Magic and Mayhem

Forbes is reporting that Motrin has officially dumped the ad that caused lots of outrage among baby-wearing moms this weekend.

Business lesson of the day:  Don’t mock your target audience.

We did circle time this morning since even the big kids enjoy it, and this was an activity I made up for it.

We went around in a circle and each listed something we were thankful for, going down the alphabet, starting with something that started with A and so forth. Each person had to list everything that had been said up until then, and then add another thing.

The game ended up being a good memory exercise, a good alphabet exercise for Jack and good for lots of giggles.

Our final list:

We are thankful for…

Artichokes, Babies, Cats, Deserts, Eggs from Heidi, Friends, Grapes, Hippos, Ice cream, Jack, Kenai, Leaps, Mud, Nothing at all, Our home, Potatoes, my Quilt, Running, Socks and Sweatshirts, Terrifying Trees (yes, he insisted he was in fact thankful for the terrifying sort), Underwear, Veggies, Waterfalls and Walruses, Xylophones, You and Zephyrs.

This week’s unplugged theme was junk, trash, donate and it was perfect timing.

We are a family of packrats, some of us more than others.  We have too much stuff and I have been trying to purge for quite some time.  I’ve been making progress, but it’s tricky when you have 4 little kids (and one big hubby) who are prone to saying things like But I love my broken hand claw thingee! and (I’m not making this up) You can’t toss my empty Molly Hatchet record cover from college.  It’s a memory!

Sigh.  Good thing they’re all so fabulous in other ways. 

But….

I seized upon this challenge and the upcoming holidays and told the kids that I would give them one dollar for each shopping bag they filled with stuff they donated.

It had to be their own stuff, and we had to clear it before the stuff left the house.  I didn’t want any expensive family heirlooms ending up at the thrift store, just in case we had any expensive family heirlooms hiding under the bed or something.

I gave them another, bigger bag and told them it was for joint possessions.  They could donate things that belonged to all of them as long as they all agreed, and they’d each get a dollar if they filled the bag.

Lastly, I told them I’d give them a dollar for each shopping bag filled with trash.  I don’t want them donating things that nobody would really want like ripped up old art projects or broken toys.

Anna and Jack did an excellent job.  Anna is very good at purging, so much so that she hurt Victoria’s feelings by wanting to toss an illustrated letter Victoria wrote her to cheer her up when she was 5.  :)  I rescued it for a keepsake.

Victoria organized.  Bless her heart, she’s trying.  It’ll take a while before she makes a fortune for any thrift store, but she did nearly fill a bag with trash and that’s progress.

I told the kids that this project goes all week, so they have 5 more days to fill the back of the van with donations.  Here’s hoping they’re rich by Saturday! 

Alicia wanted me to do the guest blog spot, so you know it’s not just her having all the fun!

Last week I went on our egg roll run with a couple of the kids, and we saw some signs in the ditch but couldn’t make out what they said.  We kept driving and saw a couple more, then finally saw a large colored circle and a sign next to it that said “Jupiter” and realized the school had put the solar system along the road!

We made it to Walnut Grove and came back to pick up the rest of the kids, then went back out and took pictures of the signs and marked the mileage.  We were able to determine that the scale was 1:100,000,000 (1 mile to 100 million miles).

Here’s the signs:

First, the sun (located in the city limits).

Second, Mercury (.3 miles away, just barely past town)

Then Venus at .5 miles

Earth at .8 miles

Mars, 1.3 miles away

The asteroid belt, 2.5 miles

Jupiter, 4.9 miles

And Saturn at 8.7 miles.

That was all we saw before we hit Walnut Grove, but we didn’t think they would have stopped so we kept driving along Co. Rd 5 north of town.  Sure enough, 3 miles north of town we found Uranus (16.8 miles from the “Sun”)

And then, a total of 27.3 miles from our starting point, Neptune.

We decided against seeing if they had Pluto out.  Could have been a LONG drive, and besides, it’s been demoted so I saved some gas.

It was a lot of fun doing this.  We decided we were the “Magic School Bus touring the Solar System”, and that means I was Miss Frizzle.  Not one of my better roles.  Alex was Lizzie, Jack was Ralphie, Toria was Keisha, and Anna was Dorothy Ann.  Many bad jokes ensued.

We spent a lot of time talking about the solar system and the distances involved.  They all learned the saying “My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us Noodles”, and by the time we got home Jack knew the planets and where they were by using that.

We also discussed how far away the sun was.  Since sunlight takes about 8 minutes to reach the Earth, we used that as a starting point.  That means it takes 273 minutes to reach Neptune, or about 11 hours 20 minutes.  We also calculated that if you were to walk to the Sun from Earth, figuring 1 mile every half hour it would take you 5,308 years.  More if you stopped for a bathroom break.

The planets were to scale, so we talked about how Jupiter could hold 1,000 Earths and that the Great Red Spot alone would hold two!  We calculated the size of the sun based on that scale (46 feet), so knowing that the Mercury was the size of a golf ball while Earth was the size of a softball REALLY put it in perspective.  We also discussed how the asteroid belt may have been a planet, which planets had rings, and any other factoids I could come up with.

I think they had a great time.  We had coloring pages for the planets and they did them as we passed the signs.  When we got home I found this page which shows it in a different way.

It was a great learning experience, and I hope it’s one you all have a chance to see some day!

(Note from Alicia:  see why Daryl handles the space lessons?  Brilliant AND fun!  What a man!  Thanks Sweetie!)

Motrin has a new ad campaign about mothers who carry their babies in slings.  In it, they talk about the new “trend” (that’s been around as long as there have been mothers, actually) of carrying babies in slings, pouches and such.  They talk about how it makes us  “tired and crazy” and causes all sorts of pain, but we’ll do it anyway because it makes us seem like good moms.

They want us to know they feel our pain as we do our silly, self-sacrificing rituals.

How big of them.

The ad just puts me off, and puts off most of the mothers I’ve talked to about it.

First off, there are so many types of slings and pouches that most mothers can find one that does not cause pain.  They’ve come a long way since those early Baby Bjorn contraptions, and women around the world have been using better types of slings for thousands of years.  My personal favorite is the Kangaroo Korner pouch and just about every AP mama I know has her own sling that she swears by.

That said, slings and pouches do hurt my neck and shoulders.  I have an injured neck from a car accident 9 years ago and have been told my neck will never be normal again.  So yeah, I know what it’s like to use a sling and have your neck or shoulders be on fire.

But there’s something about the ad that makes it quite clear that it’s not really written by anyone who’s ever carried a baby in a sling or even really agrees with the practice.  It’s condescending and fake.  The ad pretends to be one of us so it can make fun of us.  That’s not cute.  It’s rude.

All sorts of AP, pro-baby messages could have been in there somehow without sending the message that we’re somehow idiots who are damaging ourselves and causing ourselves pain because of a fashion, a whim, overindulged babies and trendy advice.

My neck and shoulder hurt today, just like pretty much every day.  I haven’t used a sling in a long time but I carry my toddler on my hip.  That hurts me just as much (even though it’s probably not as easy to make fun of in commercials).

I didn’t take any Motrin.  I soaked in an epsom salt bath, had two of my kids take turns pounding on my shoulder and then got a Tonka massage.  That’s where you let your kids drive on your back with toy trucks. 

Sometimes parenting is a pain in the neck– or back, or shoulders.  It’s great if the drug companies want to capitalize on that, but next time they should try doing it without mocking us.

We mothers are a pretty great bunch.  We’re smart, we’re caring, we’re educated, we’re loving and we do a great job of meeting our babies’ needs, even when it’s harder on ourselves sometimes.  Personally, I think they’d sell a lot more painkillers if they’d say that.

I’m busy with Saturday stuff so I’m recycling!  ;)  Here’s a list of 10 ways to make the day magical from one of my old newsletters…

10 Ways to Make Today Magical…..

1.  String popcorn and wind the strings around bushes and tree limbs as treats for the birds.  You can alternate cranberries, raisins and even bread cubes for other tasty, healthy options.

2.  Mix washable tempera paint with a little dish soap and paint winter or holiday scenes on the windows.  For little ones, cut sponges into holiday shapes like trees, ornaments, dreidels and bells and let them stamp the paint on.  It’ll wash right off with water and a sponge later.  To make clean-up easier, you can decorate the outside of the windows, though it won’t be waterproof, of course.

3.  Have the kids draw with markers or crayons just using their feet.  It may help to tape down the paper on the floor.

4.  Tape a length of string at net level, blow up a balloon, and have a family game of volleyball inside.

5.  Take up altered books.  Find a couple of big old books that nobody loves and turn them into your own personal scrapbooks, journals & art projects.  My girls and I spend hours working in ours.  You can use paint, markers, crayons, oil pastels, scrapbook papers, stamps, stickers, hole punches, glitter, shoe polish, magazine cut-outs, anything you can think of.  Cut slits in a page and weave strips of paper through.  Cover the front with mosaics, fabric, spray paint, you name it.  There are no rules, it costs next to nothing and there’s nothing to lose.  Google “altered books” to find a zillion wonderful examples of the kind of creativity people use with theirs.  (Note: an article with photos is coming soon in the crafts section of the web site.)

6.  Have a picnic supper on a sheet on the living room floor.

7.  Paint the kids’ faces.  For an easy face paint substitute, use fun colors of lipstick and a small paintbrush.

8.  Tape strips of crepe paper (or toilet paper) from the ceiling in part of their room to make a mini hideaway for a day.

9.  Go to a craft store and take a free class together.

10. Go on a Whimsy Walk.  Get dressed up in something fun and grab whatever props you can find– bubbles, ribbon wands (tie a long ribbon to a stick to make your own), crowns, tambourines, maracas, you name it.  Bring extras for families who might join you as you go (yes, people really have asked to join us!).

Have a great day! 

I was without the internet for most of the day yesterday and off shopping (not the fun kind) today, so I really meant to blog a little.

But I have a sleepy, sad, sickie in my arms and I’d have to type one-handed when I could just go down and watch bad TV and snuggle my boy.

Oh yeah, and read “Story of the World” and do vocabulary photos and be fabulous to the other 3….  Okay, at least snuggle and be fun with all…. 

Two of my kids have been visited by the tooth fairy this week.

Victoria lost a tooth 3 days ago.  It was hanging on for days and driving her crazy.  Towards the end she even tied a bit of yarn to a roll of colored electrical tape and tried to fling the tape and rip it out!  LOL  All that resulted in was the yarn slipping loose and colored electrical tape suddenly flying across the room.  But that evening the tricky little thing finally gave up and fell out.

The tooth fairy left Victoria a shiny silver dollar.  Victoria was thrilled.  She told me she’d left a note asking the tooth fairy if she could keep the tooth but it was gone in the morning.  She shrugged and said “Apparently not!” with a grin.  That’s my girl! 

(For the record, I think the tooth fairy was too sleepy to read the note at the time or would have left it.  She has in the past!)

Last night, Annalee lost a tooth as well.  Hers had been bugging her all day and she finally ate the wrong food just right and pop, out it came.

She frantically searched for her tooth fairy pillow (we handmade them from old shirts with pockets and fancy trim years back) and then came looking for me.

“I’m trying to decide what to ask the tooth fairy for this time,” she told me.

“What?” I replied, “She’s not a waitress who takes your order!  She’ll just bring you a dollar!”.

“No, no, no,” Anna said, “I don’t want a silly coin.  I want something neat like last time.”

Ah.  Yes, last time Annalee was visited by the tooth fairy, she was quite generous.  She got several little bottles of nail polish, sugarfree gum and I think there may have been money to boot.

She had written the tooth fairy and asked for nail polish that night.  Luckily, the tooth fairy had some darling miniatures on hand, along with some other goodies.

I reminded Anna that the reason she got such great treatment last time was because her two front teeth were KNOCKED OUT OF HER FACE.  Ahem.  She’d been running and playing at the school gym during ECFE and had slipped and slammed her face into the gym floor.  She came running to me with blood pouring down her face and two little teeth in her hand.

Of course the tooth fairy was going to be a little generous that time!

Anna finally harumphed her last time and stuck her tooth fairy pillow under her pillow.  During the night, the tooth fairy brought her a one dollar bill and a small pack of Big Red gum.

This morning, Anna excitedly told me about her haul.  The gum did the trick (along with cash) and she was happy.  She’s been happily chomping gum all day.

The tooth fairy better watch her step with Jack.  Kids can get tricky!

It’s snowy and dreary here this morning. I desperately need to find the cleaning fairy and chain her to my kitchen, but I also have 4 mostly-darling children in dire need of some plain old fun.

Here’s 10 things that are on our list of possibles today.

1. Play hide the phone. This is one of my favorite games to play with toddlers and the big kids love doing it with Alex. Hide the phone, press the page button and watch the little guy happily tear through the house looking for it. (Can also be played with ticking timers.)

2. Make miniscule art. Hand out index cards or other small pieces of paper and trace a circle in the middle. Have the kids use magnifying glasses, microscopes or just look very closely at whatever object they like (each in a different room). Have them use colored pencils, crayons or markers to draw what the object looks like up close, filling the circle like looking through a microscope. Afterwards, gather and see who can guess each object.

3. Make science, history or literature mad libs. Just find a short passage to print out and go through and underline some nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs. If there are animals, sound effects or other quirky words, be sure to underline those too. Then go through asking the kids to give you those parts of speech, write with a dark pen over the underlined word and then read their altered passage back to them. Afterwards, read the original.

4. Draw digestive systems on their tummies. How many educational activities tickle?   :)   If they’re old enough, let them do each other or themselves.

5. Start a tradition of having the kids leave a different short educational fact on the answering machine greeting every day. Encourage the kids to search books for good facts.

6. Have a vocabulary photo shoot. Find a list of words that are new to the kids and ask them to be actors and pose as the definitions. Be silly! Some possible words: ambiguous, cacophony, quirky, superficial, haughty, morose, lumbering, rabble rouser, cherub, mystique, porcine, villain, magnanimous, impish.

7.  Do a puzzle together.  The more pieces, the better!

8.  Make a sound muncher.  Got a child learning his letter sounds?  Use a paper bag to make a fun monster face and cut a big hole for a mouth.  Turn it upside down over an empty bucket or garbage can and pick a letter for the sound muncher to eat.  If today’s letter is B, your little one needs to go through the house finding things that start with B to feed the sound muncher.  As the object goes in, have your child say the sound and the word and make funny munching sounds.  You can also use this as a sneaky way to clean up, having all the items come from messy bedroom floors and afterwards being put in their proper places!

9.  Play historical who am I.  Take turns being a famous person from history.  Everybody can ask questions to try to figure out who you are.  It might help to hand out historical picture books first to refresh their memories and give inspiration.

10. Do video reports.  Let your kids pick any subject to read up on and then videotape them doing short reports on their subjects.  Encourage them to be creative, funny, use props, make up songs or poems, or teach their subject in whatever way seems most fun.  If you want, put them up on your blog and let other kids come learn from yours!

Does anybody have plans yet for neat holiday gifts for their kiddos?  Daryl and I talked about it today and brainstormed some things we want to get for our kids.  Some ideas– a marble run, bristle blocks, a tea party set, art supplies, earring trees, magazine subscriptions and art supplies.

We really want to go for quality over quantity.

Not just clutter.  Not just stuff.  And within a pretty small budget, too, of course.

I may make up coupon books for each child, good for things like a movie date with mom and one-on-one craft time and getting out of chores for the day.

I was also thinking of making up a photo album for each of them.  I think they’d really like a special book of favorite memories.

And chocolates.  Daryl sometimes brings me fancy chocolates that he has to drive to the florist in Mt. Lake to get.  The kids are always jealous.  I may get them each their own small box of chocolates so they can feel special too.

And books.  Those are a given!

How about you?  Do you have any plans for fun presents?  Any recommendations for 1 and 5 year-old boys or 8 and 10 year-old girls?