It started the other night…

While browsing through YouTube videos, I came across one of the most delightful children’s books I have ever seen. “How to Catch a Star” is a sweet tale about a boy who loves stars so much that he wants one of his very own. It is absolutely magical, and I fell in love immediately. I rarely buy picture books on impulse, but this was in my Amazon.com cart before you could say, “Once there was a boy, and that boy loved stars very much…”

I wish I could link to the video that got me hooked, but it looks like it has been removed. Instead, here’s a picture…

I continued watching videos of his books until I came across this one where he talks about writing tips. Really? Writing brilliant stories wasn’t enough? He has to be gorgeous and funny and have an Irish accent too?
Alas, the love affair will have to wait until Ed finds a sexy race car driver who needs her bathroom remodeled.

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April 05, 2013 – Eyeballin’
“Better eat, Mom. I’m eyeballin’ your food…”

April 02, 2013 – Broken Heart
After several days of discussion, Edison finally conceded that “misappear” was actually pronounced “disappear”.

He sighed heavily, put his hands together, and said, “Do you know what this is? This is my heart.”

Then he opened his hands just a bit and said, “Now, it is breaking just a little.”

March 18, 2013 – I’m so pretty you have to wear shades…
Edison kept saying, “Mommy” and when I turned to look at him, he would squint his eyes and duck his head as if he was looking at something really bright.

This happened a few times, so I asked him why.

“You are just so pretty that I can’t handle it.”

March 17, 2013 – Rockafellow
Edison: Where were you today?
Me: Learning about essential oils.
Edison: Oh! Like Rockafellow?
Me: Um…No…Different kind of oil.

March 8, 2013 – Um…We don’t need to keep our scabs
“Mom, don’t wash my pants from Thursday. I think my scab came off in the pocket.”

February 20, 2013 – Tricky questions
I don’t believe in answering questions with, “because”…But then, I find myself trying to explain to a 4 year-old how diluted stocks almost took down the Vanderbilt empire.

February 18, 2013 – Don’t cry about Pluto
Edison: But Pluto IS big enough to be a planet! We are just really far away, so it LOOKS small! The next time someone says Pluto is too small to be a planet, I am going to cry.

February 17, 2013 – Don’t touch your mustache!
Me: What do you do if a stranger grabs you?
Edison: You yell, “Don’t touch my mustache!”
(I guess that’s what happens when you teach Stranger Danger and the Japanese phrase for “you’re welcome” in the same class…)

February 3, 2013 – No peep for you
Me: Night night. Not a peep…
Edison: OK, Mom…No peep for you!

February 3, 2013 – 2 sleds
(After getting a new sled.)
Edison: Now, I have 2 sleds!
Dad: Um, no…Your other “sled” was a laundry basket…

January 31, 2013 – Must take after Dad…
In Shanghai Noon, they walked into a bordello. Edison’s face lit up and he said, “Ooooo…Hello ladies…”

January 06, 2013 – Mommy’s toothbrush
Edison: Mommy! I can use your toothbrush!
Me: Uh…No you may not.
Edison: Yes I can. I just tried it, and it fit!

December 27, 2012 – Mommy is luckier
Edison: Mommy, I love you so much…
(Leans over to give me a hug, turning his back to Daddy.)
Edison: Daddy, I just tooted on you.
Dad: I am so lucky…
Edison: Mommy is luckier…I didn’t toot on her.

December 21, 2012 – Good report?
(Just heard this over the monitor)
Ed: If I ask Mommy if you were good while I was gone, will I get a good report?
Edison: Um…Dad? Um…Just take it easy on me, OK?

December 18, 2012 – Bricks and numbers
Edison: Bricks last a long time.
Me: They are made of clay, mud.
Edison: Yep…They are made of clay…Clay and numbers…
Me: Numbers?
Edison: Yeah, numbers. In “The Story of One”, they said everything was made of numbers.

October, 2012 – Edison Dictating

I turned on dictating on my iPad and had Edison talk. This is what the iPad thought he said…

Get a good call me I I a.m.

I keep getting sick I love Bob

high and McChicken lacking
New on and I told her it will get Bob to find a talking and them and I don’t think buying people home

I am a dumb face

October, 2012 – Zero is an old number
Edison: You know what was a new number a long time ago?
Me: What?
Edison: Zero…Now, it is an old number.

08/18/2012 – I am so cool…

Today, while I shuffled the Uno cards, my son said, “Wow, Mom! That’s cool!”

Then, staring at me with adoration in his eyes, he added, “Everything you do is cool…”

Yeah, Baby. I thought. That’s right. 

I wish that I could shuffle cards and get that level of respect from the rest of the world…

The post Quotes and Anecdotes from a Spirited 4 Year-Old appeared first on Wild Edisons.

A few months ago, Edison requested a turkey wrap for lunch. I am not sure where my preschooler heard about turkey wraps, but it seemed healthy enough and we happened to have turkey and tortillas, so whatever.

On the way home from school, I asked him if he liked his lunch and he said he liked the turkey wrap but did not want to have them at school any more. Apparently,  when he pulled it out of his lunch, a kid said “eeeeeew!”

Inside, I was livid. How dare some kid make fun of my son’s lunch? What kind of ignorant child makes fun of another kid for what he chooses to eat? I mean, really. It is only a turkey wrap, but where does it stop? What would he say to a child in a wheelchair or someone with different skin color? I wanted to find the kid and give him a good talking-to.

But, I didn’t. Instead, I launched a campaign to teach my son that if he really liked something (especially, something healthy and innocuous like a turkey wrap), he shouldn’t care what other people thought.

I told him that a long time ago, no one had computers at home. (Can you imagine?) But, then this guy named Bill Gates changed everything by making computers that normal people could afford. His classmates thought he was different too, but he changed everything.

“If everyone thought the same way, we would have no electric lights, no cars, no iPads. Different is cool!”

I stocked his bookshelf with picture books, like Odd Boy Out: Young Albert Einstein and Timeless Thomas: How Thomas Edison Changed Our Lives; fantastic preschool books about amazing people who were so different and changed the world.

Fast-forward to last week…

Edison asked me to dye my hair blue. He knows I love wild colored hair, but I just didn’t have the nerve to go all out. I told him I would think about warm colors like pink or purple, but not until after the holidays.

“Why?” Edison asked.

“Because we are going to be doing a lot of traveling, and not everyone would approve of a wild color like that.”

“Why do you care what they think?”

“Um…”

Ouch! How could I expect him to stand up for his turkey wrap while I sat by with my drab hair, wishing I had the courage to do something different? Sometimes, it is tough when your kid pays attention…

So, I did it. I did it, and I love it! I feel like I should have been born with pink and purple hair. It is bright and sunny and fun, and who wouldn’t want to feel bright and sunny and fun?

As for what other people think, I noticed something interesting…

It turns out that the people whose opinions I value the most, like it. Edison thinks it is “weely cool” and my husband loves it. The grumpy old man at the grocery store this morning would have been grumpy and old, regardless of what color my hair was. Honestly, I am wondering why I didn’t do it sooner.

So, thanks Edison. You’re a pretty cool kid. I just need to remember to re-read this post when you ask me if you can dye your hair green.

The post How a Preschooler and a Turkey Wrap Led to Pink and Purple Hair… appeared first on Wild Edisons.

Either way, the hot weather has done little to slow down my spirited child. We have been practicing swimming, hiking around Old Man’s Cave, and playing in the basement.

Life is busy, but good…

– Mom-E

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Tonight, I picked up Edison and said, “When you were a baby, you were much lighter.”

He said, “Yeah, and now I am darker…”

Cracked me up.

06/19/2012 – Horror Movies

We have a book about the solar system, and Edison is fascinated by the section on the life cycle of stars. So, tonight, we watched an episode of How the Universe Works that explained Supernovae. Edison was transfixed. 

I tucked him in and it was Supernova this and Hypernova that. Finally, he settled down to sleep. At his request, I left the door open so that he could see the sunset down the hall.

About an hour later, he freaked out, yelling “Mom! Mommy!”
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“The sun is GONE! Did it blow up?!?”

I guess the sunset would be a pretty scary thing after learning about how stars explode…

What I find interesting is, if we were to watch a horror movie, I think he would not have been as scared. We could have said, “don’t worry…This is not real…Those people are actors. The blood is fake.”

But, he knows that stars really do explode, even if it won’t be for 4-5 billion years.

06/19/2012 – Our Little Nutritionist

Today, when I picked Edison up from school, his teacher told me a cute story. They had a bunch of hotdogs left over from a charity event, and they gave them to the kids for snack.

Apparently, Edison explained to his little friends that “hotdogs are junk food. They aren’t good for you, but it is OK to have them sometimes as a special treat.”

So proud of my little nutritionist.

05/25/2012 – An Interesting Drive Home

I don’t like conversations that start with: “Mommy? How did you and Daddy make me?”
I do like conversations that start with: “When I was a ninja…”
(It was an interesting drive home from school today.)

05/14/2012 – Dr Frankenstein? 

After explaining why cockleburs stick to you, I told Edison that we would find some cockleburs and make butterflies out of them. They would be pretend butterflies, I explained. Edison asked why we couldn’t make real butterflies, and I said we couldn’t because people can’t make life.

“I can…” he said.

Then, he whispered in my ear, “I use magic and light and power.”

Sounds like we have the next Dr. Frankenstein on our hands…

05/14/2012 – My Not-Real Name…

Edison: My real name is Edison, but my not-real name is Tron.

05/14/2012 – If I was a dog…

Me: When we get home, we need to walk the dog.

Edison: Why do we need to walk the dog?

Me: Because he can’t use a bathroom like you and me. He has to go potty outside.

Edison: Oh…Well, if I was a dog, I would have a jet pack.

05/07/2012 – Oh the Questions!

Young man was full of questions tonight! Some of them are what I like to call “seed questions”. These are the questions whose answers bring more questions (and more questions and more questions). Below are some of the evening’s most fertile seed questions…

• What is a gutter?
• How does a train work?
• Where does the windshield wiper fluid come from?
• How do spiders make webs?
• Where does the stuff go when you flush?
• How do they get the milk into the cow?
• Where do baby cows come from? (Yes…He opened that door.)

04/20/2012 – Can My Son Read the Word “Radish”?

Tonight, we were watching the learning-to-read cartoon, Super Why?. (Love it!) At one point in the episode, The Super Readers need to get some horses to stop blocking the road. They decide to coax them away with snacks from 3 fruit and vegetable stands. Each stand is piled high with fruits or vegetables, and each one has a sign. Alpha Pig asks which one starts with the letter “R”, and Edison yells “Radishes!”

OK…I would get it if it was an apple or broccoli or something he saw on a regular basis, but radishes? I think I was in my 20’s before I learned what a radish looked like.

04/something/2012 – Waiting in line in the women’s restroom

EDISON: “Mommy? Where do you pee?”

MOMMY: “We pee in the toilets in the bathroom stalls, but someone is in there, so we have to wait.”

EDISON: “No. If girls don’t have wankies, where do you pee?”

MOMMY: [pauses thoughtfully] “What do you think you want for dinner?”

03/21/2012 – The most awkward question in the world

‎”Mom? How do they get the bacon out of the pig?”

02/29/2012 – Things you say when…

“Huh…I don’t know what that was.”
– Things you say when…You are driving with a 3 year-old and a bird hits your car, exploding in a cloud of feathers.

The post Quotes and Anecdotes from a Spirited 3 Year-Old appeared first on Wild Edisons.

I look forward to the adventures that my spirited son will set out on. But, I want to make sure that he has the right messages in his head when he has to make a decision or encounters a problem.

Below are some of the messages that I hope he remembers. Some of them I got from my Mom and Dad’s parent tapes. Some of them I picked up from other people in my life who inspired me.

• Be good to people.
• Take responsibility.
• Ask questions.
• Being positive makes the world a better place.
• Learn everything anyone will teach you.
• Fail fast. Fail forward.
• Nothing is free, but working for it can be rewarding.
• There is real and there is pretend. Either one is fine as long as you know which one it is.
• You can’t hit a home run if you don’t swing.
• Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people.
• Home really is where you hang your hat.
• Sometimes you just have to click on it to see what happens. (From my cousin. :-))

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My friend, River, turned me on to the baritone ukulele which has 4 strings that are tuned just like the highest strings on the guitar. So, if Little Man can get the hang of the ukulele, guitar would be a natural transition.

The best part is…I get to play too! This is my rendition of Richard Thompson’s Galway to Graceland…Ukulele style.

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We have been reading a lot. (Check out my 3 year-old’s favorite books.) 

When I can get him to sit still, I try to get him to do some alphabet tracing activities.

Other than that, we have been cooking, playing games, and practicing cleaning skills. Life could be a lot worse.

– Mom-E

The post Welcome to Spring, Parents of Spirited Kids appeared first on Wild Edisons.

With Santa, there is a fairly standard mythology. Even folks that don’t celebrate Christmas know that Santa has a white beard, delivers presents, and has a bunch of reindeer.

The Easter Bunny is not so standardized. Does he lay the eggs? I does he deliver a basket AND hide eggs? My post on FaceBook yielded great information, some very helpful and some just plain funny.

We decided to let him figure this one out on his own. We asked him questions here and there to figure out what he had learned from his friends and then just played along.

The Friday before Easter, we noticed a bunny in our front yard. Interestingly enough, Edison found his Easter basket hidden under the bush where we saw the rabbit last. Edison seemed to think the bunny left it, so we just went with it.

As for what was in his basket…I struggled with this as well. The last thing a spirited 3 year-old needs is more sugar. But, I realized that just because he got candy didn’t mean he had to eat it all at once. I did try to mix it up with non-editables though. 

I settled on this for his Easter basket:

• A paddle-ball
• Velcro ball and mits
• Bubbles
• Sidewalk chalk
• Raisons
• Hotwheels 
• Assorted plastic eggs with goodies

For the egg hunt, we did:

• Jelly beans
• Chocolate covered acai berries
• Mini chocolates
• Almond clusters
• Spare change

On Easter morning, we watched the movie Hop in which we learned that the Easter bunny poops jelly beans. So, when Edison opened an egg with jelly beans, he yelled, “Look Mom! I got poo!”

Easter afternoon, we had an egg hunt with the neighbors. He had a blast, and never figured out that we were taking eggs from his basket and hiding them again. Afterward, we joined the neighbors for a wonderful dinner.

That is what Easter is about; friends, family, and celebrating the beginning of Spring. I couldn’t have thought of a better way to introduce the holiday.

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Yes, I know. There are children all over that need help. Children who were unlucky enough to be born in war torn nations. Children down the street whose parents don’t have enough money to put healthy food on the table. Children who are neglected. Children with serious health issues. So many children who need so much help. So, why am I interested in one particular child in need who lives half-way around the world?

There are two reasons. First, he is just a few years older than Edison and he has experienced more pain and brutality than many adults will ever see in their lifetime. Second, there is actually something I can do to help.

You see, my friend Aram heard about this boy on CNN about 6 months ago. The story touched him, as it would any parent. But, rather than sitting by and wishing he could do something, he contacted CNN and found out how he could help. He started a non-profit, contacted surgeons who will do the necessary surgeries, and used his own resources to create a site to build awareness. If my friend can do all that, the least I can do is donate a little and help spread the word.

So, I am.

Before you think that this is just some plea for donations, I want to make it clear that you don’t have to give a dime in order to help. Just let others know. You can make a FaceBook post, +1 the site, ask for prayers at church, or just tell a neighbor. With only 6 degrees of separation, chances are you know someone who can help.

Just take a few minutes and visit this site. If you are moved like I was, please spread the word.

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