Every Winter we curl up by the fire with one of our most beloved storybook friends - Alooki, a funny little sister that looks, quite remarkably, so very much like our boys. They are pretty much sure she's a distant relation. And she is, I suppose...
(Do you know this book? The Three Snow Bears...such a gorgeous book, with illustrations that haunt me a little. As an illustrator, you have your own style, you know? But the way she mimics fur, leather & knit makes me want to jump ship & start over. Gorgeous.)
The boys are fascinated with global houses right now, & we've tried our hand lately with constructing Mongolian Yurts, Railroad Shantees, Brick & Mortar, Fairy Houses...all with a simplified, toddler-friendly style, that is. True (8) usually takes off & makes his more detailed. He's into the engineering of it all. Recently I handed the boys a box of sugar cubes & laid out this image from the book...The little boys have never even seen sugarcubes, & True saw them once when he was performing with Dan Zanes. Two of his 6 year-old female co-stars ate 12 of them & proceeded to wrestle on the floor for a half-an-hour, so he's aware of their *magic.*
After they were done sampling the goods, they got to work...This is a great science experiment, it turns out.
Liquids. Dissolving. Mushing. Sharing. Crystalization. Drying. Oxygenation. "Wow! It's snow!! It turns into snow!" Art. Beauty. "Okay!!! Bath time! Don't touch anything!!"
What I didn't know is that is turns rock-hard, making a lovely landscape for something new, & as the days go by it cracks into flake-like designs. But I'd do it outside. For sure.
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