Carrie and Pearl made these books over the Thanksgiving weekend. I chose a few pages from each book. The first four are Carrie's, and the last four are Pearl's.
I'm thankful for Ninjas spying.
I'm thankful for friendly dolphins.
I'm thankful for rocks everywhere.
I'm thankful for my sister.
A few pages from Pearl...
I'm thankful for my loco cats and screw-loose dog.
I'm thankful for amazing climbing trees.
I'm thankful for watermelon.
I'm thankful for homeschooling.
Transcription:
I have an Angel
with a song. She has a
butterfly. She trails thunder.
Panthers dart around
her. A velvet mask is
in her hand. Silver breezes
whisper around her. Inchworms
and lemons are swirling
around her too! Her skin is like
the moon shining above her.
Then she fainted! Crash!!!!
P.S. She hit the flower pot.
by Pearl, age 7
This fall Pearl and Carrie are excited about soccer. Although they both have lime green Seattle jerseys in the pictures, they are on different teams because of their age difference. I guess they're on sister teams.
Carrie has this to say about the sport:
What I like about soccer is that I get to play front field. That means I get to kick the ball and score lots of goals for my team. But the kids follow you wherever you go! That's all of my report.
Lately she has me read books about Mia Hamm to her at bedtime. And when she wakes up the next morning, guess what Carrie's been dreaming about?
On Facebook I often chronicle little things the kids say. Friends comment, "I hope you're writing all these down." But I'm not. So with the help of a little app called "My Year in Status" I made this collage which contains some of them. (Double click on the image to enlarge it.) Do you have a favorite?
This month we have been babysitting two huge bunnies for some friends. Here are a few things we have learned from this experience. According to Carrie and Pearl:
Baba can a few more details.
Yes, you guessed it! Kitty Alcatraz.
No Dogs Allowed.
Eliza came to play with Pearl and Carrie this day, and I'm sure she's to blame. Surely!
Last weekend we had a fun dinner with our cousins, Erin and Abner. Afterwards we got to watch a movie being made. It was about the Pony Express. It was a production by the one and only HorseyWorks Studios. Is everybodoy ready? Lights, Camera, Action!
Note to longterm readers: you may recognize these actors.
Copies of my chapbook "Dear Red Airplane" arrived in today's mail. The book is published by Seven Kitchens Press. I say the chapbook is out--which is true--however it is already sold out. Seven Kitchens is a micro-press, and they specialize in publishing artful booklets in very small print runs. All the copies sold during the pre-order phase. If you'd like to encourage the editors to do a reprint, you can contact them here.
Both girls attended the WITS Summer Camp again this summer. Here's a poem by each of them.
Dragonfly
I see an orange dragonfly
Fluttering softly
Its big eyes bulging like
Punch-out eyes
Four wings, light and see-through,
To help support it
It flutters on many things,
Even my dog!
The dragonfly spins through
the morning sky and
never tells its secrets.
By Pearl, age 7
Horse Brown
I see horses playing.
I hear horses running in the river.
I taste brown marshmallows.
I smell chocolate.
I feel safe.
My color is horse brown.
by Carrie, age 5
The Crazy Cousins
Marcia likes hiking.
There's nothing like a creek.
Our guide to Garvan Gardens reads her map.
Circle of Moms recently announced their Top 25 LGBT Blogs, and The Other Mother made the list. Hoorah! To check out the other winners, click here.
Pearl and Carrie are going to writing camp this summer, and Carrie's class did a Father's Day project. Since she doesn't have a dad, this could be tricky or awkward, but she is fortunate to have two wonderful teachers. They know that there are all kinds of families and that Carrie has two moms, also known as Mama and Baba. And so the teachers invited Carrie--all the kids, really--to write about a guy, whether it's a dad, grandparent, cousin, or family friend.
In the past Carrie (age 5) has always chosen to make cards for Pop and Papa, her grandfathers, but this year the lucky winner is... Uncle Russell. Since the girls were infants, Russell has been vying for favorite uncle status. He would whisper in their little ears:
Who's your favorite uncle?
Uncle Russell!
Uncle Russell!
Pearl, Carrie, and Russell have their very own WWF wrestling program, which Carrie mentions in her poem. They have special fighting monikers. It's always Pearl and Carrie versus Russell the Muscle. It's pretend wrestling, of course. Unfortunately, the line about Uncle Russell living in Costa Rica is pretend too (if only!). Carrie's poem and portrait appear below. Happy Father's Day, Russell. We love you!
Each year we look forward to the Houston art car parade. This rabbit was both Pearl and Carrie's favorite. Carrie liked the Easter eggs and stuffed animals on the hood and hub caps. Pearl liked the eyelashes, the heart-shaped nose, and the evil teeth.
Our neighbors made the Pee Wee Herman art car. It is completely covered with Peeps, the Easter candies.
I liked the cardboard box car, a throwback to all the boxes that our childhood imaginations brought to life.
Where are those curls? Well, their hair is still wet.
Carrie adores all her cousins, but she has an extra special love for her cousin Sarah. Carrie has the same birthday as Sarah which is perhaps why Carrie perceives a heightened connection between them. She oftens tells her stories that are her *memories* (fantasies, actually) of their many adventures together. In reality Sarah is 14 and Carrie, 5. In these tales, however, Carrie is 6 and Sarah is 5. Fancy that!
This post is a e-care package for Sarah from Carrie.
Carrie made three drawings for Sarah. They are rolled up like a scroll and tied with a "bow," a pastel tie-dyed string that reminds me of dental floss.
Carrie and Pearl did rescue a baby bird last week. Carrie and Marcia took it to an animal rescue center where it is being nursed back to health. In the picture, however, the heroes are Carrie and Sarah. The sign between the girls and the tree has one of those DON'T symbols on it. Nothing pleases Carrie more than doing things she's NOT supposed to do.
I was not given any explanation on this picture so I'm not sure what to say. Feel free to take a stab at it.
Carrie is trying to learn to draw more skillfully so she models pictures after Pearl's. I love that the sky has both a sun and a moon in it.
So, Sarah, I hope you enjoy these. We miss you!
You may recall that it was Carrie who planned my birthday party this year so you might assume that her own birthday would receive even greater enthusiasm. And you'd be right!
Carrie's party theme was... interesting. As in, very. Have you ever been to a Chinese horse party? This five-year-old loves horses, and she's learning Chinese (or at least she thinks she is). So in addition to the trusty steed pictured below, she had the bakers draw a picture of a horse with the Chinese symbol for horse beside it. We gave chopsticks, Chinese candy, and fortune cookies for party favors. Carrie help choose everything for the great occasion.
There are many more photos of the Chinese lanterns, petting zoo, and birthday cake on Marcia's facebook page.
Aang the Last Airbender and the Pink Princess had fun this Halloween. They played with friends at the Proctor Park Fall Carnival and went trick-or-treating in the neighborhood.
Carrie loves pre-K, and she's having a super year. Of course, she wants to do almost everything Pearl does, even homework. Since there's no homework in pre-K, we have to make up homework for her. Consequently she is a pretty sharp little kid, adding, subtracting, and drawing elaborate pictures of dragons, dogs, and sea monsters.
However, Carrie makes sure she is not hidden in Pearl's proverbial shadow. Pearl did a timeline of her life for school and practiced presenting it to the family numerous times. After each go-round, we could ask her questions. After hearing four different renditions, Carrie asked Pearl, "Where is your sister [pronounced seester] in this timeline?" Pearl just shrugged her shoulders and fielded the next question. I asked Carrie if she'd like to make her own timeline. She did.
It was too late to start that night, but the first thing she said when she woke up the next morning was: I'm ready to do my project. In Carrie's timeline all of the events happened this year, and they were different from Pearl's. Christmas and snow are highlighted, as well as swimming and playing games. The next day she brought her timeline to school and did an oral report for her class.
Carrie loves parties and social events. She is also very fond of her extended family and friends. She has a bike which she pretends is a horse named Spirit. On our neighborhood bike rides, she stops to collect grassy snacks for her trusty steed. Carrie loves many books, especially ones with trickster characters in them--fancy that! She is excited about her "five birthday" later this month and is involved in party planning on every level. Pictures will follow, circa Thanksgiving.
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!
Adventure with Dragons and Treasure by Pearl
Fairy Tale by Carrie
They say that every young girl imagines themselves a princess, but I never did. Just to verify this assertion, I double-checked in with my mom. She confirms it. This Baba skipped the princess phase with no regrets.
Of course They say a lot of things, but I suppose that most of them are true.
Here's the story of my recent birthday. I walked into the house at 5:30 pm on a Wednesday afternoon. Pearl and Marcia were doing the usual things, and Carrie was *hiding* behind a chair. She jumped out, yelling in her loudest voice: SURPRISE!
Carrie (let's call her Party Planner Junior) had worked out everything--decorations, food, and activities. Baba's favorite color might be blue, but at this birthday party, all was pink, pink, pink. Everyone got a pink princess cap except for me--as the honoree, I got to wear the tiara.
We ate drank, ate, opened presents, and other jolly activities. Then the two younger princesses performed a special birthday dance for the elders. Carrie seemed to be air-bending while Pearl's moves resembled break-dancing.
And while the royal children "did their thing" so did the royal kittens. Napping in the laundry, naturally.
For this *princess*, parenting has taught me one thing: never say never. Celebrate.
Recently a friend asked me to help him help his daughter write an autobiography. As adults we have fairly set ideas about the format of a biography or autobiography. They are usually chronological and include set details such as birth, milestones, siblings, and so on. Children, lacking familiarity with the format, often find other more interesting ways to tell about themselves.
For example, a child could tell her life story as a history of her teeth. From toothless baby to tooth fairy, to bobbing for apples (does anyone do that any more?) this might be a fun way to talk about one's life. By focusing the story on a particular slice of ones life, it might make for a more interesting story.
A book that could be used as a model is My Map Book by Sara Fanelli. Each page spread contains an unusual map. This one (below) is labeled a map of my day, with the toothbrush at the left and the night sky on the right. Each strip contains an activity that make a typical day in the life.
At Writers in the Schools (WITS), the map of my heart is another popular model for creative writing that comes from Fanelli's map book.The young writer sketches a heart and fills it with all the things s/he cherishes most.Modeling the brainstorming phase is important.The child uses the sketch to write a story or poem.
If you try this idea at home, please let us know. Happy writing!
New house, blank walls. You know the story. So yesterday, while Marcia was completing a work project, Pearl, Carrie, and I whipped up an art project.
I read about this project here and was planning to do it on my own, but the grrrls were interested in helping. The white lines are made with painter's tape, and each field is a different color, so it really is easy enough for children.
I like the way they turned out. Pearl's comment = they look like they were painted by real artists! Carrie's comment = don't worry Baba, I'll finish them tomorrow while you're at work.
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