Just the word makes me happy.  I hear it snuggle onto the computer screen even as the keys clack it out.  So wonderful.  So elusive.  Sigh.

I heard this story on NPR a while back and found the advice helpful --  how to get a good night's sleep. 

The irony is

not lost, screaming at my kids

to stop their shouting

Emily Green and Emma Bridgewater have taken over my cupboard or cabinets, maybe both.  Separated by a continent and one rather large pond (depending on how you make the trip), these two designers offer functional, durable bowls, plates and cups with original and playful designs. 

My son's love for trucks may be insatiable, but these bowls hold just enough to fill his tummy.

From Los Angeles based Emily Green:

And London's Emma Bridgewater:

Bedtime starts off as a simple affair of feeding, some degree of cuddling or rocking, and maybe a lullabye or two.  I sing like a frog on a hot tin roof, but nobody seemed to mind.  Then baby gives way to toddler and the books and stories begin.  And the negotiations begin.  Generally around the time a child learns to count.  One book, two stories.  No, four books, five stories.  No, one more.  My son, age 2, has learned this much from his sister.  It is the negotiational equivalent of the trump card - the no-can-defend crane kick of parental argument - look up, look cute, say "one more please."  Rinse and repeat.  Books and lullabyes are easy of course, but coming up with two or three different stories a night is hard.  Actually, it's not really hard at all.  It was the first two thousand times, but now, it's not so bad.  All it needed was for me to give up control and just start talking.  Sure, I get shut down a lot ("no, not a porcupine" or "maybe not this story papa") but I'm learning to take it in stride.  I'm not the next Grimm brother and the fairy doesn't need to embark on a Joseph Campbell inspired vision quest (maybe she just wants a lollipop).  I'm only trying to put my kid to sleep after all.  Telling story after story after story to a discriminating little customer with no praise other than a demand for another, different story is actually pretty liberating and, creatively, it's great training.  I wonder, with all the millions spent on books like The Artist's Way and creative writing and poetry seminars, maybe the answer is right there in our childrens' bedrooms.            

I don't remember my pre-school age being quite so well organized.  Listening to the car radio on the way to hang out somewhere or another while my parents did some thing or another was really all the music class I got before school proper.  And I had to crawl there uphill both ways.  In the snow, obviously.  Jump ahead to my burgeoning parenthood and I was pleased to find all of these classes, springing up in almost Starbucksian fashion.  I think they started with Gymboree - which itself began in the late 1970s, created by a San Francisco mother who couldn't find a safe place for new parents and kids to execise together.  If you have been to one of these music classes you will be prepared for any of their now numerous incarnations.  There will be a young woman who can sing (hopefully) and a CD boombox (definitely) and some enclosed area to sit with your kids in a circle and pantomine classic tunes like Itsy Bitsy Spider and the Grand Old Duke of York and maybe even Trot Old Joe before the toy drums come out.  The classes are great for what they are, but ultimately become just another thing to do - half hour plus on either end along with the 45 minute class and its almost a full Saturday of pre-nap activity.  Recently, however, we discovered a great new type of class.  It roughly follows the same format, but with a group of two to three teachers who can actually play musical intruments - real musical instruments.  In the class we go to, recently renamed Toddle Tunes, there are different musical themes for each week and the teachers run through the songs and dances cycling through various instruments as they play together before letting the kids have a go on a few of the instruments - helping them play along.  The kids love it.  It's such a difference to experience the music springing to life, the obligatory Itsy Bitsy Spider in a three part piano, clarinet, drum set.  Great fun and I've seen my daughter and son really begin to understand how music works.  And its not just pushing play. 

If you're looking for art projects to while away a rainy day, you can't get more mess-less than origami.  No glitter, no glue, no paint, no markers, no nothing.  Just a square of paper folded into the shape of some critter or another.  You probably already have some preconceived ideas (or maybe just notions) about origami.  I did.  To me, origami meant fancy and complicated.  Turns out, it's not (or it doesn't have to be).  Even the name origami is pretty down to earth - its made up of the Japanese word ori meaning "folding", and the word kami meaning "paper."  If you are interested in the history of it all, you can find it here (and if you are really intrepid, you can look into the complex world of math and paper folding). 

Learning to fold an animal or plane is a great activity to do with the kids.  I like to try to make up stories to go along with the thing we are folding (I say try because my daughter has a habit of hijacking my stories - no, he wasn't a big turtle, he was small and he had pink hair . . .).  The Origami Club website has a really user-freindly interface with wonderful designs and how-to advice.  Be sure to check out the Basic Techniques link before tackling the designs.  It turns out that origami only uses a couple of different types of fold, so once you learn those, you're in good shape to try most anything.  Happy folding!

Oh my good heaven.  If I have to listen to the “Happy Feet” soundtrack again, I’m not responsible for what happens to the next penguin I see, stuffed or otherwise.  The soundtrack has great music but come on, enough is enough.  Not that this phenomenon is limited to kids.  Once in a while you’ll hear about some violence or another precipitated by endless repetition of a song – I remember years ago (when was The Bodyguard released?) some guy got shot by a neighbor in England after blasting Whitney Houston’s “I will Always Be There” over and over for like a week.  And, for myself, I think I remember the Safety Dance being played an unreasonable number of times back in the days of cargo pants and big honking walkmans.  Finding children's music that you can stomach over and over if it happens to hit the right psychic/emotional chord with the kids can be difficult.  One CD we got is called Duck in New York City.  It’s been a favorite for a while now, and I can still bear listening to it.  I even catch myself humming some of its tunes at work.  From the title track Broadway tale of a duck who moved to NYC from the sticks (that references Ibsen no less) to the sway of the Alligator Waltz to the moving finale of I Want to Be a Cloud, it’s a celebration of musical styles and whimsical subjects that makes for a great album start to finish.  Give it a try.  There is another album by the same artist, Connie Kaldor, called Poodle in Paris, but you’re on your own with that one.  Maybe I’ll try it next.

This April, Taiwan will host its third bi-annual International Children's TV & Film Festival Competition.  With more than 365 entries from around 41 countries, this year’s festival will showcase some of the best and brightest in children’s programming from around the world.  It also has about the coolest logo I’ve ever seen for a festival.

The five-day event, organized by Taiwan’s Public Television Service Foundation features screenings, side events and exhibits and a hands-on “Kids as Directors” workshops for teachers and students to learn filmmaking.  The 2004 and 2006 award winners can also be found on the website.  Check out the 2006 animation winner Vent (Netherlands) I found here (a strange tale of a man struggling against the winds and a little girl he meets) and Pen' Pals, a nominated animation from Canada here (a story of a pencil competing with a technologically superior graphic pen for the affections of a red stylo).  

The nominated films for 2008 are:  

Dramatic Feature

Red Like the Sky | Italy

The Secret In The Wind | Taiwan

I Am | Poland

Mid Raod Gang | Thailand

Paul's Grandpa | Germany

Animation

Lavatory-Lovestory | Russia

Bean Sprout | Taiwan

About A Bold-headed Princess | Russia

In Memorian | France

Jackanory - The Magician of Samarkand | UK

Documentary

The White Planet | France

I Am in a Hand Puppet Troupe | Taiwan

Going on 13 | USA

Please Vote for Me | China

Arctic Tale | USA

TV Program

Mystery Hunters－Stonehenge | Canada

Kids on Q | Philippines

Journey Through the Palace Museum－Beauty Contest | Taiwan

Have Fun with Art－Colorful ! Matisse ! | Taiwan

Leonart－The Fire | Spain

“Have you read The Road?” I think I've been asked that question at least a dozen times in the last year. And now I've asked you - the circle continues. If you don't know, the Road is the Pulitzer Prize winning novel from Cormac McCarthy that is being adapted into a movie for release in 2009.

Well, after clearing the decks of New Yorkers and Entertainment Weeklies (you have to have balance), I finally read The Road.

I recommend it highly, with some important caveats. It is an extremely well-written novel with sparse prose and dialog that would make Carver proud. However, this post-apocalyptic story or a father and son slouching toward the coast is both a heartening love-story that any parent will be moved by and a gutting and often sad story and statement on our society. It's a great book. But, if you're anything like me, parenthood probably put a couple of chinks in the old emotional armor.  So, if you tend to get suckered by even obvious emotional ploys in, for instance, tire commercials, retirement fund ads, that sort of thing, then you might want to stear clear in spite of the great storytelling. It's a bit of a tough read in that respect. But I'm glad I read it.

Even when the winter weather keeps us from getting outside I’m not a huge fan of large die cast plastic toys. I can’t help feeling they aren’t good for the environment and they take up a tremendous amount of space. I also imagine becoming just another household with a miniature pink and white kitchen cultivating a green film of muck out in the rain for two years after the kids stop playing with it—classy.  Like a garden gnome shotgun shack.

However, big doesn’t have to mean bad when you can blow it up and deflate it later. The Jump-o-lene is great and for about $50 well worth the price.  It has been a fun playpen, beginning jump house and now a launching pad (literally) for my daughter’s early affinity for gymnastics.  And if it isn't clear from all that, it's pretty durable too.

The Jump-o-lene is constructed of 2 17-gauge vinyl cushions for bounce. Attached 3-ring, 3-chamber retainer wall keeps kids and balls safely inside. Jump-o-lene inflates with a regular beach toy inflating pump or an air pump (invest in one). It stores compactly when deflated. If used as a ball pool, it holds up to 1,500 balls (sold separately). Two-child, 120-pound capacity. Size: 82" diameter.