What Are They Teaching Kids These Days?

So today the kids were watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, which by the way, is a wonderful show which they love--much better than most of what we receive on "SpaceToon". Anyway, in this episode they were finding objects that were the colors of the rainbow--Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple. So apparently the official pronouncement that indigo is really the same as blue has found its way into the mass media.
But, I wonder, how will kids remember these colors and their order without Roy G. Biv?
And since Pluto is no longer considered a planet, I want to know what my very earnest mother just sat upon? Nine what? I want to know!
Scientific inquiry is great, but you really can't beat clever mnemonic devices.

--Abu Tulip

Legos (reliving my childhood aspirations to be an engineer)

Um Tulip writes:

Baby Bulb is 11 days old. He is a strong, healthy little boy who loves to nurse. Between feedings, diaper changes, and napping there is little time for other things. I'm extremely grateful to so many who have brought meals over. I love lasagna! I've been reading other blogs but haven't had energy to write anything myself. At least my brain is not thinking creatively as of yet. This weekend Oliver and Teddy Bear had plenty of energy and with the rain pouring down outside (thank you, Lord) they needed something to do.

So, between feedings, etc., we made the coolest Lego house ever. Last summer my in-laws brought my childhood Legos with them in their suitcases and I've been working hard to share my passion for Legos with my boys. First we sorted the Legos by color, which Oliver loved. We had all sorts of cooking bowls out for the project. He even wanted to sort light grey and dark grey.

We made a four story house with removable levels. Each floor sort of slides out so you can see the floor below. The backside of the house is also open so you can move the little Lego men around. After all was finished, Oliver noticed there were no stairs. That simply wouldn't do. As each floor is made of a base piece, I wasn't able to design a staircase. So we built an elevator shaft on the back. I used some thread to create a semi-functioning elevator. It needs a few tugs, but it works!







Abu Tulip has been busy at work and being an incredible support around the house. Teddy Bear insists on being carried and occasionally fed (jealousy? hmmm). As I'm not supposed to carry around an almost 3 year old yet, this job falls on Abu Tulip. He has also changed more than his fair share of diapers. Hopefully he'll have a chance to post something soon.

and your cake, too...

This morning I tried out my theory of letting the kids pick what we'll have for dinner. I've found that often they eat better if they get to choose part of the meal. Usually this involves which type of noodles go in the pasta dish, or something simple like that. The dinner turned out great, but it took some coaxing to get Teddy Bear to eat.

When I asked him what he wanted for dinner, he requested lasagna. Since I just made lasagna and even splurged on the ricotta cheese from Cosmo, and lasagna is a lot of work, I suggested we make a new kind of lasagna. By the way, my kids have decided they love lasagna ever since they watched the Garfield movie. They even let me put onions in it! We decided on green and white lasagna. Friday mornings are our usual time to go grocery shopping, so that made it easier.

After getting back from the grocery store, I cooked some chicken and some broccoli for the layers, and made a simple bechamel sauce. I shredded some mozzarella, and layered the green (spinach flavored) noodles with the fillings. I used some Arabic chicken seasoning for the chicken and also a little allspice and nutmeg for the sauce. For someone who used to only cook from a recipe, I was quite proud of my creation.

When dinner was served, Oliver loved it. So did hubby, so I was proud. Oliver at one point asked, 'is 7+3=10?' as he had just eaten 10 pieces of broccoli, no less. I can already tell he's going to be a math kid. However, Teddy Bear refused to eat. We begged and pleaded. We offered cake for dessert. At one point, he pushed his food away and laid his head on the table in exasperation.

At this Oliver asked him, 'Teddy Bear, are you praying?'. 'No'. 'Are you praying to God that mommy and daddy will forget they said you had to eat your lasagna before you get a piece of cake?' We refused to give in, and his food went into the refrigerator.

Well, nearly three hours later, after taking some time to color and play, I can smile with satisfaction and say he did eat his lasagna, and got to eat his cake.

~ Um Tulip

Flannel Graphs

Our pastor's wife and I have finally gotten around to organizing Sunday School lessons for our kids. Yes, I know it's strange we're starting this project two weeks before my due date, but it just seemed to be the right time. We were given a great curriculum by a friend and I'm enjoying learning how to use it. The lessons are based on a children's adaptation of the Westminster confession.

For those not familiar with a catechism format, basically there are questions and answers for each lesson that the children learn. The first question is, "Who created you?" The answer, "God". The memory verse for the week was "God created man in His image." Or, in transliteration, "khalaq allah il'insaan 3ala suuritu." I was so proud of Oliver who shared the verse with the congregation, from memory, in Arabic! He is a typical fickle five-year-old. Sometimes he participates, other times he gets shy and won't get involved in an activity. As he's often shy to speak Arabic in front of adults, this was an especially proud mama and baba moment.


The fun thing about the lessons is they use a flannel graph. We were able to find flannel down in the balad, at 2.5 JD a meter. The kids and I had fun cutting and gluing and above are samples of our project. Many of you remember using flannel graphs in Sunday School as children. Basically when you place two pieces of flannel together (one side is a bit coarser than the other) they stick, sort of like velcro, but not as strong. By gluing flannel to each cut-out and hanging a large piece of flannel over the whiteboard, I can put images up on the board for the kids and they can also manipulate them as desired.

Sort of a retro version of the power point presentation, I guess, but more hands-on. It is fun, the kids are amazed by the flannel, and easy. The curriculum provides all sorts of ideas for various ages. Considering the ages of our kids, the lesson is short and we then have a lot of fun coloring and singing.

~ Um Tulip

Baby Traditions

Um Tulip writes:
A few days ago we went to visit good friends who just had a beautiful baby boy. A tradition here is to make a yummy dessert called 'Karawyeh'. I took several pictures. I loved this stuff and actually went out and bought the ingredients so I can make it at home, even before our baby comes.



Ingredients:
1 cup ground rice (the spice area at Carrefour had 'ruz mathuun' and karawyeh spice available)
1 cup sugar
8 cups water
3 spoons of karawyeh spice
1 spoon cinnamon
1 spoon ground anis or 'yansuun'

Place in big pot, and bring to a boil. Let it simmer a few minutes, and it will thicken. Pour into small bowls for serving. Decorate with lots of yummy 'mkassaraat' or nuts. She used shredded coconut with almonds, pinenuts, walnuts, and pistachios. I think you could also add some raisins and it would be yummy. The texture reminded me of applesauce, and it was nice warm for a cool night. You can serve it warm or cold. BTW, karawyeh is the Arabic word for caraway, but I think the spice is actually caraway mixed with a few other things.
Sahtayn!

Naming our boys

Um Tulip writes:

I'm not going to comment on the election at this point, except to say that I'm glad it's over and decided. That and I hope that the Republican Party does some serious rethinking about their policies and practices.

My 'worry' for now is coming up with blog names for our boys. Yeah, I'm glad to post about something not so serious. Baby boy #3 is going to be called "Baby bulb" until he comes this February. However, I still need some blog names for our two boys who are currently out at the park with my wonderful husband. Why not just use their real names? Well, we decided to keep the blog somewhat anonymous so we can write about anything, and for our privacy. So you won't see too many pictures here, but hopefully I'll have some funny stories to share.

So here are a few options for our older son:

Tender Tulip: He's a five year old in kindergarten, and often sensitive to others' feelings and his own. His biggest concern at school is that he doesn't speak Arabic well enough. While he's happy to translate for his other English speaking friends at school, he's quite shy. "Mommy, when I speak Arabic I don't sound the same as the Arab kids."
Sensible One: As a typical firstborn, he's often the voice a reason for his little brother's plans. "No, we can't put legos up our nose. That's silly."
Mr. Monk: Just like Adrian, he likes life to be orderly and clean. He rarely spills or gets dirty. This is a blessing when it comes to laundry, but just try and find a perfect banana for him to eat. "Mommy, I found a spot!"
Perfectionist boy: His teacher gave him some handwriting papers to practice. He kept erasing the letters until they were just right. I know, he gets it from me. What can I do?
Charlie: The name my mom gave to him while we were waiting for him to be born.
Oliver: The name of his stuffed elephant that accompanies him to bed.

Our younger son is two and a half and it the midst of potty training. Some ideas:

Ticklish Boy: One of his favorite things is to tickle and be tickled, often while wrestling with daddy on our bed, and in the process spilling sand from his pockets onto our sheets.
Blankie boy or Teddy Bear: His favorite blankie has pictures of teddy bears on it. Whenever he sleeps or gets an owie or is a bit cranky, blankie is a must.
Goofy: Unlike his big brother, he loves the absurd. Wearing underpants on his head? Why not? Spaghetti noodles with pancake syrup - no wait, that was Elf.
Curious George: Pampers here come with animals on them. Lately he searches through the entire package looking for a 'monkey diaper'. As a typical two-year-old, he is curious about anything and everything.
Talkative Tulip: While he was a little late talking, he has made up for it quickly these past few months. Many of his sentences are actually a mixture of the two languages together. His favorite phrase right now is "ana laabis blue today" which means, "I'm wearing blue today." He learns all kinds of phrases from his friends at nursery and usually I can understand him. Other new words for him these past couple weeks include "actually, it's true, & I already did!"
Mr. Popularity: He goes to a nursery in the mornings and is the most popular kid there, it seems. As I was never one of those popular kids in school, I find this hilarious. When I drop him off and pick him up, all the other kids shout his name. Moms find me and tell me how much their child talks about him. We've decided there are three reasons for this. One, he's been at the nursery longer than many of the other kids and is very comfortable there. His big brother went there before him so the transition to nursery was a breeze. Two, he's very comfortable using English or Arabic and doesn't hesitate to talk to other kids. Three, his name is very easy to pronounce in both languages so I think kids just like to say his name.

Comments? Ideas? Stay tuned.