A Little Update: The Niece Visits

Last weekend my eight year old niece, Maddy, was here. My parents brought her up for a weekend visit. She's raised with continuous entertainment in a much larger house -- I mean our entire house, from attic to basement, would fit in their "great room." So I expected some sort of culture shock.

There were a lot of pronouncements of, "I'm bored." But I didn't expect that three minutes into a 6 minute drive to dinner for her to announce her boredom. It was her way of demanding a DVD to play or something.

But our kids know the drill and suggested she amuse herself by looking out the window.

Maddy responded ad follows:

"Red car. White car. Another red car."

"House."

"House."

"Blue car."

I responded with a twist on the old "Looking is with the eyes," usually reserved for not touching in stores. "Looking is with the eyes, not the mouth," I said.

Maddy was silent.

But you could feel her displeasure. *wink*

She also learned that pet birds make a lot of noise. She was fascinated by Luke, our cockatiel, but immeasurably annoyed by his chirps and bird-talk; she dramatically shushed him all the time.


I guess her dad can thank me when the pleading for a pet bird stops. *wink*

Overall, it was a great visit. She loved our "full of neat stuff" little house. (She's not used to so many books and knick-knacks; my sister's house is much more minimalist.) And she quickly caught on to entertaining herself by doing things like painting (I had literally given her a box of rocks for her birthday -- a rock painting kit she brought along), riding bikes and hanging out in the attic "fort."

On the way back home, Maddy told my parents that she missed "those people." So I guess we were a hit!

My mother replied to her sad commentary on loss of us by saying, "That's what vacations are; lots of fun but then you go home to the people you love."

Maddy responded by saying she sure missed, Carly, their dog. Ha!

Survey Says My Family's Not So Strange After All

According to a national survey commissioned by SleepBetter.org and conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs, one in four Americans (23%) say that Goodnight Moon is their all-time favorite bedtime story. The study also says that moms are doing the bedtime story reading 3-to-1 over dads. But what's most surprising, to me anyway, is the fact that even more popular among young children (age 7 or younger) than bedtime classic Goodnight Moon are the stories that their parents make up themselves!

Now our family has a long tradition of making up stories -- not only at bedtime, but we share them at the breakfast table, and when we spend time with extended family (holidays, etc.) we spend time sitting around making up stories together: One person starts with the first sentence, the next person adds the next line, etc., and you go around the room with each person adding a sentence until the story is finished. (Warning: This is where family issues will be aired; the little brother will mock his sister, mom will mock dad, grandma will mock mom, etc. -- which is all in good fun, unless your participating teens are surly.)

Anyway, I just thought that our kids liked our stories and storytelling time because, well, frankly, because they were weird. ...Apples not falling far from the tree, and all that. *wink*

But it turns out, this sort of "weird" is in the majority -- making us all "normal."

Now The Bedtimes Stories Project is collecting these stories in their Sleepy Tales Book.

To encourage folks to submit their original family bedtime stories (all authors retain the copyrights to their stories), The Bedtime Project's got the incredible Betty White involved! (You know I adore Betty White!)

Not only has Betty even written her very own bedtime story, Sleep Better Snowball!, but she'll be reading from the Sleepy Tales Book -- and she may also read one of the submitted bedtime stories!

If you you want your story to be evaluated as one of the stories that Betty White will read from at the May 26th event in L.A., you need to submit your story by midnight EST Sat. May 22, 2010.

Also, by the end of the program in July, one story will be selected to inspire an illustration by noted artist Bill Nelson. The deadline for a chance to have your story illustrated by Nelson is midnight EST, Wednesday June 30, 2010.

So submit you family's story asap. Who knows, it could win a really cool honor! Stranger things -- like our kids liking our made-up stories -- have happened. *wink*

A Rose By Any Other Name... Is Still Late

Doodle Week was posted a bit late this week, so I'm posting my doodle late too. But come on, it's doodling, so no worries. In fact, feel free to doodle your own flower and post it as late as you'd like *wink*

Sex Ed - From The Kid

My eldest, the Auspie, was always a hoot at the museum. From 3 on, when I was in college and had the discounted student pass, she'd stomp around the library-quiet museum with me during weekdays in this pair of brightly colored cowboy boots that she had to wear, no matter the weather or season.

My favorite Allie In An Art Museum Story took place during her first visit to the MAM.

We were looking through the "classic masters" section of paintings, when I heard her grunt and stomp out of the room. I did my own classic mommy bit then, trying to quietly catch up with her. When I did, I asked her why she left so quickly.

Hands on her hips, she turned to me and said, "I just don't understand why they have to put the fur there."

I stood stupefied for a moment -- and then remembered the partial female nude. "Fur" meant public hair.

"It's just the human body," I said. As 'mommy' -- and a single parent then too -- she'd never minded barging in on me in the bath (as you'll see in a bit) or getting dressed and so had seen me nude enough to know that pubic hair was, is, normal.

But apparently 'normal' had no place in art.

"They just shouldn't show that. They should paint a dress on them or something," was her reply.

As if nude models were understandable, but painting them thus was the problem.

Speaking of Allie and pubic hair...

Once when she was little she pushed her way into the bathroom while I was on the potty myself. She took one look at my pubic hair, pointed her little chubby toddler finger at it, and said, "Chipmunks live in there."

I knew if I laughed, I'd hear that forever; so I bit my tongue and replied, "No, they do not. When ladies and men grow-up, part of maturing is growing hair on their private parts."

She stood and stared at me.

Then she raised her finger along with her voice and shouted, "No! Chipmunks live in there!" Then she stormed out of the bathroom.

Leaving me a very puzzled mother on the toilet -- still too afraid to laugh.

Visting The Art Museum

Like most moms, I am forever behind in placing photos in the album; so why should digital pics posted in the old blog be any different? Here are some photos from when Hunter and I went to the Milwaukee Art Museum last fall, when he was seven.




I like to take kids alone to art museums. You get to take time having the child lead you around, stopping where & when they wish to, and have them respond to art without interference or opinion from anyone else. All I say is, "Show me what you like." And when they do, I ask them what it is they like about it. It's a very natural way to get at artistic response without bogging them down in stuff they don't understand -- or overwhelming them with stuff they don't care to know and won't remember anyway.

Plus, it just makes for a more relaxed, fun, trip; which means they will continue to want to go to museums.




And of course now I can snap pics with my cell (and take 9 months to post them), to add to the interactive experience.




Hunter, being raised by a rather negative father, often stops to say what he doesn't like. But my reaction is the same: "What don't you like about it?"



Eventually, either breaking out of 'daddy mode' and relaxing with me -- or just feeling more comfortable about looking at art -- eventually moved into telling me what pieces he did like.




Then it's off to the gift shop to buy a few postcards of their favorite pieces. Something to take home and look at later, I believe, reinforces not only the 'good times of the trip', but provides actual art in their room.



Things you should also know: He didn't like the nudes -- especially the males.



The best thing to do was to let him joke a bit about it. Little boys like butt jokes, so...

Crazy Like A Metaphor

I'm struck by so much in Dangerous Knitting:

My child fell apart. That is what happened in actual time. No speeding cars, no spinning yarns, no old TV characters. Those are just props, mixed metaphors that translate the whole mess into a story that has some recognition, that makes some sense. Back in the actual world, the world that makes no sense at all, my child fell apart. Fell so hard that all action stopped and we literally couldn’t move for months. We all broke down, we all went blind. We found ourselves groping through a glaring maze with no metaphorical nuance: hospital corridors, clinical intakes, treatment programs, therapy sessions, psychiatric appointments, insurance adjusters, all flourescent lights and buzzing machinery. Ravel, unravel, they have the same meaning: to become dis-joined thread by thread. Ravel, unravel, ravel, unravel, it makes no sense. Roll the mess into a ball and knit. What else could I do? Back to metaphors.

I learned to knit that year. My daughter calls it dangerous knitting, for the way I hold and pick the yarn from the very tips of my needles; the way it looks like everything is going to fall apart into a tangled mess. The trick is to wrap the yarn around my left hand, just so, not too tight, not too loose, and keep up a momentum. I always have several projects going at the same time. When one piece gets too tough and confusing, I move on to a softer fiber, an angora or chenille. But it can all fall apart, accidentally or on purpose. Everything put together sooner or later unravels.

Via Cult of Gracie.

Take The Animal Advocacy Background Survey

Via the always fab Chloe Jo:

Please take Animal Advocacy Background Survey: Only Takes 5 Minutes!

This will take only 5-10 minutes, depending on how much you elaborate! (Elaborating is great, but it's not required.) Please crosspost to any lists you are on with other animal advocates. I'd like to get at least 2000 responses!

I'm working on a book for animal advocates, and I'd dearly love your input. I'm striving to find out what different backgrounds animal advocates come from, and ascertain if there are family patterns or other factors that seem to lead us in the direction of advocating for animals. Some of the questions are personal...you may always skip a question if it makes you too uncomfortable, and you may remain absolutely anonymous. Most of all, try to be truthful, even if it hurts. There are many opportunities for you to add comments...the more information you can give me the better for me to understand you and the background you come from, so feel free to elaborate on any answer that has a comment box. If you'd like to give me your contact info at the end, I would respect your privacy and your answers, and only contact you further in the event that I need more information. But as I say, you may choose to remain totally anonymous.

Thank you so much for helping me with this survey! For your help, you can get $5.00 off a $10.00 order on my art site, LittleGirlLooking.com (sorry, not the cafepress store as I don't own that site), $10.00 off a $50.00 order, or $20.00 off a $100.00 order. Just put the code at the end of the survey into your message area when ordering, and your rebate will be sent back to you after your order comes through on my end.

Tammy S. Grimes, Dogs Deserve Better

I have to say the survey took about 5 minutes or so, as she said; but the questions are very interesting and I hope she'll share the results!

Image shown is Tammy's Animal Rescue Angel tattoo.

Pomp & Circumstance

I went to the Art Burn on Saturday. I'm not a person who is big on ceremony, but whenever I attend some ceremonial event, I'm rather moved by it; this was no exception.

Hubby (who took the excellent photos) & I brought the girls, Des & Allie, and we all decided that next year we'd not only go again but bring some work of our own.

Knowing how long it took me to decide what to bring to the appraisal, I can only imagine the horror I will go through making the decision what work to burn, but the experience of attending makes participation seem mandatory for next year.

Dead Animal Art

Last Sunday, on our way home to Fargo from Wisconsin, we stopped at Georgine's and I got a pheasant. Not a live one, but a dead one. A taxedermied, mounted pheasant.

Now I'm fascinated with taxidermy.

I know, I know, after being so anti-anthorpomorphized animals how can I love taxidermy? I don't know 'how' I do; I just do.

Especially these Victorian taxidermy tableaus by Walter Potter.




But I do. Heaven help me, I do.

Note that the postcards are similar to the vintage animal cuteness. (Which means I may start collecting the postcards first for space -- and money -- reasons.)



While I may never be able to afford a Walter Potter taxidermy tableau, or even a fancifully grotesque anthropomorphic work by Tia Resleure (below), I am utterly smitten.



Since Destiny is in a black 'Gothic' phase (God, please let it be a phase!) -- and she just dissected her first frog yesterday (she waited all school year long for this monumental event) -- I figured she'd be all over this idea. Especially the creepy plush dolls with taxidermy innards (Tia's reliquaries). But Des didn't like them.

Maybe it's just because I like them. If I had wrinkled my nose or been repelled away from the monitor, I bet she would have loved them.

But I love them and I can't not let it show.

I'm sure my nose would wrinkle if I was involved in the process of taxidermy. I was the one who in biology did all the drawing while my lab partner did the actual dissection of our frog and the sheep's eyeball. :shudder: And I have thrown out entire chickens because while making dinner I couldn't get that bag of organs out easily and ended up with that organ meat under my fingernails.

I'd like to say that I'd get over it. But I might just be one of those who buys and doesn't create. The world needs this too, right? After all, someone needs to support the arts.

And then Destiny would likely fall in love with taxidermy. *wink*