Kiddie Crafts - Shapes and Other Odds and Ends

Time for more of the crafts Zaxxon and I have done!  These took place in September and October.

Hubby had a big birthday in September, so I had Zaxxon help me prepare.  Making wrapping paper by stamping shapes in paint.

Lacing a "Happy Birthday Dada" banner

We then took a pretty long break, and got back into the swing of things with a project "D is for drum."

Zaxxon is really good with colors, counting, and many letters, but I discovered that he was a bit shaky on shapes.  Therefore, we did a few shape projects.  First, sorting shapes

Creating a scene out of shapes

Cutting shapes out (also good scissors practice--he's getting really good at doing it by himself)

Tracing shapes.  I've only just begun seeing whether he can imitate things like this.

Making play dough with a friend.  We did both black and orange for Halloween, which turned out to be not so great of an idea.  The black pigment was so strong, it quickly overwhelmed the orange while the children were playing with them.  Oh well, I know better for next time.

Another longish break, and then Zaxxon's third birthday was approaching!  I tried to help him understand the seasons and the year by making this season wheel.

This was an impromptu project.  We checked this book out from the library, The Line Up Book by Marisabina Russo, in which a little boy named Sam makes a line of toys from his room to the kitchen.

We read it several times, and then decided to make our own line.

I might possibly catch up with our crafts after another post or two.  That would feel good!




I'm linking up at Tot School.  Check them out for craft and schooling ideas for young children!

Funny... I Write Better When I'm Rested

Kal'El has been sick for the last week.  Well, technically both boys have runny noses and a cough, but Zaxxon has taken it in stride.  For Kal'El, though, it's his first major illness and he has been UP. ALL. NIGHT.

Okay, so I exaggerate.  But the first few nights, it took me 90 minutes to settle him AFTER the 30-40 required to feed him.  This is from a kid who's been sleeping through the night for more than a month now.  We got a little relief after putting the humidifier in his room and putting him to sleep in the chair from his swing, to keep his head elevated.  However, he was still waking up in the night.  One night in particular, he started fussing before I even went to bed, so I was really lacking sleep that time.

Through all this, I've continued to write.  However, if I don't get some good time with both boys napping at the same time, writing tends to be the last thing I do before bed.  And when I'm already running on empty, that means doing it while exhausted.

There have been a few nights when I've kind of cheated--just entering a few pages of mindless revisions before seeking my bed.  It's not really doing much writing, but at least it's something.  I diverted my attention to a new story instead of revising my novel on a few of the sick days because I think it's easier to work on something new.  Even if what I wrote turns out to need serious revision, it's better than trying to revise (i.e. make my novel better) and only making it worse.

The good news is, the colds seem to be on the wane.  Kal'El is currently napping--in his crib again--and seems to be handling it okay.  He took a short nap earlier today in his crib and didn't wake up super congested, plus he FINALLY SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT again last night, so I'm hoping he's feeling better.  Me, I should post this and take advantage of the time to write.  While I'm feeling awake.

Catching Up on Kiddie Crafts

Zaxxon and I have been doing crafts again (infrequently, some weeks have a lot and then we skip some altogether) since early August, but I'm only just now getting caught up on photos and trying to get back in the swing of blogging.  So here's the lowdown on the crafts we've been doing.

We started back up with the letter "A" (we haven't been doing them in order.)  He knew this one already, but I'm trying to "officially" introduce each letter, because I want to make a big book for him out of the posters we make.  Here, he's coloring the "A" pictures.

A is for Alligator!  We spent a day making an alligator out of a paper towel tube...

...(complete with pinking-shear cut teeth)...

...an alligator bag out of fabric...

...and we turned an "A" on its side and made it into an alligator head.  My mom, who used to teach preschool, liked this one and wished she could have had the chance to use it herself.

We then continued the "A" theme with "A is for apples."  We pasted together the parts to make a whole and an eaten apple.  I thought it was funny that he didn't want to put the worm in the apple.  It had to be far away.

He even managed to draw an "A" all on his own!

We also made apples out of a cut-up egg carton.  (We snacked on apples after we made all these crafts, too)

We were preparing to go on an airplane ride around this time, so we talked about airplanes a lot.  I made him some paper ones, and he painted some wooden airplanes too.

I attempted to incorporate more movement into the next letter we introduced, "D."  After he colored the pictures and helped me cut them out, I spread them on the floor and asked him to bring them to me.  It kept him busy, though he didn't want to listen and bring the picture I asked for.

D is for Dinosaur!  We made one out of a paper plate.

He also got to dissolve capsules and watch sponge dinosaurs expand.  These were a bit of a disappointment, as they were much smaller than I had hoped for, and they also took longer than his attention span allowed.

He loved the end result, though.

Next was "D is for Dog"

And for "Dice."  This was hard for him to put together, so I had to help with a lot of it.

D is for Dump Truck!  I cut up an egg carton for Zaxxon, he decorated it, and then I taped the dump truck together.

That's about a month of crafts from our household.  There are more to catch up on, but I'll save those for another post.  (This one is long enough already.)



I'm linking this up with Tot School.  Check them out if you'd like more ideas for crafts to do with young kids!

A Difficult Decision

A few days ago I sent the email (felt more like the last nail in the coffin) to the editor of A Glitch in the Continuum, thanking him for his efforts in finding a new home for the book but declining to have my story included.  I put a lot of thought into this decision, but ultimately it just wasn't a deal I was comfortable with.

This was a very hard moment for me.  After drafting my email, I asked my husband to see how it sounded.  Up until that moment I'd intended to read it to him, but I suddenly realized that if I voiced the thoughts out loud, I would cry.  So he read it himself, and I cried anyway.

I know this sort of thing happens all the time in the publishing world, but it makes me sad that it happened so early on in my career--only my second acceptance.  I suppose there are people who have it happen to their first sale, and that's sad too.

This in no way changes my convictions toward professional authorship, it just sets me back a little.  It takes me so long to get stories resubbed these days (two boys take up a lot more time than one) that it's a little depressing to have to start over with one that was accepted.  I can only hope that it's previous rapid acceptance means it's good enough for others to want it as well.

Giving a Camera to a Three-Year-Old

I let Zaxxon take pictures with my camera for the first time yesterday.  This shot would've been great if he'd left the flash up.

And this one would've been great if he hadn't cut Kal'El's eyes off

Oh well, not bad for a first-timer!  (We got lots of shots of the floor, too.)