Meet Fluffy

But first, some "cookie" talk...



These would have been choc chip cookies made from scratch, if not for a slightly more e-savvy Ben shutting down my computer before I could size up the recipe. I was left with literally no cookies, no clue, nor trail. And if not for my "backup" boxes of Pillsbury's Funfetti cakemix, we wouldn't have made these "hot dog cookies", as Ben called them. He had deliberately rolled the dough into sausages, rather than into balls! Hence, these oval-shaped ones, instead of the usual round outcome.

A nice twist, and that was the one thing we did differently, for this my favourite (by now you'd have known) "shortcut" cookie that works with choc chips or dried fruit like cranberry and raisin. We don't always do it the Funfetti style though, preferring to leave out the frosting, because I know it'll mean more cleaning up for the teachers to do, for kids Ben's age or younger. Also, there was just enough time for Ben and me to be done with the simple baking, before we had to scoot -- to go fetch Jon from school!



Star of the Day
So, besides these cookies, did Ben bring me for his third Star of the Day? "But mommy, you are too big!" he changed his mind, when I reminded him that it was his suggestion to begin with, other than that parent helpers are especially welcome on such days.

"Oh, but you can't fit into my backpack! You can't fit into the mystery bag!". Excuses, more excuses! And you know why?

Because... not me, but Ben brought his daddy instead! And Ben couldn't be more pleased! It was super nice that Vern, who's got his own really important deadlines and schedules to worry about, made time nonetheless to be there. A few other daddies had made their appearance, too, and Ben had hinted to his daddy that he should go visit the class one day soon.

So, what else did Ben bring? For the real Show-n-Tell, I mean.

It was Fluffy, his toy penguin and souvenir from our Chicago trip. The one thing that he fell for instantly, when ordinarily he, nor Jon, would go for plush animals.



But when Ben set his eyes on this furry creature, he started naming it right away, even before we said he could have it. Now souvenir stores aren't the place I like to take the boys -- think the "Gimme" syndrome, and so many breakable things, I almost knocked over some glass with my backpack! Before kids, though, when it was just the husband and me travelling light (lighter at least!), I was silly to be obsessed with having to pick out souvenirs for our immediate families, colleagues, and closer friends. So much so that Vern would have to tell me off, and remind me that sightseeing should take precedence over shopping.

So anyway, it's been Fluffy this, and Fluffy that, since we got back! In between other scenarios for pretend play, Ben and sometimes together with Jon will treat us to a penguin show. And if the penguin could "fly" from one end of the couch to the next, and better yet, over Ben's head, it would get a reward of 'live' fish out of a jar. One time, Jon slipped up, and said, "Well done, Ben! , when it should have been, "Well done, Fluffy!". Haha! Looks like not just the penguin's the one that is well-trained!

More Penguin Fun
So then, we've had some fun there, and while there isn't any snow here yet, the boys are getting a piece of Antartica action here and there...

And not just from their all-time fave Bear Grylls, in "Man vs Wild", but also from Bindi, in "Bindi the Jungle Girl", daughter of the late Steve Irwin, as she explores the animal kingdom from a kid's point of view, that Ben takes to readily!

There's more good penguin stuff, some just lying around in the library. I happened on "Augustine" by Melanie Watt, a charming tale of how young Augustine (named after Renoir whose first name, is Pierre-Auguste) and her parents moved from the South Pole to the North Pole, and it was Augustine's artwork that broke the ice for her and her new friends in school. And if you look closely, the illustrations in the book -- Augustine's artwork -- are "interpretations" of the works of renowned artists in the likes of Renoir, Monet, Picasso, etc. So his teacher, Miss Lisa, for example, bears an uncanny resemblance to Mona Lisa, and Augustine's bedroom, just like Van Gogh's!

I didn't know before, but this book is said to be a possible good introduction to art for young children, besides helping them understand changes in their lives. Real penguins do not live in the North Pole though, and that's the factual inaccuracy that the book was criticized for. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere, according to this Wikipedia entry. I always assumed they lived just anywhere in the cold of the Pole!

There's of course, also the "Happy Feet" movie -- again, it was something I'd just come across at the library, before there's "Surf's Up" which we haven't got to. But the close-ups of the huge sea creatures going after Mumble in "Happy Feet", frightened Ben, and I couldn't leave him to watch the DVD alone with Jon.

Ben's at this stage where even unfriendly characters in a children's book, make him want us to skip the story totally. Sometimes assuring him that there's going to be a happy ending helps. And just last month, there was also this cool "Max and Ruby" play that his class got to watch, and I'd gone along as one of the parent-chaperones (but that one was more play, rather than work! ;p), and Ben clung onto me all throughout the Blue Tarantula scene when it was creeping and crawling behind Max's bedroom wall. A figment of Max the bunny's own imagination, as a result of a book by that title, that his sister Ruby had read to him for naptime.

Only one other classmate said out loud he was scared, but he took it better than Ben. And if you ask Ben now, he will still say the Blue Tarantula is "too scary", although the play in itself was a big treat! How times have changed, I don't think I got to watch a real play like this -- acted out by professionals, with great props and a multi-scene plot at that, till I was way older!

Ben's Happy Feet
Finally, here's Ben's own version of Happy Feet -- with a recognizable face, body, and limbs!



He'd done it as part of a simple cut-and-paste kind of DIY storybook we took a few minutes to work on, yesterday, using pictures from a store brochure. He had me write down "My Toy Book" as the title, and because it was a picture of an ambulance and fire engine he stuck on the cover, his story started out like this, when I asked him to tell it to me:
Once upon a time, there was an ambulance and fire engine.

The next page was a camera, and Ben said...
This is a camera... to take pictures of the house on fire.

And then, came his drawing of Happy Feet...
Happy Feet had to stay out because he didn't want to be burned!

And on Ben went for the next few pages, till it was
The End!

Now, isn't that something? I absolutely love it that this is the age when imagination just takes flight, and yes, even penguins can fly, if you think they can!

I think we're playing supermarket tomorrow! Want to play? ;p