What We Are Reading: BATMAN Who is Clayface?

The hubby has a new job and is working near a comic book store. 

When he came home with, BATMAN Who Is Clayface by Donald Lemke, pictures by Steven E. Gordon Colors by Eric A. Gordon.  I have to say I was a little disappointed. Not because I'm not a fan, but because Animal is a little much sometimes and super hero/bad guy play,  is not something he needs any extra encouraging with. 

All doubts however were wiped away when I saw the excitement in his face! One important thing when hoping to instill a love of books in a child (or any person for that matter) is to remember, interest in subject matter is of utmost importance. So if like me you're not a fan of sci-fi, don't frown when your child comes home with Dune.  Instead look on the bright side. If your child brought home a book it's probably going to get read. There in lies the trick.

What's the silver lining in our new favorite bedtime story?

1. VOCABULARY! 

What's a detective mama? A person who solves mysteries by paying attention to clues and asking questions.  What's a batarang? It's a special boomerang that looks like a bat. What's a viking? A Scandinavian pirate. What's a utility belt? It's like grandpas tool belt only filled with the things Batman needs to fight crime. 

We have learned a lot of new words.  They are seeping into his free play time and therefore creating new synapses in his little brain. Important new information onto which he can connect other new facts. This is important because it's hard to grasp new information unless it can be connected to knowledge already acquired. 

2. ATTENTION SPAN. 

This book is 36 pages long, it takes longer to read, but he is so interested in the content  and pictures that he follows closely. A skill that will translate to other books and activities.

3. EXTENDED LEARNING POSSIBILITIES. 

This story has a lot to work off as far as lesson planning goes.

For instance in the story Clayface robs a bank. What can he learn from this you might wonder? 

We can play bank. We can practice counting skills, sorting, and simple math can be presented. If he were a little older we might draw up our own money and talk about where money comes from. We might visit a bank, talk through the process of depositing and withdrawing money. What other things can you do at a bank? Maybe take a deposit and withdrawal slips to copy and have some writing and math practice. 

There are also science opportunities. Matt Hagen becomes Clayface when he falls into toxic goo. You could play mad scientist. Look up the recipe for silly putty, play dough, gak, or clay. You could fill glasses with a few drops of yellow, red and blue food coloring. Then mix them with your child to see what new colors they get.

How about art or PE? Trace your child on butcher paper of let them trace you. Then color or paint a few "wax" figures. Put them up around your backyard and let your kid go wild with a boomerang. 

If my son was older and had some writing skills I might ask him to imagine he was Mat Hagen and tell me how he might use is new shape shifting skills in a short story. If he got really creative, I could help him transform his story into a short play. We could build a set and make a short video. 

The possibilities to get creative and teach your child in a meaningful way through his own interest  are really only as limited as your imagination.

Now get out there and have fun!

Where Have I Been?

You may have wondered? Or maybe you haven't.

So many things have happened since last I wrote.  

It feels like years ago, but I'm pretty sure it's only been a few months. Here's a short list of what happened to me. The good, the bad and the ugly.

1.  I blew my cars engine. It was heartbreaking. I loved that car, like really loved it. I'm not too proud to say I cried when the tow truck came to take it from me. It took some time to come to terms with what I had done and how I would solve the dilemma of having no vehicle. It was a big ordeal finding and purchasing my new (to me) car. It's cool, but I'm not going to lie. I really, really miss MY car. Randomly I'll imagine I'm still driving my old car and I'll get sad all over again. Even now 3 months later.

2. We got a notice that our rent was being raised. Again. We refused to pay a penny more for our large but rundown apartment. So we were forced to start looking for a new home. Something we had been doing for years anyway (because as fore mentioned we were living in a rundown apartment) but could not seem to afford anything in our beautiful, but ridiculously expensive city. 

Then, on the same night we got that letter, the hubby found a listing for a cute two bedroom house on the street we lived on when we got married. That  just so happened to be walking distance from my moms house (our babysitter), and close to the the elementary school we want our son to attend.

We went to check it out. No expectations. 

We filled out the application, and two credit checks later, we were moving into our first house together. Very exciting. Right? Totally. 

Only problem is this house has no garage, and our old garage was full. Not hoarder full, I used to park my beloved car in there. Nonetheless it was packed. Many trips to the dumpster and the local donation center later and we still have a small storage shed worth of things that don't fit into our home (without turning us into an episode of Hoarders). 

3. The Hubby got pneumonia over the Christmas break. He refused for days to go to the doctors and when he did it's because he thought he was going to die. Lucky for us he did, or he just might have. It was a tough week. He survived.

4. Animal has been keeping us way busy, as toddlers are apt to do. He's talking so much, it's a big relief to finally hear. I can't even count how many words he has anymore, most are clear and he's even gotten a few five word sentences in there. 

He's giving us new worries, new laughs, new troubles and lots of happiness. Also lots of writing material if I ever make the time again. 

Sometimes as we read something for the tenth time in an hour I think: This is the next, What We Are Reading. Then I never sit down and write. I only imagine what I'll write later that night when I finally pull out the laptop. Then I don't.

5. I have been running. I have a new partner. The Tall guy has started to join me. It's going great. Last weekend we ran 5 miles and two weekends ago I ran up a hill I haven't run since I was pregnant. 

Also my dad's back. He was never gone, but he had been injured and sidelined and now he's up and running along side me.

So that's where I've been. Now I'm back and I hope you will also come back to check out what's happening on this here blog.

Week 2, 100 mile challenge

I'm doing this thing.

So this is it, week two. Only two to go...

Are you wondering how it went? Well, this week was easier in some ways.

I'm getting used to hearing my alarm ring. Every. Fucking. Morning. For one thing.

It's fun to see the miles add up and to know I'm getting closer and closer to my goal.
I feel healthy and strong. Even a little sexy.

It's also harder in other ways.

Like I get up at 5 am everyday, but my day doesn't slow down in anyway. Even though I have more energy to handle certain things, I also don't have enough time for others.

Like writing.

I used to write at night while hanging out with the hubby. But lately I start getting drowsy at 7:30-8 o clock. No surprise to anyone that knows me, including of course my husband. That means that I have to choose.

Spend time and effort in my marriage or on my hobby. I know a marriage takes work. I love ours. So I choose to put my energy (what little I may have) there.

I also have less time to get myself, or the multitude of stuff that I usually do for me and my family, done in the morning.

Like eating my breakfast vs. wolfing it down.

Putting on make up vs some erase paste under my eyes and maybe some chapstick on my lips.

Packing us all lunches vs. packing them for my boys and I relying on the Think Thin bars I have stached in my classroom cabinet at work.

Or writing at 5 am, in blessed silence. Just me, my thoughts and my laptop

It's only for this one month. So is it worth it?

Today. This morning. It is.

This is what week two looked like.

Dropping The Ball

Since I started writing again, I've made time for it every weekend.
Because:

I love it.

It's me time.

It helps me clear my head of the non stop chatter that is my mind.

It helps me feel connected, to other moms, to other writers, to the world (even if only a handful of people read).

This weekend was a marathon of getting shit done.

I bounced around from one commitment to the
next, only stopping to play and enjoy family time. While it was happening I was rather happy that I was getting plenty of time with Animal and the Hubby (I'm still glad about that) but I was a bummed to see that I didn't notice till my eyes were shutting from exhaustion that I hadn't even noticed that I hadn't carved out ANY time to write.

I'm gonna work harder to find it.

TT Word.

Remember back in the day when people were on MySpace?

I was one of those people. On your profile page there was an area where you could blog. Straight on your profile you could write post. I wrote one a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. I loved it. It was like literal graffiti etched into the interwebs. I wrote about my hatred of Ants, that one got a lot of comments. I wrote about things I did, less comments. I wrote about racism and friendship, a lot of comments. I loved writing so much that I created a profile for my cat and wrote from what I imagined was her perspective. She told about the hi jinx she got in, her observations about her people and about a pesky stray that her people decided to bring into her home. She was not pleased. She had lots of pet friends and they read her posts.

Then everyone I knew decided that they were too cool for MySpace and jumped ship. They all got Facebooks and started pressuring the hubby and I to get one too. We resisted. Facebook was lame and super boring. All the cool shit it had was already on MySpace, minus all the ass and bots. Guess where all the ass and bots are now? Any way why am I talking about a relic? Because this weeks Theme Thursday topic is BLOGGING, and my first taste of it came from MySpace.

With MySpace dead, I had no where to write and no one to write to.

Then I got pregnant. I spent a lot of time on the Internet researching things like vaginas tearing and women shitting themselves while in labor. I also spent a lot of time reading things from babycenter, including a blog. I found other bloggers by following that one. It was great because I don't know a lot of moms with young children. As a matter of fact IRL I only know one young family. They are great, but we don't spend that much time together and I really need mommy friends. I can't do the chat rooms the moms are so mean. I don't judge (ok sometimes when I deem someone to be a total asshat, I judge that person) how any one raises their kids and I expect the same courtesy. So when I found a couple of Funny/Mommy bloggers I was so excited. I started commenting and eventually when Jenn from SomethingClever2.O asked if any bloggers where up for a weekly writing challenge, I knew I was going to start writing again.

Blogging for me has not only been a chance to write (something I passionately love to do) but it has been a chance to make some amazing mommy/bloggy friends. It's not a group of stepford wives that all mommy alike, It's a community of women and men, writers and moms who think for themselves, are raising their families how they think best, in away that works for them. Who will laugh with you. Cry with you. Encourage you and maybe share a cocktail recipe with you.





This post is part of a multi blogger collaboration to join in or read others take on today's topic just click the TT button :) enjoy