Momma, What Would Happen If . . .?

Momma, Daddy and I are going to discover a new planet and call it Hubble. Hubble is such a funny word. Hubble. Hubble.

Daddy? What planet would crash into the Sun last?

Daddy? Is Pluto in our solar system? Is it a dwarf planet? Why isn't it a planet anymore?

What's that red thing on Jupiter? How many moons does Jupiter have?

Daddy? How do scientists discover new things? Could we discover something?

What would happen if . . .

The questions come at a rapid pace. The thirst for knowledge drives her. She has to know everything there is to know in this exact moment. Later is not good enough.

We answer the questions as best we can with the help of Professor Google. Answers are accepted. She quiets, returning to play. Her animals utilize the knowledge she has gained in their travels to distant planets.

Part of Just Write at The Extraordinary Ordinary

Once Upon A Time

The End

Its Not Bribery, Its An Allowance

Every morning, its the same thing. All 60 wooden blocks are removed from their case. All the dinosaurs come out of their cave. The horses jump down from horse island. The legos are built into trees, parrots, dogs and whatnot. And it stays that way all day.

At breakfast, lunch, snack time and dinner the dishes are discarded on the table (or floor) as somebunny races back to play.

The ears are shut selectively, listening only when its something she wants to hear.

Its left to Frink and me to pick up the literally pick up the pieces.

Until now. On January 1st we instituted a new system. Bunny was given chores to do each day. She has to put her dishes in the sink. She has to help pick up her toys at the end of the day. And most importantly, she has to LISTEN.

If she does all of those things to our satisfaction, she gets a smiley face sticker on her chart for each chore. She also gets a nickel to put in her dinosaur bank.

Man does she love getting nickels. One night, Frink lost track of time and it was past bedtime. When he told her it was time to go to bed, she said no. At first he thought she was being sassy. Then she said "daddy, we have to pick up my toys so I can get my nickel".

Why didn't I think of this before?

Book It

Bunny is a prolific artist. She draws and paints pages upon pages of Hamstacks.

Lately its all she seems to do. She will stand at her little table and scribble away. When she is done with one, she moves on to another. "Fresh paper, please, momma."



We literally have Hamstack pictures everywhere. I've tried putting them away in a box. I've given them away. I've thrown them away. But they continue to multiply.

These are not one and done creations. Each picture tells a story. Bunny will gather a few pictures and sit down. When I ask what she is doing, she answers "I'm reading the newspaper." Well, alright then.

Every night before she falls asleep, she reads her newspapers. She even has to have them in her bed for when she wakes up in the morning.

But its hard to find a specific newspaper in the mountain that she has created. Believe me, I've tried. "I need the picture of the Hamstacks at the beach, momma." Which one is that exactly? And we have to search picture by picture until the right one is located.

So I had to come up with a better filing system. There had to be a way for her to have the stories she wanted. And it had to keep them contained. And then I had a flash of brilliance, we could make a book.



I cut up a box of cereal and punched holes in it. Holes were then punched into each newspaper. The book was assembled using ribbon. She can now carry it with her where ever she goes and she won't lose anything important.



And whatever doesn't make the cut, can magically disappear.

The Genius At Work

Wanna Hear A Story, Momma?

A mommy jellyfish and a daddy jellyfish and some baby jellyfishes were swimming. They saw a volcano and jumped in the volcano. They had a good day.

The end.

As told by Bunny to her mother, to share with all of you.

Dolls Are No Fun

There were several moments this weekend that captured the essence of Bunny, exactly who she is right now.

She was looking at some leaves we had found the day before. "What this leaf, momma?" That is a maple. "What this one?" That is an oak leaf. "What this one?" I don't know honey. "Let's go look it up on the computer, momma." Yes, that is right, at 2 2/3 she knows that you can find the answer to all things on the computer.

During the car ride to the pumpkin farm she was telling me everything she and daddy had played with that morning. Did you play with Dinos? "Yes." Did you play with playdough? "Yes." Did you color? "Yes." Did you play with dolls? "No. Dolls are no fun."

Watching me put on lipstick, "can I have some lipstick, momma?"

At the apple orchard, stuffing her mouth with an apple with one hand while picking up all the fallen apples and throwing them away with the other.

While on the hayride, "Are the cows gonna eat this hay later, momma?"

While picking pumpkins, "I don't wanna hold the pumpkin, its dirty."

Another family at the farm found a caterpillar which was passed around to all the kids on the hayride. While holding the caterpillar "its tickly momma. Can we keep him?" No honey he lives at the farm. "I love the caterpillar momma."

She loves dinos and hates dolls. She is fascinated by bugs and science but doesn't want to get dirty. She wants to learn about everything and wants to wear lipstick to look pretty while doing it. That is my Bunny.

Little Miss Fix-It

First an update on the basement repairs. They've are running a double crew and are going to finish ahead of schedule. Yes! Edited to add: They finished at 10:30 this morning! Now the real work starts.

Last night I was finishing making dinner and Bunny was watching the bug movie on her little DVD player with Bubs. Bunny came into the kitchen holding a picture. I oohed and ahhed over the picture.

Then she asked for tape. I figured she just wanted to add her picture to the collection hanging over my computer so I gave it to her. I realize that wasn't the smartest move, giving a toddler tape, but I figured her father was supervising.

Then he called me into the dining room, "come see what your daughter is doing." My daughter? That can't be good.

So I head into the dining room in time enough to see Bunny putting tape on the DVD player. WTF? I turn to Bubs for an explaination. It seems the player stopped working so Bunny decided to fix it with tape. It works for her books so she has decided if something is broken, it can be fixed with tape.

Of course she was only using Scotch tape so it didn't work. If it was duct tape, it probably would have worked because duct tape can fix anything.

You Always Want What You Don't Have

As many of you know I live in a CrapShack which I hate for all of its brokeness. Its a curse I have to bear until I can get enough money to fix all of its problems. But by that time I will probably be dead or living in Del Boca Vista. So it will always be the CrapShack to me.

Because of this, I have developed a bad habit. I am addicted to glossy shelter magazines and design shows on television, what I like to call House Porn. I get so excited when my copy of Elle Decor arrives in my mail box. If I'm at the drug store or book store, I'll often pick up a copy of Archetectural Digest or Metropolitan Home.

Then when I have some free time, I run to my room to peruse its contents. I stare loveingly at its pages. Oohing and ahhing over the Viking Ranges, non-peed upon couches and working bathrooms. I save the magazines to read over and over again. Its truly a sickness. Then when I'm finally ready to part with them, I will tear out pictures of the kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms and frankly the houses I want to live in. Someday.

The design shows do it for me too. I love to see the transformation of the home from plain (or plain ugly) to beautiful. And I dream that someday it will happen to me. But it won't because all of the shows seem to take place in California or "Big City". They won't take place in the heartland. But they could.

See I have an idea for a new show. You take some big time, fancy scmancy interior designer and architect away from their champagne and caviar clients and have them redo a house on a beer and brats budget. Its genius. Its got everything you need for good TV. Drama, could Kelly Wearstler or Katie Ridder handle the challenge? Tears from the homeowners and possibly the designers. And the first challenge? You guessed it fixing up the CrapShack.

So hopefully you'll be seeing this show on HGTV or Bravo sometime soon. And I'll be raking in the dough with my Executive Producer credit.

Dinosaur Roar

Bunny is a bit obsessed with dinosaurs. It first started when my parents had a rubber T-Rex at their house. She loved to play with it every time we went there. The T-Rex will even sit at the dinner table and "eat" the occasional green bean. My mom also had a puzzle book with other dinosaurs. Bunny could say Iguanadon before she was two.

So I got her a dino puzzle of her own. She loves to take the wooden pieces out and play with them. They were toys rather than puzzle pieces to her. Given this interest in dinosaurs, I found a few books. I got her My First Dinosaur Board Book. She loves it. There are tons of pictures of dinos - most of which I didn't even know existed with names I can't pronounce. But Bunny knows most of their names. In fact if I show her a picture of a certain dino she will say "that's Coelophysis" so matter of factly as if I should have known. Silly mommy.

While shopping without Bunny yesterday I found some toy dinos - a T-Rex, a stegosaurus, a triceratops and a brachiosaurus (although it could be a barosaurus but Bunny calls it a brachiosaurus so that is what it is). The first thing Bunny did when she saw them is take them to meet their wooden counterparts. She lined them all up next to eachother and introduced them. Too cute.

So today Daddy has the day off and we are taking Bunny and the new dinos to the museum to meet their life sized counterparts.