Book Review: The Big Fat Cow That Goes Kapow, by Andy Griffiths (Square Fish, 2010)

Recommended for ages 4-8

Andy Griffiths knows what little boys like to read. His tween series that kicks off with The Day My Butt Went Psycho was a staple in my home when my older son was in third grade, so when I saw that he had a book for younger readers, I knew my little one, Cutie, would love it. Sure enough, the kid can't even say the title of this book without dissolving into giggles.

Griffiths is featured on the Guys Read website, author Jon Scieszka's initiative to get more boys reading. "Boys read what interests them", according to the Guys Read site - and The Big Fat Cow That Goes Kapow is hilarious enough to get the most reluctant reader chuckling. Written for beginning readers, there are ten stories. Exploding cows, edible cities, a mole named Noel, and a lumpy-headed guy named Fred are only some of the characters kids meet, and their stories are told in the kind of goofy rhyme that would make Dr. Seuss doff his striped hat to Griffiths. Black and white drawings illustrate every page, with simple, funny drawings that will get a laugh out of readers.

Andy Griffiths's website has articles by and about him, links to social networking sites and videos, and more information on his books, workshops and blog.

I need a weekend to recover from my weekend.

I took the bulldog to see Go, Diego, Go Live this weekend at Radio City and he LOVED it. He enjoyed this show even more than he did Sesame Live. It was a cute show, and despite our sitting up in the hinterlands, there's really not a bad seat in Radio City so he could see just fine. He danced, he sang, and he growled like a baby jaguar. So cute.

Before the show, there was a dude dressed like Elmo across the street. Folks, only in New York does Elmo hit you up for a tip before letting your kid take a picture with him. The fact that there's a picture of Bulldog with Elmo posted just shows you that yes, I'm a sucker for my kids. But I'm getting mileage out of the picture, ain't I?

Yesterday, we took Bulldog, Heartbreaker and Heartbreaker's best bud to see Medieval Times for Best Bud's birthday. The kids had a blast! Bulldog was about to grab a sword and run out himself, especially when the 'bad knight' unfairly attacked one of the good knights. The veins in his little neck were standing at attention as he screamed at the guy. Definitely one of those moments when I wished I had a camcorder handy.

This morning, I registered the little Bulldog for Kindergarten. Where did my babies go? How did this one go so quickly? I feel like I just registered Heartbreaker for Kindergarten, but he's in third grade. Already.

I told Bulldog that I wanted to squish him so he'd stay a baby longer. He laughed and told me, "Nawww..." I asked him why he has to get so big, and he said, "That's how God makes me."

Does God prescribe Prozac for mothers who can't handle their babies growing up? No? I call shenanigans.

I remember the day I registered Will for Kindergarten. We ate breakfast at McDonald's (correction: he decided, after sampling a bite from each part of their big breakfast, that I was to eat it - thanks, sweetie; Mommy needed a 20 point breakfast) and I brought him to work with me. I was still at Bookspan, and he was on better terms with my bosses than I was.

Today, I had to bring Alex back to Pre-K after registration was done. I felt a little sad, not being able to spend the day with him. But he was so excited to be back in his classroom with his teachers and friends that it helped salve my maternal guilt a bit.

I think tonight will call for celebrating. And maybe a few sniffles, when they're not looking. Don't want them to think growing up is a bad thing. Just hard on mommies.

True Story

So I've recently reconnected with several of my friends from childhood, which has been great. And, as such, I've raided my old photo albums for cringe- and giggle-worthy pictures of the lot of us to scan and forward to said friends.

I let Will look through the photo albums and after he was done sniggering over '70s fashion (I went to a public high school for Kindergarten), he stopped at my third grade class picture. "Who's that?" he asked, pointing at one particularly tall boy on the top row. It was my first crush, the boy I decided I was going to marry, the Luke to my Leia (Empire hadn't come out yet; I didn't know they were brother and sister - now bugger off). There was a heart drawn around his head in oh-so-girly purple pen - the reason for Will's noticing.

"That was my first crush," I told him. That little bugger laughed at me!! "Oh, MOOOOM," he said.

"What? I was in in third grade!"

"Mom, I'm in third grade, and I wouldn't do that!"

"You're a boy, girls do things like that!"

"Not the girls in my class!" Har, har, har, Will... I'm sure, in 30 years, someone will have a sweetly drawn heart around your picture, too. Just wait and see.

Sesame Live!

Yup, I went. Alex took me, with my mother chaperoning, to Sesame Live this past weekend at the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden (old fogies like myself remember when it was the Felt Forum and wrestling tickets were a helluva lot cheaper!). Alex had a blast; it was his first live showand watching his face light up the second Big Bird wandered out onto the stage was worth the price of admission for me. When SuperGrover took a flying leap onto his face, the kid almost wet himself. What can I say? He's got his mother's love of the slapstick.

Speaking of the most awesome Muppet ever created by Jim Henson, this Sesame plotline was SuperGrover's search for his superness. That's right friends, SuperGrover. It was all about SuperGrover. My most favorite-est of the old skool gang. Between copious Grover, Oscar taking over Elmo's World, and Bert doing a live rendition of the classic "Doing the Pigeon", I daresay I enjoyed the show a smidgeon more than even Alex.

Thanks, Sesame Street, for letting me relive my childhood for just a little while. I think a couple of hundred parents will agree.

Spring, Spring, Where Are Thou, Spring?

I know, it's almost mid-February and here I am, whining about Spring. Especially since we've had a relatively minor winter thus far. Well, feh to that. I'm tired of Winter. I am tired of days ending at 4 in the afternoon. The past two weeks, seeing the sun still peeking out when I emerge from the train station back at home at 5:40 is a huge boost to my poor winter-addled brain.

I would like one big blizzard before spring arrives, though - we could really use a snow day, like back in the old days.

Waking up this morning to see NY1 tell me that it was 11 degrees out - 3, if you factor in the wind chill - made me want to pile another afghan on the bed and go back to sleep. I felt like I had to shake rigor mortis from my limbs to get out of bed and wake the poor kids up for school. We all moved like slugs, not wanting to deal with the bitter wind. I layered those poor boys up so much, the kid from A Christmas Story probably would have pitied them. But we were warm.

We had a fun weekend, which I'll post about when I pull pics off the camera later, because pictures need to be shared. Alex went to his first live show and Will got to have bugs crawl on him (kind of). All will be revealed.

Knitting? I've been knitting like crazy. I am continuing on the cabled scarf KAL for my Yarn Thing group on Ravelry. Somehow, some of the stitches on one end got buggered up for a row or two, but I will be damned if I rip it back and screw up the whole thing, necessitating yet one more frogging. I'm forging ahead.

I've also started the Easy Aran Sock pattern again - and I dropped a freaking stitch on the train this morning. I'll see about rescuing it later, but I swear those heel stitches are so tight, the dropped one has nowhere to go anyway. I will learn how to knit socks!!

On deck - another Super Secret Project, a Skull Hat for Will, some warm socks for the boys if I can ever figure out how to make socks, and gauntlets for Alex, who wants Will's Sweeney Todd gauntlets.

Caught Up!

Okay, with this post, I'm caught up. I hope.

Mike's cousin, Jackie, had a big birthday recently, so we celebrated in style out at a hall in Huntington. I spent the night taking pictures of my kids, niece, and nephew as is normally the case. I was thrilled to finally get full-face pictures of both my niece and my nephew (since they've been able to move, my pictures have been mostly of the backs of their heads or at best, profile).

Kiwi and I spent most of the evening hiding in the bridal suite, looking for TV, and washing our hands in the bathroom. How much fun is it to be a kid?

Kiwi

Alex and Kiwi on the dance floor

Will shakes his maracas in style

Bray, between table-jumping moments

I Cannot BELIEVE I'm Writing This...

::looking around:: Ssshhh.... I have to tell you something. And it's a little... uncomfortable to say. C'mere. No, closer, don't make me say this out loud.

Ready? Okay. God, I can't believe I'm going to write these words.

High School Musical is pretty darned catchy. You can thank Will for this latest brainwashing.

Unless you've been under a rock (or possibly don't read PerezHilton or any other gossip blogs - or don't have kids), you must have heard of HSM by now. Will, my 8-year old who wears skulls and listens to Iron Maiden and Twisted Sister, has fallen under the HSM lure. I'm really quite happy about it, actually - it's nice to see kids enjoying something made for kids, rather than having them desperate to grow up and watch things made for grownups. I secretly love when he asks me for KidzBop CDs because I want my 8 year old to be 8, you know?

So I recorded both HSM and HSM2 the past week, and decided I was going to sit down and watch them with him. Well, I watched HSM2; but we'll probably watch HSM together too, since that is apparently even better. And I ended up really digging it. Now I've got that "All for One" song stuck in my head. At least it's catchy.

The Littlest Ramones Fan?

About a week ago, I was watching the Too Tough to Die: A Tribute to Johnny Ramone documentary. Will and Alex, who were going about their business, recognized some of the songs and asked, "What's that?" I told them that it was a show about the "Hey Hey, Let's Go" guys - yes, Blitzkrieg Bop is a popular selection when I'm the car - and left it at that. Apparently, I've given birth to a new generation of Ramones fans. Will has been asking me to download Ramones music to his MP3 player and last night, Mike called me at the Parents' Association meeting to inform me that Alex was walking around last night yelling, "Lobo-to-my! Lobo-to-my!"

You really have to love when your 4-year old digs Teenage Lobotomy.

Two Down!

Alex, ready to take on the world in his TMNT backpack today

Will and Alex at the playground for Will's first day, yesterday

I've got two kids in school. It feels so weird to say that.

Will started third grade yesterday - I think the bloom is off the rose, so to speak. He's happy to be around his friends again, but I'm not sure how much he loves school. I think he's turning into a 'dude'. I'm a little worried, what with this being the first year of the state tests that our NYC Public school kids must endure, so I'll have to sit tight and brace for the rough ride. I'm hoping I'm worrying for naught.

Alex, on the other hand, LOVES school. Walking with him today, I asked him if I could cry. He told me no, because he'd "be home later!" First into his classroom, he greeted his teachers with a happy "GOOD MORNING!", happily chose his own cubby, and proudly displayed his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles backpack for them. Then he put his picture on the attendance board and ran to the circle time area to read. I barely got a kiss on the side of my ear because his new buddy, Jason, had arrived.

It's very strange, after being home for 9 months, to suddenly have 2 1/2 hours to oneself. I went back to Will's school to help escort new kindergarten parents and kids to the classrooms, and then took a nice, long walk. I figured if I rushed home just to sit in silence, I'd be pissed at myself for wasting two hours on a beautiful day. So I walked into Forest Hills, ended up at Barnes & Noble with a $25 gift card from my CafeMom Secret Sister (mwah! Love ya!), and browsed the crafting titles with an intensity normally reserved for parent-teacher conferences.

I ended up getting three kids' books and a free Halloween tote bag. Hey, I've got $6.50 left on the gift card, I'll get a new magazine; maybe the next issue of Interweave Knits.

I saw a chapter book for Will that looked interesting - and honestly, anything that keeps him reading these days, when it's getting tougher and tougher, is a book I'm going for. I've got the first in a new series, Fred and Anthony's Escape From the Netherworld. It's definitely going for the Captain Underpants audience, a couple of years older. And it claims to have "Ghosts! Monsters! Blood! Guts!" on the cover, so I'll take it. Wish me luck.

Alex, for whom reading and being read to is still a pleasure (please, please, PLEASE stay that way!), got two books (well, I figure he and Will could share one). Max's Halloween, which is a cute board book featuring Max from Max and Ruby, who Alex loves. Very cute stuff. I also saw a book by Carl Reiner, Tell Me a Scary Story - But Not Too Scary. It even came with a CD of Carl Reiner reading the book, with sound effects. For $7.99 and the chance at getting a free tote bag, it sealed the deal. The book is a home run with both boys, by the way - I've played the CD for Alex three times today, and Will's just put it in now. Score, baby!

I've finished off two books myself, but I'll blog more about them later. I'm wiped and I still have to get one kid out of the bath and put one in. And work out. And iron. I think I should rename myself Cinderella.

The Best Part of Being a Mom

I was on CafeMom yesterday, and one of the questions posed was "What's the best part of being a mom?" As usual, I couldn't pick just one thing, so here's my response.

What's the best part about being a mom? Oh, that's easy. It's all about the hugs. You know which ones I'm talking about, those full body (literally - when they wrap their arms around your neck and their legs around your waist), squeeze you 'til you're both of out breath, giggly hugs. Or the sleepy hugs, the ones where they just sling an arm around your neck when you come in to kiss them goodnight just one more time. Usually accompanied with a crooked, sleepy smile and a murmured, "Love you, Mommmmm....zzzz..."

Or is it the gummy smiles of a new baby? Those are really good, too. Those first smiles, when you just roll your eyes at everyone who tries to burst your motherhood bubble by telling you that it's "just gas" and think, "What do you know about my kid? I just carried him/her inside my body for nine months, I think I know a real smile when I see it, thanks very much." I particularly love the ones that start out slowly, just like sunrise. A little smirk, slowly parting into a half-moon of lips, and ending with a full-on, toothless expression of pure joy just because you're standing there. That's the best part.

Or is it when you and your kids love the same things? When I sit next to my all-too-rapidly-approaching-8-year-old son, who wants me to sit with him and watch Star Wars: Episode 3 with him again because he knows that's the only one I consider even worth my time outside of the original Star Wars trilogy; the ones George Lucas originally conceived before a plethora of money apparently made him insane (Will disagrees, but what does he know? He's been tainted by CGI technology...) Or when we love the same parts of Lord of the Rings, and we scream at Gandalf together to watch out, that Balrog isn't really dead... Yeah, that's it. That rocks.

Oh, but wait... how about when your preschooler comes to you with a book, curls up in your lap, presents you with your favorite - Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus - and says, "Reading time is cuddle time, Mommy!" And proceeds to sit back in your lap like an easy chair, waiting for you to begin in your best Pigeon voice, and tell him the story about the Pigeon's meltdown. That's the best.

Um... but then there's when you're helping out at your kid's school book fair on your birthday, and he has his entire class wish you "Happy Birthday, William's Mommy," as they pass by the library on their way down to lunch. That's a tough one to beat...

Okay, just give me a while to think this through... I'll come up with the one thing, honest. Just give me a sec...

Garrrr!

Looks like Captain Jack Sparrow's crew has invaded my living room!

First Hokie KAL Scarf

Here's a shot of the first scarf I've done for the VA Tech KAL I'm involved with. It's the same yarn I used for my mom's collared wrap about a year ago, so it's a fine (DK weight) yarn I used size 6 needles on. It looks nice, I think, and my mom will be the recipient of the first scarf.

I was about to start another scarf when I realized I have way too many projects taking up needles that I need for more scarves. So I finished a sleeveless sweater from an Family Circle Easy Knitting pattern I started last month, just because it was 3/4 of the way done and I could feel accomplished. I finished it and blocked it last night; it's currently sitting pinned to my ironing board in my bedroom waiting to dry so I can seam it up. Yes, you read that right; I will actually seam it up. It's a new me.

I even got more work accomplished on a cute U-neck vest I am knitting myself. I got the pattern from the first issue of Knit.1 mag about a year or so ago, and fell in love with it. Of course, I didn't buy the yarn for it until earlier this year when I used my birthday gift card from Stacey, but hey - I bought it, right? It's a little more than halfway done, but of course, I need more yarn because I underbought. Argh. And that's the project that's taking up the two needles I need for more scarves. I think I'll just grit my teeth and use straight needles to keep the momentum going, scarfwise.

I have to split now, I have to go to Sears to get Will a new shirt for his Communion photos at 1 p.m. today. And I just saw that I have a Communion workshop for parents at Church from 11 to 1 today. So I have to bring Alex, which will be BIG fun. Gah!

The Joys of Having Boys...

...no one has to know I'm secretly excited about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie... I can pawn it off on them

...a reason to bust out my old Star Wars figures to play with

...no whining when I want to watch The Dark Ages on History Channel (well, except from 3-year old Alex, who takes it as a personal affront when Noggin is off the air)

...someone to have in-depth discussions about X-Men with, as well as fairly amusing debates about Justice League

It's good to be a geek mommy of boys.

Young Mr. Roosevelt

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, young Teddy Roosevelt, the Rough Rider:



Will had to do a Herculean biography project for school, culminating in his dressing up like the person of his choice and giving a presentation. After seeing A Night at the Museum, Will was all about Teddy Roosevelt - and hey, a New Yawker could do worse, right? He was adorable and awesome, and I'm gushing as usual. :-)

Batter Up!

Will's officially a Little Leaguer. He has his first team practice this coming Saturday. Can't wait! Now, to make sure to curb Mike when he starts playing games...