Fostering curiosity in kids (and their parents) since 2011

Posts by Shala Howell

Book Review: Cat and Crow

Cat and Crow tells the story of the surprising bond between Moses and Cassie, from the perspective of Wally and Ann Collito, the couple who eventually gave Cassie a permanent home in North Attleboro, Massachusetts.

Goodbye, Steve Jobs

No doubt personal stories of how Steve Jobs has affected everyday lives through computing will abound on the Web over the next few days. But as Caterpickles is written on a MacBook Air using research often acquired in the field on an iPhone to the sound of music purchased through iTunes while my daughter entertains herself on an iPad, it is only fitting to pause for a moment and say goodbye to the man who is both a stranger to us, and yet somehow understood us well enough to create products that would become so intertwined into our lives.

photo of cut open watermelons, showing their red insides and the occasional black seed

“Why is a watermelon red inside?”

My daughter is a watermelon fiend. Given the option, she would eat nothing but watermelon at every meal. In the midst of a recent watermelon binge, my daughter paused long enough to spit out a question along with a black seed. “Why are watermelons red inside, Mommyo?”

“Could sauropods swim?”

Last week, while watching the 1925 movie The Lost World, a lively debate broke out at Caterpickles Central about whether or not sauropods could swim. I will spare you the less informed arguments generated in our playroom in favor of cutting directly to the moderately informed arguments generated on the Web.

Don’t you fret

Preschooler on using metal cookie cutters to stamp shapes out of (cooled) homemade soaps: “I’ll stamp it myself, Mommyo. I’ll be careful. Don’t you fret.”