A while back I posted some videos of the boys singing the archaeopteryx song from the show Big Green Rabbit. Folks from the show contacted me, and asked if the boys would like a package of goodies from Charlie, the Big Green Rabbit—no strings attached. Well, the package has arrived and has given us all a much needed boost. This week has been a trying one; we’ve all got colds, Jim broke his wrist, and the weather has turned to bitter winter (forecast was for a –42C windchill this morning!) with a good dump of snow. The boys are thrilled with their gifts from Charlie. (As I write this they are wearing their new Big Green Rabbit shirts, dancing and singing along to songs in one of the DVDs that they received). Here’s some pics:

There were lots of goodies included: the personal note from Charlie (which the boys loved!), t-shirts, wristbands, DVDs, a music CD, tattoos…

Here’s my attempt to get a picture of the boys smiling a ‘Thank you!” to Charlie in their new shirts. They each wanted to hold something in the picture, but as you can see, they couldn’t keep their eyes off the CD or DVD to look at the camera and smile. They were that excited.

After putting the DVD and CD back down, I finally got a decent picture. What a lovely surprise—thanks so much, Charlie and folks at the Big Green Rabbit!

We started a number of chapter books last week among the picture books. As usual, hover over the picture for title and author.

A Swim Through the Sea is a better-than-average alphabet book, with detailed and realistic illustrations of sea life. Curious George’s Dinosaur Discovery is my boys’ favourite title in the series. George goes on a dinosaur dig, where he makes his usual mess of things, but the ensuing rockslide reveals hidden dinosaur bones. The book ends with the new “Georgeosaurus” on display at the natural history museum.  The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig is not to be missed; it is hilarious to any child who is familiar with the original three little pigs story. The three little wolves leave home, building houses of brick, concrete and barbed wire, etc. which the big bad pig resolves to huff and puff and puff and huff away. When this doesn’t work, well—he’s not called the big bad pig for nothing—so the pig acquires jackhammers and dynamite and so on to destroy the houses. The wolves’ last house, made of flowers, proves to be the most successful, as in huffing and puffing the pig gets a whiff of the lovely flowers, which softens his heart and makes him a nice friendly pig. I’d love to hear other readers favourite ‘fractured’ or altered fairy tales; my boys are at just the right age for them now.

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is no doubt a title that most readers of this blog will be familiar with from their own childhoods; Daegan is finding it quite amusing. There are passing references to things such as mugging, dope pushers, and so on that have led to some interesting discussions between us, but our most interesting talk came after reading the chapter where Fudge refuses to eat. After worrying his mother, going to many doctors, having his favourite dinner made only to still refuse, it climaxes when Fudge asks for a bowl of cereal instead. When he refuses again to eat, the dad says “Eat it or wear it” and ends up dumping the cereal, milk and all, over Fudge after putting him in the tub to contain the mess. It was interesting to see what my kids thought of the father’s actions. Fossil Fever is a must read beginning chapter for any young boy wanting to go on a dinosaur dig; I was pleased to find it not ‘dumbed down’ in the way many books of that sort are.

All Aboard takes Matt and Emily to the time of “the last spike”, which completed the railway line that connected Canada coast to coast in 1885. The series is very similar to the Magic Tree House books, with Emily and Matt finding a magic sled and various objects in a tower room that belonged to Emily’s aunt. Rubbing the leaf on the sled while holding the object transports them to other times and places for wonderful adventures with a Canadian flavour. Our favourite title in the series was Crazy For Gold about the Klondike gold rush in the 1890s. Highly recommended!

Gareth has expressed an interest in trying chapter books, so we are planning to re-read the Magic Tree House series, beginning with Dinosaurs Before Dark. These books were very popular with Daegan, and are a wonderful introduction to chapter books as the main characters and format remain the same from title to title. Also good for general introductions to a variety of topics, from dinosaurs to Shakespeare to the US Civil War. Charge of the Triceratops is the first we have read in the new Dinosaur Cove chapter book series, about two boys who find a secret passageway in a cave that takes them to a time when dinosaurs were still alive. The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups was overall disappointing—we found the humour not all that funny in most of it—but the sections about eating vegetables to prevent the rise of carnivorous vegetables like in olden times was absolutely hilarious. The only other part Daegan enjoyed was about the Scottish mattresses. 

Gareth found A friend for Dragon quite funny, about Dragon adopting an apple as a friend. Dinosaurs is interesting visually, as the illustrations are done 3-D style, and do jump off the page at you. Gareth has also been enjoying titles in the Magic School Bus Phonics Reading Program. This set of 12 very thin beginner books starts with a half-dozen or so words on the first page for the budding reader to look for in the story. While neither of my boys have enjoyed phonics readers in general—the Bob books were not well-received here—these titles have kept his interest much more, probably due to his familiarity with the TV show and his interest in science.

Happy reading!

After such a lovely Friday, Sunday has been rather a let down. I am getting sick, and Gareth is sick—complete with up-chucking all over his bedsheets. So, to make the best of things, Jim and I thought this would be a good chance for some one-on-one time between him and Daegan. And as Daegan is always wanting to skate for a longer time than Gareth, and it was a nice sunny day, this seemed a good way to spend the late afternoon.

But less than an hour later, Jim and Daegan returned. As it was getting close to dinner, I figured maybe Daegan was getting whiny and Jim had had enough, and then I heard a cry of pain: “Risa! I need your help! I really hurt my wrist!” I went upstairs and Jim asked me to help him get his jacket off, and slipping his arm out, I could see the wrist was very swollen and not right. “I think you’ve broken it,” I said calmly. “We need to take you to the emergency room.”

So I call to Daegan to put his boots and jacket back on, get Gareth bundled and into the car (he was feverish and out of it), and drove to Foothills Hospital. Parked in the emergency bay, got Jim settled into the triage line, and headed home with the boys. Jim was there only a couple hours—triage, admitting, XRay, fibreglass cast, percocet—and called us to pick him up. He’s in the cast for the next 6-8 weeks.

At least the doctor had a sense of humour. He said to Jim, “Now, you can’t get the cast wet, so you’ll need to get your wife to help you bathe…Make the most of it.” <g>

This is going to make life interesting as driving his car (a stick shift) and typing (which is what he does all day for work—coding, writing papers and presentations, blogging, etc.) are going to be rather affected. Fingers crossed he makes a full and speedy recovery.

Or so was Gareth’s claim. He wasn’t tired yet, and wanted to watch one more show. “Fine,” we said, as it was Friday night and we had no appointments tomorrow except the afternoon clay class. “You can watch this while we help Daegan brush his teeth and get ready for bed.” This is what we found when we came downstairs again:

Gotta love 4-year-olds. :-)

On Friday Gareth had another of his drama classes at the nearby Arts Centre, and he is simply thriving. This is his first successful go at an unparented class. Last year at this time I put both boys into an unparented yoga class, thinking that having his older brother in the room would help ease Gareth’s transition to classes sans Mom or Dad. Nope! He just wasn’t ready. This time around he is in class with his friend Daniel, and is having a wonderful time—not a single issue. What a difference a year makes!

After class Daniel and his Mom came over to our place, as they often do. The boys play, and Anna and I get a chance to visit over cups of tea, until the boys get cranky and we serve lunch. <g> Gareth and Danny got out some old Halloween costumes and played dress-up for a bit; they make very cute dragons.

Gareth later informed me he is going to be a Mouse King—half mouse, half king—during his drama class’ final performance (which parents and siblings get to attend in about a month); Danny said he is going to be a princess! <g>

After they left we had a low-key afternoon, reading some new books, watching some DVDs, doing some art. Jim came home with a wonderful surprise for me. What a guy!

Friday was Jim’s last day of work at his current contract, so to celebrate we picked up pizza for dinner and settled in to watch an episode of Nova I had recorded a couple weeks back. Ah, a geek family Friday night! :-)

‘Twas a wonderful Friday.

Daegan is using Math-U-See for the formal part of his math education, and it has proven to a be very good fit for him. I know he learns very well off DVDs and videos (dinosaurs, anyone? or bugs? <g>), so the way this program is laid out—watch a short lesson on DVD, then do the exercises in your workbook—is an excellent fit for him. He quite surprised me in how he approached the first level, Primer, back in September. Daegan chose to watch all 30 math lessons in a row (over 2 days), and only then go back and watch one lesson at a time and do the workbook. Seems he likes to see the big picture before getting into the details. I have many positive things to say about Math-U-See, as does Jim. Both of us have done math at the university level, and think the program is very strong. Perhaps in another post…

Daegan finished Primer before Christmas, and at present is working on level Alpha, lesson 9 (which, coincidently, is learning the +9 facts). The previous unit, solving for an unknown—yes, ALGEBRA!—was more challenging for him. Here’s a typical page:

Having taught math, I know the difficulties many students have with word problems in junior high and high school, so I asked Daegan to slow down with the word problems. I was starting to drive him crazy, each time asking him to stop and think: In this word problem, what are you needing to figure out? What information (clues) do you have? I know that many people (kids and adults) follow the ‘slap it down’ method when it comes to word problems: they slap down (write down)each number into the equation as you come to it in the word problem. The ‘slap it down’ method works just fine for some word problems, like the first part of (18) below:

But it doesn’t work for all word problems. For many, you need to understand what is being asked, so you know where to place the various numbers in your equation. That’s why I was really impressed when I saw this (bottom question, number 12):

The bottom question (12), Daegan did correctly, placing the 9 after the equals sign. Many, many kids (and adults!) would have automatically written a 9 in the first blank (where the 2 is), simply because it was the first number mentioned in the word problem—the ‘slap it down’ method. And even better, there are no eraser marks (unlike the question above, where he wrote the 3 backwards the first time and fixed it), which tells me he stopped and thought about the question before starting to write and solve it. It’s a small victory, but one that shows me Daegan is learning to use math well, and understands it. He is not just blindly following rote rules and hoping to get the right answer, which, sadly, is how many of my friends describe their experiences with math as children.

While waiting outside Gareth’s drama class on Friday morning, I gave Daegan this informal reading assessment. As the assessment involves reading a list of words of increasing complexity, and only testing if the child can correctly pronounce them, the assessment is indeed ‘informal’—a comprehensive reading assessment looks at comprehension, and would ask a student to read paragraphs or a short story. But it was nice and easy to do, and is something I plan to revisit with him in future to (hopefully!) see growth and improvement.

Daegan came out with a grade 6 reading level. Here’s the list of words for this level: sunup, alternate, effective, parallel, surgery, biology, acknowledge, embarrassment, inspection, veterinarian, enterprising, observation, perspiration, zookeeper, declined, frustration, drainage, specialize, orangutan, downpour.

I’m glad we’re homeschooling; I think he’d be bored in a regular grade 1 class.

We did much less reading than usual last week, for a couple reasons. First, the library system was offline ALL WEEK while they upgraded / changed computer systems. Oy! What a headache! You could check books out in person, and return them as well…but that was it! No online access to the library catalog (not even for library employees at work!), no putting things on hold to be picked up later. I was in serious withdrawal! :-) And second, both Jim and I fell ill last week, and read-alouds with a sore throat just aren’t fun. :-(

So here’s what we read; many of these are long-time favourites we had on our shelves at home. Sorry I couldn’t get this up on Sunday evening as is my plan, but did I mention the entire Calgary library system being offline?!? <g> Again, hover over the image for the title and author.

Row Row Row Your Boat is one of a series of ‘books to sing’ by Iza Trapani, and while not a favourite, a number of other titles in the series have delighted the boys. Her Jingle Bells was particularly enjoyable, as she added / altered the lyrics to the well known song to look at Christmas traditions around the world. Math Fables Too taught both addition and various animals eating strategies in a way that engaged Daegan.

Over in the Ocean is another delightful ‘book to sing’, and one of a series from that author (Over in the Jungle, Over in the Arctic) based on the tune Over in the Meadow. The boys enjoyed all three. Ten in the Bed is my favourite version of the “roll over! roll over! and one fell out…” song. In this delightful board book, a young child finds the bed too crowded with stuffed animals, and as the animals fall out one by one they land with a “Thump!” or “Bonk!” or “Oof!” Soon there is “only one in the bed”—the child—who says, “I’m cold! I miss you!” So the animals all come back and the book ends with the child asleep, surrounded by the toys: “Ten in the bed, all fast asleep”. I don’t know how many times I have read this book; it was the very first book we bought to read to Daegan after he was born.

Ducky’s Seasons has long been a favourite board book with both boys, and while the words and pictures of a young duck moving through the seasons of the year are cute, it drives me nuts that the duckling doesn’t grow up over the course of the year! There’s a Wocket in My Pocket is Dr. Seuss nonsense rhyming at its best—the Nooth Grush on my tooth brush and “the Tellar and the Nellar and the Gellar and the Dellar and the Bellar and the Wellar and the Zellar in the cellar” (read as quickly as possible, of course) never fails to elicit giggles. Why Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight and the other titles in the series have been favourites here for ages.

Kipper was very popular with the boys (and Mom and Dad!) when the boys were younger; the DVDs are delightful and humourous, with a gentle tone and slower pace—very different than much of the flashy, jumpy, hyper cartoons for kids. Kipper and Roly is about Kipper’s adventures with a hamster he buys for Pig’s birthday present. I had high hopes for Why Sun and Moon Live in the Sky, a folk tale of sorts about the effects of overly generous Sun inviting Sea (and all her children) to Sun and Moon’s house on the earth, but it didn’t grab my boys attention. Dinosaur Bones is a good read, but even better DVD (the song is very catchy; you’ll be singing in for weeks afterwards). Platypus’ World is the first title we’ve read in this new series, with just the right amount of information for the 3-6 year old crowd. We’ll be checking out her Koala and Wombat and other titles—nice to see in-depth books about Australian animals other than the kangaroo.

Happy reading! 

By Monday Jim and I were feeling better, so I went out to do a little shopping for my family on Family Day, while Jim took the boys skating on our neighbourhood outdoor rink. When I got back, Daegan showed me the cardboard pterosaur he made (with a bit of help from dad making the slits for the wings):

I brought back a new pair of pajamas for Gareth, who LOVES Harry and His Bucketful of Dinosaurs (both the show and the books). Long sleeve, 100% cotton (both of which are necessary to keep Gareth’s eczema under control) and a cool hood for playing dinosaur…he was thrilled!

I also found these dinosaur figurines that break into a 20-piece, 3D puzzle. Gareth got a T rex and Daegan a pachycephalosaurus:

Here’s the finished products:

Gareth was a very happy boy that afternoon, and gave me his cutest “Thanks Mom!” smile:

Came across this article, The Serious Need for Play (Scientific American) on one of my email lists. Here’s the Key Concepts as listed in the article:

• Childhood play is crucial for social, emotional and cognitive ­development.
• Imaginative and rambunctious “free play,” as opposed to games or structured activities, is the most essential type.
• Kids and animals that do not play when they are young may grow into anxious, socially maladjusted adults.

Interesting, interesting stuff. And I have to say, I find myself wondering less about my own kids—who have loads of unstructured time and free play—but more about myself. Did I have enough free play as a child? Do I still play today?

What about you?

Over the weekend, when both Jim and I were under the weather, we walked into the kitchen to find this:

Yes, those are paper clips—in water—in a spice jar that up until rather recently held dried marjoram. Gareth was behind me, proudly saying, “Look at my experiment! When I get bigger I am going to be a scientist!” I was most curious to understand the workings of his experiment, so grabbing a pen and paper, here’s the explanation direct from a 4-year-old:

“I putted sink water in, and then cold water in from there [pointing at water cooler which had a small puddle beneath it—sigh], and the pins [paper clips]…DIDN’T DISAPPEAR! I just putted this lid on. I’ll show Daegan how to do experiments with jars. You can do ANY experiment you want with jars!” [raises hands triumphantly]

“I learned being a scientist on Beakman.”

“I’m going to do another experiment. When I sleep, the pins will change colour maybe. I’m going to call it the Sleep Overnight experiment, because I’ll put it in my room then sleep and wake up in the morning and the pins will change colour maybe. I’ll check in the morning to see if they’re the same colour or not.”

To me, this is already very different from science experiments I did in school, where the materials, methods and expected results were laid out for me in advance. Fine, his scientific understanding has a ways to go (he’s 4!) but I am so excited to see him forming hypotheses, and taking the initiative to test them. Even if it means having to buy new spices and wiping up some spills. 

Begin by putting together the world map foam floor puzzle.

Next, grab one of the animal figurines that Mom has cleverly pre-selected and collected in a bag. (Note the Kimodo dragon on Indonesia)

Place animals where they live, and look any up on the computer that you don’t know. Here’s Gareth putting a giraffe on Africa:

Here’s Australasia (the Australian birds—the budgie, emu and cockatoo—didn’t want to stay on their feet for some reason). Note the coral for the Great Barrier Reef:

And North America:

Do you think he’s having fun?

And while Daegan finished placing the last few animals…

…Gareth was off getting his “Nature Nut.” Daegan helped him figure out how to place John Acorn, aka the Nature Nut, in Edmonton, Alberta.

After we cleared all the animals away, the boys went and got various dinosaur figurines and did the same thing, placing them where their fossils have been found. Gareth insisted on keeping the Nature Nut along to check out the fossils, eventually bringing a toy helicopter to transport the Nature Nut between fossil sites as Daegan created them.

Given the number of animal and dino figurines the boys have, I think its safe to say we’ll be doing this activity again! :-)

I was working downstairs, when Daegan came to see me.

“Daddy wants to know if you would like a cup of tea?”

“That’d be great. Thanks.” I replied.

Daegs scooted upstairs, and I could hear Jim and he talking. Daegs came back down and said:

“Do you want regular tea, or cap-u-tea-no?”

“What!” I laughed. 

“Regular or decaffeinated?” Jim hollered from the kitchen.

:-)

Today we did an experiment about air movement, in which we tried to blow out a candle with various items between us and the candle. The original idea for the experiment came from here. This is an excellent experiment for getting your kids to use their powers of observation and deduction.  The experiment uses common household objects. Here’s what you need:

a candle and lighter

assorted household objects of various shapes. I had three broad types: cylinders (cocoa can, wine bottle, rootbeer can); solid and non-round (cereal boxes, storage containers, piggy banks, toys); and those with holes (Connect 4 game with pieces removed, a piece of window screen).

I began by lighting the candle and having both boys blow it out with nothing blocking their way. We talked about how the wind (the blowing) blows the candle out. I then stood the box of cereal in front of the candle, and asked them to predict what would happen when I blew on the cereal box. Would the now sheltered candle go out? I blew and then we talked about why the candle did not go out in this case.

Then we moved on to the Connect 4 game. I first left all the pieces in and blew—and the boys predicted correctly that the candle would not go out. Gareth spontaneously said, “But if we take the pieces out, the air can go through!” so I removed most of the pieces in the middle row and blew again, and the candle went out.

Next we tried one of cylinder-shaped objects—a hot chocolate mix jar. I put it in front of the candle, and asked the boys for predictions. I blew on the jar, and the candle (which was completely sheltered by the jar)blew out! Daegan found it so shocking he laughed out loud.

I then had the boys pick various objects out of the pile to test, and after trying to blow out the candle past them, I sorted the objects into two groups— “Yes, the candle blew out” and “No, candle did not blow out.” Daegan recorded the results on a sheet of paper.

Once we had done a reasonable number, I had the boys come look at the two groups.

I asked them some questions: What do the “yes” objects have in common? Do they have holes in like a screen? How are the “yes” objects different from the “no” objects? Do you notice anything about their shape? Daegan exclaimed, “They’re all round!” We then talked about how air moves around round objects—it hugs the shape of the object. So when you blow on the side of a pop can, the air current ‘splits’ (some hugs each side of the can) but then joins back together at the back side of the can to blow out the hiding candle.  This is called the Coanda effect.

I then extended the experiment by having the boys hide behind various-shaped objects, while I “blew” (waved a heavy book to make wind) at them. Not scientifically legitimate, but they had loads of fun collapsing down (pretending to be blown out) behind the round water bottle. :-)

If you try this experiment at home, a few tips. Try to select thinner cylinders, like wine bottles or drinking glasses—the fatter containers were MUCH harder to blow air around. Bring the candle close to the edge of the table or counter so you can squat down and line up your blow at the level of the flame. And practice before-hand; I found the candle needed to be as close as possible to the blocking object. Lastly, if your kids want to try doing the blowing, have them practice blowing out the candle with nothing in the way first—or better yet, use a hair dryer or similar so that they can aim a strong current of air correctly. I learned too late this was not the best experiment to do with a strong-willed, but asthmatic, 4 year old who wants to try everything himself! :-)

Daegan and I created these poems using the letters in each family member’s name, and he challenges other homeschooled kids to make poems of their own. Here’s our family:

DAEGAN:

Dinosaur-crazy, and I am pretty
Amazing,
Excellent at identifying bugs. I love
Gareth, my brother. I am
Awesome at reading dinosaur books, and I
Never want to give Daddy a big headache.

JIM:

Jumps and plays,
I love him; he
Makes the best black bean tacos.

GARETH:

Good at staying up late and messing up my covers,
And he gives big hugs. I
Read him dinosaur books. He likes to
Eat soy yogurt. He loves to be
Tickled.
He’s a good brother.

RISA

Really ticklish and silly
I love doing art with Mommy
She sometimes gets mad at me
And she gives hugs (“they start as a hug, and end as a squish!”—family joke).

We’re doing a Valentine’s exchange with some other homeschoolers, and got the first of our cards in the mail the other day. (Thanks, Susan!) So I thought we ought to get in the Valentine’s mood. We started the day with this find a heart activity from my friend Alicia, and it went over brilliantly. I made blue hearts for Daegs, red for Gareth, with short instructions: the boys recited the alphabet, did 10 push-ups, named 6 prehistoric animals, hugged someone they loved, told jokes…. But their absolute favourite heart instruction?—“Dance!” Both boys seem to believe that the object of dancing is to be as noisy, silly, and enthusiastic as possible. Think intoxicated elephants doing Riverdance. :-)

After that, I went upstairs and made the boys a simple butterfly Valentine. Printed the pattern from here, coloured it in crayon, added a few heart stickers, taped a lollypop to the back, and gave it googly eyes. While I was doing this, the boys decorated paper bags with heart stickers and other things to make a container to collect their Valentine’s in, and then I gave them their butterfly lollypops. A hit!

Here’s some of what the boys got up to today. Gareth built a city:

And both boys built dinosaurs with their magnet sets. (We have a ‘Under the Sea’ set too; I think the company that makes them is called Monkey Magnets). Some they built following a guide:

Others, they made free-hand.

Daegan made a pteranadon and an archaeopteryx:

We also played a couple rounds of the math game, 4-Way Countdown, using addition only, and one round of 4-Way Spelldown—giving Gareth a bit of help making his words.

When Jim got home, the boys were busy making dinosaur books (Gareth drawing, Daegan drawing and then copying the name of the dinosaur from a book…or inventing titles like “new mammal-like reptile”, “new stegosaur”, “primitive ornithopod” etc. Not your usual “A A a a apple ant acorn” sort of copywork, perhaps, but I’m running with it. He titled his book, “The Owners of These Bones” <g>—and  yes, I noticed he mixed up the sight words “to” and “of”.)

Daegs has been watching the National Geographic DVD Dinosaurs Unearthed about recent finds in China, so kept asking us how to spell all kinds of dinos neither Jim nor I had heard of—Guanlong, Yinlong, Junggarsuchus—beginning from some very amusing pronunciations! Thank goodness I learned long ago to ask him about the time period and type of dino (which his mind absorbs like a sponge); I never would have gotten from “E-long” (Daegan’s guess) to “Yinlong” without googling for a list of Jurassic ceratopsians! We were similarly lost on “junker-suchus.” :-)

And after dinner, Jim took both boys to the library to pick out some new things. Good man. And a good day. Or so I thought. My eldest still tells me that I am spending “a bit too much time on the computer.”

OK, so I missed the date by several weeks. But I saw this idea on another blog, and knew it was something I wanted to do with our kids to capture ‘snapshots’ of them as they moved through their childhoods. Here’s the questions I asked both boys:

What is your favourite:

cereal? fruit? vegetable? drink? toy? TV show/movie? game? book? restaurant? holiday? animal?

What do you love about each person in your family? What do you have fun doing with each person in your family?

Where would you like to go on vacation this year?

What are some of your wishes for this year? What would you like to do this year?

What do you want to learn about, or learn how to do this year?

What would you like to do for work when you grow up?

Their answers were largely what I would have guessed—lots about dinosaurs—but a few surprised me. Who knew Gareth wanted to ride on a dolphin, or learn to cut stuff with a sharp knife? Or that what Daegan loves about Dad is that he took care of him when Mom was away? Curious to see how their answers will change next year.

Today Gareth had a dentist appointment to get a small cavity filled. Jim took him in (Dad is calm in these situations, Mom exudes anxiety) and he said Gareth did great. He got a little wiggly at one point, but overall was calm and cooperative. One funny moment: upon receiving a Diego sticker, Gareth immediately peeled it off its backing and placed it on the front of his (plain) shirt: “My shirt looks much better now!”

But the quintessential 4-year-old moment happened when the dentist was done. She told Jim that Gareth would be woozy for a bit, and how to care for him over the next few hours. So Jim takes Gareth’s hand to leave the office. “I can walk BY MYSELF!” Gareth bellows in his defiant, I-am-not-a-baby-anymore voice. So Jim lets go of his hand, and Gareth takes 2 steps—BAM!—right into the office wall. (He was fine). After that his little hand came out to hold onto Dad pretty quick.

Gareth’s back for one final appointment next week.

Daegan has done many Sticky Mosaics over the past year or so; they are a wonderful quiet day project. I’ve posted some pics of finished projects previously. Today, Daegan took some leftover tiles and created his own mosaic pteranadon—another crafting project that I knew nothing about til he showed me the finished product. Loving the initiative as much as the result!

Inspired by this blogger’s goal of reading 1000 picture books this year, I thought I would start doing a weekly round-up of our reading. I will include only those books I have read to or with the boys; Daegan reads on his own every night, and Gareth is beginning to peruse books solo as well. Hover over the book to read the title and author; I’ll comment only on our favourites. Here’s what we read this past week:

Someday a Tree is about a family trying to save their beloved oak tree that has been poisoned, and when all looks lost, the child remembers her collection of acorns. We read the story of Rachel Carson’s life in Girls Who Looked Under Rocks: The Lives of Six Pioneering Naturalists. Carson is best known for her ground-breaking Silent Spring, a seminal book on the environment, and one which led to the eventual banning of DDT and other pesticides.

Bear Feels Scared is one of a series, and just as delightful as Bear Snores On, the only other we have read as yet. Superb rhythm and cadence to the book—both boys requested an immediate re-read upon finishing it, something that doesn’t happen often anymore. Dinosaurumpus is a family favourite, a very fun/silly book about dinosaurs getting ready for a dance—though our eldest was quick to point out that the dance couldn’t really happen: the problem being that the dinos (“and not all were dinosaurs!” he added) lived during different time periods. An Egg is Quiet was a superb book about all kinds of eggs (numerous birds, plus reptiles and fish) and their characteristics, with stunning artwork. I highly recommend it.

Flotsam is a quirky book, with no words. The pictures tell a fantastic tale of a boy finding a camera on the beach…and carrying on a legacy. We only read a couple poems from the poetry anthology, but it looks promising—fun poems with lively cartoonish pictures.

Our Natural Homes looks at the different biomes, or regions, of North and South America, such as tundra, chaparral, desert, grasslands, and various forests. There is a map at the back showing these regions all over the world. Dinosaur Mummies is a fascinating read for the dino-crazy, focussing on fossils where soft tissue—such as skin, heart, intestine—has been preserved, not just bone. I also liked that the book discussed finds from all over the world, a necessity I suppose as mummification is far, far rarer in nature than fossilization. We read The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde in the Hutchinson Treasury of Fairy Stories, a story that none of us knew and all of us enjoyed. When the giant built a wall around his garden to keep children from playing in it, the garden was no longer alive or joyous—a reminder to me about what the purpose of our yard is for sure. :-)

Nature’s Paintbox was a gorgeous journey through the seasons via different artwork (nature draws winter in pen and ink; spring in pastels; summer in watercolours and fall in oils)—a unique and captivating read. Both boys giggled their way through Even More Parts: Idioms from Head to Toe, which had cartoonish drawings such as a cash register full of limbs—”it cost an arm and a leg”—or a boy with an open mouth and a frog peeking out—“a frog in my throat”. There are two earlier titles—Parts, and More Parts—that I will be seeking out.  Lastly, though we are only partway in to the Canadian Dinosaurs book, it is great! The back of the book lists all museums of palaeontological interest in Canada (including one in Manitoba I knew nothing about), and the little sidebar features with brief biographies of Canadian palaeontologists is inspiring to my two junior scientists. Happy reading!  

Here’s a few more recent drawings by Daegan. I am excited to see the level of detail emerging—and blown away that he did these free-hand, without a model (other than the ones he lugs around in his mind’s eye all the time).

Here’s my favourite, a drawing of Xiphactinus, a Cretaceous era bony fish. Inside is another fish, Gillicus, the Xiphactinus’s recent meal, replicating the famous fossil find of George Sternberg, now on display in Kansas.  The detail of the skull and jaws made me think Jim had given Daegan a hand with the drawing. I was wrong!

And here’s his skeleton of Therizinosaurus, along with a comparison of claw sizes between it and a T rex.  The item in the circle is a fossilized baby Therizinosaurus, still inside the egg.

Lastly, a coelophysis. While this skeleton is much less detailed, Daegan has the ‘death pose’—neck twisted backward—down pat. This is the pose many fossils are found in.

It’s so exciting for me to watch his art skills develop through his love of all things prehistoric—especially since I absolutely HATED art as a child. So there’s one healthier legacy established for my kids… <g>  

Here’s Daegan’s answers to completing the proverbs.

Many hands make…life work. [Interesting improvement on the original, eh?]

A leopard cannot change…spots.

If at first you don’t succeed…just jump. [Daegan jumps on our mini-trampoline to calm himself down when frustrated]

Every dog has…a nose.

A good man is…Daddy. [Awww….]

You can lead a horse to water, but…the horse sinks in the mud.

All work and no play…is just silly! [the wisdom of youth <g>]

The best things in life are…hugs, kisses, and…hugs.

Ask a silly question and…laugh.

Look before you…touch.

Children should be…six. [Guess how old Daegs is?]

Every cloud has…droplets.

There are two sides to every…pancake.

When the cat is away, the mice will…get cheese.

The hills are alive with…mountain goats. [My fave]

Hope we gave you a chuckle.

I made up a little exercise for the boys, to see how many proverbs / idioms / common expressions they had picked up. It will also serve as a writing exercise for Daegan when he completes it later tonight or tomorrow morning. And humour for us adults. :-)

Here’s the proverbs the boys completed, in case you’d like to run them by your own kids before reading our answers:

Many hands make…
A leopard cannot change…
If at first you don’t succeed…
Every dog has…
A good man is…
You can lead a horse to water, but…
All work and no play…
The best things in life are…
Ask a silly question and…
Look before you…
Children should be…
Every cloud has…
There are 2 sides to every…
When the cat is away, the mice will…
The hills are alive with…

Here’s Gareth’s answers, given verbally. Some logical, some humourous, and some just surreal:

Many hands make…a pair of hands.

A leopard cannot change…its spots. [Surprised he knew this one]

If at first you don’t succeed…start all over again.

Every dog has…a leash.

A good man is…a dog’s pet.

You can lead a horse to water, but…it drinks spaghetti.

All work and no play…and then you have dinner. [This is my fave.]

The best things in life…are T rex, a scelidosaurus…

Ask a silly question and…you laugh.

Look before you…see. [Have we a budding philosopher here?]

Children should be…outside. [It was rather warm here today]

Every cloud has…snails inside. [Who’s been teaching science???]

There are two sides to…every bug.

When the cat is away, the mice will…go out and run around the house.

The hills are alive with…trees.

If you try this with your kids, I’d love it if you left a link in the comments section. Thanks!

In this two and a half minute segment, Daegan creates a very cool grasshopper—so cool, in fact, that it appears to be channelling Barry White! My favourite bits: “Love you, red dude!” (said to Ladybug) and “Woo! You turned  into a butterfly. Yeah. Reminds me of when I was just a little nymph.” LOL!

Sigh. This is a tough note to write. We’ve had zoo memberships for years, have taken several classes at the zoo, and attended special events there. And I have two animal and nature crazy kids. But I can’t in good conscience support this institution anymore.

There have been a number of animal deaths at the Calgary zoo in recent years. Now granted, deaths alone may indicate nothing whatsoever: animals live, and animals die. The number of deaths raises some questions, however, as does the manner of some of these deaths. But it is the way these deaths have been handled by the zoo that really disturbs me, and today’s announcement (more later) was the last straw.

Now, keep an open mind here. While we are a (mainly) vegan family and concerned about animal welfare, I’m not an irrational propagandist. I understand the role zoos play in promoting awareness of animal and environmental causes and in animal research. I understand zoos’ participation in conservation and ‘species survival’ programs. I understand that most animals in zoos simply cannot be returned to the wild—perhaps they have lived in captivity all their life and would never survive; perhaps they have been injured and brought to the zoo for refuge. No knee-jerk ‘all zoos are evil’ thoughts here.

So let’s look at the death toll at the Calgary zoo in the last few years:

December 2004: Three-week old elephant dies after being rejected by its mother

August 2006, April 2007, May 2007, August 2007: 3 adult female gorillas die (one euthanized) and infant gorilla dies after dominant female in troop claimed her for herself but lacked milk to give her

October 2007: Hazina the hippo dies one day after arriving from Denver zoo, a 29-hour road trip

May 2008: the first of what would become a total of 41 stingrays die of unknown cause(s)

November 2008: Malti, a 15-month old elephant dies after contracting herpesvirus

January 2009: a goat called a Turkmenian markhor dies after becoming entangled in the ropes of an ‘enrichment toy’ and then losing its footing; in effect, it hung itself

And today? The president of the zoo, Dr. Clement Lanthier, admitted that the cause of the stingrays deaths was lack of dissolved oxygen in the stingrays water tank. Human error. And over a matter that anyone setting up a simple fish tank in their home knows is of the utmost importance to ensure. And a quick google search leads me to find that you can buy an oxygen monitor for a mere $250…a drop in the bucket to an institution whose annual budget runs in the millions. He went on to point out how it wasn’t the zoo’s fault, though, as:

"We didn't have any expertise in aquarium and fish, so we partnered with a reputable designer of life-support systems, one that came with a recommendation, and that's what we implemented," Lanthier told the Calgary Sun. And:

"I think we need to be very frank here. Our main expertise is not in fish here at the Calgary Zoo." And:

“I think we have a responsibility to connect Calgarians not only to the land animal but also to what’s going on in the ocean.”

Hmmm…seems to me the first responsibility a zoo has is to the animals in its care, and to that end it should not have an exhibit with animal X without staff who are adequately trained in the care of animal X. There is a further subplot to the stingrays story, in that the zoo is saying they have known for months now that lack of dissolved oxygen was the cause—since November according to one source—yet on December 11th, the zoo released the following statement:

"Several possibilities remain including unknown toxins or possible deficiency of dissolved oxygen in the water but a conclusive cause may never be known."

The zoo recently got a new shipment of cownose stingrays, and the exhibit is again open to the public.

The way the zoo handled the death of Hazina the hippo also did not impress me. Hazina’s climate controlled crate gave her enough room to move forward and backward but not to turn around during her 29-hour journey, an established practice designed to prevent her from injuring herself if the truck suddenly shifted. What went wrong?

“Doug Whiteside, the Calgary Zoo's veterinarian, said Hazina had been lying in one position in the crate for too long, which damaged her leg muscles, leading to a release of toxins into the bloodstream and overwhelming her heart.” (www.cbc.ca)

The zoo’s reaction? Essentially: “We followed all recommended protocols during her transfer.” This is not good enough, to me, anyways. Even granting that the zoo did follow ‘established procedures’, I’m left wanting an addendum to the effect of: “Maybe we need to look at those procedures again. Maybe they need to be adjusted for an animal of this size, an animal that spends much of its time in water. Perhaps there is something we can learn from this to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.” Instead of “we followed accepted protocols” I want to hear the zoo saying “Are those protocols acceptable enough?”

I have similar concerns about continuing the elephant breeding program. The virus that killed Malti, while rare, is known to exist in a latent form in some adult elephants—and we must now assume that there is at least 1 adult elephant at the zoo that is such a carrier. What has the zoo learned from Malti’s death? How will they (can they?) prevent this from happening to the next baby elephant? I hope the zoo has looked into the matter, but they have not been forthcoming about it to the public.

And the recent death of the Turkmenian markhor—clearly an accident—again raises red flags. While the zoo removed the toy that the goat became entangled in, and removed other enrichment toys throughout the zoo to “ensure their safety”, again, I am left wanting. Can the animals be better monitored when using these sorts of toys? (For sake of argument, let’s agree with the zoo that enrichment toys designed for the animals mental health are a good thing.)  Can the zoo do something to improve response time when the public informs them that an animal is in distress? The goat’s death was witnessed by people who noticed it had ropes tangled around its neck, and one woman ran to the nearest gift shop to have staff send over a zookeeper ASAP. Others called the zoo’s main office on their cell phones. According to eye-witnesses, it took unacceptably long to get help. My point is that there are many things the zoo could learn from this tragedy—it’s not just about the toy. This tragedy may have been prevented if through closer monitoring the entanglement was noticed sooner, or if it was easier for the public to summon help (emergency phone? buttons?), or if help was quicker to arrive.

Until the Calgary zoo decides to look at its current procedures and protocols, we—with much sadness—will not be supporting this institution.

Here’s a picture of Malti I took during one of our many visits to the zoo, whose death broke my heart. (Elephants are my favourite animal).

In this 2 and a half minute segment, Daegan makes a ladybug and continues the narrative. Apologies for the rough camera work, especially at the beginning, and enjoy the kissing, burping ladybug. My favourite bit: “Oh, you gone through metamorphosis, huh?” :-)

Yesterday Daegan made a rather involved craft: a monarch butterfly (orange), inside a chrysalis/pupa (green), inside a monarch caterpillar. Here’s a pic:

Daegan also went outside to find a stick for the caterpillar to attach itself to for metamorphosis. I got out the video camera and asked him to show me how his craft worked, figuring I’d get a cute little video out of it. Somehow this morphed in almost an hour of footage, with Daegs making a variety of other insects and plants. By the end there were 5 additional insects and 5 more plants, including a Venus Flytrap. All of which (save Jim’s contribution of an origami butterfly) Daegan makes in their entirety before your eyes, and incorporates into a narrative.

Here’s the first act; it’s less than 2 minutes long. More acts to follow in the coming days, and don’t worry—I’ll edit the hour of tape down quite a bit! But for anyone wondering what exactly we do all day, or what child-directed learning looks like—here you go! I had no hand in the design of the crafts, nor the narrative.

Both boys seem rather taken with the idea of telling a story—especially one Mom makes the effort to write down! Here’s a couple more. I think next time I will ask the boys to draw pictures to illustrate their stories.

MAGIC OTTER ISLAND – by Gareth

Once Upon a time, there was the Animal Mechanicals flying in a parachute in a helicopter. The helicopter broke into pieces and the pieces of the helicopter were flying. And then a broom flew. Then the Animal Mechanicals rode on the broom, and they bonked into their heads. Then the broom disappeared.

Then they gone [makes downward motion with his hands with Wile E. Coyote-falling-off-a-cliff sounds]. Then another broom came and they rode on it again and again and again and again and again and again and again.

Then a magic otter came. Then the magic otter turned into a peanut butter cookie. Then it turned into an elephant-mobile. Then it turned into a mixed anything-you-want-mobile. Then it turned into a car and a car and a car and a car…

Then the Animal Mechanicals bring the otter home. The End!

THE PTERODACTYL MIGRATION – by Daegan

Once upon a time, there was a pterodactyl. Then he had to flap his wings to go up, up, up into the sky. Then there was a T rex and he had to fly away from the T rex. Then another pterodactyl came. And another. And another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and…[big pause]…and another, until there was a big flock of them.

Then one of them laid an egg and there was a baby pterodactyl inside it. Then the egg cracked and cracked and cracked [repeated 8 times] until the pterodactyl came out. Then there was a big wind. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! And it blew some leaves. Then they made a nest out of the leaves and sticks.

Then a little worm came and wriggled and wriggled…[repeated] and then the pterodactyls ate a few of the worms. Then the T rex tried to catch a pterodactyl. Then it plopped a tree sweet [what fruits are called in Land Before Time movies] on its nose. Then it ran away.

Then more pterodactyls joined and made an even bigger flock. Then a large asteroid hit the Earth. Boom! Bang! Boom! Then all the dinosaurs and sea reptiles and pterosaurs died. Then they turned to fossils. And then scientists dug them up. The End.

me: Why did you title your story ‘The Pterodactyl Migration’ when they never migrated?

Daegan: They were trying to migrate to somewhere, but then the asteroid got in their way.

Another quote that resonated with me, particularly today dealing with somewhat rambunctious and balky boys:

If you want your child to be the kind of person who’s going to stand up for what she believes in and not be pushed around by other people, you’re going to have to expect that a little bit of that is going to be exercised at home! You can’t have it both ways. You can’t raise a child who’s going to be independent and open-minded outside the house, but obedient and conforming inside the house. It’s just not going to work that way! – Dr. Laurence Steinberg