Children's Book Review: My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Sock & Found Object Collage Art

The other day my son happened upon the book My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Socks at the library. It is told from the perspective of a little girl who is asked to draw a picture of her family but doesn't feel that pen and ink quite do her family members justice. Instead she decides to use found objects to create collage-like portraits of them that show their personalities. For example, she uses a small wooden spinning-top for her dad's nose because he is fun loving. The book inspired my kids and I to create our own collage faces from a bunch of miscellaneous stuff in our craft cabinet that I just knew we would have a use for SOMEDAY.

Sammy made this one--it's me!

I helped Abby create this self-portrait. Since she is only two, I spread glue for the hair and shirt and gave her sequins and old puzzle pieces to stick on. She also selected the googly eyes and stuck them on.

Sammy and I worked together to make this one of Jeff. It is the only one where we really concentrated on making the objects match the subject's personality. His eyes are number 40 because that was his number when he played high school basketball, and basketball is still one of his favorite hobbies. We used a map for his shirt because he used to be a social studies teacher and enjoys studying maps. The bell nose is because he is musical and is teaching himself to play the guitar.


I made this one of Sammy.

We really got in the collage making mood. The animal one was a collaboration between Sammy and me. Some of the cutouts are from an old calendar created by the same people who made How Are You Peeling, another really fun children's book. The final one was all Sammy's doing.

Boys and (Violent) Toys

After Sammy's swim lesson yesterday, I decided to pop into Target and buy some diapers and cleaning products. I thought that since we were there, it would be a good idea to peruse the toy aisles and get an idea of what the kids might like for Christmas--big mistake! First of all, I guess I didn't explain thoroughly enough that I wouldn't actually be buying any toys (apparently I needed to repeat it multiple times). Second, every toy for little boys had some sort of weapon attached to it. The one exception being the cars, which might explain why a certain friend of my son's doesn't seem to own any other toys other than cars.

Even most of the Playmobil sets, which I know Sammy really likes, were trying too hard to be realistic (pirates with guns and swords, knights with swords, etc.). Sammy got the Playmobil firefighter for his birthday and loved it so much that he bought the policeman set with some of his birthday money. I didn't pay too much attention to the accessories it came with until we got home and realized that along with the laptop computer, walkie-talkie and flashlight, there were two guns.

I'm thinking maybe Sammy won't get any toys for Christmas. He already owns a plethora of different building toys--legos, tinkertoys, wooden blocks, magnetics (all of which I consider good investsments, by the way). He also has a bucketful of cars, an extensive wooden train set, and a huge collection of dinosaurs (a favorite of his for two plus years now). Beyond all that, what could a boy wish for? However, I do want to get him gifts for Christmas, but what?

Sammy told me that if I buy him the pirate Playmobil set he will throw out the guns, but still wants to keep the swords. I have a done a little reading on the web and have found that while many experts will say that no violent play or toys should ever be allowed, many others believe the context and pervasiveness should be taken into consideration and not all violent play is necessarily bad. For instance, if children are pretending to be a policeman or knight or something of that variety, it is more acceptable than if they were pretending to be say a drug dealer or gangster that they saw portrayed on adult tv shows/movies. So maybe I could get the Playmobil pirates afterall--the only probably is whenever I see him play in a violent way, even when he is just making his dinosaurs attach eachother, I get a pit in the bottom of my stomach. Here are links to a few of the article I found, should anyone be interested:

Violent Toys and Their Effect on Children

Violent Toys

Why is it that violent toys are only targeted at little boys, while the worst that is aimed at little girls is Bratz? Are the messages sent to little girls through toys just as harmful? For example, that appearance is paramount (think Barbie) and they need to be rescued by men (Disney Princesses)? I can worry about that some other year, I guess. Abby is only two and she is getting a play kitchen for Christmas.

Fun Fall Crafts & More Fall Pics

First, Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband, Jeff!

Now, is that not the biggest leaf you have ever seen? On Wednesdays, my son gets picked up for preschool by another co-op mom and friend of mine. When she brought him home last week, he had a fistful of these giant leaves. Apparently, my friend's mother-in-law has a tree in her yard that does not usually grow in this part of the state.

I wish I coud take credit for the idea of making the leaf man, but my friend suggested it when I was wondering out loud what we could do with Sammy's booty of leaves. We used hot glue to attach the leaves to a piece of cardboard that I had been saving forever because I knew it would come in handy for an art project someday (see, sometimes it pays to be a pack rat). We used smaller leaves for the mouth and nose and tiny pinecones for the eyes. By the way, I pulled out the hole punch to attach the yarn to hang our creation from the banister and ever since Sammy has spent a lot of time entertaining himself by punching holes in construction paper. This might be a boy thing--he used to love cutting paper up into tiny pieces and I know other moms who said their boys do the same thing.


This turkey craft is pretty self-explanatory. The key is to find a good pinecone that will sit down properly. Again, not my idea--Sammy made one in co-op last year.


These final pictures are from our last bike ride of the year. It was one of the best and most scenic rides we have ever gone on, so I guess it was good one to end on.

Unattended Child In Cars Laws

After I finished my post last night, I went and read up on "unattended kids in cars" laws to see what might have happened to me if the aforementioned busybody actually used the cell phone she was wielding threateningly (okay, just holding in her hand). The laws in Washington state that a child under 16 years of age may not be left in a running car and a child under 12 years of age may not be left in an unattended car in front of a tavern or other establishment that serves liquor. So I would have been safe had the police been called seeing as I didn't leave the car running nor was I drinking my lunch. Washington's laws seem to me the most lenient out of all the fourteen states that have such laws on the books, but I think that I would have actually been okay in any state since my children weren't technically unattended since I could see them out the window of the restaurant. And now I will let this issue die and never speak of it again.

In My Face

I feel like as a whole American parents live with a great deal of fear about all the terrible things that could happen to our children. There are a few books out there that touch on how the media creates fear by sensationalizing the rare instances where a child is abducted by a stranger or attacked by a shark or whatever (Freakonomics, The Mommy Myth, The Culture of Fear). I am as guilty of falling into the trap of false fear as anyone--I have an alarm system in my home so that I can sleep at night knowing my son is sleeping on a different level of the house from me. But when I leave my children in my car for five minutes outside of Subway, while I grab a quick sandwich for my son to eat in between his sister's physical therapy and the start of his preschool, I don't expect to be humiliated by some busybody barging into the store demanding to know if anyone has a white car. "You left your children in the car?!" she said after I affirmed that I had a white car. "Yeah, I'm keeping an eye on them (I could see my car out the window and had been watching them nearly the whole time I was in line) and I'm only gonna be in here for five minutes I replied," and hastily paid for my sandwich, only to find her standing by my car outside. As if I was going to sit down and enjoy a leisurely lunch while my kids sat starving in the car. I should add that it was a cool fall day and it was neither too hot for them to get heat stroke nor too cold for them to devlop hypothermia. I would never leave my children in the heat or the cold, and I would never leave them in a car where I couldn't see them out the window of whatever place of business I was in for that matter, but even if I couldn't see them out the window, what did that busybody think was going to happen? Does she believe that there are child abuductors on every corner? And that one was going to break into my car in broad daylight in a busy shopping area and pull my children screaming from the car? Did she think they might spontaneously combust?

Maybe I am the one that is off base here, maybe I should be thankful that there are people like that watching out for children. But I don't think it was the fact that she was concerned that bothered me, I think it was her approach. She acted like it was a life or death situation and that I needed to be reprimanded for my supposed offense. If I saw two children in a car unattended and felt concern for them, I think I would just keep and eye on them and see if their parent didn't return in a reasonable amount of time. If that woman would have waited two minutes, I would have been back to my car and she could have seen for herself that I was not neglecting or abandoning my children.

Mothers put enough guilt on themselves everyday: I'm not giving them enough one-on-one attention, I shouldn't have let them eat so much Halloween candy, I should have gotten up earlier so I would be rushed and grouchy with them, I shouldn't swear in front of them or argue with their father, etc, etc, etc! We sure as heck don't need it heaped on us from total strangers.

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In other news: I voted for McCain, because as much as I wanted to say that I cast my vote for our first president of color, I just couldn't come to terms with Obama's socialist policies. I'm afraid of what will happen to our country with such a liberal president and a democratic congress. I think it is best for everyone when there is some give and take in government and compromises reached, but I fear that Obama will get a green light to do whatever he wants. However, I am proud to see a person of color electeed to the oval office and I hope that I will see a woman reach the same heights in my lifetime.

Today's weather: cloudy and raining hyperactive kids--whatever am I going to do this winter? I fear I will be drinking a lot of Orange Juliases while my children play on the indoor playground at the mall.

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Overheard in my backseat:

Sammy's friend: Babies only drink milk, they don't eat hard foods.

Sammy: Yeah, that's kind of weird. They get their milk from right here.

Friend: Yeah, those are called breastes.