4 a.m. most nights since then.  A light at end of the tunnel of sleeplessness?  We shall see.
• Happy Pride!  Have a great week.

Hide & Seek

Hide & Seek is "in" at the new house.  Boxes (empty and full) create the perfect hiding places where wide open spaces should be. 

Once Pearl has found a hiding place, she hides in that spot for the rest of the day.  She's at the developmental phase in which she thinks that if she can't see you, then you surely can not see her.  Then when you finally "find" her, she squeals with excitement, runs to you, and gives you a most enthusiastic hug.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder.