What's simple about being a parent? Enjoying and loving my kids.
What's hard about being a parent? Nearly everything, nearly all the time.
What's worth it? All of them. Ender, Za Boo, Monkey Boy, and Raven.
Thank you
8 months ago
Monday, January 24, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Update on Harry and Za Boo!
Za Boo's passion and excitement for reading have not waned a bit since she began reading 'Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone,' five weeks ago! She is figuratively devouring the series, already on to book four, 'Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire,' and I am adoring it all the way!
She received some money and an Amazon gift card for Christmas from a few different relatives, and she is so excited about hte world of Harry Potter that she chose to use them them in combination to order a genuine Gryffindor scarf and a dvd of "Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban," the third Harry Potter movie. She wants to have all the movies (we already have the first and second movies in the family dvd collection) because "Even if it's not that good an adaption, I can't really compare [the books to the movies] if I haven't seen them all." ;)
She recognizes that the movies don't nearly do justice to the books now, but that, again, is one of the things I love about this all! I LOVE that she is loving reading the book, and I LOVE that she is excited to discuss it after reading. And I LOVE that she is recognizing the differences between the book and the movie, and discussing those differences with the rest of us.
I love that she is counting chapters as she reads, and keeping me updated on what part she is at in the books. I love that we are discussing the books as she reads, and that, for the first time, there really is discussion to be had regarding a book she is reading (the 'Jack Russell Dog Detective' books are wonderful beginning chapter books, and she has enjoyed them, but they don't really bring a lot of hearty discussion material to the table!).
I love that she can't wait to get back to her book, every chance she gets, and that she has already read more in the five weeks since she checked the first book out from the library than she read in eight months on the previous novel she completed (Ozma of Oz). At the rate she is going, she may finish the entire Harry Potter series in under three months! We better start thinking about which series to start her on next!
She received some money and an Amazon gift card for Christmas from a few different relatives, and she is so excited about hte world of Harry Potter that she chose to use them them in combination to order a genuine Gryffindor scarf and a dvd of "Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban," the third Harry Potter movie. She wants to have all the movies (we already have the first and second movies in the family dvd collection) because "Even if it's not that good an adaption, I can't really compare [the books to the movies] if I haven't seen them all." ;)
She recognizes that the movies don't nearly do justice to the books now, but that, again, is one of the things I love about this all! I LOVE that she is loving reading the book, and I LOVE that she is excited to discuss it after reading. And I LOVE that she is recognizing the differences between the book and the movie, and discussing those differences with the rest of us.
I love that she is counting chapters as she reads, and keeping me updated on what part she is at in the books. I love that we are discussing the books as she reads, and that, for the first time, there really is discussion to be had regarding a book she is reading (the 'Jack Russell Dog Detective' books are wonderful beginning chapter books, and she has enjoyed them, but they don't really bring a lot of hearty discussion material to the table!).
I love that she can't wait to get back to her book, every chance she gets, and that she has already read more in the five weeks since she checked the first book out from the library than she read in eight months on the previous novel she completed (Ozma of Oz). At the rate she is going, she may finish the entire Harry Potter series in under three months! We better start thinking about which series to start her on next!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Anecdote: Imagination, Za Boo and Toy Rubber Snakes
Za Boo has always been an imaginative child, but to simply say that she is 'imaginative' would be an understatement of ridiculously epic proportions. And yet, I think her current passion for reading the Harry Potter books has spurred her imagination on to dizzying new heights!
Case in point, while she was playing with a batch of rubber snakes earlier this evening I heard her, as the voice of a rubber cobra, addressing a rubber python, exclaim: "YOU are a LUXURIOUS constrictor, Sir!"
Case in point, while she was playing with a batch of rubber snakes earlier this evening I heard her, as the voice of a rubber cobra, addressing a rubber python, exclaim: "YOU are a LUXURIOUS constrictor, Sir!"
Monday, November 22, 2010
Za Boo and Harry Potter
Za Boo has been rather taken with Harry Potter these last few days. We watched the second movie (Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets) about a week ago and because she was so tiny when it came out and we all saw it in the theater, it was like a new movie to her. She proceeded to watch the first movie (Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone) at the next opportunity, and subsequently asked whether she was old enough to read the books herself.
She is of course, at this age and reading ability, so she checked out the first one from the school library (our copy is a hardbound, and of one of the first print runs, so she didn't feel comfortable reading that copy).
She has been reading it avidly ever since, and at every opportunity.
She has taken the various cloaks, wands, scarves, ties, and other Harry Potter costumes and their accompanying accessories out of the costume bins in the closet, is dressing up in them, and settling down to read. I had to take a picture of her, dressed in her Ravenclaw necktie and Hogwart's robes, while she was immersed in reading her book, it was so adorable!
I love everything about this new phase of hers. I love that we have finally seen a book truly light that fire under her! It had happened with each of the boys: a particular book--and there was never any way to predict which one it would be--would light that fire that, when kindled, ignited into a life-long love of, and passion for, reading, and I have been waiting for it to happen with her!
And I simply cannot overstate how absolutely thrilled I am that it has happened at last with Za Boo!
She is of course, at this age and reading ability, so she checked out the first one from the school library (our copy is a hardbound, and of one of the first print runs, so she didn't feel comfortable reading that copy).
She has been reading it avidly ever since, and at every opportunity.
She has taken the various cloaks, wands, scarves, ties, and other Harry Potter costumes and their accompanying accessories out of the costume bins in the closet, is dressing up in them, and settling down to read. I had to take a picture of her, dressed in her Ravenclaw necktie and Hogwart's robes, while she was immersed in reading her book, it was so adorable!
I love everything about this new phase of hers. I love that we have finally seen a book truly light that fire under her! It had happened with each of the boys: a particular book--and there was never any way to predict which one it would be--would light that fire that, when kindled, ignited into a life-long love of, and passion for, reading, and I have been waiting for it to happen with her!
And I simply cannot overstate how absolutely thrilled I am that it has happened at last with Za Boo!
Monday, November 8, 2010
Location, Location, Lo...Mascot?
Za Boo was musing on the subject of high school mascots earlier this evening, due largely to the fact that Monkey Boy will be starting high school next year and he and I had been discussing, at length, his high school options. He has basically decided on the independent study high school, where he can take high school and junior college classes concurrently, and earn dual credit, but was wistfully noting that the mascot for the local tech high school is a dragon, and, although the mascot is largely irrelevant to him, he would enjoy having a dragon as a mascot, in the event that he was to have a mascot at all.
Za Boo had been amusing herself quietly with a game of solitary Uno during the discussion and, as always, taking in every word. When she realized that Monkey Boy and I's discussion was winding down, she jumped in: "I must start thinking about what high school I will go to," she said, "I will have to decide very near in the future what mascot I will have when I go to high school myself."
Monkey Boy and I both turned and looked at her, startled a bit by her apparently abrupt entrance into the conversation (why, I don't know, though, because we all know she is always listening and quietly processing these things).
"What do you mean, you have to decide what mascot you will have in high school?" I asked, ridiculously oblivious to the fact that the mascot would be a factor in choosing a high school when you are a 9 year old girl.
"Well," she pontificated, "I can be a Cougar, like Ender and The Raven, or an Eagle, like Monkey Boy will probably be, or I can go to the tech high school and be a Dragon, or I might want to be a Bulldog."
It is vital to note, at this point, that a bulldog is the mascot of the cross-town high school; the arch rival high school to the older two kids' high school, and my own Alma-mater.
Always the paragon of calm and rational parenting, I immediately responded "You will not be a Bulldog!!! To do that you have to attend The Bulldog High School! Why would you even say such a thing?!?! You ARE NOT going to The Bulldog High School!"
"Well, Mama," she responded, "I DO like bulldogs better than cougars, because cougars are a type of cat, and bulldogs are dogs. You know how I feel about dogs, Mama."
"Well, be that as it may, you are NOT going to go to The Bulldog High School!!!" I calmly and rationally responded.
"But why, Mama? What's wrong with The Bulldog High School?" Za Boo asked earnestly.
"Well, because, the Cougar High School is better, and it's where your siblings go, and it's better, and, um, well..." and as I was so eloquently summarizing the finer points of why The Cougar High School is the superior learning institution, based, of course, on reasonable and objective criteria, Ender walked in on the discussion.
"What's going on?" he asked, sensing a debate was in progress.
"Za Boo is talking about what high school she wants to go to, based on the mascot," Monkey Boy informed his brother.
Ender looked right at Za Boo, and in an unarguable voice said to her "You do not choose a high school based on its mascot. You chose it based on the quality, where it is located, and, maybe, the people who are going to go there as well." And he walked out of the room.
It was a watershed moment for me; one of those rare moments when you unexpectedly witness all the work you have done in an attempt to teach your child the things he needs to know in order to make good decisions in the world manifesting itself in a simple and profound statement.
We may have a-ways to go yet in helping Za Boo learn these things, but, knowing we have done well by Ender, I feel a whole lot better about our ability to make it happen.
Za Boo had been amusing herself quietly with a game of solitary Uno during the discussion and, as always, taking in every word. When she realized that Monkey Boy and I's discussion was winding down, she jumped in: "I must start thinking about what high school I will go to," she said, "I will have to decide very near in the future what mascot I will have when I go to high school myself."
Monkey Boy and I both turned and looked at her, startled a bit by her apparently abrupt entrance into the conversation (why, I don't know, though, because we all know she is always listening and quietly processing these things).
"What do you mean, you have to decide what mascot you will have in high school?" I asked, ridiculously oblivious to the fact that the mascot would be a factor in choosing a high school when you are a 9 year old girl.
"Well," she pontificated, "I can be a Cougar, like Ender and The Raven, or an Eagle, like Monkey Boy will probably be, or I can go to the tech high school and be a Dragon, or I might want to be a Bulldog."
It is vital to note, at this point, that a bulldog is the mascot of the cross-town high school; the arch rival high school to the older two kids' high school, and my own Alma-mater.
Always the paragon of calm and rational parenting, I immediately responded "You will not be a Bulldog!!! To do that you have to attend The Bulldog High School! Why would you even say such a thing?!?! You ARE NOT going to The Bulldog High School!"
"Well, Mama," she responded, "I DO like bulldogs better than cougars, because cougars are a type of cat, and bulldogs are dogs. You know how I feel about dogs, Mama."
"Well, be that as it may, you are NOT going to go to The Bulldog High School!!!" I calmly and rationally responded.
"But why, Mama? What's wrong with The Bulldog High School?" Za Boo asked earnestly.
"Well, because, the Cougar High School is better, and it's where your siblings go, and it's better, and, um, well..." and as I was so eloquently summarizing the finer points of why The Cougar High School is the superior learning institution, based, of course, on reasonable and objective criteria, Ender walked in on the discussion.
"What's going on?" he asked, sensing a debate was in progress.
"Za Boo is talking about what high school she wants to go to, based on the mascot," Monkey Boy informed his brother.
Ender looked right at Za Boo, and in an unarguable voice said to her "You do not choose a high school based on its mascot. You chose it based on the quality, where it is located, and, maybe, the people who are going to go there as well." And he walked out of the room.
It was a watershed moment for me; one of those rare moments when you unexpectedly witness all the work you have done in an attempt to teach your child the things he needs to know in order to make good decisions in the world manifesting itself in a simple and profound statement.
We may have a-ways to go yet in helping Za Boo learn these things, but, knowing we have done well by Ender, I feel a whole lot better about our ability to make it happen.
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