I should add...

John and I are not huge fans of musicals. Fiddler has always been a favorite of mine and Sound of Music is pretty neat, I admit. But, our DVD collection generally runs in different directions.

But, the girls love singing and dancing. Where else to get singing and dancing? They also do not understand adult themes yet. I tried "Oklahoma," since I want to show the girls non-religious musicals, too. No luck. The themes were too adult even though Hugh Jackman was fun for me to look at (and what a voice!). Same with "The Music Man" - the girls didn't really understand the storyline, although they liked the music.

So, if you, astute readers, have any ideas for movies with (a) singing and dancing, (b) family themes other than religion, (c) racially diverse casts, and (d) some actual, oh, equal rights (!!!) for women .....let me know!

More thoughts on screen time

I have blogged about watching television before (see here) and I have blogged about the girls and their love of musicals (see here for one example).

When the girls were smaller (hm, maybe until they were 2 1/2 or 3?), we were very careful to limit their screen time to, well, an average of pretty close to zero. We used screen time strategically, such as when the girls were sick and too miserable to do anything else or when the girls were too tired to play, but not tired enough to sleep. We did a little Sesame Street, a little Caillou (hooray for On Demand!), a few Christmas-themed DVDs, and, when they were quite small, a few Baby Einsteins.

The musicals kick started earlier this year, maybe around January or February. Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Importantly, we listen to the soundtracks in the car and watch them on the television. That's how it all started, in fact. We were listening to Fiddler in the car and I thought the girls should see the film so they knew what the songs were about. And, in the girls' lovely worlds (especially in Sunniva's world), people sing and dance all the time. Seeing people sing and dance on television supports their lovely worldviews.

Each time they watch the DVD of a musical, they are able to learn more about the complex story. The basics become familiar so they can focus on the more complex issues. The same goes for the soundtracks. We listen to the soundtracks way more often than watch the movies, and every time they listen to Joseph, for example, they ask more elaborate questions about the storyline. Now it's not about how the children are making Joseph feel better by singing to him in jail, it's about why Joseph was put in jail in the first place.

Ever since we started watching musicals and listening to them in the car, the girls have incorporated themes from the stories into their play. They will sing "Matchmaker, matchmaker" and pretend to be the sisters (they take turns singing the lines and for Fiddler fans, you can imagine some of the lines sound a little funny coming from 3 1/2 year olds; especially sung loudly in a crowded airport). Sunniva will pretend to be getting married with her white blanket over her head in the backseat of the car. Sunniva will sit, sadly, on the garden retaining wall because she doesn't want to marry Tzeitel (Sunniva's favorite part of Fiddler is when Hodel cries on Tevye's shoulder, because she is going away on the train). Anna-Sofia will turn the basket over and put her baby inside because her baby is in jail, just like Joseph. Anna-Sofia will often "be" Joseph ("I'm Joseph!"). The girls will line up and stomp, announcing their names and and ages ("I'm Liesl, I'm 16 and I don't need a governess!").

[In fact, as I write the first draft of this entry, Sunniva and Anna-Sofia are both singing, "Poor, poor Joseph locked up in a cell!" They know almost all the words to the musical - it's amazing.]

For Sunniva and Anna-Sofia, this play is unique to what they see on the television screen. They read lots of Pooh books with different stories, but the don't act them out or pretend to be Tigger or Pooh or Piglet. They read lots of Little House picture books and a couple times, they pretended to be Laura and Mary. But now that they have seen a couple episodes, they act out the characters much more often and with more complexity (e.g., calling for "Pa!" all over the yard, finding him, then calling for him again).

So here's why I am blogging about it:

First, as I wrote above, the girls are asking more and more complex questions about the musicals as we listen to the soundtracks in the car. They are learning in so many ways.

Second, The girls will both replay scenes from the musicals and they will creatively use and expand on characters and situations from the musicals in their play. This means that they are not simply zoned out, mouths agape in front of the television (like, I admit, I am after an exhausting day). They are actively learning from the characters, situations, and stories, and incorporating that learning into their lives and play and understandings of the world around them. They also use what they learned in the musicals in their social relationships, building elaborate scenes with each other.

Why are they learning so much more from musicals on the screen and then supported in the car than they do from books? What about the importance of books and how reading stimulates the imagination so much more? (I still love the Harry Potter books way more than the movies, because the movies don't quite look as I imagined everything would look when I read the books.)

Here are my thoughts: They are still young and they do not understand rich descriptions in their stories, even if their preschool-level stories include rich descriptions, which they rarely do. Adjectives, adverbs, describing actions, describing emotions -- the girls don't quite understnad all of that yet. They cannot take a piece of complex description and translate it into a full, rich picture in their heads.

They can , however, understand the visuals from the screen: they can see the emotions, how the lines are delivered, see the houses, the streets, the towns, the farms, the environments. Now, when we read together, they can understand what a wood stove is or how people look when they cry or why they might cry. They can now see a still photo in a book and have a better understanding of the motion that the still photo is trying to project.

So, those are my thoughts. Screen time? Not so bad.

Brilliant inventions fostering delightful independence

Sunniva, this morning: "I put the new toilet paper on!"
Me, super happy: "All by yourself?! Hooray!! Great job, Sunniva!!"

Why am I so excited? Because a couple weekends ago, I spent a ridiculous amount of time replacing all of our two-handled toilet paper roll holders with one-handled toilet paper rolls (you can see where I spackled over the spot for the second handle in the photo, above, one of the many reasons replacing the holders took far too long). With three females spending much of our bathroom time at home, we go through lots of toilet paper. I was changing lots of rolls. Lots of rolls. And the girls even use "appropriate" amounts of toilet paper.

And now? Hooray! The girls can slip off the old roll and slip on the new roll all by themselves! Without the complicated maneuvers that even I have troubles with! (Is it possible to change a two-handled toilet paper roll holder without dropping the inside roll holder? Not for me, apparently.)

Joy!

Road Trip: Tour de Playgrounds

If the girls had been, say, ten years old during this road trip, it would have required a lot more planning and organized activities. We drove through areas of the United States with amazingly rich histories (think Revolutionary War, Civil War, and wars with the Native Americans), not to mention spending a week near Washington DC, a mecca of museums, historical sites, and teachable moments.

But, lucky for me, the girls are 3 1/2 years old! This means that the one thing they really wanted at each stop was a playground! Now that type of planning is low stress. Does the campground have a playground? Check! Does the town or city have a playground? Check!

First stop, Kettle Moraine State Forest (WI). There were two (hooray!) playgrounds and I guess I was too busy having fun at the large one to take photos! The "small" one:

Playing with Ruth at the playground by the marina in Kenosha (WI):


John and I spent a lot of time down by the marina when we lived in Kenosha, whether it was on a run (I was marathoning back then, so lots and lots and lots of runs!), a bike ride, or a pleasant walk to see Lake Michigan and the boats. I always thought this was a cool playground and hooray! My girls got to play at it! (The hospital where they were born was visible just a few blocks away, but the girls were much more impressed with the playground than the site of their arrival into the world!)

Going back up to the top of the tornado slide at a really great (and surprisingly empty) playground in Bloomington (IN) (one of several playgrounds we visited in Bloomington):

Ace did the super fast straight slide!!

She was thrilled and very proud of herself. On this trip, the girls learned a lot of playground skills and are much braver about climbing bars and slides!

One of the reasons I chose Blackwater Falls State Park out of the choices in West Virginia was because a "playground" was listed on the map. Two playgrounds, in fact: one at the campground and one by the cabins. As I checked out the campground to see if we wanted to camp in our tent, I saw the "playground" was just one metal swing in a buggy glade of trees down the hill from the tent area. Um, no. We ended up staying in a cabin (which ended up being a more pricey, but most excellent and wise decision) so after a short hike on the Rhododendron Trail by our cabin, we returned to our cabin by way of this second "playground":

Well, the girls have never been on teeter totters before! Once I helped them figure out the physics of teeter totter seat location and leg movements, they liked it!


I realized that the girls and I are totally, totally, totally spoiled by the wonderful new colorful playgrounds that we generally frequent!

John has the camera this time! Uncle Eric and I spot the girls on the Big Kid climbing structure at a playground in Deale (MD) at the elementary school:

Uncle Eric wows each and every one of us with his superhero balance beam kindle-assisted prowess:

In Muncie (IN), Chad took the girls and me to this amazing playground at a university-affiliated school. Sunniva, here, tells Chad and me all about how this playground is really her "big house" and, in other iterations, her "big castle":

Sunniva and Anna-Sofia climb on the spider web:

The real reason I took this photo, above, was that I was playing with Chad's super cool telephoto lens. Happily, Chad has a later model of the same camera I do (a Canon Digital Rebel), so I snapped his super cool lens on my camera. Oooo, aaaaaah. I have a feeling that before our travels next summer, we might need a lens like this!

The super cool nautical-themed playground on Lake Geneva in Fontana (WI):

A rolly slide at the playground! I sent this camera phone photo to Daddy:

And that was the last photo I sent to John! That playground was our last Road Trip outing, as we drove into our driveway later that evening. What a great Tour de Playgrounds!

Bike racks are the most exciting thing about any commercial establishment

This particular bike rack is outside Kowalski's, the fancy, handy grocery store near us (as opposed to our regular, but beloved Super Target). There is also a bike rack outside the community center. And the coffee shop. And the library. And lots of other great places that are now forgotten because the important thing was the fun bike rack to climb on.

(One of the things I love about staying home with the girls is that even on a morning full of errands, if the girls spot a bike rack or anything else that they ask to play with, I can say "yes!" When I was working full-time, there was never any time for deviations from The Plan. I was too busy and too mission-oriented. Once I resigned and started staying home, we had all the time in the world. I need to keep remembering that.)

Being Mama and Daddy

This photo is from April, but the girls did it again just a couple days ago, with a larger assortment of books. I love it when they pretend to be Mama and Daddy.

Birthday cards

Grandpa and Mormor stopped by on Grandpa's birthday a couple weeks ago for some fresh strawberry pie -- yum! It was the first strawberry pie I have made (thanks to Bill and Chris for the recipe) and the girls were great helpers. It was so delicious that I made a second one a week later, after the next Farmer's Market day.

So anyway, Grandpa and Mormor came by for some pie on Grandpa's birthday and what else do you get on a birthday? Birthday cards! The girls spent quite a bit of time making the perfect cards for Grandpa.

Here's the other side of Sunniva's card, as she tells Mormor who all the people she drew are (Mama, Daddy, Sunniva, Anna-Sofia, and Sunniva's many, many friends):

Here, Anna-Sofia tells Grandpa all about her card:

Both girls were very proud.

The treehouse is open for play!

Freshly painted insides of the most excellent treehouse:


Daddy doing a last repair on the wall by the door (screw anchors are the best):

After spending hours, hours, and hours cutting down brush, you can now see our house from the treehouse deck! The girls were uninterested in playing up in the tree house because it was too hidden. A hideaway is great when you're older, but our 3 1/2 year olds want to be able to see us and any other exciting action:

And you can now see the swingset from the treehouse deck. That's definitely where the exciting action happens:

Already busy gardening and playing!

Hooray for a gallon of Nature's Miracle, a gallon of white paint, caterpillar chairs, screwdrivers, screw anchors, chain saws, tree saws, clippers, leather gloves, and a yard guy to come chip and haul away two huge piles of brush!

The best $2 I have spent in a while

This morning, when we returned from our errands that included a stop at the Target dollar aisle:

This afternoon:

These little "printing practice" white boards are the best inventions ever! The girls have been working so hard tracing all the letters. There are even little arrows and numbers on each letter (click on the photos to see) that tells the girl which way to write the letter.

John was resting on the futon while the girls were writing letters and he said, "Listen! Listen!" Both girls were awake and the house was silent, save the birds chirping through the open window. Now that doesn't happen often.

Sunniva's first French braids!

Did you notice, did you notice? In the "cooking" blog entry, below, Sunniva is wearing her very first French braids! I have been putting French braids fairly regularly in Anna-Sofia's hair, ever since her first ones at the end of the road trip (to be blogged about later). It is very cute. Astute readers may have noticed them in her hair in recent posts. This morning, I thought to myself, "Sunniva doesn't have long hair, but she probably has enough hair to French braid." It worked! It's SO cute!

"Can I help you make the biscuits, Mama?"

When I start getting things ready in the kitchen to cook, Sunniva generally will appear: "What are you making, Mama?" I tell her, "Cottage cheese-chive biscuits!" (Thanks for the recipe, Shari!) Sunniva always responds with, "Yum! Can I help you make the biscuits, Mama?" How can I resist?!

Helping me make the strawberry pie a couple days ago:

And so she and Anna-Sofia have been helping me cook in the kitchen. Both girls were interested in the few weeks before we left on the Road Trip and they have been interested since we returned. I am trying to be very good about setting things up so they can help! E.g., I needed 2/3 of a cup of milk, so I measured out 1/3 for Sunniva to pour in and then I measured out 1/3 for Anna-Sofia to pour in. Each girl got to scoop up half of the cottage cheese and measure out half of the baking powder. (I am not quite ready for the mess of the girls measuring out their own flour or oil though...) Mormor is an expert at letting the girls help her in the kitchen (what patience!) and so I am learning from her example. They love wearing their little aprons (thanks, Evy!) (except when they are being rabbits, because rabbits, of course, don't need aprons) and they stand on their chairs to reach the huuuuuuuge island countertop or the stovetop.

And not too much spit gets in our food!

Ahhh, I love the gazebo

A happy post-playground camp lunch in our freshly cleaned gazebo! I missed the great June weather for gazebo meals during our road trip, so happy me that it is a warm, breezy day today!


(And no, that is not a serving bowl at my place at the table. That's my salad bowl that I fill up at least twice with all the awesome greens from our CSA. Yum, yum, yum. It's a farmer's market that comes to me in a box that I pick up once a week! This week's super special treat that I was so happy to see in the box? Beets! Who knew I'd like roasted beets so much?)

"How do you draw 'Daddy'?"

The girls have been asking how to spell our names, so they can write them on their white boards. (Interestingly, they know how to spell their names when I ask them, but they have not yet translated that knowledge into being able to write their names.) They are totally into writing, it's the coolest ever. This morning, both girls were writing all four of our names. It's so neat to see their different handwriting! They are also teaching and learning from each other. We have not worked on how to write letters yet (such as where to start and end a letter); the girls are just copying what they see in the way that they want.

Sunniva's writing:

Anna-Sofia's writing:

I am still working on getting them to say "write" and "spell" instead of "draw," but we're getting there!

Road Trip: Trikes in 5 states

Why did we need the cargo box on top of our Road Trip car (shown below at John and Marcia's cottage in Deale, MD), when the 2001 Toyota Avalon's trunk is HUGE?

Because we brought the trikes! I should have taken a photo of the inside of the trunk, which fit both tricycles and most of our gear. Along with all of our baggage, we also packed the camping gear (tents, sleeping bags, pillows, sleeping pads, camp chairs), campsite kitchen gear, food, toys, beach bucket and water toys, two helmets, and two trikes. (And, a whole host of things I have already forgotten.)

It was totally worth it to bring the trikes. It was a great, great, great gross motor activity for the girls in all the different places we went.

Parking the trikes at the beach parking lot, just like a car, in Kettle Moraine (WI):

Sunniva tries riding her trike on the grass in Kettle Moraine (but then got stuck and yelled and cried):

Trikes parked on the back deck at the cabin in Blackwater Falls State Park (WVa):

Trikes at the cottage in Deale (MD); never fear, Safety First Folk, the girls never rode on the pier:

The girls, however, are still getting the hang of driving the tricycles. This makes for a challenge, which is sometimes good and sometimes bad, bad, bad. One of the girls, generally Anna-Sofia, cried and/or panic yelled during each and every trike outing.

At Blackwater Falls State Park (WVa), I had the camera at the ready. I was ready for the bi-polar trike riding experience. Happy girls:

Uh oh, this maneuver generally makes them cry:

Yes, Sunniva is crying:

Now they're both yelling because they ran into each other:

Ahhh, happy riders again on the way back to the cabin:

I kept trying to convince them to each ride on her own side of the street, but that piece of rational thought was apparently unconvincing.

(We are definitely working on the whole yell-cry thing when the girls have troubles with something. Both girls have amazing vocabularies. Use them, girls! Happily, they're getting better with a little "I am going to ignore you until you stop fussing" treatment.)

Hooray for trikes! Hooray for a huge trunk! Hooray for a cargo box! Hooray for just plain everything!