SPRING BREAK!

carl and i love to shout SPRING BREAK! and joke about trips to ft. lauderdale, fl, to sip daiquiris and play beach volley ball with a bunch of drunk college students.



our actual spring break (thank god!) involves puttering around in the yard, taking walks in our neighborhood to check out pussy willows and crocuses in bloom, and a day trip to columbus, indiana, which is an hour away from here.

cosmo has been looking forward to this little jaunt. so much so, he would wake up, in the days leading up to the trip, and ask, "is it columbus day?" as it turns out, we went on st. patrick's day. the main attraction for us (besides the world-class architecture) is a children's museum called kid'scommons, which we were told featured a big house, where kids can explore all the inner workings, including plumbing. we had asked our librarian for some books with good drawings for pre-schoolers who ask "where does the water go?" and "what's under the house? what's inside the wall?" she suggested kid'scommons, and mentioned a giant toilet that kids slide down. that was all cosmo needed to hear. he could not stop talking about that giant toilet slide.

when we finally got on the road, we told cosmo we would be stopping for lunch before we went to the museum. he was not happy about any delays, but ended up falling asleep in the car, and lunchtime was just what he needed to wake up, and get ready for the big adventure. we walked from the cafe to the museum, and passed a block of "tree cozies," a public art project that we all enjoyed seeing. it reminded us of the houston group, knitta, please! though, obviously not exactly subversive, since it was sponsored by the local arts council...



we arrived at kid'scommons, and cosmo settled into a geometric puzzle(wedgits), which he had recently played with at a friend's house. a little later he found a ball track, and was mesmerized by that for a while before heading upstairs to the house exhibit. he found a plumbing demonstration that involved, what else? a pneumatic ball maze, cosmo's favorite sort of thing. he was not interested in leaving that area for a long time. in fact, he came back to it again and again.




when we finally made our way up to the giant toilet slide, cosmo was afraid to go down it. i went first, and he and carl met me at the bottom. it was a tight fit for me, but i made it. we mentioned it a few more times, but he became insistent that he did not want to go down the toilet slide. he creeped around, in all the nooks and crannies of the "house," which i thought was very nicely done. we made our way around the rest of the upstairs, played with a bunch of other stuff, including this awesome gear toy, and his first lincoln-log house. he ended up back at the ball track downstairs, and stayed there for what seemed like hours. we all had a great time, though you can't tell from the photos. cosmo usually looks so serious when he plays intently.






he was awestruck by the old player piano. we requested dueling banjo's from the motion picture "deliverance." not a piece originally intended for the piano, but amazing nonetheless. cosmo just stood about 3 feet away from the piano, hands clasped, in rapt attention, through the entire song.



on the drive home, cosmo kept coming up with new ways to inform us that he would never want to go down the toilet slide. my favorite was, "i don't want to go down the toilet slide all the days we go to the children's museum." we assured him that we got it, and that he never had to go down the toilet slide, ever, ever.

even though it was the driving force behind the trip to columbus.
it did occur to me, even before we went, that this is the stuff of pre-school nightmares--going down the toilet. part of his curiosity about it probably stems from his fears. oh, and i just remembered my own dream on this theme! guess it runs in the family.

once we got home, cosmo did some more hands on exploration of water and plumbing with the garden hose. these shots were taken just prior to the complete soaking of all clothing, and stripping down for the first naked-run-around-the-yard of the season.



i highly recommend kid'scommons, and i know we will be going back. it is so close, and such a pleasant drive through brown county. for those of you who live nearby, during the month of march, a wonderlab card gets you buy-one-get-one-free admission.

how's your spring (break, or no break) shaping up?

brought to you by...SKUUT

bear with me as i plug this product. no, it's not a christmas present. cosmo got this balance bike in june, because that was when he seemed ready for it. i know i have blogged about it before. i am overly impressed with this thing. it was the best $90 we ever spent. it teaches him balance, so he can avoid training wheels when he's ready for a regular bike. it has chunky, inflatable tires, which allow for bumpy sidewalks, gravel, grass, and any other uneven terrain. he rarely falls off of it, because he can easily steady himself with his feet. he has complete control over this vehicle, and can lift the front wheel to go over curbs, or turn around. it makes people do a double take and smile when they see him riding it.



this last point is both a blessing and a curse. at the playground, i feel like the mom of the rich kid, who always gets the latest and the best toy. i always want to tell the other parents who are staring at the bike, that it wasn't THAT expensive. that we don't spoil our child with fancy gifts. that we got it because we thought it would be good for his physical development, his balance, and his confidence. NOT because it's made of wood and sports a sort of euro-hip design. it was a practical gift, NOT a splurge!

on our trip to denver, we were trying to decide whether to bring a stroller or not. we never use a stroller anymore, but thought it might come in handy, moving through airports. cosmo does walk more slowly than we do, and i hate rushing him. i don't mind carrying him, but burdened with a carry-on bag, i can only do it for a short time. it occurred to me that we could bring the SKUUT, and treat it as we would a stroller; just check it at the gate before boarding the plane. we weren't sure if bike-riding would be permitted in the airport, but decided to give it a try.



he hopped on as soon as we got out of the parking shuttle bus, rode it into the airport, through the line to check our bags, all around the food court, through security (well, he had to get off of it and send it through the x-ray machine), down to our gate, and all around terminal b while we waited (and folks, when you miss your first flight, and are put on standby during the holiday season, you do A LOT of waiting). the airport officials were impressed and delighted to see cosmo rolling along, swinging his feet, smiling. we were never hassled about it. we got a gate check tag for it, and left it at the end of the boarding ramp, with the strollers.

i felt like a paid rep for SKUUT (in fact, i feel like that now, as i write this), and like i should have been handing out business cards. dozens of people stopped to ask me where i got it, how long he'd been riding it, and other detailed questions. kids his age stared in envy, and parents wondered how we got it through security. cosmo took notice of the attention, and eventually started showing off. he had the most fun in the denver airport, while we waited for our flight home. he was doing laps around an open area near the seating, and getting lots of exercise instead of being cooped up in a stroller. he had some near misses, but never crashed in to anyone, or anything.

i was happy we decided to bring it. from now on, we won't leave home without it. we brought it on our road trip to texas, and it came in handy at rest stops too. it is so compact and light, and easy to carry, there is no reason not to bring it along. i hate to just go on and on about this bike, but i want to suggest to anyone with a two year old kid in your life, to set aside $15 each month (if you can), for the next six months, and get that kid this bike when s/he turns two and a half (that is the age when most kids can comfortably reach the ground from the lowest seat setting). they can ride it 'til they're five or so. but they probably won't, since they'll be ready for a big kid bike before they turn four.

visititresistitadmititlistentoit

in answer to a call from MEP at not to brag, here is my post

visit it:
youtube. look at postings on youtube of vintage (1970's) sesame street segments. cosmo is really obsessed with marble mazes these days. he likes to make them out of household objects like tubes, spoons, old copper pipe fittings, cardboard, etc. and he recently spotted a new roller coaster type at a goodwill, which we've been setting up daily. he enjoys playing with them, and watching them on youtube.



we found videos of some really elaborate constructions, but usually they are not of the highest quality, filmicly, and can be difficult for a little one to follow. but those old counting pinball animations from sesame street not only fit the bill for exciting ball runs, they have a deliciously funky soundtrack, sure to please the adults too. i was thrilled to find "lady bug picnic" on there too.

resist it:
the toy museum in zionsville (indianapolis suburb). it sounds great (antique carousel, bumper cars etc.), but like so many privately owned and operated, small town museums, it's a rip-off. first of all, the website indicated that kids under 4 were admitted free. not so. they claim they've been trying to get that changed online, but still make you pay. after you pay your entrance fee, you are led downstairs, to the place with all the coin-op, ride-on toys--the kind you sometimes see in malls, used to find them outside of grocery stores. they have a large, windowless room filled with them, and they cost fifty cents per ride.



cosmo was excited about them, and we spent a couple of bucks riding them, but what's really strange is the environment. there's nobody else down there. so you feel like you are just playing around in someone's private collection, which is, of course, what you are doing. one ride on the bumper cars is included with the admission, so we tried them. but again, with no one else to bump into, what's the point? cosmo asked to get off after about 45 seconds. i cannot put my finger on why it felt almost creepy to be down there (with only the old guy who operates the bumper cars), putting coins into slots and watching cosmo go sort-of-up-and-down, sort-of-back-and-forth on a fiberglass dinosaur. it was sad, really. it felt like we were TRYING to have fun. trying too hard maybe? we took an elevator up two floors to a room with a carousel, and an arrangement of vitrines filled with antique toys. the toy collection was amazing. but who wants to look at a bunch of precious playthings that you can't play with? cosmo got frustrated when we came across some marbles and marble games. he didn't understand why he couldn't get them out.


the girl on the right, on the box looks as though she is threatening to harm herself if she can't have this toy mixer.

we did ride the merry-go-round (as they called it), which was pretty fun. i took a bunch of pictures. when i tried to climb on the pig, i was told there was a weight limit. oops. could've mentioned that before i made an ass of myself.


the guy that worked there was also annoying. he assumed cosmo's favorite things were disney characters. cosmo doesn't know anything about disney characters. they had this weird talking tree which spewed all kinds of nonsense, and was hooked up to an erratic motion sensor. cosmo was enchanted by it. i was mesmerized by this turn-of-the-century relic:



the only redeeming thing about the place was the ice cream parlor. they had a jukebox with miniature animatron figurines of jazz musicians playing at a night club. we both enjoyed that, and played it over and over (again, with the quarters!) somehow, eating ice cream all alone, and listening to fifties pop songs wasn't as disturbing as the rest of our experience at the toy museum.
take my advise, if you're in the area, skip it.




admit it:
i have a junk collecting addiction. i experience bouts of anxiety if i ride my bike past a pile of stuff someone has put out by the side of the road. i make a mental note to come back with the car, to sift through it (it's difficult to carry a wooden chair while riding a bike, but i have done it). sometimes i get distracted, and don't make it back before someone else has taken all the good stuff. i feel compelled to stop at yard sales, and i dislike going with carl. he has no patience for the kind of browsing i like to do, and might pass judgment on what i deem suitable to take home with us. in fact, i don't like to go with anyone. yard sale shopping puts me in a sort of trance-like state. it is a semi-systematic looking and touching of almost every item there.
i've found some great things too. in dumpsters, on the roadside, yard sales, flea markets, thrift stores. in fact, most of my favorite and most useful possessions came to me second hand. but i have begun to recognize that i am unreasonable, and a little out of control with it. perhaps i need to establish some rules. a couple of months ago, i asked carl to stop the car, and i hopped out and threw some boards in the trunk. he asked what i was going to use them for. i said, "i have some ideas, but in general, if you see solid wood by the side of the road, you should not pass it up. on the other hand, if you see particle board, or anything made from it, you should definitely not stop." i think that's a good rule to start with.


cold frame made almost exclusively from salvaged materials

listen to it:
oneida. i'm not talking about the flatware company, or the indian tribe. i won some tickets from the college radio station (WIUX) to go see this band at the bluebird. we had a great time, and became solid fans. i'm not sure if many readers of this blog would like it, and i am no good at describing sounds, or putting music into genres, so check it out for yourself.
we've also been listening to a lot of children's music. current favorites include hoosier hotcakes (who we see live every saturday at the market) and elizabeth mitchell. there's some lovely songs on her cd "you're my little bird."

visititresistitadmititlistentoit is not a meme, but i challenge my fellow bloggers to give it a try.

equation

one little yellow bouncy ball +
one rather narrow kitchen +
one two year old boy =
SO MUCH FUN!



he played this non-stop for a good 30 minutes (which is the equivalent of hours in toddler time),
and his excitement did not wane. i tried, in this video, to capture his funky leg moves as he chased the ball across the floor, but some things just don't translate.

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.