Mommyo: “I like the green or the brown.”

The Six-Year-Old, decidedly: “I’ll color it yellow.”

The tapestry in question. (Art: The Six-Year-Old, Photo: Shala Howell)

Related Links:

• Not-So-Very-Wordless-Wednesday: The Six-Year-Old Gets a Planner (Caterpickles)
• Wordless Wednesday: The Six-Year-Old Issues an All-Points Alert (Caterpickles)

Mommyo (whose migraines keep her from drinking red wine), practically: “If it were left up to me, I’d get one red and one white. Or really, two whites and a red. Or maybe, for display purposes, a red, a white, and a rosé.”

Daddyo, respectfully: “There may be a fancy rosé, but in general I think rosés are thought of more as belonging in an igloo cooler than a wine rack.”

Our wine rack. As you can see, some restocking is required. (Photo: Shala Howell)

Related articles

• Ask A Sommelier: What Are Your Favorite Rosé Wines? (drinks.seriouseats.com)
• Wine Review: Rosés for late spring (telegraph.co.uk)
• Daddyo’s Winter Survival Tip: “Don’t taunt the hand plague.” (Caterpickles)

The Six-Year-Old, on finding Tigery already stationed at her desk: “What are we going to do today, Tigery?”

Tigery, in a voice that sounds suspiciously like Daddyo’s: “The same thing we do every day, The Six-Year-Old: Try to take over the world!”

(Photo: Shala Howell)

What’s Endangered Species Day?

Endangered Species Day, observed on the third Friday in May, is an opportunity for all Americans to learn more about country’s endangered species and about simple everyday actions we can take to protect them. Thousands of Americans celebrate the day by visiting their local zoos, wildlife refuges, parks, aquariums, botanical gardens, or by attending one of the many festivals set up to mark the day (and educate the public). Learn more about Endangered Species Day at StopExtinction.org.

Related Links:

• Grizzly Bears May Be Removed From Federal Endangered Species Act Protection (ecobooks4kids.wordpress.com)
• Thoughtful Thursdays: Endangered Species Spotlight on Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles (nationalaquarium.wordpress.com)
• Endangered Species Week: The Bog Turtle (nationalaquarium.wordpress.com)
• Tigery’s Tale, as told by The Five-Year-Old (Caterpickles)
• The Five-Year-Old Takes a Stand: “No killing tigers. Period.” (Caterpickles)
• If it’s Monday… (Caterpickles)

We interrupt our regularly scheduled Wordless Wednesday with this important news update. The Six-Year-Old has earned her first yellow stripe in karate. Congratulations, The Six-Year-Old!

While we were there, The Six-Year-Old wanted to try on “one of those fancy Harvard hats.” She looked so cute in it, naturally I asked her to pose for a picture.

So she did.

The Six-Year-Old wearing a very fancy Harvard hat. (Photo: Shala Howell)

Thanks to Caterpickles, I may never be able to get a picture with my daughter’s face in it again. My Fifty-Year-Old self is probably going to be pretty mad about that.

Related Links

• Wordless Wednesday: Almost #10 (Spring Awakening with Geraniums) (lensandpensbysally.wordpress.com)
• (Almost) Wordless Wednesday….settings in The Storytellers (laurasmagicday.wordpress.com)
• Wordless Wednesday: Our Magical Red Bush (caterpickles.com)
• Wordless Wednesday: The Six-Year-Old Goes to Chicago (caterpickles.com)

What’s Wordless Wednesday?

Recently I discovered Wordless Wednesdays through the blog, 5 Minutes for Mom. Basically, on Wednesdays all around the Internet, bloggers post their favorite photos, ideally without any words to accompany them, but often with 1-2 sentences of context. I’m not a photo-blogger. I’m more of a word girl, so I thought Wordless Wednesday would be fun.

Superman from the title sequence of the 1942 cartoon, “Superman: The Arctic Giant.” (Public Domain)

Every Sunday afternoon (at least, every Sunday that we can manage it), our family clusters on the couch with a bowl of fresh-popped popcorn and proceeds to haggle over our Sunday Afternoon Movie.

Sometimes we pick a classic movie, like Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz, or Charlie Chaplin’s The Tramp. Sometimes we pick more contemporary fare like Kung Fu Panda or Hop.
Often we don’t watch a movie at all, and settle in for a new-to-us documentary (The Six-Year-Old is particularly fond of Kara Cooney’s Out of Egypt series), or an episode of Jeremy Wade’s River Monsters (thanks for the tip, Grandpa).

A few weeks ago, though, we were in the mood for old-timey cartoons, so Daddyo put together a marathon of the original Superman cartoons from the 1940s. Watching old Superman cartoons is inherently fun, not only because of the way Superman’s skills have evolved over the years (Superman doesn’t fly in these old cartoons — he sproings to where he’s going like some sort of caped flea), but also because The Six-Year-Old comments freely on what she’s seeing.

Episode Three: The Arctic Giant was particularly entertaining. In it, a group of scientists have discovered a frozen T. Rex somewhere in Siberia. Naturally, they haul it back to the United States and exhibit it to the public.

Frozen T. Rex on exhibit. (Public Domain)

The delightfully steam-punk refrigeration machine keeping the T. Rex in a deep freeze breaks during the exhibition and the T. Rex melts in a matter of minutes.

The melting T. Rex from 1942′s “Superman: The Arctic Giant.” (Public Domain)

The Six-Year-Old: “Note to self. This isn’t good.”

The T. Rex slams its spiny tail into a building. Chaos erupts on the streets. A man shouts, “It’s alive!” Cars crash, a woman screams.  Music swells dramatically.

The T. Rex demolishes a building in 1942′s “Superman: The Arctic Giant.” (Public Domain)

The Six-Year-Old, disgustedly: “T. Rex didn’t have spines. Sheesh.”

The T. Rex flares his claws and snarls threateningly as he’s barraged by a stream of useless bullets.

The T. Rex from 1942′s “Superman: The Arctic Giant.” (Public Domain)

The Six-Year-Old, distractedly: “Huh? He didn’t have five fingers.”

The T. Rex wades into a river, destroying a dam, overturning a boat full of passengers, and tearing apart a bridge like a toddler smashing through a building block village. Superman scrambles to keep up.

T. Rex wades to the dam in “Superman: The Arctic Giant” (Public Domain)

The Six-Year-Old: “Hey! That’s the old-timey way to have him stand.”

Mommyo, soothingly: “Well, at least they got the three toes right.”

The Six-Year-Old, disgustedly: “The tongue’s all wrong though.”

The T. Rex tries to eat Lois. I confess, I’m kind of sorry it didn’t work. Lois is a bit of a twit in the original series. (Public Domain)

Related Links:

• Watch the Arctic Giant for yourself (Internet Archives)
• “Why did they think the T. Rex stood with its tail on the ground?” (Caterpickles)
• “I thought T. Rexes only had three toes. What’s that back thing for?” (Caterpickles)
• Tumblr of the Week: T-Rex Trying (univisionnews.tumblr.com)

Looks like Daddyo’s chess domination days may be numbered.

In case you’re curious, the book The Six-Year-Old is reading is Chess for Children by Murray Chandler.

Related Links:

• Chess for Children (Caterpickles)

(Photo: Michael Howell)

One of my favorite parts of spring is that moment when I walk outside and catch the mysterious red bush in front of our house in bloom for the first time. You’d think I’d remember it was going to happen, but this bush sports only red or purplish leaves for ~360 days a year, so its fresh white flowers in May always feel like a joyful surprise.

Related Posts:

• Wordless Wednesdays on Caterpickles
  

What’s Wordless Wednesday?

Recently I discovered Wordless Wednesdays through the blog, 5 Minutes for Mom. Basically, on Wednesdays all around the Internet, bloggers post their favorite photos, ideally without any words to accompany them, but often with 1-2 sentences of context. I’m not a photo-blogger. I’m more of a word girl, so I thought Wordless Wednesday would be fun.

(Photo: Michael Howell)

One of the signs of spring in Boston is the arrival of the street performers at Faneuil Hall. Among the first to greet us was this lovely living statue. A sign at her feet said “Drop a dollar in the column and receive a fortune.”

Ever obedient, especially when it comes to giving out Daddyo’s money, The Six-Year-Old happily obliged. In return, the bronze statue came to life and handed her a scroll which read “Many happy things are coming your way.”

I can only assume the Bronzed Woman was talking about the Balloon Man at Quincy Market, who made The Six-Year-Old this Very Gigantic Balloon Hat, and two little cats to go with it.

The Six-Year-Old conquers Quincy Market (Photo: Michael Howell)

One of the most magical things about this impressive feat of balloon sculpting is the fact that its shadow glows in colors.

(Photo: Michael Howell)

Balloon sculpture on head, The Six-Year-Old wandered up to this sparkling silver statue.

(Photo: Michael Howell)

An old hand in the art of bringing statues to life, she immediately held out her hand to Daddyo for the requisite Magic Dollar. In return, she received a golden butterscotch.

(Photo: Michael Howell)

(Photo: Michael Howell)

It can’t be fun to wear all that make-up for all those hours, but these women are truly spectacular. Even if they did warp my daughter’s sight for a little while.

(Photo: Michael Howell)

The Six-Year-Old: “Daddyo, how much will it cost to bring that statue to life?”

More photo galleries of Boston:

• In which we visit the Boston Public Garden (Caterpickles)
• The Franklin Park Zoo in Winter: Or “What happens when you go up to a lion and say baa?” (Caterpickles)
• What to do on your 43rd trip to the Boston Museum of Science (Caterpickles)

Boston on Dwellable

Our carpet of green roses. Thanks, adoring maple tree! (Photo: Shala Howell)

On returning home yesterday to find a carpet of little green seedlings on our driveway, The Six-Year-Old declared: “Green roses! Aaah, some adoring fan is throwing us green roses!”

Related Links:

• More Funny Stuff My Daughter Says (Caterpickles)