Bird and Little Bird

Library Monday: If You Want to See a Whale.

A good couple of months before we started even packing up for the big move to Massachusetts, I put some serious restrictions on book procurement for any and all people around here who I am officially in charge of. Myself and the kids, essentially. Dan's book collection habits are an unstoppable force of nature that I wouldn't even try to harness. So, new books have been few and far between for the smalls these last few months, and any exceptions to this rule have been notable ones.

Which is to say, that if you are looking for a picture book truly worth its shelf space, If You Want to See a Whale by Julie Fogliano (with illustrations by Erin E. Stead) is an excellent choice indeed. I had heard enough buzz about this book even before it was in print, that when it actually became available, I just couldn't help but snap up a copy for our shelf. I have no regrets.

If You Want to See a Whale is a lyrical exploration of the finer points of watching for an extraordinary thing to happen; an ode to patience, perserverence, and the benefits of a watchful eye. The text reads almost like poetry, and the softly colored illustrations are simultaneously subtle and expressive. The story is a simple one- it chronicles the quest of a small boy and his dog as they set about whale watching- but the words on each page serve as invitations to a larger tale, just on the horizon of the reader's imagination. And despite the fact that this particular picture book is ideal for the younger reader, my chapter book eating nine-year old read through it immediately upon its arrival, and then wanted me to do the same (so that I could understand what she meant when she told me how very, very good it was).

If You Want to See a Whale is a whimsical and humorous guide to the finer points of nature observation (not being distracted by pirates, for example), but it is also a nice reflection on approaching the world with wide-eyed wonder and expecting to meet magic.

Rainy Days and Neighborhood Explores.

I have begun to accept the fact that it might actually not stop raining. Ever. It is marginally easier to regard this situation with cheerful resignation when I think about the fact that my children look very cute in their semi-matching rain jackets. The baby likes his very much, and regularly asks to put it on so that he can wear it around the house.

Since it seems that it will be raining always, we have been just going about our business with some expectation of being wet, and maybe a little cold. I have been letting the kids wear whatever shoes they want and haven't said a word about avoiding puddles. Really no point. Yesterday Mariam tromped through about six inches of water along the edge of the sidewalk as we walked to the farmer's market in the afternoon. It is a tiny market by any objective standards, but it is also a few hundred feet from our front door. Seriously. And we were able to get everything that we needed for dinner, including some haddock filets from a local lobsterman. Then we walked home in the rain, which took about a minute and a half.

 

For today's explore, we visited our new local library and got our library cards. We also grabbed a copy of Regarding the Fountain, which will likely be next in the read-aloud cue after we finish the second Mysterious Benedict Society book. I love Regarding the Fountain, and can't believe we've never read it together. Although I think it is sort of a perfect end-of-third-grade read, so perhaps that is why.

Oh, and the blur of baby in a blue rain jacket pictured above? A pretty accurate representation of what the world looks like from my point of view basically all the time these days.

Budgies and Birdseed.

Towards the end of last week, as the pile of boxes appeared to be magically multiplying itself everytime that I turned my back on them, we decided that we very much needed to do the one thing that made good sense: ditch the entire operation for a few hours and go to the zoo. I have complicated feelings about zoos, if we are being honest, but I also think that sometimes there is nothing in the world that will make you happier than feeding a parakeet with birdseed stuck to a popsicle stick.

Additionally, the word "budgerigar" is remarkably difficult to pronounce properly. Go ahead, try it.

 

This guy, on the other hand, has no complex relationship with the idea of animals in captivity. He knows exactly what he thinks and what he thinks is that it is the most amazing idea. This was his first zoo experience, and when he caught on to what was actually happening there, he very nearly lost his ability to function. He just stood with his feet firmly planted in place, waving his arms and yelling at tree kangaroos with an unbridled joy so intense I thought he might fall over. It was something to see. Total strangers shook their heads with laughter and said things like "Wow. He is excited!"

 

Oh, and did you know that you can do more than feed parakeets with leftover popsicle sticks? True story. You can also make harmonicas out of them. The baby is somewhat less impressed by this trick than the bird thing, though.

Alphabet Glue: Volume Thirteen

Believe me when I say that no one is more surprised than I am to hear the news that in spite of all the packing and the sorting and the moving across various state lines and then unpacking and sorting some more, there is a new issue of Alphabet Glue ready. Right this minute. Indeed, in the midst of all the madness (and I can assure you, it really was madness), I put the finishing touches on Volume Thirteen of Alphabet Glue. It probably helped that I started working on it the very day that I launched Volume Twelve. And after I finished this newest installment, I proceeded to engage in all sorts of internet wizardry to make sure that it could launch itself this morning, even if I found myself without internet, or coffee, or shoes. Or all of the above.

 

Volume Thirteen is simple summer fun at its finest. Cool kid science activities, fun printables, four fantastic new themed booklists, basic bookmaking projects for storytellers and naturalists alike. Good, good stuff. And from freezer-free ice cream to handmade insect encyclopedias, you can find it all right here.

Which, of course, I hope that you will do.

 

Notes from Friday Morning.

The first half of our move to Massachusetts went pretty smoothly. Although it was apparently pretty busy, because I managed this one photo, and that appears to be about it. It is a picture of the living room of the new place, before we started filling it with stacks of boxes. As you can see, the floors are very shiny, which tells you that my children do not yet actually live there. But soon.

In the meantime, we have a big weekend coming up back here in Vermont. Dan is graduating from medical school on Sunday, an event worthy of my waxing philosophical at least a little bit. But right at this moment I am typing with one hand while trying to both nurse the baby and eat a sunny side up egg. This is actually pretty tricky business. So thoughts on the medical school journey later, I guess.

By the way, I made you all some printable and pocket-sized lists for summer library going. Fun, yes? You can find them over at Playful Learning.

Happy Friday, friends.

Treasure Maps and Procedural Concerns.

Well. I had thought that today I might write a tidy little post about springtime living and dandelions blooming and all of that nice business. But really, I'm sitting in a room half-filled with boxes (which are also half-filled) and am trying to sort out other procedural items like how to get to the post office while my car is in the shop and whether or not I should be repainting furniture or sorting through the terrifying tornado of Mariam's bedroom closet. I think that at the moment, I'm going with neither one.

But I did want to mention that I have a new post up today on the Sparkle Stories blog. It is a little tutorial on making paper look weathered and worn for purposes of DIY treasure map making. Pretty fun, actually. Mariam is very picky about how she spends her time around the house these afternoons. The weather has been beautiful and if she is going to do anything inside the house, it had better be good. She gave this project a big thumbs up (and drew a map to her favorite salamander nest in the woods near school), so I think you'll like it too. You can find it here.

And the Survey Says...

After last week's eventful beginning, we were scheduled for our follow-up allergy testing yesterday afternoon. Baby Z. handled the whole situation with relative flexibility and good humor, with the notable exception of really not wanting the doctor to take his pulse or look in his ears. But the scratch test bit went swimmingly. Well, the actual procedural bit anyway. The results? Not as favorable. Indeed, the small fry is officially allergic to eggs and peanuts (which we knew going in), but we are adding tree nuts to the list now as well.

 

Admittedly, this news doesn't change a whole lot for us. Dan has a lifelong tree nut allergy as well, so we have lived as a nut-free household pretty much always. So, the shift brought about by yesterday's news won't be so much related to the function of day to day living, grocery shopping, or eating. It will be more about mindset. And I'll be the first to admit that the knowledge that your resident small people have potentially life threatening reactions to foods commonly found in the world outside your front door is tricky to integrate into one's mental landscape without some amount of anxiety. So there is that.

But, hey, how much better to find out all of these things now, on our own terms, than at a preschool potluck on some future afternoon when the situation is far less controlled and far more scary? I keep reminding myself that knowing exactly what we are up against is pretty useful, actually. Even if it doesn't make a whole lot of sense at this precise moment.

I was joking yesterday that my cheerful resolve is in pretty good shape due to years of constant use and and regular excercise.

Except I wasn't really kidding at all.

Don't forget about the big Alphabet Glue May moving sale!  Any and all issues of Alphabet Glue are on sale until May 15th! Enter "may25" at checkout for 25% off. There are lots and lots of great book recommendations, printable pages and fun science and craft projects in there; perfect for getting busy with the small folk this summer!

On Friday Morning: Some Sparkle (and a Sale).

Oh, Friday! I am happy to see you.

Before I get distracted by rambling about boxes and packing tape and what to do with rainboots that don't fit anymore, I should mention that I have a fun post up on the Sparkle Stories blog this week. It is a really easy project created with Mother's Day in mind, and I think that if you are fans of Alphabet Glue at all, you will really like it. You can find it here. It is also the first in a series of weekly posts that I will be doing to accompany various Sparkle Stories, and I'll be sure to keep you all posted when the next project is up and ready to go. I'm so happy to be joining David and Lisabeth in their wonderful work over there!

 

In other news, we have obviously known for days and weeks and even months that our big move would be coming in no time at all. But, I still feel like it has snuck up on me just a bit. I don't know if it is because the weather has warmed and we would all rather be outside playing in the grass, throwing the frisbee, and blowing bubbles than packing, but somethng has shifted in the last few days and I think that we are all feeling like our time here in Vermont is running pretty short. Indeed, there is now talk of taking a first load of stuff down to the new house in Massachusetts as early as the middle of this month.  Which, if my calendar is to be believed, is not very many days away from now. Ack!

This is all to say that it is very much time to start hauling boxes up from the basement and filling them with books and muffin tins and the quilts off the couch. And the sorting through of small people clothes that may no longer fit is probably also going to need to happen. Mariam is wildly uncooperative in this department, so that ought to be good fun. The girl is not a fan of getting rid of anything that has potential to be useful; this much is true. I guess the upside of this personality quirk is that she can also construct pretty much anything out of cardboard if given enough tape. 

I have decided that having an Alphabet Glue sale is probably an excellent way to create a false sense of downsizing for the big move. Granted, the magazine files are digital, so I'm not really getting rid of anything at all. But I will feel like I am, and that will be awesome. So I think we should go for it. And, I think we should make it kind of a big sale. So, 25% off all issues of Glue through May 15th by entering "may25" at checkout.

There. I feel better already.

Backyard Discoveries.

After early spring days that seemed like they were never going to bring sunshine, things have finally warmed up here in Vermont. We have been taking advantage of this fact as much as we possibly can, and are spending hours outside each day. Yard to park, park to yard. Repeat. It seems that the rest of the world is doing much of the same, and we have been seeing plenty of signs that our animal neighbors are getting out and about as well. We've been finding feathers and footprints, and then, this last weekend, we found a very different and very special kind of something.

A nest of baby bunnies. The dog was the first to find it actually, and because of this fact, we have had to keep a very close eye on the nest. The dog is now getting his first lessons in what life as an urban animal will be like; he is no longer allowed out in the yard without out human supervision. And, because we don't know if he might have scent marked the area around the nest, the Interwebs advise that we gently check the bunnies each day to make sure that their mother is visiting, and that they are staying warm and "plump."

Mariam is, of course, happy to do a daily bunny check. We have also been marking the nest with an "x" made of twigs, hoping that their movement will make for an obvious sign that mother bunny has been visiting on schedule.

Unfortunately, the wind and other animals around the area (near our bird feeder) have made the marking system an inexact science at best. So, we continue to do a bit of bunny reconnassiance each morning, to ensure that all seems well and that they are continuing to grow and stay warm enough. So far, it does seem that mama must be sneaking in for visits under the cover of semi-darkness, and as long as this is the case, we can leave the bunnies in the nest.

This sort of backyard wildlife experience is exactly what I thought that we would be sadly leaving behind in heading for more urban pastures. And, I was trying my best to be okay with this. But when we were standing in the shady little backyard of the new house last weekend, do you know what I saw out of the corner of my eye? A tiny little cottontail rabbit, hopping along the fence line and out of sight.

And I would call that a happy coincidence if ever there was one.

Thoughts on Plan B (and a Free Activity from Volume Twelve).

So. Not a lot is happening at our house this afternoon. Mariam is at school. The pets are napping in their usual preferred locations. We have all kind of gone quiet while we check the news and try to make decisions about what to do next. The idea was to drive down to Cambridge to look for a house this weekend. We were planning to be there by this evening. That plan obviously doesn't make a whole lot of sense right now. So, Plan B. Not sure what that is yet, just working on letting go of my anxiousness around the fact that it is even necessary. What a world this one is sometimes.

In happier news, there is an activity from Volume Twelve of Alphabet Glue available as a free download on Ginny's blog right now. It is the "wave in a bottle" activity, and it is easy kid science at its best. Try it. You'll like it. Oh, and it comes with a sea-centric book recommendation list, which is pretty fun as well. So this weekend you can go get a stack of books about pirates and sailboats and ocean waves and remember that the world is actually vast, beautiful, and facsinating. And really, pretty wonderful too.