221. Bath time can, at times, be a challenge. Find ways to make it fun for her.

(photo: jwlphotography)

Across the calendar a line of Xs stand upon the dates that we have kissed goodbye. Each line an ending, a memory, and one step closer to hugging someone at the last possible minute.

The year goes out with a bang, just as it arrived. It spends its last week sleeping off holiday treats and shopping fatigue. As the end draws near it makes a reservation, shaves what’s hairy, and puts on something that pops. It’s a party after all, and the year deserves it.

In the wings waits the next one. It is young and naive, full of hope and promises. It watches the current year and notes what it will do differently. It watches and it waits, one eye always on the hourglass. It too will dress in something smart, but not nearly as outdated.

People pull out resolutions and change the date accordingly. The one becomes an awkward two and everyone is the wiser. They are losing weight and quitting vices. They are eating healthier and trying harder. They have waited a year to repeat themselves. The first week is the hardest, and often the only.

The children want to stay up until midnight because everyone is doing it and the reviews are fantastic. They laugh every time someone makes a joke about seeing them next year. They are alive with apple juice and Chex mix.  They are why the new year rings.

The year will fall, another will rise to take its place, and the world will carry on regardless. There may be song and a spot or two of dancing. Laughter is strongly encouraged.

Happy New Year. You deserve it.

There has been a good deal of coloring going on in this house lately. Whether markers, crayons, paints, or oil pastels the boys have been putting color on paper and creating their masterpieces at ab alarming rate. This period has seen some real growth in realism as Primo has a torso on his people now, not just arms and legs coming right out of the head. Segundo has started drawing cars that even have wheels on them, albeit right next to each other in the middle of the blob. It’s progress that comes from repetition and patience. I had an idea to find some pictures on the computer and have the boys recreate them on their papers and this has proven to be fun and really amazing to watch. They take a moment to decide if they are going to match the color or the design or both and then get started copying what they see in their own way. I hear this is how all great artist start, copying the greats. Segundo has little patience for it but Primo really gets into it and wants me to join in. He assigns me quadrants and checks my work at regular intervals. He’s a bit of a micromanager but hes cool with multiple coffee breaks so I can’t complain. In the pictures below you can see the original picture and the one that Primo and I made. This is a really fun way to incorporate art into play and I would highly recommend it for parents wanting to do something creative with their kids.

Original

Primo's Copy

Prolific game designer and master of Kickstarter, Daniel Solis, is at it again with his latest project: Writer’s Dice.

It’s a simple enough idea: a six-sided die with words imprinted on the sides. Toss the dice and get a word: BUT, SO, AND, AS, OR, IF.

You may have seen the video where South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone crash a college writing class and talk about breaking the plot for their show. Specifically, the lameness of stories where the only thing stringing together plot points is the word “then.”

Writer’s Dice are a fun way to randomize story creation and steer clear from “thens.” I’ve played around with some of the prototypes, and they’re really nice. The red acrylic cubes are a little larger than normal six-siders, with the words etched in white, and they even have standard pips, so you can use them as normal dice if you want.

Photo: Daniel Solis

If you buy four dice or more, Daniel’s throwing in his Pop n’ Locke’s Last Heist. This is a fun storytelling game which uses the Writer’s Dice to create plot beats in a zany yarn about an octogenarian’s final heist.

You’ve got a little more than a day left to back Writer’s Dice on Kickstarter, so get to it! As Daniel mentions, they’re great gifts for writers, creatives, and gamers alike.

Writer’s Dice Kickstarter Page
Daniel Solis’s Blog

I got an email recently asking if my boys wanted to a new toy, just released, called ickee Stickeez. Knowing nothing of these toys my original thought was they may want them but from that name alone I want nothing to do with them. The idea of another messy toy the boys can use to ruin my day seemed like a terrible idea but then I looked at the pictures in the email. Theses tiny little pods with funny looking creatures didn’t look messy at all so I agreed.

We got the package a couple weeks later and Primo was super excited to open them up while Segundo was still napping. There were seven in total, a triple pack and four single packs. We tore them open and Primo loved the look the small toys with creatures on a suction cup. He stuck them all to my laptop and then popped them on and off excited by the sound. He started telling stories about where each of the characters came from and loved the little plastic pods that they come in. When Segundo woke up he joined in with the fun and started seeing what the toys would stick to and how to share seven ickee stikeez between two kids.

Ickee Stikeez are from Zing Toys, a Portland Oregon company, and were just released in late September. Series 1 has 24 characters, some funny, other gross, but all of them unique. You can buy them in single packs or triple packs that also come with Koinz, little cardboard rounds with more information of the included toys. I like these toys and the boys love them, asking where we can get more. They are collectible, trying to get all 24 is Primo’s new obsession, and fun to play with in many ways. They can be stacked in the pods to make a chain, popped on and off windows, cell phones, or tables, and make for great story telling as the kids explain how these creatures came to be.

A few days ago she was crying in her room.  I walked up the stairs and opened her door.  Erica was kneeling beside her and holding her close while tears were welling up and streaming down her little girl cheeks.  What could have caused this outburst?  Erica looked up at me and half mouthed and half spoke the words, “Remember when the star balloon floated away?  That was two years ago?!”

It’s true.  This balloon, like the little lamb that Mary loved, was dear to Ella’s heart.  But instead of never leaving her side, one day when we took the balloon outside, it’s helium filled star shaped body sent it heavenward and left a little girl paralyzed in sadness, watching as her favorite thing in this whole wide world slowly disappeared into the great unknown.  Then, two years later she was reminded of it out of the blue and burst into tears.

So where did the picture come from?

A few days after the scene in her bedroom, we all went together to the Johnny Appleseed Festival at a nearby farm/restaurant.  It caught us off guard, but one of the tables there, a pediatric dentist, was handing out balloons and offered one to Ella.  She couldn’t say no, and so neither could we.  Around her wrist it went, and Pax got one, too, but protested until we opted to tie it to the wagon.

Not ten seconds later she sees someone else’ balloon do this…

For about a good hour we kept seeing balloon after balloon float away, and each time the scab on that painful childhood memory was picked away…Fresh tears flowed, her tiny heart just so concerned for each balloon.  I tried to explain that maybe it will come down somewhere else, in another little girl’s backyard and she would love it and take care of it.  We told her how Jesus knew where each balloon went and I was even willing to pray with her about it.  But no matter our explanations, her heart still ached to see each flying balloon back with its owner.

To make matters worse, while we ate lunch, there was a mom and her two kids having the same fight that we fought with Pax.  They didn’t want this thing tied around their wrists, but unlike us, they didn’t have a wagon as an alternative anchor.  So they made a big deal about untying the balloon and waving and saying goodbye as they watched it fly up into the sky.  Perhaps you can’t imagine just how much this tore Ella up inside.  It was serious crying, not temper tantrum crying.  It was deep and fully felt.  She clung to her balloon, even though it was still attached to her wrist, and several times she tried to hold the balloon that was tied to the wagon even as I was pulling it, for fear it too would leave.

It didn’t ruin our family fun day, I try to take these things in stride as I can’t understand her psyche when it comes to this, but Erica and I both agreed on one thing.  Next year, no balloon.

Posting today at our adoption blog, Macys Forever Home, about how it feels to be waiting for our referral and also some highlights of the family fun we’ve been up to lately, like where this photo was taken (one of my new all time favorites!)

Click here to read the post!

1. Make them earn their time.  Kids love the iPad almost as much as their dads do. Many kids enjoy playing games on the iPad and doing other fun things.
   They are absolutely amazed by the touch screen and other capabilities of this
   Apple tablet. (The younger kids will grow up believing that every screen is a touchscreen) But you can’t let your children hog the iPad or else you may
   never get to use it. You can help them appreciate their time with this great
   tool by making them earn the time they spend on it. You can make rules that say
   they get 10 or 20 minutes for every chore they do or for every time they get
   their homework done.  Many dads allow their children to earn “play time” on their
   iPad by playing educational games first. You can do an even trade – one minute
   of playtime for every minute of educational games played – or however you
   choose to do it. Either way, your kids will have a good balance of fun and
   education.

2. Play games together on the iPad.  If you want your kids to get the most from the iPad, don’t use it as a virtual
   babysitter like many parents do with the TV. Instead, use the iPad alongside
   your kids. Play some interactive games with them that they will enjoy. You will
   enjoy the quality time and your kids will learn and practice some new skills.  Some head-to-head games for kids probably 5 and up would be Fruit Ninja and Tap Tap Revenge.

3. Download Educational Apps  In addition to learning about money and playing games that enhance your child’s
   skills, the iPad is a great resource for using educational apps. There are apps
   that will help teach your kids how to add, subtract, multiply, divide and so
   much more. And since they are doing it on the iPad, your kids will look forward
   to doing these educational things. Apps like AceWriter
   help teach ABCs in a fun way, but that’s just one of the thousands of
   educational apps designed for kids. Create a personalized folder for each of
   your children that uses you iPad with their very own apps, games and videos so
   they feel like it is partly their iPad, too. Besides, you don’t want all of
   their things cluttering up your iPad’s main screen.

4. Let Them Read.  Reading can be a lot of fun on the iPad. You can find a long list of children’s
   books online that you can download complete with full-color pictures and more.
   You can even find a variety of interactive books from Dr. Seuss to Alice in
   Wonderland and more to help make reading much more fun for the kids.

5. Download and Stream Videos.  There are few things that will hold a child’s attention more than an
   interesting or funny video. With the iPad, there are endless possibilities when
   it comes to video entertainment. If you have a Netflix account, you can stream movies
   that your children will love from the company’s online database. There are
   dozens of cartoons and children’s movies streaming on Netflix which is ideal
   for those long car rides with your kids. You can even download your family’s
   home movies onto the iPad and also movies from websites like Youtube
   and others that you children can enjoy anytime.Learn a New Language.  One of the most beneficial things you can do for your children when they are
   young is to encourage them to learn a new language. Studies show that learning
   a new language is much easier when a child is young compared to adolescents and
   even adults. The iPad can help make it fun and you can work together on
   learning a new language like German, Spanish or even Chinese.  There are many different apps to choose from if you want to
   do this. For example, if you want your child to learn to speak Chinese, the Chinese
   for Kids app by 321Speak offers vocabulary and listening programs
   designed for children of various ages. For more in-depth study of the Chinese
   language, the iLearn
   Chinese Characters Lite
   app teaches children (and their fathers, for that matter) how to write
   various numbers and other characters in Chinese. You can find several apps
   (many of them free or very inexpensive) for the iPad based on the language you
   and your child want to learn.

6. Get Them Interested in an Instrument.  Music is a great way to keep children entertained and it’s even better when the
   children are interacting to make the music themselves. There are apps that
   allow kids to mimic
   playing music with instruments ranging from the piano to drums and
   many in between. This may create an interest in music that will last a
   lifetime, or at least though their toddler years and beyond.

7. Download Coloring Book Apps.  Are you going on a long trip and going to spend hours in the car? If your kids
   are coming along, you should bring the iPad complete with a couple coloring
   book apps. Kids can color virtually so you don’t have to bring along several
   books and boxes of crayons along with all the other things you need for a trip.
   And if your kid messes up on a picture, they can erase the colors or start over
   on the same page.

Letting your kids use your iPad
from time to time is a great way to teach them how to use technology and how to
be careful with fragile things. But it can also have educational benefits.
Video game developers in recent years have created games that are both fun and
educational for children. These days, playing video games isn’t as mindless as
it was when we were kids 10 or 20 years ago. They aren’t all about shooting
zombies or jumping over mushrooms like they were in our day. If you choose the
right games and activities that your children can participate in on your iPad,
you can use this tool to enhance their life skills and have some fun at the
same time.

There’s just so much science, nature, music, arts, technology, storytelling and assorted good stuff out there that my kids (and maybe your kids) haven’t seen. It’s most likely not stuff that was made for them..

Check out the site, The Kid Should See This, and definitely call the kids over and show them some cool content. You can get in touch with them on their twitter, @thekidshouldsee, and learn more about Rion on her twitter.

[via: Kottke]