something blue

i'll tell you what, we've got a good thing goin' over here on dixie street. our neighbors are to-die-for. and i dare say, they feel the same way about us. yes, they are talented, funny, warm, smart, politically like-minded, generous, appreciative AND they have a boy close in age to cosmo (they are just now starting to play together really well), PLUS awesome teenage boys, who babysit! we all seem to understand the value of good neighbors. when we make something yummy to eat, we share. when they have a bonfire in the back yard, we're invited. when they need an hour of childcare, on short notice, we're happy to do it. you get the picture.



recently, said neighbors were given a hot tub. yes, i said GIVEN. apparently we are not the only ones fond of this delightful family. once they got it all set up and bubbling (between our houses), they made it clear that we had an open invitation to use it. we take them up on it frequently. the other day, cosmo and i, and their little boy, had a wonderful play date in the tub (with the temp turned way down for the wee ones). but mostly i like to slip into it on cold nights, with steam rising, and gaze up at a star filled sky. thanks neighbors!

something borrowed

continuing with robin's blog carnival (albeit, a day late on all of them), i submit to you something borrowed. i borrowed the idea (and template) from family fun magazine, and the materials are "borrowed" from the trash. it's a coin purse made from an orange juice carton! i like the clever use of the cap to keep the purse closed.



it's quite easy to make, the trickiest part is the accordion folds on the sides, because at certain points, you are scoring and folding against already existing creases. but, it works quite nicely, if you score heavily with a butter knife (or, if you are lucky enough to have a bone folder, use that. mine has sadly disappeared). the instructions say that a craft knife is optional, but i don't know how you'd make this without one. in fact, i am not sure how i'd even live without my trusty exacto knife. not happily, i can assure you.



next i'm making one out of a half gallon half & half carton. given how important half & half is to our everyday lives around here, i have a feeling i'm going to like it best of all. cosmo suggested we keep our bus money in there. great idea.

some new things

valentines!



these are valentines for cosmo's classmates, and a few relatives. i'll call the work a collaboration. we spent some time, over the past few weeks, punching out hearts from various papers i'd selected (some valentine-y, some not). i did some, cosmo did some. cosmo practiced his scissor-work on a drawing he'd done on pink construction paper. he assembled all of the collages himself. though i applied most of the glue, he picked out what he wanted from our collection, and he decided where to put it. sure, i orchestrated the whole thing, kept him on task today, until we had 14 new cards to bring to school tomorrow, but mostly, cosmo made these valentines. i am quite impressed with his creations.

some/thing old

i'm a little behind with robin's blog carnival (robin of the other mother). in celebration of freedom to marry week, i'll post.

something old
something new
something borrowed
something blue

today, i'm posting something old. i found this quilt at an antique store in our neighborhood. it cost me $35.



it reminds me of a hand stitched quilt my great grandmother made, which i no longer have. the one my great grandmother made was only two colors: pink and white. this one has, as the petals of the flowers, samples of wonderful patterned fabric (is that flour sack fabric?) i know very little about quilts. but i know what i like in a work of art. the art that i have in my home needs to be something that i can study for years and years, and always find something new--or a new way of looking at it. this quilt fits the bill. we have this on our bed, and i just love looking at it. it makes me think, and it brings me pleasure.

some/thing new

the second installment for robin's some/thing blog party.

one of the gifts cosmo got for his belated xmas was a little people zoo. he got it from the same aunt who gave him a little people garage last year. the zoo is part of the next level in the fisher price collection, i guess, which means it has "educational value." there are 26 animals, each with a letter printed somewhere on its body. it comes with a mat, and various molded plastic zoo props. printed on the mat is a path with each of the letters of the alphabet, and a picture of the animal. when you press the A spot on the mat, it says "A" then, " Alligator begins with A" if you press it again, it makes an alligator sound. for animals that don't make recognizable sounds, like giraffes, there is a munching sound, or, for the x-ray fish, swishing water. there is also an image of water on the pad, which makes a splash sound when pressed.



my complaints about this toy are many. first of all, the design flaws: 1) most of the animals do not fit into the little alcoves carved out in the zoo structures (the jaguar, the one exception, is pictured above, peeking out of the "tree"). 2) if you line up all the animals in order, on the path on the pad, they barely fit, and it is almost impossible to use the animal itself (as intended) to press the button. this leads to mild frustration for two year olds. 3)the plastic waterfall is almost useless. animals don't slide down it in a satisfying way, and though it kind of opens, and animals can drop down into it, most of them get stuck. annoying. 4)there is a little perch on top of the main structure that opens up, but it's not clear why, and no animal can fit inside. the thing that bothers carl the most is that some animals have other little animals attached to them, but they can't be removed. for instance, there is a bird on top of the hippo, and the penguin has some baby penguins permanently melded to its body. this asinine feature is in keeping with the other little people, who have things like wrenches in their hands, or cell phones, depending on which set they came with.

as xta has already pointed out in her post from last year on the subject of little people, these figures are fat. the animals are chunky and, in my opinion, overly cute and cartoony. they don't teach the child much about animal identification. it's not that i think all representations in a child's world of objects should be realistic. i really appreciate a lot of the abstract and imaginative renderings in many of the children's books we have, and cosmo's favorite plush toy is a piece of toast with arms, legs and a big toothy grin. but i really believe there is more value in playing with animal figures that look like animals instead of marshmallows with smiley faces. case in point: ostrich. one of the most important features of an ostrich, for distinguishing them from many other birds, is their wacky proportions. they have these rather large bodies, stretched out necks, tiny heads, and long skinny legs. not according to fisher price. just take a look at their version of an ostrich. sorry to belabor the point, but an ostrich does not have short chubby legs--by definition!



cosmo has another collection of animal figures that justin gave him last year. they are much more realistic, and cosmo has enjoyed many hours of play with these, and, i'm sure will continue to incorporate them into his "work" for years to come. as a comparison, here is the ostrich from that collection. it looks kind of like an ostrich. weird.



for his part, cosmo likes the little people zoo just fine. in fact, he plays with it a lot. he has tried to put each and every animal into the little tree alcove, and seems sad that only one of them fits inside. he likes the letter aspect of it, because he's into letters right now, and he's enjoyed arranging, directing and pretending with small figures for some time. but i feel certain that he'd like it just as much if the animals looked like...well, animals.

some/thing(s) old

robin at the other mother had an idea for a series of posts she's calling some/thing. anyone who joins in will write a post today about something old, tomorrow on something new, and the next day something borrowed, the final day, something blue. i like the idea of "community blogging," so i'll give it a go.

my series centers on toys.
we celebrated a late christmas, with cosmo's relatives in wichita falls. as usual, cosmo was inundated with new toys. i hate to be ungrateful, but i often don't agree with their choices, and it annoys that they don't consult with me, or if they do, they ignore my suggestions and get him something they think he should have. they all seem to be in competition to get him what will instantly become his "favorite toy." one of his aunts this year was fretting over what to get him, though she had already told me she had some of her old toys she wanted to pass on to cosmo because her daughter wasn't into them. i tried to tell her that those old toys would be perfect, and she should not bother to go out and get something new, but of course she did. i guess she doesn't think it's right to wrap used things in pretty paper. she gave cosmo 3 new toys, beautifully wrapped, and then off to the side, she handed me this cardboard box full of fisher price little people (and accessories) from the 1970's. how could she mistake the real treasure here!?!



cosmo likes all the stuff he got. at first i thought he liked the vintage little people best of all, but now i have to admit that isn't really true. it is true for me. when i hold those small, minimalist renderings of human beings, the guy with the green peg body, and the sort of balding head, i am taken back to my childhood in such a visceral way. it's as if these little bits of plastic are a part of me, due to the countless hours spent imitating and constructing worlds for the characters, in the yellow trim house we had for them. cosmo's aunt gave us items that i didn't have as a child, (a wind up music box ferris wheel, for instance) but they still feel familiar to me. the graphics are the same style as the yellow trim house, and i wouldn't be surprised if one of my friends had some of this stuff. the ferris wheel doesn't work reliably, but it is still a lot of fun, as are the buses, cars, and playground equipment. the buses have strips of thin masonite against the wheel axles, which produce a satisfying rattle, and make the people go "up and down," (just like the bus song). i believe i am even more appreciative of these relics from the past because i truly despise the updated versions of fisher price little people. but i'll save my tirade for tomorrow's post. in the mean time, you can check out what xta has to say on the topic.