A Fisher out of Water

That cute Chinese fabric? It's Chinese New Year Fabric. For Christmas stockings. :)
One time I went to the fabric store in America and met an older Chinese woman. She was wearing a SPARKLY, BRIGHT green blouse she had made from St. Patrick's Day shamrock fabric. She was pointing to her blouse and asking the store clerk if they had any more of that fabric. It was hilarious!
Now that is me. Happy Chinese New Year Christmas, everyone!
But I love it. I'll be that crazy American woman at the fabric store, and I don't really care.
One of the reasons I'm mentioning this today is that Vanessa is having a sale on her patterns. You can enter a code and get 40% off, both on her Twinkle Toes Christmas Stocking pattern, and on a bunch of other patterns.
So... if you need to make cute little elf-toed stockings for Christmas, there's still plenty of time. Head on over and pick up the pattern! And then enter the give-away for even more fabric!

Waiting in line at the Seoul Airport:

Our flight from China to America started with a flight on Korean Air. We knew it would be good when, instead of grimacing and muttering when they saw our children in tow (like certain American airlines), the stewardesses brought our kids some cute little toys, then handed me a plastic bag with a pile of napkins-- all with a smile! And you know what? We DID have a nice flight.

Is that a string/flute/piano ensemble IN THE AIRPORT? America, we need to step up our class!

 Awesomer!!
We ventured toward our gate, and when we got to our ticket transfer counter, the lady told us that, "I'm sorry. Your Delta flight is being flown by Korean Air."
Sorry? No way! We were overjoyed!!
We made our way to a play area:

Trampolining with some Indian-American kids

An awesome swinging gate guarding the entrance to their cave (complete with spider)

The play place had a giant TV hooked up to a Wii, which if our children were older, we totally would have used!
And right next door were the FREE SHOWERS. Other airports have showers. Tokyo. London. Whatever. But these were free! Towels, soap, etc.? All provided. And it was really nice! Not nasty at all. (Although, after living in China, we are easily impressed!) Kevin decided to go relax in the shower, but by the time he got there, 5 other people were waiting in line before him, so he ditched that idea. (Plus, we had only been traveling for a couple hours at this point. Not exactly a 17-hour day or anything.)
Outside in the waiting area, there were funky lounge chairs, kind of W-shaped, or N-shaped. You could lie down, stretch out, and even fall asleep on these bad boys. And since we were up in the mezzanine, the loud airport noise couldn't be heard.
We got smoothies at Smoothie King, after a friend's recommendation:

Naomi holding her treasure

 Kevin got mango, the girls each got apple, and I got blueberry, because you can't go wrong with a blueberry smoothie, right? Um... wrong. But after one of the girls spilled mine on the floor, I just tossed the rest and finished the apple smoothie(s). I would never have guessed it, but the apple ones were by far the best!

Penny climbed and played and drummed on these little stools, then she just kicked back and sang to herself for a while.

There's a whole row of restaurants across the street from our apartment. I've only been to two of them, and when I didn't want to make dinner tonight, I decided to just order take-out. One of them is called "Nine Cows," and that's where I decided we'd get our dinner.
I walked in, and the hostess asked, "How many people?"
I told her, "I'd like to order take-out."
She gave me this incredulous look. "Really? Take-out? You want to have hot-pot to-go?"
Um....... no. I guess that wouldn't work so well. (Hot-pot is where you sit at a table with a pot of soup in the middle. You throw a bunch of meat and vegetables in the soup, then everyone fishes them out to eat. It's like fondue but good for you. Not sure how you'd exactly bring that home.)
The hostess was really nice and tried to help me save face. "I guess you could order some meatballs or something...."
I smiled and edged my way out the door.
So, I visited two more of the restaurants last night.

I am excited for the election to be over. I am intensely grateful for the chance we Americans have to participate in our country's selection of leaders, both on a national and a local scale. And I hope that this gratitude makes me work harder for my country, whatever small corner of influence I might have.
When it all comes down to it, I'm not going to let the country's selection of a President, whether it be Mitt Romney or Barack Obama, determine my personal happiness. I hate to see that it makes people become so angry at each other, and that anger makes us closed-minded.
There is a quote that a couple friends posted on facebook that I've posted several times in the last few weeks. I want to remember it often, as it helps me remember that I need to soften my heart.
"John Wesley wrote in his journal Oct. 6, 1774:
I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them, 1. To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy: 2. To speak no evil of the person they voted against: And, 3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side."Not having read John Wesley's journal myself, I can't claim with 100% surety that this is directly what he wrote. I read it on the internet. But either way, I support this sentiment 100%.
Based on polls that show the two presidential front-runners neck-and-neck as they charge forward to Tuesday's election, it seems like 50% of Americans will feel like they lost this election. And I'm sure most of that 50% will use it as an excuse to whine and complain. And swear they are moving to Canada.

50% of our family will whine and complain after the election is over. But that is because they are toddlers. They whine about everything anyway. The grown-up half of our family has decided that whatever the outcome, we will support that which is good. Constructive criticism and conversations about issues can be productive. Whining and blaming are simply complaining. And that's when we send the kids to their rooms.
Oh, and however the election turns out, I'm moving to Brazil.
So there!

I was unaware of this for the longest time, but apparently (so it seems) authors didn't stop writing children's books when I became too old for them. Who knew?!
I've found a few ABSOLUTE WINNERS in some (relatively) recent publications, and I just have to share them with somebody. Or a few somebodies. Consider yourself lucky.

Room on the Broom, by Julia Donaldson
There's a children's playroom in our apartment building, and they recently remodeled, adding (among other things) a bookshelf full of books! Most of them are pretty average (bear goes to sleep and all that). But this one is great! It has a fun rhythm and rhyme that make it so fun to read aloud. The story is funny, and the kids like it almost as much as I do!
Now that I've established myself as an over-analyzer, I just want to mention that it's kind of a retelling of the Bremen Town Musicians. Okay, nerd note over.

One Ted Falls out of Bed, also by Julia Donaldson
It's a counting book, but barely noticeably so. It's a little story of a bear who falls out of bed, and all the little toys work together to put him back in. In its small, simple way, it's pretty funny. Penny likes the part where (spoiler alert) the balloons pop.
This is another one from our playroom. I think I might just like everything Julia Donaldson has written.

Fancy Nancy, by Jane O'Connor
I didn't think I'd be a fan of a big, pink book with a girl who likes to wear sparkles and accessories. But it's not about dressing up as much as it's about a family loving their little girl, loving her sparkles and frill obsession, and loving her without them as well.
There's a whole series of these books, but I've been more impressed by the first one than the sequels.

Little Babaji, by Helen Bannerman
One of our favorite stories my dad used to tell us growing up was called "Little Black Sambo." It's a story of a little boy who lived in India and had some fun dealings with tigers. And eventually pancakes. I loved hearing it best of all at Grandma and Grandpa's farm, where there was jungle tiger wallpaper in the room where we slept. But you can't have a story called "Little Black Sambo."
Helen Bannerman wrote this story in 1899, but more recently it has been republished with more polite, more India-accurate names. The rest of the story is delightful, and I'm happy to have found it!

Stellaluna, by Janell Cannon
When I was doing my student teaching, there was one day when I was just observing the other teacher. And the students were taking a test or something. So I just sat in the back and read some of her books. This was one of them. I haven't read it with Penny yet; I think she'll enjoy it more when she's a bit older. But it's really cute and really funny. The pictures are beautiful, and so realistic that it makes it even funnier when the birds try to be bats and the bats try to be birds. The story's great, and the moral of the story is great. You can't go wrong with that!

I wish these had been published when I was a child! What new books have you found and loved?

Children's books stay with you in a way that no other literature does. At least, for me that has been the case. I loved (loved, LOVED) reading as a child, and now that I'm a mom, I'm finding the same joy in reading some of my childhood favorites to my own kids.
So, in no particular order (well, in the order I thought of them), here are some of my favorite childhood books now making their appearance in a second generation of book lovers:

Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman
I remember my parents reading this to me, and I remember reading it to myself when I got older. I read it to my little brother and to a little girl I babysat, and now I am happy to read it a million times to my own kids.
I love how there's something fun or funny in every picture. I used to like tracing the maze that the dogs go through. I thought it was funny that the dogs' cars had crashed. And I could pore over the final dog party for ages (well, childhood ages). We always loved the pages where the dogs would say, "Do you like my hat?" and, "No, I do not. Goodbye!" But my mom would usually skip those. Now that I'm old enough to over-analyze things, I guess it is kind of sexist that the girl dog should want the boy dog to like her because of her hat. But we read it anyway. And speaking of over-analyzing things, it stands out to me as VERY American that each of the dogs drives his OWN car to the big dog party at the end. If it were a Chinese book, they would have taken the bus. (And all the dogs would be Shih-tzus.)

Flap Your Wings! also by P.D. Eastman
I just think this is a really funny story about an alligator who hatches in a bird's nest. If I ever have to teach an English class about the parts of a story (beginning, rising action, climax, etc.) I would be smart to use this book. But that's the nerd side of me talking again. She should can it for a second.
I memorized this book well enough that on our last vacation, I could just tell Penny the story practically word for word while we drove in the car.


Goodnight, Moon
Who doesn't love Goodnight Moon? For several months after giving away our cats, I couldn't read the page about the "two little kittens and a pair of mittens" without crying.

Dr. Seuss's ABC
The most overdone children's books are counting books and ABC books. But there must be so many because of the catchy, cute, successful ones like these. I remember reading this when I was little, and I could never quite remember how to read "ceiling." My favorite pages now are X, Z, and probably S.


I am a Bunny, by Ole Risom
For the longest time I had been looking for this book. But all I could remember was that it was tall, had a bunny under a toadstool on the cover, and had a page about butterflies. When my mom would read this to me, I'd always have to stop on the butterfly page and choose which one was the most beautiful that day. All the pictures are just exquisite and sweet. I don't know if Penny loves it as much as I did, but I certainly love reading it to her!

How about you? Which children's books did you LOVE as a child and now LOVE reading to your own kids?

I talked to Penny's preschool principal the next day after Penny talked to me about the hitting. I told the principal what Penny had told me and asked her what the teachers usually do to discipline the children when they misbehave. She is a very kind woman, and she sounded legitimately concerned. She assured me that in the 10 years she had worked there, they had never had a teacher hit a child, and it was something they definitely didn't allow. She would talk to Penny's three teachers and see what the situation was.
Now I've worked with kids and I know that even when they tell you the truth, it might not be the whole situation. I remember kids telling the counselors things at the day camp where I worked, and sometimes we would have to tell them, "Maybe that's not something your mom or dad wants you to tell everyone at camp." The one I remember the most clearly was when one little girl explained to us that her "mom has a boyfriend, but only at night." Of course we thought it was hilarious, and it could have been possible that her mom was the town harlot. But it also could be just a misinterpretation. I really have no idea. But kids sometimes have their own perspective.
One time we had a counselor hit a kid. Right after it happened, the counselor came and told me about it. His eyes were wide, and he was obviously horrified by what he'd done. And if we left it at that and let the kid go home and tell his parents that part of the story, it does sound like we were the worst ever. But then he told me that this little boy had come up and-- without warning-- punched him in the stomach. So his reaction was to swat/shove the boy away. We talked to the kid about how his human jungle gym of a counselor wasn't invincible, and he had to be more gentle with him. We also talked to the parents about it when they came to pick him up.
And that's how we handled it in America.
I took Penny to school yesterday, and Penny's teachers talked to me. I understood most of what they said, and then I filled in the blanks with what I thought they meant. So the story I got was that there is a little boy in Penny's class who likes to touch Penny's cheeks. When the teacher reached over to get this boy's hands off Penny's face, she accidentally whacked Penny in the face.
How do I feel about this? Well, I give it a 50% chance of being true. If this is really what happened, then that's fine. If the teacher really did slap Penny, then this is also what I would expect them to tell me. So I still don't know.
But I do know that they don't allow hitting the kids, and it's not something they regularly do for discipline. I asked what they do in a normal situation, and a teacher told me that they stop the child and then talk slowly with them. Or if they need to, they'll take the child to the side of the room and talk to them there. But they never hit the children. And the teacher reassured me that they all really like Penny. They would never hit her.
And I believe them. I don't know what really happened that day, but I feel confident that they have addressed my concerns. Whatever happened that day, they'll be more careful in the future. And I think they'll be more likely to talk with me when I pick Penny up if there has been any sort of incident, large or small.
For now, that's probably the best I can do.