Scavenger Shots: TREAT

Hi all. I particpate in a weekly scavenger hunt for photos related to a select word. A group of us on the internet make the rounds to see everyone else's photos and comment on how they treated the subject matter. I thought I should explain this phenomenon since my brother recently complained that my website has become "esoteric" because of it. The only rules are 1) post on Saturday (something I often fail to do) and 2) only use pictures you yourself have taken.

This week's word is TREAT, chosen by Churlish Figure. Next week's word picker is my good friend Tara over at ecelectic spaghetti. If you want to join the fun, let us know here!

Here we see an above average (in cuteness) one year old enjoying a birthday treat of a cupcake. She appears to be pondering the subtle combination of flavors in this particular baked good.

Children's Story

Here's a nice little bedtime story for all you grown kids out there (click pic):

Mom Awareness Day

You know how important moms are? Everybody has at least one. Some of us get more than one in a lifetime. Some of us share one with a spouse. Some of us keep one in our house. Some of us are mothers. Some of us wish we were. All of us have appreciated the care of a mother at one time or another. All of us have at least one fond memory of a mom. I know I do!

Here's mine:
My mom plays the piano beautifully. As children, we would often fall asleep to the sound of our mother playing hymns or classical pieces as a way to wind down from a busy day with five (!) children. I loved to hear her play. And when I was older, I would stand behind her as she played and sing songs with her, sometimes for hours. She filled my childhood with music and beauty and for that I thank my wonderful Mother! Happy Mother's Day!

In order to build a little awareness in myself, I investigated motherhood in other countries. What's it like to be a mother in other places in the world? Did you know that Ethiopia is one of the hardest places to be a mother? The incredibly high orphan rate is partly owing to the fact that only 6% of all births are under the care of skilled medical practitioners. Young children have it hard there, too, and even though the numbers are improving, the mortality rate is still one of the highest in the world.

I would just like to honor another mother whose twin girls will hopefully be coming home to the US from Ethiopia next month! Congrats, El Fid, and Happy Mother's Day!

Pet Cartoon

Some apartments have rules about these things...




Even though this is a security question for many websites, I'm still gonna ask; what was your first pet? Mine was a pair of cats. One gray striped and one black. Named them Puzzle and Smudge. Somebody else got to have them when we moved. *sniff* And then I became alergic to cats. So, whatever.

Kids Say The Darndest Things

This edition of Kids Say The Darndest Things is brought you by the collected resources of myself and my coworkers and the wonderful little children in our lives. Enjoy!

Mommy: I have a baby growing in my tummy, that's why it's so big.
Two year old: Oh. Mommy, do you have a baby growing in your bottom, too?

Little girl annoys everyone around her with her new gifts of a dress, perfume and wristwatch demanding that everyone she meets see her dress, smell her perfume and listen to her wristwatch. Her parents tell her to stop as it becomes unbearably repetitious. They go out to dinner at a restaurant and the little girl is desperate to show off her new Birthday wealth. So when the waitress arrives at her table she bursts out, "If you see something, hear something, and smell something then it's probably me!"

A woman on a bus with her niece tries to convince her not to bite her nails, "If you keep doing that your tummy will swell up!" she says. So the little girl stops and as they get off the bus, she says to a pregnant woman near the front, "I know what you've been doing."

At a dinner of Chinese food, a five year old watches me eating with chopsticks and asks what they are. "Chinese people use them to eat their food," I tell him. The boy slides off his chair and sidles over to his mother and whispers in her ear, "Mom, is Sarah Chinese?"

A little three year old boy is asked to give a speech during his birthday celebration. So he stands up on his chair and delivers the following words: "I would like to thank all of you for coming to my birthday party and I hope that every one of you goes straight to hell." That little boy is now 78 years old.

Apple

When I was a little girl I met a wonderful-smelling lady at a picnic who was tall and had long, brown, wavy hair. Her voice was soft and she smiled often. As we sat in the grass, I watched her eat an apple. She ate the whole thing; top to bottom, back to front. Everything. Including the stem. I was slightly scared of her after that.

"I know better now..."

...But when I was a kid, my sister told me that lightning bugs kept lightbulbs lit and when the bulbs went out it was because the bug had died. She had me feeling bad for lightbulbs for over two years.

Found a lovely website with countless similar stories from people all over the world. you can browse and read or add your own. Here's a couple of my faves:

"I used to believe that once you got out of Pre-school you instantly went to work and worked in the same profession as your father. On the day we had a little pre-school graduation thing I went up to my father and started crying telling him I was a failure and would have to be homeless because I didn't know how to be an accountant." ~Nick

"When I was about 4 years old I thought it was such an amazing coincidence that all singers could actually sing." ~Andrea

"When I was younger I used to believe that the sparkly sidewalks, instead of having something added to the concrete to make them sparkly, was actually millions of tiny ant paparazzi. I would hide my face as I walked over it." ~Jason

Look, Ma! I'm Ghandi!

What Famous Leader Are You?

Jinxy posted this one on his blog. I think he was JFK. So I took the test to ease some mid-novel writing tension I've developed (also known as come-up-with-a-plot-ache). The results amused me. Immensely. I am an emaciated do-gooder. Hehehe. Sweet. I've always wanted to be an emaciated do-gooder. When I was a little girl I used to tell my mother all the time, "I want to be skinny and pious and help others." And she would smile and pat me on the head and bake fresh chocolate chip cookies in the oven.

Good old Mom!

Sometimes I Feel Like A Bubbless Child

This kid is my hero

Deamonte Love led 6 children through the streets of New Orleans. He's six years old.

Freaky Illness of the Day

Q. What do you get when a parent uses their child to get attention from the Health community?

A. Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome.

(Learned of it from Shane Evan's blog. Thanks, Shane.)

Fountain of Youth

Standing half in half out of the kiddie pool,
Limbs delicately poised on its edges,
he reaches out to take the water hose
and sprays down everything in sight.

(a little poem in honor of my nephew)

Come Back, Amelia!

I don't remember how old I was when I first read the Emelia Bedelia books. They were entertaining and charming even then. I have just reread a few. Not only is Wallace Tripp one of my favorite illustrators, Emelia Bedelia is on of my heroines. I did not fully appreciate until now how much of her style has filtered into my life. My teaching style, for instance: where you can do absolutely anything you want, but always confound expectation and if all else fails, baked goods will make everything right again. Thank goodness for heros!

Just gives me warm fuzzies thinking about how much space that baby is saving right now.

Awww.

Found this picture in the newspaper the other day. It reminded me of several things: laying on the floor in dance classes, giggling, asian babies and being a kid. See, as a secretary I could never do this at work. But inwardly I'm doing this kind of thing all day long. I'm twisting and spinning and rolling around on the inside. I have no dignity. Or rather I have the kind of majestic dignity that a kid has who has no regard for social norms or basic office propriety. Maybe that's why I liked teaching drama to eight year olds so well: I got paid to roll around on the floor. Anyways. I offer this image as a reminder that we are all allowed to play on the floor. In our spirits. Ok, no that sounded hokey. It's not about your inner child. It's about your outer childishness. Reminding your body that you don't have to sit upright in a swivel chair all day every day.

Daydream

Remember these? From childhood? How they loomed and beckoned us to places we could not go. Doors and tunnels just out of sight, passageways that curved inside to great rooms and gardens. A whole world just inside that cloud. An actual castle in the sky.

I've never been inside, but I know it belongs to me.

Doing the Lambeth Walk - Bill Brandt

Ohmmmmm

This is your moment of Zen

Port and Starboard

(I think my grandmother told me about this game eons ago. It sounds cute. Please don't ask me why I am researching children's games. I don't know.)

On the command (from the list below) the children have to do the appropriate action. After a while, start removing the last player to comply, untill only one remains.
Port (Run to one side of the area)
Starboard (run to the other side)
Captain's Coming Aboard (Stand to attention and Salute)
Submarines (Lie on the floor)
Hoist the Mainsail (run on the spot - like climbing the rigging)
Mess Deck (Sit cross legged on the floor - ready for lunch)
Davey Jones (Climb a tree, stand on a chair - anything so that you are not on the floor)
Up Periscope (Stand up straight and hold hands to eyes as though looking through binoculars)