May 6 - Mother's Day Crafting

I'm writing this a bit late in case my wife read it early... I didn't want to ruin the surprise. But now that Mother's Day has come and gone, let's talk about what we made! 

As you may recall, the past few days we were designing and making our own superhero costumes. Well, part of the reasoning behind that was that I wanted to let my wife know that she's my hero, and all she's doing to keep our family safe and cared for is appreciated. So I wanted to make a hero shirt for her as well. First step was designing the card: 

Longtime readers of the blog know how important swans are to us. I was pretty happy with how the Superman S could become a swan, I haven't seen that before.  

While I did that, the kids worked on their own versions of Mommy as a superhero, Zephyr using markers:​

Zephyr also drew my mom and grandma on cards we made for them. 

And Lyric worked on his with watercolors: 

That's him as Robin with Mommy as a superhero. You might have to squint to see it, but it's there.  

Then I cut out the pattern and sewed it to a shirt I got at American Apparel. 

Okay, I got help with the sewing from my grandmother... Thanks Grandma Noonie! 

I'm not expecting my wife to wear the shirt out so much, but now she can join the club and play with the kids when they put on their own superhero shirts. And isn't reinforcing the bond between a mother and her sons what Mother's Day is all about? 

The correct answer, as it turns out, is "no". Mother's Day is also about getting the moms in your life flowers. Fortunately last weekend, Zephyr found a swan vase at an estate sale he went to with his Mumsie, so we went out and got an orchid for it.  

Smooth dude.  

A fairly successful Mother's Day, I think. Hopefully the creative effort behind it makes it that much more special... 

May 5 - Superhero Costume Design

Continuing yesterday's work today, I got on starting to create the shirts we designed.

Crocodile Man! 

I kind of got caught in a hole doing Lyric's arm scales with a laundry marker... it took a long time and ending up looking a bit too subtle. I decided to switch over to sharpie for the belt. I'll probably have to sharpie the arm scales as well, I just hope that the internet is right about it being laundry-safe. I think the crocodiles came out pretty good, though! Next step is sewing on the felt.

Kind of based on the Flash, but I think it ended up looking more like Doug's friend Skeeter. Which is okay by me.  

I also made a quickie lightning T-shirt design for Lyric, since both Zephyr and I have lightning shirts and Lyric wants to join our club. If this works out I might just make more symbols from felt and apply them to shirts he already has. That may be a quick and easy way to make his wardrobe more superheroic.

I did a little work on Zephyr's design this morning as well, but that's still in development. While I was doing all of this, the kids were playing with the Pokemon stuff they made at the last cardboard toy shop. They would come over and check in on my progress every so often. It wasn't the most involving morning activity for them, but at least a) I was modeling creativity for them, and b) they were involved with something we had made in a previous morning activity. I'll take it.

May 4 - Superhero Drawing Studio

HYPOTHESIS: If we let my youngest son design his own clothes, he'll want to wear them.

Let me explain that a bit further: I have two sons who are both great, but very different from each other. Zephyr, my oldest, is a very snazzy dresser who loves to wear stylish clothes. He likes wearing a tie, for example, and he always has. Lyric, my youngest, not so much. He fights me constantly when we get dressed in the morning, refusing to wear lots of clothes we have for him (many of which are hand-me-downs from Zephyr). Where Zephyr likes fancy things, Lyric likes superhero clothing, and will (as another example) wear a mask and cape for a shockingly long period of time.

The other day as I was getting Lyric dressed in something fancy, he told me "I just don't like wearing fancy things". I asked him why not, and he said, "I don't know... I was just born that way". I'm not sure if he knew how affecting that answer was to me, but it really got me thinking. I want Lyric to be happy being who he thinks he is, and I want him to feel comfortable being the person he feels like he should be. I don't want to impose my own idea of who he should be onto him, I want him to come to be the person he feels like he's meant to be.  As a dad, of course I'm going to shape him in certain ways, but I feel like it's my job as a dad to not just raise kids to be what I want them to be, but to raise kids to be the best possible version of who they actually are. So I decided I'd try to work with him to make some new superhero clothes based on superheroes he makes up.

The first step would be to draw out the designs for the costumes, which is why I scheduled this very special episode of Superhero Drawing Studio.

PROCEDURE: We talked this morning about which made up superheroes we wanted to draw... Zephyr made up an alien named Zemore on the spot, and Lyric said he wanted to make a drawing of Crocodile man, a superhero he's made up before. I took a piece of paper and gave one to Zephyr, and drew an outline for Lyric so we could talk about how the costume would be designed.

Lyric said he wanted two crocodiles in the middle, and we looked up crocodiles on our iPad as a reference. I started sketching based on his instructions, trying to place how he wanted the crocodiles to look. He wanted two crocodiles but also wanted a symbol in the middle like Batman, so I came up with a way to make the interior circle formed by the negative space of the crocodiles:

And then from there it was about figuring out the color patterns. Again, I did the coloring here, letting Lyric act as the foreman... his drawing skill is coming along nicely, but this time I wanted to concentrate on him ideating more than using fine motor skills.

And of course while we were busy doing that, Zephyr was going to town making his drawing:

So that was phase one. Today I went to American Apparel and my local fabric store to get shirts and felt and fabric markers, and tomorrow we'll start constructing some new costumes. Stay tuned!

May 3 - Poetry for Prizes

HYPOTHESIS: forced memorization is tough for kids but worth it, since it teaches them discipline 

PROCEDURE: Today we got back on learning La Di Da Di, as I'm looking to get that into a place where we can shoot a video for it pretty soon. It should be noted the kids did not want to do it... Despite the potential prize, Poetry For Prizes is not their favorite activity. I'm not surprised by that though. It's certainly frustrating. They both put up resistance, but the torturous knowledge that a toy was just a few words away got them back trying. 

We're really close to finishing the song... Zephyr asked me to write it out for him and I could almost fit the rest on one page: 

Admittedly a very full page, but still. The green section is Lyric's, the black is all Zephyr. 

The good news is that they can do the first part (which they did at the Talent Show in February) pretty flawlessly. Zephyr kind of knew the rest, but it was clear there were lots of gaps he needed to fill in. He kept asking me if that was good enough for a prize, but today I didn't give him (or his brother) one. we might return to try again later today, but as for now they still have to give me a good take to get the prize. Delay of gratification is in itself gratification. 

Zephyr has said that next Poetry For Prizes he's going to test me on a poem. It's probably "Nothing gold can stay" by Robert Frost, which his mother taught him a few years ago. I'm excited for that, we'll see how it goes. These "Saturnalia experiments" (where students get to become the teacher) seem to be really good for the kids... 

May 2 - Chess Puzzles

HYPOTHESIS: Having kids teach each other helps lessons stick. 

PROCEDURE: For the start of Chess Puzzles this morning, as we've done the past few months, I quizzed Lyric (my youngest) on the six chess pieces. He got 5 of 6 again (still a little tough to remember the bishop!) - no progress, but no steps back, so I'll take it. For what it's worth, he was calling a knight a knight (instead of "horse") and a rook a rook (instead of a "castle"). 

But then I switched it up a bit by having Zephyr (my oldest) teach Lyric how each piece moves. The responsibility thrilled Zephyr, and Lyric seemed to pay pretty close attention. I think it was a simple trick that reinforced the lesson for both kids. 

Then Zephyr and I set up for a game.  

Zephyr contemplates his first move.  

I was impressed by Zephyr's focus this time... He seemed to pick up how to interpose with pawns since last we played.  

The main lesson I think I end up teaching Zephyr with Chess Puzzles is that a King in check can only do three things:  

1. capture the checking piece
2. interpose another piece between the checking piece and the King, or
3. have the King flee

We go over those three options every time I put his King in check, and I think it's starting to sink in. Today, we ended on this position: 

Was it checkmate? We investigated.  

As I got him in this position, we went over all the flight squares for the King and showed what piece would be covering that square, determining that yes, this was checkmate. Just in time as we had to leave for school.  

RESULTS: as I said, I could see some progress in Zephyr's game this morning, and Lyric paying attention to how the pieces moved was a big step forward for him. More to come, but once again, very happy with what we achieved.  

May 1 - New Monthly Schedule!

Okay, a bit late here, but BOOM! It's May!

A few new things in the works for this month:

• We'll be making superhero costumes on the 5th as part of an extended Superhero riff, which will hopefully give Lyric some more clothing options with which he feels comfortable.
• There's some crafting on the 6th for Mother's Day on the 8th... working on something special for that!
• My kids have been tussling recently (brothers), but I'm going to try an experiment on the 19th: I'm going to try and teach them the basics of wrestling, so they can have a set of rules to tussle with...
• On the 30th, in honor of performance artist Marina Abramovic's half birthday, we're going to try something REALLY WEIRD. You will want to see it.

Stay tuned, Morning Funsters!

May 1 - Trying something new

Well, still traveling and without Wi-Fi, so posting this month's schedule and editing THERE IS A MONSTER IN THE PLAYGROUND didn't come to fruition. But a new schedule exists, and will be posted VERY soon. 

Just downloaded the iPhone Squarespace blogging app and trying it out now. If you're reading this it worked, I guess.  

Trying to add a picture now... Let's see if that works. Here's a drawing of Batman and Robin Lyric did today... 

I know it was an accident, but he kind of nailed Batman's expression, right? 

And Zephyr just gave us a family dance lesson. Here's the sign up: 

Mommy signed up on another sheet. He sort of plastered the house. 

April 28 - Filmmaking Day 4

Today we (finally) did the opening credit sequence for THERE IS A MONSTER IN THE PLAYGROUND. It wasn't easy, and it took us a few tries, but we got there.

Zephyr unveiling part of the credits.

There's almost certainly a way for me to add graphics to these 360 videos, but until I figure it out, it's going to be a very Dogme 95-type affair. I'm hoping at least these credits can take advantage of the form and let viewers read as they turn around.

We're going to be traveling tomorrow, but I'm going to bring along my computer so hopefully we can edit this movie together over the weekend and design a soundtrack. Plus we have to make next month's schedule! I have some big ideas for that as well, stay tuned.

April 27 - Filmmaking Day 3

So last night I sung my heart out for Prince for my Requiem Karaoke Club (which meets to celebrate the lives of great pop stars who passed too soon), and I was exhausted this morning. The kids were also pretty occupied making Pokémon drawings, so I just let that happen and took it easy.

I drew Pikachu for Lyric to color in, and he did a pretty awesome job staying inside the lines. And then he drew his own Luxio next to that. Not too shabby! I see what he's trying to do there.

Meanwhile, Zephyr drew his own Pikachu, and is making "Pokémon Station" signs for something he's working on...

Also, since it's Spring Break and the kids can watch TV and use the iPad in the morning, Zephyr took the opportunity to teach Lyric how to play the INCREDIBLY GORGEOUS game Monument Valley, and it was pretty fantastic to watch.

I know it's for a video game, but I support pretty much anything that gives one kid a chance to teach something to the other one.

I plan to get back on the filmmaking tip tomorrow.

April 26 - Filmmaking (Location Scouting)

Today for filmmaking we needed to lay the groundwork for an upcoming 360 film we're making (for a rap video about the Brooklyn Bridge) and the first step was to do a location scout. So this morning, bright and early, we took out the camera for a few test shots at locations in the neighborhood.

Zephyr took the camera stand, to get a little of that PA experience.

We tried a few spots out for the video shoot... This first shot allows us to get in both the Brooklyn Bridge and the Peck Slip School where the kids who did the song (and my kids) go...

I'm not sure how these 360 videos work as an embed. You might need to go to Youtube to see them right.

These next two locations were both on the waterfront... pretty sweet bridge view!

Right about about here is when Zephyr asked me if the next location we could scout could be home. I nodded sagely... he had truly picked up something about location scouting already! We headed home and relaxed a bit more... Spring Break!

And then finally I went solo to the bridge itself to try out a shot on there. It was drizzling a bit, so a raindrop got on the lens. I'm not sold on the shot for the video, honestly. Probably more trouble than it's worth, as we'd want to shoot it really early to avoid a crowd. I'm not sure if the third graders who did the song are early morning types like my kids, but probably a safe assumption that they are not. Shooting with people too young to drink coffee can be its own challenge.

April 25 - Filmmaking Day One

Quick note just to say it was a low-result morning. It's the first day of Spring Break so the kids were being pretty lazy watching Animaniacs (which they just discovered on Netflix) and I followed suit. Do I feel guilty? Sort of, yes.

But I did find the things we need to FINALLY finish the credits for the 360 film from last time, and made some plans to do some location scouting tomorrow morning with the boys for a video we'll be shooting with other kids from their school. Stay tuned.

April 22 - Poetry for Prizes

HYPOTHESIS: Poetry recitation is a memory challenge young kids can accomplish if they try hard

PROCEDURE: we kept working on La Di Da Di this morning... Last time, Lyric opted out, but this time I focused on him, trying to get him to learn the "hypnotize" singing verse. We sang it together a bunch, and then:

For Zephyr, since tomorrow is Passover at my Grandma's house, we went over the first of the four questions. This is probably his last year doing it (as next year Lyric, as the youngest, gets the call) so I thought it'd be pretty cool if this year Z just pushed aside the transliteration and was like "nah". But learning a poem in another language is hard! I remember the festival of pain that was me trying to memorize my haftorah. Ugh. However, Zephyr stepped up to the challenge.

For prizes this time I gave them some old Power Lord action figures I had... Two really cool ones, Disguyzor and Drrench. I'm a little tempted to see what they're going for on eBay, but I strongly believe if you're collecting toys and you don't give them to your children when they're old enough to play with them, you're doing it wrong.

The cool thing about these guys is that they really feel alien. I think they were designed by Wayne Barlow, but I'm not sure.

RESULTS: pretty smashing success! Maybe we'll film La Di Da Di next week instead of our Spring Break romp...

April 21 - Action Figure Epic (cancelled)

Today was supposed to be Action Figure Epic, where I play toys with the kids and plot out an adventure for them, but once again (like last month) it didn't come together. Playing with toys as an adult is actually very hard, and coming up with a compelling story for action figures is a lot of pressure. I've done it well before and I intend to do it again, but today it wasn't coming to me.

It might have been more pressing if the kids weren't acting so darn cute and creative this morning on their own. I found Zephyr reading "If you give a pig a pancake" to his younger brother this morning, and I mean, that's the sort of precious moments you want in a Hummel figurine or something.

For real, this is the sort of reason to have more than one kid. It's like a ridiculous amount of work to get to this place, but then one day you find yourself there and you're like "yeah".

And then they wanted to continue work on yesterday's Cardboard Toy Shop Pokèmon display case/battle arena/castle, so we did more there, using duct tape to give it a quick and easy paint job.

Yes there is a fruit bowl-type Pokémon. Shut up. Still to come: Sharpie detailing.

So kind of a bust on today's activity but a sweet continuation of yesterday's. Works for me.

April 20 - Cardboard Toy Shop

HYPOTHESIS: Kids can make their own toys out of recycled materials from around the house.

PROCEDURE: Zephyr and Lyric have been swept up in POKEMON FEVER, and today for Cardboard Toy Shop Zephyr wanted to make a house for the modeling clay pokemon figures he's been making.

Some of the modeling clay Pokemon Zephyr and Lyric have been making. I'm not sure on the names, but they all have 'em. The one in the front is a bird of some kind, and the rainbow one that kind of looks like a Cronenbergian ear mite was made by Lyric.

The project would be based on a cardboard box, and made out of a cardboard box. The problem with just using a cardboard box, however, is that we'd want to decorate the outside of the box. So I disassembled the box and reassembled it inside out, held together by tape.

Before.

After.

Now we'll have a blank canvas to draw on, probably with sharpies and tape.

While I was doing this, the kids were making more Pokémon. "Pokémon", incidentally, I believe is the correct plural form of "Pokémon".

We ran out of time to actually start decorating the box this morning, but we'll do that over the next few days.

RESULTS: Ask me again when I'm absolutely sick of Pokémon, but it felt pretty good this morning. At least it will be a place to put their tiny sculptures!