Day 26 SoL Story Challenge: The Story of Crafty Bear

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I sat on the couch with Baby J. in my lap while Little L. built a submarine out of Legos for "Crafty Bear" and "all the chipmunks" on the coffee table. Crafty Bear is the star of a story that Little L. and my husband have been making up for the past day or two. The story basically goes like this:

Once there was a bear named Crafty Bear. He has a friend, Chipmunk, and they find a book that some campers left that was a book of the world with a map of the world. They saw some pictures of a kangaroo and they decided they wanted to see the kangaroo. Crafty Bear happens to be a genius engineer and they decide to build a submarine. His bear friends help him build the submarine, but the bears are too scared to go into the submarine-- except for Crafty Bear. His chipmunk friends are wild and crazy, and they're ready for adventure. So, Crafty Bear designs this amazing submarine that has lots of windows and is the shape of a shark to fool the sharks. It has a big metal tree inside in the shape of a den for chipmunks, so the chipmunks just moved all their stuff in…They go on adventures-- the Marianas Trench, and down in the trench they discover treasure that has four crystals that tell you where the lost city of Atlantis is.

At school, Little L. drew this with Crafty Bear in mind:

"This is the map. There is a red lava pit and a magical blue lake. You have to follow the green trail, then the red trail, then the purple trail, then this trail."

"You follow all the right trails and it leads your o the room full of magic keys. See, there are lots of them."

There's much, much, much more where this came from. Little L. will ask, "Can you tell some more Crafty Bear?" and  my husband will say a sentence or two, and after a few lines, Little L. will take over the storytelling.

I watched while Little L. worked on her Lego submarine. "L., can I videotape the Crafty Bear story?"

"Argh! Let me just tell you. Don't videotape it!"

So… no video tonight. But now you know all about Crafty Bear and his band of adventurous chipmunk friends.

Day 1 SoL Story Challenge: The Day the Baby Came Home

Baby J. was born at 11:11 pm on December 20, 2013. Hooray! 

Little L., who should maybe be called Big Sister L. from now on, tells a little slice of the story from her own point of view here:

The day Baby J. was born, we had a huge ice storm here in Vermont. Everything was covered in about an inch of ice; two or three inches in some places. (No kidding! It was crazy!) Because of the ice storm, we didn't ask anybody to come to visit in the hospital, but my husband drove home to visit Little L. and Grandma at our house the morning after the baby was born. That's why L. says "Daddy came home a few days."

The day I finally did come home from the hospital, I gave L. two gifts. One was a charm that said "Big Sister" to add to her charm bracelet. The other was a Fisher Price camera for kids that she absolutely loves. Someone had given us the idea of getting Big Sister gifts for L. to help ease the transition, and a camera seemed like a great way to make her feel like a big kid.

While L. was opening her camera, my husband and his parents were busy getting to know the baby, but L. didn't even notice all the attention the baby was getting because I was able to snuggle one-one with her and teach her how to take pictures all by herself. She immediately started taking pictures of everything, just like she said in her story: plants, her toys, the baby, everything and everybody. Within minutes she went from simply aiming the camera in a general direction, to setting up her photos with better light, and shifting the angle of her camera in interesting ways.

It turns out, that L. is quite a photographer! The camera has been one of those rare toys that she actually has played with often over time. Sometimes she'll stop in the middle of something she's doing and say, "Oh, wait. Gotta take a picture of THIS!"

And her baby brother is one of her favorite subjects.

All photos by Little L. from the day J. came home. There he is in his Santa hat!

Scribbling: Circular Stage

Little L. said: "Circles!"

Little L. said: "This is rain. This is Pooh Bear. This Mommy. Daddy... Mimi... Grandpa..."

Yes, there are stages to scribbling! Little L. is in the late Circular stage, early Naming stage!

Click here if you want to find out the stage of your own tiny artist or writer.

Try these handy tips:

1. Compliment your child's work by naming what you see, reinforcing her newfound skills as well as vocabulary. If you can name it, she can learn what it is called. Try saying things like,"I see straight/curvy/zig zag lines!" or "I see circles/dots/curves!" or "I see lots of blue on your page, and even a little bit of yellow!" After a short amount of time, you'll hear her naming her own work!

2. Keep materials easily accessible. If you have to dig out the paper and crayons from the bottom of a closet or a drawer, you and your child will be less likely to spend 5-10 minutes drawing. Try an easel or large notebook set up with not-too-messy materials. Tape the paper down so she's less likely to rip it apart. A few washable crayons are pretty easy to manage and pose little danger to your furniture and walls--they really are washable--trust me! (Hint: The fatter the marker or crayon, the harder it can be for your child to use a three-finger grip. Really fat crayons and markers force your child to fist it rather than pinch it. Try having a variety of art materials, both fat and skinny, for fine motor skills, and also just for fun!)

3. Make time every day. While I'm making my coffee in the morning is one of Little L.'s favorite easel times. She hunkers down with markers and crayons for just the right amount of time for me to pour it, add milk and sugar, down half of it while I still have a chance!

Summer Reading and Writing Kits!

Now that spring has (FINALLY) arrived, Baby L and I are already thinking ahead to summer! With all the traveling we plan to do, we need some portable drawing and writing materials to keep Baby L's writing life alive and strong!

Here's what we did.

First I gathered up materials to make a box to hold all of Baby L's fun summer writing materials: 1) a cereal box decorated with catalog clippings, 2) some stapled booklets of blank paper, and 3) some crayons, markers, tiny notepads, stickers, envelopes, and post-its:

























Then I put it all together, so that Baby L has one transportable, totally fun, totally awesome SUMMER WRITING KIT! I even added in the mini-clipboard that the Easter Bunny brought her.













In the classroom, I love ending the school year by making reading kits and writing kits for the kids to take home for their summer reading and writing lives. You can spend the last week or two of reading workshop or writing workshop teaching the kids how to take care of and use their special summer kits so that by the time they leave for summer vacation, they've had plenty of practice with taking things out and putting them back, coming up with their own ideas for reading and writing projects, and dreaming up the kind of reading and writing they hope to do.

Here are some ideas that many teachers (and parents and caregivers) love!

For a container you could use:

• A giant zip-loc baggy
• Cloth bags ordered from Oriental Trading or other catalogue
• If you're a classroom teacher, sometimes parent volunteers are willing and able to sew beautiful bags for reading or writing kits. Thanks parents!
• Blank aluminum lunchboxes (available at some craft stores and websites) for children to decorate
• A typical pencil box
• Children could decorate whatever the container is with glued on pictures, stickers, or paint to personalize the kits

Some possibilities for tools to put in the Writing Kit:

• A notebook or notepad with blank paper (unlined for young children)
• “Special” summer writing paper with a place to sketch, and lines to write on just like writing workshop at school (photocopied onto colored paper to make it special; stapled or hole-punched and stuck on a ring to turn it into a notepad)
• Consider various paper sizes, decorating the paper with a stamp, photocopy a border or design onto it or placing a sticker at the top to turn it into “stationery”
• Colorful post-its, or post-its cut into shapes (stars, hearts, clouds, or other)
• Special glittery or colorfully designed pencils, pens or markers
• Envelopes and stamps, include a card with an address where children can to write to you and their new teacher(s) over the summer
• Post cards, greeting cards, notecards, etc.
• Poetry object(s) (seashells, stones, feathers, leaves, dried flowers, other)
• Recipe cards, list paper, How-To paper, mini-calendar
• Mini-staplers, tape, and/or glue sticks
• Personal Word Wall, Alphabet Chart, Blends Chart

Some idea for reading kits:

• Collect favorite books to put in the reading kit
• Include books written by the child, other children, or by the teacher or parents or caregivers and friends
• Special book marks with reminders for things to think about while you read ("I'm wondering..." "This makes me think..." "I notice..."
• A tiny flashlight for reading under the covers
• Special post-its (of course!!)
• A tiny notebook for making a wish list of books, or for jotting or sketching ideas about the books
• A tiny calendar for tallying up how many books you read each day or how many pages you read (if you are an older kid who reads chapter books)

Whatever you do this summer, have fun doing it! If you decide to make a summer reading or writing kit let us know, we'd love to hear about it!

The Writing On the Bathtub Wall

Bath time has turned into a splishy-splashy writers workshop!

Baby's Favorite Color!

The next time your little one is playing with her blocks, watch closely. Does she rummage through the box, taking out only the blue ones?

That's what Baby L does! Blue is her fave right now!

If you pour all of her blocks out, you can see that the blue ones are scratched and banged up, while the red, green, and yellow blocks are practically new. Personally, I think it's just about the coolest thing I've ever seen! Early on, babies will sometimes start to develop preferences and favorites. And it's not limited to colors. Just a few examples include favorite sounds, favorite toys, and of course favorite foods!

At first I wasn't sure if L was choosing the blocks because of the color blue, or if it was because of the shapes. So I started watching her more closely, to see if there was a pattern.

At bathtime, Baby L digs through the foam letters in the bath tub to find the blue ones!

When she plays with her links, she gnaws on her blue links and carries them around with her, casting aside the others haphazardly!

Before dinner, we always read a couple books. Of these three books, guess which one she picks?

You guessed it. The blue one!! As a matter of fact, 123 New York is one of her all time favorite books. Right up there with Where's Baby's Belly Button and Good Night Moon.

Preferences are a sign that your baby is beginning to form categories for things. That is, L. recognizes "blue" as a category. She can discriminate non-blue things from blue things; an early and important step in her life as a learner. Just as a scientist observes, classifies, and sorts his or her specimens, Baby L is beginning to notice that not all blocks, links, or books are the same. Sorting and categorizing objects by color is just one step on her long journey toward developing an understanding of the world around her. Go Baby L!

So have fun watching closely and listening carefully to your little scientists. See what you notice. Post a comment and share!

The Fingerpaint Debacle

I should have know better, right from the start. Baby L had been grumpy all morning long. She protested getting her diaper changed, she refused her pieces of french toast, even when I dipped them in yogurt, and she arched her back and tried to escape when I bundled her into the baby carrier for a walk with her doggy, Indigo.

But then, while she took her nap, I discovered a grocery bag full of baby-friendly non-toxic finger paints hanging on our coat rack. This is the answer to Baby L's cranky mood I thought.

When L woke up, I plopped her in the high chair. "Guess what I have for you!" I announced gleefully. She didn't look very interested.

I squeezed a small dab of blue onto her highchair tray. She looked at it, stuck her finger in it and pushed it around a little, and then looked at me as if to say, "Yeah, so...?"

So I added some yellow. Still no big reaction.

So I added some more... and some more...

I don't know what I was thinking, really. She's only eleven months old, after all. I should have seen trouble coming... but I added one more squirt. And Baby L, with the swish of her tiny little fingers had a mouth full of fingerpaint.

Needless to say, I freaked. I immediately stuck my fingers in her mouth and scooped out as much paint as I could. I grabbed a nearby wash cloth and cleaned out her mouth, with L screaming at the top of her lungs, of course.

Moral of the story: Paint looks just like food to babies. Next time, I'll just use food.

Wee See

Brinton and I don’t own a TV. It’s not that we’re totally anti-television or anything. A few years ago we cancelled our cable because our service was always out, no matter what the cable guys did to fix it. Our old TV set sat in a corner collecting dust until we finally gave it away. In the meantime, my husband set up a projector hooked to our computer and a screen on the wall in our living room so we could watch movies and seasons of Lost on Netflix.

Now that Baby L. is here we talk a lot about whether or not we’ll ever get a TV again. Who knows?

The jury is still out on the actual effects of watching television. Many adamantly argue that too much TV “rots your brain,” and a common belief holds that too much television makes kids behave violently. Studies have shown that exposure to video games and television actually can also make kids fearful of violence. The fast paced nature of most programming, which consists of sound bytes, also can make it difficult for kids to really focus or study something in detail.

On the other hand, others point to the potential benefits of educational programming, like Sesame Street, which support language and vocabulary development, as well as general background knowledge on a wide variety of topics that a child would not otherwise encounter. There’s also an argument in favor of media-literacy that maintains that children learn to navigate different kinds of programming quite easily and can learn to discriminate between fact, fiction, and everything in between with a little help from adults.

I will say this – At three months old, L. is FASCINATED by television on the rare occasions that she actually has seen it. She’s mesmerized by the bright colors and sounds. And when she’s upset, it seems like it’s as good as a binky (which we don’t happen to use, but that’s another topic). But call me overprotective. I feel guilty hanging out in front of the boob tube with my infant daughter. Is it rotting her brain? Probably not. Are there better things I can think of doing? Absolutely.

wee see - collection one from Rolyn Barthelman on Vimeo.

Here’s some baby TV I can feel good about: Wee See. Just try it. You’ll see. The delicate sounds and gentle movements are just the thing maintaining a calming feeling throughout the house, even with the TV on. The black and white designs are right up Baby L.'s alley, and the slow movements and basic shapes are great for encouraging her to carefully examine and study what she’s seeing, rather than typical TV, which is basically designed to shorten your kid’s attention span. The DVDs even have a still life option, so that you can decide when you want introduce movement.

Happy television watching!

Seeing Things in Black & White

I think I first noticed how much Baby L. loved black and white designs the day she was born. In the hospital room she stared and stared at a card that somebody had given me that was a black design against a white background. She was mesmerized by my mother-in-law's black and white striped shirt. A few weeks after she was born she began to screech with joy at the set of black and white paintings my husband and his friend had made. When I realized that black and white would make her smile - that's when I started to look for black and white things to show her.

Who knew there was a whole cottage industry of black and white products for babies? It makes sense. Doctors, scientists, and mommies have known for a long time that babies see high contrast images best, and that they see best when something is 6-12 inches away.

One of L.'s favorite things to do these days is to stare at these lovely cards from Wee Gallery. A mommy friend gave them to me one day at one of our meet-ups at the Williamsburg Y when Baby L. was just seven or eight weeks old. She loved them then, and now that she's three months old, she still enjoys them.

She loved the cards so much that I made a trip to one of my favorite baby stores, Mini Jake, and got the wall decals to match and hung them over her changing table. Now whenever she's being changed she smiles, coos and screetches at the lions, zebras, and giraffes keeping her company.

When she's looking at the animals, I talk about the designs using my best exciting baby-friendly voice (but not nonsense words or baby talk). In theory, I'm teaching her lots of vocabulary when I talk to her like this - plus, it just seems natural. What else would I do - hold the cards up silently? That would be kind of weird. Also, I noticed that she has a pretty long attention span when it comes to the cards (compared to other things) and I know that it's good for kids to learn to study things closely and carefully and for long periods of time from early on. Mostly though, I'll just do anything to make her smile. What mommy wouldn't want that?