Addicted to Movies

Yes, I am sorry to say Boo at the tender age of 2 is completely addicted to watching movies.  At first it was just Green Eggs and Ham and Cat in the Hat.  Then we discovered the Eyewitness DVDs at our local library!!!  Now she asks for "uhSHEEN" (Human Machine) "i-a-uhs"(Natural Disasters) and "orssy" (Horses).  She didn't like Skeleton as much.  Birds and Butterfly and Moth were also good ones.  And although I love Dr. Seuss and the slightly crazy songs on the DVDs, I was getting very tired of listening to them.

One thing that I am sure she will NOT be watching is "educational" shows (NOT the Eyewitness DVDs - the ones on PBS, Nickelodeon, and the Disney Channel).  After reading Nurture Shock, which I liked a LOT of (such as the sections on Praise and Self Control and Race and Sleep Deprivation) but Strongly Disagreed with some other points in it (especially the section on Education), I feel really good about not allowing "educational" programming in our home.  I will admit that I was surprised that the researchers "found that Arthur is more dangerous for children than Power Rangers" (p.181) and "The more educational media the children watched, the more relationally aggressive they were."  (p.180) The researchers theorize that this might be because the majority of children's shows are negative most of the time with just a small part (the resolution at the very end) being "positive."  To quote again:

We can imagine educational television might use an initial insult to then teach a lesson about how insults are hurtful, but that never was the case, Schiebe [one of the researchers] found.  Of the 2,628 put-downs the team identified, in only 50 instances was the insulter reprimanded or corrected - and not once in an educational show.  Fully 84% of the time, there was either only laughter or no response at all." (p.182)

That said, I think that Charlie and Lola (at least the first few seasons) is fairly good at modeling positive sibling/child relationships because Charlie and Lola have their differences, but they don't resort to calling each other names over them.

As for what I am watching, right now I am addicted to Pushing Daisies!!!!  The episodes with Wilford Woodruff and Lemuel made me laugh with special glee.  =)  Thanks, Lady Steed!
~

the Dude loves Math

The Dude gets up at Insanely Early Hours every morning but he is expert at finding something fun to do while he's waiting for us to wake up.  (See Treasure Hunt)  Today he brought in a piece of paper that he had been expanding a fraction out on (I don't know the correct terminology here!)  - whatever the opposite of reducing fractions is.  He had started with the fraction 2/5 and had multiplied by 2 out to 4/10, and kept multiplying it by 2.  He got it Perfectly Right to 1,024/2,560 and then did a slight carrying error in the bottom.

BUT he did Perfectly Right on the top all the way until he stopped (at 65,536!)  AND he multiplied his incorrect answer correctly until the end (to 160,640).

I love how we talk about a concept (like reducing fractions) and he takes it in a slightly different direction to the Extreme.  (I like less that he chided me for doing it the Easy Way as I wrote out the multiplication to check his answer).

One thing is certain - the Dude Loves Math!

~

Waking up to a Treasure Hunt

When I got up this morning, the Dude was already deep at work on some project.  I was warned several times to look away at certain times (which I dutifully did) and asked where my treats were because he needed some... for me.  I directed him to his father, who said Mommy could get her Own Treats.

The Dude very proudly hands me a small piece of paper that reads,

I look there (the very chair I'm sitting on now!) and find another:

This might've posed a bigger problem if I hadn't heard the front door open a couple times this morning and gotten an Evasive Answer about what was going on.

So I go around collecting my notes from their hiding places.  Some of my favorites:

Clue three: Youve done the hard one that is true, but now check under the table.

Clue four: to get to the prize, go and ask a old clumsy chair.

Clue nine: inside a thin drawer is next.

Clue eleven: next to the piano is next.

Until I get to "Clue eghteen: in dads box is the prize."

Of course the Dude is following me around and giggling delightedly every time I find a clue or Especially when I look in Not the Right Place immediately.  He is on hand to explain to me that he could not put my prize there, but that I had Certainly earned it, so I should go get it.  Since I hadn't had breakfast yet, I deferred collection of my Prize until later.

I wondered what had inspired him to this project and I found it was from his new book:

Cost of the book?

$9.99

Cost of this Treasure Hunt?

Priceless.

~

The Cake that wanted to Be a Disaster but I Wouldn't let it Be one

Behold the Cake

(with a slight amount of photo editing to remove incriminating names)

From the time I started gathering ingredients on Tuesday night, I had a feeling this cake might be a challenge.  I didn't have enough butter in the fridge to make it.  I had some in the freezer, but getting butter to thaw in a short amount of time without melting it is not a skill I claim to have.  So I could not make the cake that night.  I left the butter out overnight and planned for a crazy Birthday morning.

I woke up early-ish and mixed the cake before making the Birthday Scrambled Eggs.  When I went to put the cake in the oven, the rack was really close to the bottom, so I had to move it up.  It took me a couple tries before I fit it in right.  I put the cakes in, put on the timer and got back to making Birthday Eggs.  About 10 minutes from being done, Boo wants to see her cakes.  I turn on the oven light and gasp.

I had put the oven rack in slanted!  The cakes were Very Slanted!  I wanted to throw up my hands and scream AAARRRRRGGHHHH!  I think I said OHNO OHNO OhNo! and then Very Gently took the cakes out, righted the rack and put the cakes back on (while yelling for various children to Stay Back so they Wouldn't get Burned!)  The cakes ended up being Less Slanted than I had feared, but still Very Slanted.  I had no time/ingredients to do another batch.  This would have to do.

Before I knew the cakes would be slanted, I was still choosing between doing Traditional Buttercream or Swiss Meringue Buttercream for the cake.  Because of the slantedness, the Swiss Meringue won because of it's awesome sculpting power, cover-it-up-ed-ness, and not-so-sweetness (because this cake would need a LOT of frosting).

Now I had NO butter, so I had to go spend 10 dollars (!!!!) on 2 pounds of unsalted butter at Safeway (another reason to shop at Trader Joe's for basics!) on the way to picking up the Dude from school.

I whip up the egg whites and sugar over the double boiler, cool it, whip in the butter and start adding the gel color.  And add more.  And More!  It is not doing anything except being tiny little blobs of concentrated color in (still) mostly white frosting.  I go to the drip red coloring which does this funny beading up at first, but gets mixed in eventually.  I scrap the "red frosting" idea and decide Pink is Good Enough - if I use Red Sparkle Sugar to make the heart red instead.

I trim the cakes a bit so they will fit a bit better together, but the frosting does its magic and fills the gaps and I can pile it on thick to cover up the imperfections.

No one cares about the inches of frosting!  No one notices the Very Slantedness of the Actual Cake!  We all delight in getting sugar highs from its beautiful deliciousness.

Mmmmm!
~

Highlights from Boo turning 2!

Boo has been looking forward to her birthday since the Dude's birthday a couple months ago.  She wanted Happy Birthday sung to her at all times of day.  She practiced her blowing each time we finished the song because she knew that after the song came the blowing of the candles. At first it was the "ffffff" blow that is quite ineffectual but she gradually got the very effective "oooo" blow in good form before the Big Day.

We did not do a Big Party since she was just turning two, but happily her birthday coincided with Piano Lessons Day and so the students stayed a bit later and a couple other friends came over and we a fairly full house when the cake was ready to be blown out.  She wanted to blow the candle out as soon as the cake was finished, so I had to put the cake somewhere untouchable so that she wouldn't be tempted until it was Time.  We got her candle in her Pink Heart Cake, sang her Happy Birthday and she blew out her candle on the first attempt!  (Our first child to do that on his/her second birthday!)

We all had Cake (which was very delicious from all accounts - the frosting was especially popular - being eaten by the spoonful before the cake was served!) and then some friends had to go home, but some stayed for the Present Opening.  One of her presents got delivered to the wrong apartment, but since the family that got it sent out an email asking about a Miss {her name here} and a friend forwarded the email to us, we were able to go pick it up and get it in time.  Ah, the miracles of modern technology!  =)  She loved her new pink pajamas with hearts and her baby "purse."  As I was explaining that her package was addressed to Miss {her name here}, she emphatically said, "{her name}BOO!"  Yes folks, she thinks her name has a BOO attached to the end of it.  I love this.  You can't imagine how much.

She is very happy to be TWO now and is also loving all her beautiful new clothes and putting her baby to bed in its very own bed.

(Expect a post soon on how the cake was a near disaster, but turned out fine after all).
~