Playing
Music used to play a much larger role in my life. I sang in several choirs, one touring, and had private voice lessons in high school. As a child I even had my own rap group called “Nell, Inc.” Our signature (and only) song went something like this . . . break it down now, puttta, puttta, oh. And all my new acquaintances in high school, college, and law school would share music love with me–introducing me to new tunes, rocking out to well loved tunes together, making music, you name it. Now that I’m a mommy. And a mommy blogger at that. I have little access to the music scene. I’m too busy listening to Scythian’s Cake for Dinner or Burl Ives. Or classical music on Minnesota Public Radio. But when I made a playlist to stream from my iPhone during our third’s birth, I re-countered all these artists and songs I had forgotten about! Listen your heart out. And thanks to sweet people like my BFF (hi, Sarah!!) for continuing to introduce this old lady set of ears to new tunes. Don’t be shocked at the variety. It’s the spice of errr. . . birthing? When you say nothing at all . . . Alison Krauss It was my love song for my horses–because I don’t speak horse, of course. Wild world . . . Cat Stevens My sister Molly loved him as a young teen. Me too, duh. Donna nobis . . . choral arrangement directed by a dear deceased…
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We lost our big Great Dane, Nina, to old age a few months back. I hadn’t written about it in part because we missed her so much it hurt to say aloud, and in part because other things kept arising. She was 9 years old, old for a Dane, and had to be put to sleep based on her old age and pain levels. One morning she was just continuously yelping while laying on the patio out back. When we took her in, the docs knew she was in great pain and couldn’t (shouldn’t) keep going. SuperBoy misses her and asks about her frequently. “Is she in Heaven with St. George? Is she fighting the dragon with him?” Yes, of course she is, buddy. She played with him every day, and loved loved loved to play tug of war, complete with a big treat at the end of it for her for being so gentle with him. She slobbered on everyone who came to the door, and barked her face off too. She was a fierce watch dog. We have so many photos and videos of the two of them playing. She was 130 pounds, but as gentle as a kitten with him. Poor Kazzie is all alone without her, and misses her greatly. Well, she likes all the attention on her, actually. She’s a bit heartless for all her cuteness. Emily Rumsey Photography She loved sitting in the backyard, watching all the traffic, moderating and letting people know to…
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Please, please get tickets to see the Rembrandt in America exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (affectionately known as the MIA). It is awe inspiriting, breath taking, and lovely. It’s the largest exhibition of Rembrandts in America. Ever! Get tickets in advance (we failed to–thank goodness for our friends who we went with). And hop up to the second floor, and you’re there! All 5 glorious rooms of it. We are big on exposing our children to the arts early. See posts here {Get More Piano and Cello in Your Life} and here {Art and Beauty in Your Life} and here {How to Choose Music for Your Child}. My mom’s been a docent at the MIA for over 25 years so I grew up thinking it was normal to spend your weekend at the MIA. We try to go as often as we can, and did frequent it when we lived on the Other Side of the River (aka Minneapolis). Last year we took SuperBoy a few times, but this trip to see the exhibit was SweetPea’s inaugural visit. They both enjoyed it immensely, in their own special ways–her by sleeping through most of it, and him by asking Dada “who’s that guy?” to every portrait. (And wanting to “touch the sun” in the entrance as seen above.) Here’s a quick & dirty guide to taking your children to a museum exhibit, and I’m not talking about the children’s museum: 1) Be aware. The throngs of people with us, including our dear friends, a…
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Parents tend to freak out about what precisely their toddler / preschooler knows. Don’t google “what should my preschooler know.” Children progress at different rates and respond differently to different environments, so let children develop a love of learning! Learning is fun when all parties are enjoying it, so here are a few enjoyable learning tools we’ve experienced. Things like: books, books, books {Homegrown Gifts, Introducing Books Early, Books for Holiday Gifts}, music and music (Music and Its Impact, Popular Music in Our House}, no screen time {Damage of Screen Time on Babies}, and craft play and bean play {Jumpstarting Toddler Imaginations, Developing Fine Motor Skills}. We all want our children to want to learn, explore, and take delight and pride in their accomplishments. Create an environment without distracting screens, disruptive music, and disengaged adults and you’re on track! That all being said, this is how we’ve introduced numbers and letters in a way that has worked for SuperBoy to be obsessed with them and love finding them: 1) Music + Flashcards. We played the Sesame Street ABC CD during breakfast for about 5 months probably starting a little after a year old. During each letter, I’d stand up the corresponding plain black & white flashcard (buy white index cards, and use a black magic marker–simpler is better). Not within reach, which was traumatic at first, but which preserved the cards from death by mauling. After a while of sitting there, looking at them, with someone feeding him his oatmeal, and singing along to…
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These photos sum up our weekend. Hot holiday. Lots of naked sprinkler time (for SuperBoy, that is). Lots of lounging around for the rest of us. And just loving that it is cooler now. And then SuperBoy ran afterwards, like the dickens. Because that’s what you do on a hot July day, right? Happy belated 4th!
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It is amazing how providing SuperBoy with the tools and toys of drawing have ignited his imagination. He drew a circle for the first time the other week with a close family friend’s help. And then he did an oval on his own. It’s a pretty wild oval, but it’s still in the family of circle, right? Now he loves to draw circles all day long–on his easel, with sidewalk chalk, on the walls of the tub with his washable crayons! Between his easel and these baseball cards my mom got for him–he’s all set! He likes to separate them into matching piles, and call out which are which. He asks for his “baseball guys” all the time. He even wants to nap with them. And I’ve learned what a “balk” is. The morale of this little story: spend a few minutes, and reap a few hours. Just by investing time and effort into teaching your child something that’s amusing and informative to them, you give them such a gift! And then they self entertain, so you can go clean the blanket your infant had a poopfest on because you thought diaper-free time was a charitable gesture!
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