Storytime at Barnes & Noble

Saturday at Barnes & Noble, the post-storytime craft was to decorate a visor. Zorah was done in about five seconds as she found a huge foam flower sticker and placed it right in the middle of the visor. She then wore it for a few minutes around the store.

I don't know where the visor went after that. We either left it at the store or in the back of the car. I hope she doesn't miss it.

Zorah's Drawings for the Day

Continuing with her pagoda theme, Zorah drew some pictures similar to the collage she made the other day. She drew the houses from memory, as opposed to copying the pagoda from her collage.

Here is a closeup. I think you can click it for a larger view.

Next she did a house with a monster from http://www.eyezmaze.com/ (one of her favorite websites) living in it. The princess is his wife.

This is Zorah's story of how they met: She was a jailer's daughter. He had gone to jail for some stupid reason, and she loved him, and they were practically stuck together, so she decided she wanted to marry him. The king thought she was nice, and he wanted her to be his daughter. And the monster is a prince. Prince Monster.

Mad Science and Swimming

This afternoon we went to our homeschool group's Mad Science presentation. They did a pretty good job of talking about static electricity and keeping it interesting for the kids. I don't know, I thought it was interesting. I'm not sure how much Zorah absorbed, but it always surprises me when she pipes up with facts she has heard from the science programs she watches and some of the books she reads. When the class was over, she relaxed in the pool for a little while.

When she found that the pool was not so relaxing when there are fifteen to twenty kids in it, she went down the waterslide a few more times. I managed to get a video of one turn. Then she dried off and played inside the house until it was time to go.

When we were in California last year, we went up into the mountains to go tubing. The guy supervising tube launchings told her that if you scream, you go faster. Apparently, this applies to waterslides as well.

Modeling Clay Morning

Zorah has been watching a lot of movies lately. Sometimes I am concerned that she does a little too much of it, but she kind of keeps it on in the foreground while she does other things. She plays with some of her toys, makes up plays, sings with any music that comes up within the movie, decorates her toys with hairties, scraps of cloth, etc.

Another thing she does while she has a video on is play with modeling clay. This stuff is so great. It beats Play-doh in some ways, especially where kids are concerned, because it never dries out. You can always make it into something new.

This morning she was watching Princes et Princesses, a movie I think I have mentioned previously. It is a series of stories animated in silhouettes, one of which is about an old lady in Japan. As Zorah was watching this one, she made a model of the lady. This is the only picture I could find of her, as she is riding the back of a man who wants to steal her coat.

Now here is a picture of Zorah's version of Oiko-san. It was hard to get a really good shot. My camera had a hard time focusing on her since she's monotone and only about an inch or two high.

After I was done taking pictures of Oiko, Zorah remade her into a collar for Floretta. It's not very clear in the photo, but she even engraved an "F" on the heart.

She was very proud of this one.

A Mixed Media Piece

Zorah missed her Imagination Station class the Saturday before last because we were at a foosball tournament. In that class, they visited China, which means that they were given pictures to color of various things from that country, and were told a bit about the culture.

When Zorah went this Saturday, she was upset to find she had missed out, and asked Miss Edna if she could have copies of the China pictures. She had planned to color them and put them in her class passport, but in the car she got a better idea. She would cut out the pagoda and the people from two of the handouts and make a project with them.

Yesterday she cut them out, and today she colored them, glued them on a piece of paper, and filled in all the background. I had no hand in this at all; I gave her the glue when she asked for it, complimented her on her choice of colors when she showed me her progress, and took a picture when it was all done to post here.

Origami Monday

Today Zorah wanted to make an origami Christmas tree. She had seen it yesterday, but didn't feel like tackling it then after folding all those bell baubles. She wanted the picture of the tree to also feature Floretta, her cat.

I find Zorah's success at origami very comforting. When you don't school a child, you inevitably let doubts creep into your head about the validity of your philosophy. You wonder if your child will be able to follow instructions, pay attention to detail, be persistent, blah blah blah. These projects soooo answered those questions. If she is interested, she will do it.

Origami Sunday

Last year around this time, in St. George, UT, one of the major bookstores was having a clearance sale. They were moving to another location in the mall, and for some reason wanted to just get rid of all their books instead of moving them the 20 yards down the way. While we were there I picked up to origami books, Bugagami and Ornagami. They've been sitting in Zorah's bookshelf virtually untouched ever since.

This afternoon, however, after the pancakes, Zorah brought the book out. She had found a few things she wanted to make. The first was a dove. She started the first few basic folds, and I ended up finishing it. Next she made what the book called a bell bauble. She loves these because, in her words, they look like gems.

The whole process of her reading the instructions, looking at the diagrams, and the actual physical folding seem to me like they would be quite challenging for a 6 year old. And it was. She needed to take breaks because she was getting frustrated. She definitely wanted near constant feedback on whether her folds were right, or how to do a certain step. I was torn between telling her outright or allowing her to judge for herself. So I asked her what she thought, then gave my opinion, and showed her the fold intended by the book when it wasn't quite right. If someone asks for help, you should probably give it to them.

After folding, she took a pink cardboard box we had found and decorated it with the dove to hold her jewels.

I don't know if you can really see it, but she also wrote "Jewels" on the front of the box. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Pancakes!

Usually we avoid most of the foods that are traditionally high sugar, low nutrition, or try to make our own healthier versions. This morning, we made kickass pancakes. When we make them, Zorah usually puts on organic preserves of some sort, but with these, she said she didn't need anything. Here they are: organic whole wheat banana molasses pancakes!

They were soooo gooooooood. This may sound weird, but I sliced up an avocado, put some on a pancake, sprinkled a little RealSalt on it, and ate it like a tostada. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Tie Dyed Dress

Zorah finally wore her tie dyed dress today. It didn't come out with the spirals she had wanted. Disappointed, she didn't want to wear it. After she put it on, she admitted that it was still quite nice and wore it to the pool. It only took her a month.

Dancing Before Gymnastics

We got rid of Zorah's Tuesday gym class. Thursdays, there is a class for little ones prior to Zorah's class, so she can't use the equipment while waiting like we used to. No more triathlons. While the little class was finishing up today, Zorah decided to dance!

She likes to end with a curtsey now, courtesy of ballet class.

Ed Emberley

When I was growing up, I loved Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Animals. It gave you easy to follow steps to draw anything from ants to dragons. Two years ago it rose up from the dark recesses in my mind, and I proceeded to get a few of the Ed Emberley books for Zorah.

Today Zorah decided to draw from the green book. Of course, she added her own touches. Here we have a family of Roks.

Pretty Vegas

We missed March in Vegas last year since we were still wrapping things up in Burbank. At our RV park, it's really quite pretty. It looks somewhat similar to our December snowfall. I wonder how to find a way to identify trees. I wouldn't know where to start...

Sunday, March 8

Sundays are usually lazy days. I guess it's an old habit from when we used to have schedules to follow. Anyway, we went to the library yesterday and borrowed a bunch of new books, one of which was a small book of poems about seasonal fairies. Zorah was quite taken with it (kids love small things, it seems) and started singing some of them out loud. I managed to tape one.

Later today, Zorah rediscovered the Anchor blocks. If you have never heard of them, these are awesome building blocks made of a specially composed material that most resemble stone. When you build with them, the weight of the blocks holds them together. An booklet detailing the creation of a few structures helps to give you a sense of the proper way to lay bricks for a sturdy structure. I love them. I wish I had a bigger set. For Zorah, of course. :-)

She wanted to build a house for the bear whose hat you can see in the picture. We built a few then knocked them down. Fun! The only problem came when we had to fit all the blocks into their box. They have to be laid out in a complex pattern, which sometimes frustrates her. Great for spatial relations and following diagrams though. I can't say enough good things about these blocks.

More on Onions

The sharper the knife, the lesser the onion juice ejected into the air. Thus, less burning. Today I was lazy about finding my Shun. I used my backup without sharpening it to chop an onion finely. I felt the burn a bit even with contacts on. That'll teach me to be lazy!

A New Expression

This morning Zorah was in the bathroom longer than usual, so I went in to see how she was doing. When I opened the door, Zorah looked up at me, so excited.

"Mom!" she said. "I pooped and peeed. You would not believe how many logs I popped off while you were gone!"

I couldn't help laughing. Have you ever heard anyone use that expression? I haven't.

Tumbletree Timbers

We cleaned out Zorah's loft playroom and turned it into a reading nook. Since she is growing so much, she doesn't really have the headroom to play up there comfortably anymore.

I put a few of the toys she had tucked into corners up there outside, one of which was the Tumbletree Timbers, another version of Lincoln Logs. Oddly enough, since it has been outside, she has been playing with it. When we first got it for her, she was four and had a lot of trouble with the whole concept.

Today, with very little aid, she created this house. I think she still has more fun knocking them down, but at least she's the one building them.

Fashion Angels?

If you've been reading this blog, you know that Saturdays we go to Barnes & Noble for storytime. Afterwards, we hang around and read books for a few hours. What I might not have mentioned is the toy section, in which is the Fashion Angels Design a Heavenly Wardrobe. Zorah has been dying to have it.

Today, incredibly, Brian bought it for her. I didn't think he would be keen on the fashion thing,, which is why I never got it for her. She was so happy! Here is a picture of her getting home to play with it at last, after months of longing. That is barbecue sauce on her cheek.

Fortunately, it turns out that this kit allows a fair amount of creativity. You can make clothes by coloring the forms they give you, gluing beads on, using the paper clothes as a template, etc. At some point I will take pictures of the clothes she makes.