crazedparent

Mad noise...

We made our favorite weekend trek to San Francisco on Saturday and spent the morning taking in the scene at the Ferry Building and on a ferry ride along the bay.  The ride between San Francisco and Oakland is full of wonder, with a mix of industrial images contrasted with the jagged skyline of The City. It makes for an excellent weekend field trip with the kids. We stayed on one ferry, stopping in Alameda and Oakland for new passengers, and made the full loop back to the Ferry Building. We sat inside, outside, upstairs, downstairs. We watched catamarans and sailboats, freight liners and mighty tugs. And of course, we couldn't miss the infamous inpiration for George Lucas' AT-ATs in "Star Wars." Or so legend says.

We had  our requisite coffee.

And snacks. We are creatures of habit.

Finally, we listened to Mad Noise. My big kid is learning how to play the cello. When he witnessed modern songs played accoustically -- accompanied by a cellist -- I could see the firecrackers ignite in his brain. The cello is not just for classical music.

It was magic.

Here's a snippet of Mad Noise singing "Creep" by Radiohead.

When a Louisville Slugger arrives on your doorstep...

...baseballs and whiffles are strewn about the backyard after an afternoon of playing catch and taking BP (along with the tell-tale patch of dirt that serves as home plate)...

...and Easton cleats are left on bedroom floors exactly where they were removed from tired feet wearing dark socks covered in red dirt...

...one thing is certain: Little League baseball season has arrived.

The nouveau tooth fairy (and cool tooth fairy ideas)...

The tooth fairy recently paid her fifth visit to our home. She almost overlooked our house. But she's light on her tiny feet and Eight didn't even detect her presence as she tucked five gold dollar coins into his Tooth Fairy pillow. Eight was wide awake on our bed, pouting that the tooth fairy forgot about him. And somehow, somehow, that fantastical fairy came and went as quickly as a sneeze.

"How did she do that!" he asked. "She must be so small."

"Maybe the size of 'The Littles.' Maybe she comes through the power outlets," I replied, leaving Eight to ponder how the tooth fairy made it to his room.

I'm fond of checking out all the cool tooth fairy ideas and traditions that parents are creating. Back in my Shine days, I was obsessed with tooth fairy traditions because my oh my, we have some very crafty, very sophisticated tooth fairies. And all of them? Very easy to implement -- trust me, our Tooth Fairy has tried a few -- and super cute. 

If your kid is about to lose a first tooth, you really should take some time to think about what type of Tooth Fairy tradition your family is going to follow because it truly is a thing of magic. Some thoughts for you:

• Go old school. If you want to keep the tradition simple and mellow, keep a supply of teeny, tiny envelopes on hand. When your child looses a tooth, write the date and tooth number on the envelope, place the tooth inside and seal it up. Let your child place this envelope in his/her spot of choice for the Tooth Fairy to retrieve. Encourage places that are open and easy to access because even though the Tooth Fairy is sneaky, she/he is tiny and has to move quickly.

•  Money, money, money. How much does your Tooth Fairy leave for your child? Ours gives Eight five gold dollar coins. Apparently this is the average. When I posed this question on Shine last year, some Tooth Fairies were quite generous, ranging from five bucks for a molar to one or two bucks for a regular tooth.

If you're interested in starting a new tradition, there are some really adorable new products/crafty ideas worth checking out. Two of my favorite crafty ones are:

Tooth Fairy Pouches with instructions by The Purl Bee. I love the idea of making a batch of these little baggies for each tooth. Also? You're making it easy for the Tooth Fairy to preserve that tooth for later days. Two things to note: One...The Purl Bee's instructions require that you sew the felt together. I'm gonna share a secret with you: You don't have to sew. Just use fabric glue or 1/2" fusible webbing to adhere the sides/seams and the tooth to the front. Two...Use a fabric pen to write the name/date/tooth number on the bag. Because the Tooth Fairy sometimes has a super bad memory when he/she looks back on those pouches.

The Tooth Fairy Jar with instructions via Lost Button Studio. We tried this one out. You put your kid's tooth in a small glass filled water. The next morning, the tooth is gone, the jar is filled with colored water and sparkles...and lovely coins. This Tooth Fairy travels with her colored, coin-filled jars so she can replace the tooth-filled ones with her treat.

As far as new products go, I've seen lots of cute pillows and tooth boxes. But my favorite concepts, as a whole, are The Official Tooth Fairy Kit and The Secret Tooth Fairy Club.

I have some serious love for this Official Tooth Fairy Kit.* It's definitely a memory maker. I dig the formality of the "certificates" that mom or dad can fill out, but I especially love the tiny envelope that is attached to the certificate just below the super official chart of teeth so that you can color in/cross off which tooth was lost. So cute! The rest is icing. The kit sells for US$16 and comes with a nice bag for the certificate. The down side is that you have to order more certificates. So if you go this route, just go the 10-pack route for forty bucks. Or I guess you could come up with your own crafty ways to deal with this.

The Secret Tooth Fairy Club* is equally adorable. I dig that it comes with a simple, reusable tooth pouch that is left out for the Tooth Fairy. In return, the Tooth Fairy leaves a letter in a folded card and includes a cute poem that specifically mentions the number of the tooth lost. Love that. The card has a little pocket for the Tooth Fairy to leave his or her treat. And the Tooth Fairy can either be girl or a boy, in case your kid cares about that sort of thing. The kit is US$35, and I dig that the one kit takes you through one full round of lost teeth.

As for casa crazedparent, we've tried the Tooth Fairy Jar but Eight prefers a simple cross-stitched Tooth Fairy Pillow that his Nana made many, many moons ago. For Q., we'll either use the Tooth Fairy Pouches or one of these kits (unless something new comes along in the next few years!)

What about you? What are your tooth fairy traditions?

*The Secret Tooth Fairy Club and the Official Tooth Fairy Kit sent me copies of their products to review. These products are not for keeps! I'll be sending them back.

Dispatch from the test kitchen: Homemade marshmallows for Valentine's Day, part one

The boys and I began part one of making homemade marshmallows yesterday using a recipe and instructions from The Hungry Mouse. The thought of making candy and boiling sugar worries me because, OUCH, hot sugar on my arm. But I was super careful, thankyouverymuch. There was not a single cooking injury in casa crazedparent during the making of the marshmallows.

If you're going to try making marshmallows at home with the kids, let them do all the measuring. Once the mixture is on the stove, you'll not want them near it. Too hot, too risky. Once the hot sugar is in the mixer whipping itself into a frenzy, however, they'll want to be close by to see turn from a weird, stinky tan-ish murky liquid into the thick, white, sweet-smelling stuff of marshmallows. I may never buy a bag of marshmallows again.

We let the marshmallow "batter," for lack of a better word, set overnight in two baking dishes. Today, Eight and I will cut them into squares, powder them and wrap them for Valentine's day treats for his class.

Can hardly wait.

Dispatch from the test kitchen: Coffee Cake, a la "Mad Hungry"

The phrase "we've been doing a little cooking around here" is an understatement. The entire family is enamored with Lucinda Scala Quinn's book, Mad Hungry: Feeding Boys & Men and we've been testing out as many dishes as we can. When I say "we," I mean it. The boys, big and small, are part of the cooking act. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Q. loves to make "Aunt Patty's Coffee Cake." Besides the fact that it's delicious, he knows that he can really get his hands dirty making of the dish. And if he's not in the picture, his stuffed animal is:

Let's take a closer look, shall we? Because this little mix of sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder* and instant coffee (Starbucks Via*) brings the coffee cake to life:

Yum.

The cake batter calls for one cup of sour cream, which adds a delicious richness to the cake. Last night, however, our refrigerator didn't contain sour cream. So we used Brown Cow plain non-fat yogurt instead.  My husband said the yogurt version tasted better than the sour cream version. The only noticeable difference was that the cake didn't have as much volume after baking.

Two great jobs for little helper hands: Prepping the Bundt pan by covering it with butter and mom or dad can handle the flouring of the pan. (See Spot? Always around.)

And sprinkling the filling over the batter (they get to do this twice).

Once the last bit of batter covers the filling, I let Q. help me swirl a knife through the middle of the batter to give it a marble effect. We popped it in the oven and waited patiently for 80 minutes (50 to bake, 30 to cool down). For an almost five-year-old boy, 80 minutes is ETERNITY. But Q. was a good sport about it. And the requisite peeking was involved.

Once the cake is ready for us to devour, I usually slice it into two halves and freeze one half of it. It thaws quickly so it's perfect for a weekend breakfast treat. This time, I cut it in half but the four of us each had a slice right away and I could tell we were going to need that other half sooner rather than later. That little slice at the top of this post? Inhaled.

I interviewed Lucinda back in November and I'll have to post it here soon. Her book is wonderful, I can't
recommend it enough. Her family favorites have become our family favorites. (I also tweak her recipes to add different twists and flavors. Which is the way of cooking, right?)

But tomorrow, my recipe for veggie chili. 

*I used samples obtained at BlogHer Food 2009. Thank you, Sharfen Berger Chocolate and the gal who was handing out Starbucks Via samples. I'm not a fan of it for drinking but those little packs rock for recipes that require instant coffee.

Things I love: DIY silly putty...

Gross, right?

When I wrote about DIY goop, Jay Fence said that when he was a kid, he loved "goop that used to come in a plastic egg."

Silly Putty! 

I used to love playing with Silly Putty when I was a kid, too. And Jay's comment added a new DIY craft project for me and the boys.

DIY silly putty calls for two ingredients: liquid starch and washable, non-toxic glue. Simple enough.

I found one set of instructions that said you mix and equal ratio of liquid starch and glue. Hmm, not so simple. Turns out it requires a little bit of experimenting.

Eight and I figured out that it's a two to five ratio. Two tablespoons of liquid starch to five tablespoons of glue. (We used Sta-Flo Concentrated liquid starch and Elmer's school glue.)

You mix and knead it in a plastic container. You want to make sure that the you -- or the kids -- really mop up all the liquid starch with the glue, otherwise it feels too wet. If it IS too wet, you may have to add more glue...go one teaspoon at at time. Again, just make sure you or the kids mix it all really, really well.

The DIY silly putty starts out slippery and the more you knead, the smoother and more silly putty-esque it gets. It starts out shiny then loses that luster. But if you let it sit for a bit, the shine comes back. When you're done, store the Silly Putty in a resealable plastic bag.

If the DIY silly putty gets on clothes (or hair, just sayin'), rub the spot with whatever kind of vinegar you have on hand (a la Crafty Teacher). It works really well, especially when you say, "Out damned spot."

Now, there are those folks who add food coloring to their DIY silly putty. After a food coloring mini disaster in our kitchen earlier this week that ended with our blinds covered with red streaks, I say avoid it at all costs.

Glitter? Okay.

Food coloring? Run. Run like the wind.

Eight had the idea of packaging the ratio of starch and glue in small containers along with a sheet with instructions, and giving it as a small gift. I thought that was cute and may have to investigate it further. Maybe for Valentine's Day? (Then I'll have to purchase this big mama.)

Test out the DIY silly putty and let me know how it goes and what worked for you!

Crafty & Crazed: DIY Goop (not the Gwyneth Paltrow kind...)

It's a given that we'll get crafty at casa crazedparent over winter break. The kids are big into "science projects" right now. They love using play test tubes, droppers, food coloring and just about anything else that makes them feel like they are mad scientists. Crazy, mad scientists.

It's taken many deep breaths and om moments on my part to get past the mess. Also, I've been teaching them that they have to clean up their "lab," which makes them slightly more conscious of what they are doing...and how much time they'll have to spend on kitchen rehab after their projects are done. Good stuff.

One of their favorite "tricks" is making colored goop. Why a trick? Because the goop starts out wet, dries when it touches their hands, and then becomes wet again when they rub their fingers and hands together.

If you want to let your kids try making their own goop, let them mix 1 cup of corn starch with 1/2 cup of water.

That's it.

If your a daredevil, let them add a few drops of food coloring. Ahhh, red pretty goop. Snotty green goop. Cloudy blue goop. They've even made neon goop with those awesome neon food gels I use for baking rainbow cakes.

They'll spend an hour just stirring that brew, dipping their hands in it, watching it dry and then making it turn back into goop again.

And really, who can't use an hour of their kids playing nicely? Even when school is back in session. (That's today for my boys, yaow!)

Word up: Using Bananagrams as a pre-reading tool...

Whenever Seven and I have a lunch date, we always bring a little travel game with us. Last week it was Gobblet. Yesterday, we brought out Bananagrams because I'm still a Bananagrams addict. Nearly a year has passed since Seven and started playing the game, and it's been neat to watch his spelling skills improve. More so, I love the words he uses in a round. Back in January, he would get frustrated because he couldn't think of words fast enough. Now? He is a speedy Bananagamer.

Q. has been showing signs of wanting to learn how to read and write. He asks for words to be written out ("Big and lowercase, Mama" and sounds to be repeated. He grabs a pencil and paper and attempts to scribe words. Being able to read and write is so empowering at all ages. But when little kids realize they can read a book and write a word, it's pure magic. And I am nothing short of ecstatic at the chance to help open up that world to Q.

Monday afternoon, I found Q. playing with the Bananagram tiles, trying to spell out small words: CAT, STOP, FUN.  But he'd stuck because he couldn't think of words to try to spell.

To help him along, I wrote words on index cards. All of the very simple three- and four-letter "at," "it," "op," and "ap" words. He was left to search for the letters and sound them out while he created the words.

Scrabble tiles will also work, natch. But I love the Bananagrams tiles because they fit in that nice, small pouch.

Any fun tips/tools you used to help your kids learn to read?

Easy DIY Halloween costumes: Be a Pirate, matey...

If your kid wants to be a pirate this Halloween, know that this is a really, really simple costume to make, even for the non-crafty folk.

Here's what you'll need:

• Black sweats (You can find a cheap pair of Hanes sweats at Target for $6)
• Black or red long-sleeve shirt
• White oversized t-shirt
• Black or red solid-colored bandana
• Red and white stripped satin fabric, 1/4 yard
• 1 roll red satin ribbon, 1/4" wide
• 1 roll black satin ribbon, 1/4" wide
• Black fabric paint ($3)
• Black fabric pen 
• Small piece of red or black felt  (for eye patch)
• Rhinestone skull & crossbone iron-on patch or something similar (I picked this one up at Michael's Arts & Crafts for $3)

Easy stuff first. Iron the skull & crossbones patch to the bandana. I made the mistake of ironing it on to the middle of the bandana, width side. Don't do this! Fold the bandana over so you form a triangle. Place the iron-on in the middle along the flat edge of the bandana (not the point). Makes for an easier do-rag.

 

The t-shirt: It's all about pirate chic, so you'll be roughing up this shirt up a bit. Let's get the scissor work out of the way. Cut a slit up each side of the shirt; stop about an inch before the armpit.

Next up, cut about an inch from the each sleeve and then shred them. To make them look rough, I made 4-5 slits, 1/4" inch each and then let my kid rip the rest of the fabric a bit. Do the same to the bottom of the shirt (along the waist edge). Lastly, cut the collar off the neck of the shirt.

Next up, dressing up the sides. User your scissors to gently poke five holes along the edge of the shirt. The holes should be created about 1/4" from the side of the slits, and through both pieces of fabric. Then, take your black and red ribbon and thread it through the holes like so...(you'll use about two-feet of ribbon.) Tie a loose knot at the bottom and let the remainder of the ribbon hang.

Next, put a piece of cardboard or thick newspaper in between the front and back of the shirt. Then, use a fabric marker or black marker to lightly sketch a rough skull and crossbones design on the front of the shirt. Then, fill in the outline with your fabric paint. Use a light layer -- this stuff gets heavy. (Alternatively, you can just use a fabric marker and color it in versus using fabric paint. Will save you some money and mess).

Okay, here's how it looks all put together. Layer the white tee over the black long-sleeve shirt to keep your kidling warm on Halloween night. Tie the red/white satin sash around your kid's waist.

Side view of the cool ribbon.

Finally, the face! Arrr, shiver me timbers matey. Tie the bandana around your lil' pirate's head, iron-on patch face forward. Use some eye make up to draw a mustache and goatee.

At the last minute, we decided to make an eye patch using red fabric and leftover black ribbon. If you choose do this, please use good-quality felt, NOT craft felt. Craft felt will make your kid's eye ITCH LIKE CRAZY. Good felt is sold on a ream at a fabric store. Craft felt is the stuff you find in stacks on shelves, sold as individual sheets.

All told, this costume cost about $25. Granted, you could pick up a costume at Target for 10 bucks, but they are not great quality and often rip after one wear. One of the reasons I like these home made costumes is that your kids will end up wearing them again, either for imaginary play or just wearing the sweats in the winter. Plus, my kids enjoy the process of making the costume as much as I do!

Related Halloween goodness on crazedparent:

Easy DIY Halloween costumes: Scary Skeleton...

You've been boo'dYou've been boo'd business

You've been boo'd

Things I love: Mini first aid kits...

My dad is a retired contractor. After decades of cutting and banging up his fingers on work sites, he still carries a stack of band-aids in his wallet. I love that about my dad.

I, however, have always been negligent in keeping band-aids in my purse. Even with two young boys who always manage to scrape their fingers, elbows, knees, noses (this would be Q.'s specialty) and any other part of their bodies that are willing to be bloodied up. Normally, if my dad happens to be with me when this happens, he'll look at me and say, "Charlene Ann, do you mean to tell me that you do not have band-aids in your purse?" And I roll my eyes, put my hand out and wait for him to deposit a damn bandage.

Those days are officially over.

A few months ago I found this cute mini first aid kit (pictured above) at Target and, yes, had to buy it because there's some scent that Target pipes into the air in their stores that makes you HAVE TO BUY THINGS. The container holds 16 band-aids with little pirates or the words "I'm OK!" on them, a few antiseptic wipes and an emergency card. I ran out of the wipes and the pirate band-aids over two months (I'm telling you, my boys are hard on their skin. Seven knows enough to just say, "Mom, where's the pirate kit.")

But I'm mighty excited that I can buy refill packs online. Of course, the ones I want are on back order. If your Target doesn't carry these kits, you can get them via Kabalab and they have adorable sets for boys and girls, and generic ones as well. I'm thinking about getting one to drop in Seven's backpack.