Little People Math

Remember all those cute little wooden people I painted for Christmas? Well, they've come in handy recently!

We checked out a random book from the library which incorporated some basic multiplication into the story, dividing 12 children into several different groups in order to play different games. It got my brain whirring (whoa, that was an interesting sensation!), and I came up with an idea to do math with Melinda... with the little wooden people. She's shown a lot of interest in math, after all, and figured out enough to be able to do some addition, subtraction, and even basic multiplication, once I explained to her how it worked.

We had 10 that I painted, and managed to track down a few of the original solid-colored people that came with the car (Alex likes to carry them all over the house- their heads in his mouth!!- so they're never all in one place). In all, we grabbed 12 little wooden people, just like the story worked with.

We lined them all up in a row, and started making equal groups. First we did 6 groups of 2 (6x2), then 4 groups of 3 (4x3), then 3 groups of 4 (3x4), and 2 groups of 6 (2x6), finishing up with 12x1. Each time, of course, would equal 12 people. She got so excited by splitting every person into equal groups.

And then, gasp, I even did some very basic algebra with her, since my mind was so focused on equaling. Woah, am I crazy or what?! I did it like this:
Here Melinda, we have a group of 3 people here. This next spot is blank. And then on this side, we have a group of 6 people. How many people do we need to put in the blank spot to equal 6? 3 + how many equals 6?
She caught on pretty quickly, and generally wasn't making mistakes. It was kinda fun!

And then we veered away from real math, and just started playing sorting games with all those people, instead. Who knew I made them so versatile? I certainly didn't plan it this way. They split easily into groups of boys/girls, or groups by color similarities (blues with other shades of blue, purples with pinks, etc.), or groups by shade of hair color. And then lined them up like a rainbow. Neat.

It was such a good time, apparently, that she begged me all day today to repeat our math activity, making sure those people were gathered and ready to go when I was finally ready. We didn't play quite so long with the people this time around, because suddenly we were talking about numbers.

And I made a big chart of numbers. Oh, boy, did I! I wrote out every single number up through 230, in lines of 1-10, going down in colums. She had a lot of fun counting along with me, and noticing the different patterns the chart of numbers created (like the diagonal line with 11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, and 99). I would have kept going... but I ran out of room on the page. ;) I can't remember the last time I wrote so many numbers at once. Dare I say it was sort of cathartic?? Not that I needed the emotional cleanse, oh no - after all, I got a full night's restful sleep, didn't you?

Oh wait, no... no, I didn't get a whole night's restful sleep. How could I be so silly? No, of course, last night was the night that Alex randomly decided to wake up at 11:30pm, and stay awake all the way until 2:30am. I sat, laid, walked, bounced, anything I could think of, and I did it silently, in the dark, for THREE HOURS. He wasn't upset at all, for the longest time, just awake and probably wanting to play. When he changed from maddeningly-just-on-the-edge-of-sleep (which he "entertained" me with for a full hour) to "I'm-tired-of-being-still,-time-to-play!" at 2am in the morning, I gave up with a giant huff. I was too tired to hold my eyes open anymore, and I was getting mad beyond reason. So I left the room, him screaming, and Jesse got to deal with the fallout. Alas, but the couch gave me no relief, either, since I could still hear the crying, and a dripping faucet, and a ticking clock.... And even when he was finally asleep and I got to go back to bed, I suddenly couldn't sleep, and laid there for another half hour. Oh, the joy of late nights, especially when you assumed you were out of that stage....

Anyway... that's all a giant tangent I didn't intend to make. But it just goes to emphasize just how nice it was to write all those numbers today. Mindless repetition, nice clean strokes of a pen on a big white page...

Ahh, good ol' math. How fun you can be when you aren't a 4-page calculus problem, or an unbalanced checkbook! Good times.

A Belated Christmas Entry

I could be sneaky and back-date this post so it looks like I actually took the time to write it during the holidays. But I won't. I'll simply admit to the fact that I allowed myself to be lazy and relax as much as possible during the Christmas season, and I don't regret it. Except for now when I'm trying to break out of the laziness and get back into the normal swing of things. That part isn't so fun. But we all need a good rest every now and then, don't we? And what better time to take that rest than during a celebration of the birth of the Savior? I never did like birth to be a chaotic, noisy thing, anyway. Much better to enjoy the occasion quietly. :)

Anyway....

We didn't do our typical drive-around-looking-at-Christmas-lights thing this year. The one where we usually crank up the Christmas music in our car, while we sip on a 7-11 Slurpee because of a random whim we had several years ago which started a tradition, all while driving around randomly, sometimes getting ourselves lost, looking at all the nice and lovely ways people decorated their homes with lights. Nope, didn't do that this year.

Instead, we went down to the Washington, D.C. temple. Which is actually in Kensington, Maryland. But close enough, right? Just after Thanksgiving, they put up a ton of Christmas lights on the grounds, mostly right around the visitor's center. There's also a live Nativity (I really pity the couples who participated in this during the frigid nights we had recently!!), and musical performances, and lots of wonderfully decorated Christmas trees inside the visitor's center. In years past, there was also a large collection of Nativity scenes from all over the world, but this year, in it's place, was a gallery of Christ-centered photographs. They were photographed in the style of paintings... but they were with real people... I liked the general idea behind them, and the sentiment, but I definitely prefer an actual painting to a re-enacted type of photograph.

But there I go getting off track, again.

We made the ~1hr drive down to the temple. I always love going down there, and seeing it suddenly come into view as you come around a bend of the highway. It's really an amazing sight, and such a beautiful temple. If I'm not careful, it may yet become my favorite temple of all! Gasp!! How will I ever manage to say goodbye to Baltimore if I keep falling in love with pieces of life around here?!

It was a pretty cold night. We intended, as I blogged about a couple weeks ago, to go on a Monday night. However, that particular Monday night would have been absolutely freezing. It was in the low 20's outside, with a very strong wind, so it would have felt much closer to 10 degrees. We decided we weren't up for that, so we waited until Tuesday. Which was a wise decision - because, while Tuesday was still cold, in the low 30's, there wasn't much of a wind at all. And the kids still complained about the cold, but at least it wasn't so bad that we were able to wander around outside and actually enjoy the lights we went all that way to see. :)

The lights are just so awesome. I love the way they wrap them around every tree and bush, and even add extra little flower-shaped light configurations on the ground like it's springtime or something. There are so many colors, and then there's even the reflection pond to add a little more sparkle to the night. I love to see it, it's all so wonderful. But it was also very crowded when we went.

I was hoping to get into the musical performance, featuring Jenny Oaks Baker. But there was a line wrapping and weaving all throughout the visitor's center... and with three kids, there was no way I was going to stand in a line going nowhere for half an hour. Or more. So we wandered in and out, enjoyed the lights, watched a short Christ-centered film, saw the live Nativity.... I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by how Melinda and Jacob liked the Nativity. I really would have thought they'd be bored. There wasn't much to watch, after all, just a man and a woman dressed like Joseph and Mary, with a narration of the scriptural account of Christ's birth. But they stood and watched it as if it were the most interesting thing they've ever seen. That made me happy. :)

By the time we wandered into the Visitor's Center for the third time, they were just announcing that, due to the unexpectedly large crowd (and boy, was it!!), they were pleased to offer a third show. So we stuck around for a while longer, just long enough to wander around outside a little more, get all the kids a potty break, and hop into the back of the now-moving line. It was getting late by this point, it was almost 9pm. And we still had the long drive back to think about, but half the reason I wanted to go was to enjoy a performance. I think college spoiled me with how easily I could go see something for free, when they were offered so regularly.

So, Jenny Oaks Baker is apparently one of America's most accomplished classical violinists. Neat! But it was truly a wonderful thing to listen to her perform. She got on stage and was just so pleasant and friendly with the way she introduced each of the people performing along with her, and each of the pieces she was going to play. And she played with such energy and spirit! I really feel like I want to run out and buy a CD now, quite honestly! My favorite was the performances of Ave Maria (oh my goodness, I don't think you can top the beauty and serenity they conveyed!), and .... shoot. My mind is drawing a complete, horrifying blank. There was a very up-beat piece they played last, in a Scottish style. I Saw Three Ships? I don't think that was it. But it could have been. I don't know... which is really driving me crazy, because I spent at least half an hour of the drive home humming it to myself. It's one I know fairly well in it's traditional version. Anyway, it was fantastic. I loved the style of it, a very energetic, celebratory arrangement. There was even audience participation - the woman on percussion would stand up and motion to clap during certain parts. Jacob and Alex both got a huge kick out of that. I love Jacob's little mischeivous grin!! Alex spent most of the perfromance craning his head past my shoulder to make lovey-eyes at a Sister Missionary acting as an usher. Oh, he's such a tease! ;)

We finally got back home (with Alex deciding that he was now very tired and very hungry during the last 10 minutes, and letting us know quite loudly!) at just after 10:30pm. Thank goodness the kids went to sleep easily, but the rest of the night went too quickly. I had to work through bleary eyes to finish up hand-stitching the seam of one of the snakes that Grandma Newson sent for the boys, and finished just at midnight. Thank goodness I did! There certainly wouldn't have been any time for it on Christmas Eve. Which is another post that I'll get around to very very soon. :)

AHHHH!! I remembered! It was Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. SEE! I knew I knew what song it was! My brain is just extra fried today, for no real reason. ;)

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy of our night at the DC temple!
Though... again, a reminder that I am a poor photographer, and most of these were taken, of course, not only in the dark, but also often while I was walking, or even just trying to stand still with a baby strapped onto me. So... don't expect fantastic quality. Just enjoy the scenes. :)

This is just outside the visitor's center.

Looking toward the visitor's center again (you can see the statue of Christ through the window), with the reflection pool in front of us.

One of the gorgeous trees inside the visitor's center, to the side of the Christus.

Another tree to the side of the Christus.
Melinda getting grabby with the tree.
Melinda and Jacob in front of the Christus. Ahh, peace...

The whole family, courtesy of a passing stranger, with the temple behind us. Jacob's making a goofy face... licking his lips, I think, but it's still funny to look at.

Same spot, no family, no flash.

Looking at the temple from the end of the path. Deep purple, white, and black make a lovely combination, don't they?

The fountain and purple-lined trees at the opposite end of the path, in front of the temple.

P.S. - Please don't miss the fact that there are two other new Christmas-related posts below this one!! Especially the last one, it's got the most detail and snark! tee-hee. :)

Letter to Santa

Melinda and Jacob really wanted a bubble gun (each) for Christmas. I didn't find any in the stores near me, and the only ones I could find online got very poor reviews. Like, I would regret buying them or having them in my house kind of reviews.

This was their only request from Santa. Now, I keep riding the fence about the whole Santa thing. On the one hand, I don't want to "lie" to my children about a fictional person being real. On the other hand, it makes the holiday so magic for young kids, doesn't it? So, I shove the more rational thoughts away, and embrace the fantastic, like I am wont to do. But this also presents a problem when I really don't want to give them what they ask of Santa. How do you explain it when they don't get that one simple thing, without breaking their hearts?

Jesse's mom suggested that we sit down and have a little chat with Melinda about how you have to give Santa options, because maybe he can't get (or make) the gift that you want. We finally got around to doing that, and I had Melinda write out a list of things that I could... *ahem* e-mail ... to Santa. Because, you know, Christmas was only a couple days away. And Santa must have an e-mail, right? My kids think I can talk to anyone through my computer, truly. And this way I didn't have to waste a stamp to send a letter to nowhere real, too. :)

Anyway, so this is the list she wrote out, with a little encouragement from me. It took her a bit to get going, to think of other things she might possibly like, but once she did, she gave me some excellent choices to work with!

1. Bubble Gun

2. Wood shapes (to paint, like the ones that her cousins sent in the mail!)

3. "Soft girl car". We have a plush car that neither of the kids ever really play with, but Melinda associates with belonging to Jacob. Apparently she thought it would be nice to have one for a girl (maybe in pinks or purples, or something?), with a #5 on the side. Because 5 is how old she is.

4. Rubik's cube. She had to explain this one to me several times, before I pieced together that it was a square with lots of colored squares inside it, that you could turn. I looked it up on the 'net, asked her if that's what she meant, and she happily exclaimed it was. Not sure why she thought she wanted one of those... I'm not sure she's ever played with one.

5. Ballerina costume.... self-explainatory.

6. Painting ornaments. Like the ceramic horse from my own childhood.

7. Tadoodles. Those little Crayola products meant for toddlers. She's been asking for them for half of a year now, easily! She had me write those the next day, since she thought of them that much later.

In the end, I went with a whole lot of wooden shapes and paints (nice and cheap at Michael's), and a set of Tadoodles for each of them. I figured Christmas was as good a time as any to get Melinda those Tadoodles she had been absolutely dying for, and the wooden shapes would make great stocking stuffers, all while fulfilling the Santa aspect of Christmas.

And no, I didn't ask Jacob to make a list. He was being too grumpy to have cooperated nicely, and he always wants exactly what Melinda wants, no questions asked, anyway. I just made sure to tell him about the list so he wouldn't be disappointed by the additional options given to Santa. :)