Blue Skies Park

Blue Skies Park is located next to my #1 desired school (Blue Mountain, for which we are languishing on the waitlist).  They feature a flight theme throughout the park, and the sidewalk has sandblasted images of a pterodactyl, a meadowlark, dragonfly and monarch butterfly, a Chinese dragon, Leonardo DiVinci's flying machines and unique signature, the Wright Brothers bi-plane, Amelia Earhart's plane and a Sci-Fi rocket.  This is a fantastic option for those who are learning to ride a bike - in fact, this is where I first learned to ride a bike, just last year.  Spencer is learning there too.  For adults, it is nice that it connects to the Greenway and has long, wide friendly spaces to wobble all over.  For kids, the same likely applies, plus when you get tired of trying to manage your bike, you can hit the playground.  There is a skate park, a roller hockey court, basketball courts, and a lot more.  There is a sand volleyball area, but it is not close to the playground, and the playground is coated in wood chips, so it is not really sand toy friendly.  (Wood chip toys are great, though.)  There is a lot of nice grassy area around the playgrounds, which is welcoming for sudden soccer games or tag. 

The playgrounds are modern, and there are two, separated by a nice big shelter.  One is more friendly for toddlers and one is definitely for older kids, but neither is extremely baby friendly.  If your toddler is under 2, they may not be able to manage the climbing and unconventional structures without a lot of help from you, and there are lots of gaps for them to fall through if they are unsteady on their feet.  There are also no swings (although there is a modern mini hammock swing that is pretty fun).  If your toddler is old enough to handle big stairs and an incline climbing wall to get to the slides, or has started their very imaginative stage, they will be in heaven.  There is an additional structure on the playground for younger kids that can very easily stand in for a pirate ship, airplane, rocket ship, etc.  We really enjoy this park, but it might be a challenge for those with very young kids.

I will try to start taking pictures of the parks when we are there, as there are sometimes not great playground photos, and the kind of playground that I am calling "modern" might not actually bear that name. 

Affolter Park

Last year, we had a goal of visiting all of Longmont's 34+ parks, and completely didn't make it.  I am giving it another go this year, and we started with Affolter Park.  This one was a hit - we really liked it.  It was very baby/toddler friendly - lots of slides and ramps for various skill levels.  The stairs are metal, so if your little one is unsteady on stairs, you'll want to spot them.  There are fantastic long ramps that encourage older toddlers to run around and then up them, and the ramps have vertical bars at close intervals to keep kids from falling.  There are two baby swings, and lots of sand.  Across the park, there are quite a few big kid swings and climbing bars/monkey bars, which helps to separate the area for little kids from the big kid area.  There is a lot of grass around the playground - in fact, youth soccer plays here sometimes.  The parking is street only, and it is next to two schools, so I'd try to avoid the park during drop-off or pick-up times, but this is not the official school playground.  We'll definitely come back to this one.

we're in the paper!

Here's the article: http://www.timescall.com/news_story.asp?ID=27077

LONGMONT — Angel Faull registered her 3-year-old son, Spencer, in the Longmont Public Library’s new storytelling program to tickle the toddler’s imagination without relying on books. “Learning to hear a story without looking at picture books is a new skill for him. It’s a whole new way of looking at the world,” she said.
Of course, Faull hopes storytelling also will lay the foundation for a lifelong reader.
The Faulls are one of 15 families registered for Souptelling, a free six-month pilot program at the library. Each month, they will meet at the library to sample soup, catered by Stone Table Catering, from a different region and listen to a speaker from Spellbinders, a group of volunteer storytellers.
During Thursday’s first event, families sampled spicy Mexican tortilla soup and listened to Denver author Angel Vigil’s Hispanic folk stories.
A $6,000 grant from the Association for Library Service to Children is funding the pilot program.
The Longmont library was one of 15 in the country that received grants from the organization to implement programming that celebrates the 15th anniversary of El día de los niños/ El día de los libros, or Children’s Day/Book Day, which was April 30. The day, often simply called Día, focuses on literacy for children from all backgrounds and languages.
“Día is all about multi-cultural literacy and introducing families to stories from all around the world,” said Elektra Greer, head of children’s and teen services at the Longmont library.
To kick off the program on April 30, families painted their own ceramic bowls at Longmont’s Crackpots and heard a couple of folk stories, including “Stone Soup.”
In the next week, Angel Faull said, Spencer asked four times to hear the “Stone Soup” story. To her, that means he gets it.
Response to the program has been so strong that the library plans to offer another session of Souptelling this fall, Greer said.
To sign up, contact Greer at 303-651-8781 or Elektra.Greer@ci.longmont.co.us.
Magdalena Wegrzyn can be reached at 303-684-5274 or mwegrzyn@times-call.com.

gardening with kids

I don't like to grow things in my garden that I can buy at the grocery store.  I have a few exceptions (spinach, lettuces, green onions), but even with those, there are interesting varieties and I tend to gravitate towards the novelty options.  We use the square foot gardening method and have had fantastic results.  With all of that said, though, I have many failings as a gardener.  I forget to water, and we don't have an irrigation system set up.  I am neglectful.  I forget about things.  The plants that do well in my garden tend to thrive on drought-or-flood and neglect, and I appreciate them all the more for that.

I find it helpful, when trying to garden, to try to keep an eye out for my strengths, since my weaknesses are obvious.  I have had more than one person tell me that after watching my garden for a season, they felt inspired to try their own - that even with a pathetic amount of effort, I could still glean something, and they could surely do better than that.  That's sort of a nice compliment.  I am good at cold season veggies and greens, and I do well with an over-wintered garden.  This year I will try to remember to plant for fall/winter in late August, and maybe get two cold season crops out of the garden before sowing for winter.  Right now, my two little raised beds are in full production mode, and I am harvesting as much baby spinach, lettuce, cilantro, arugula, baby yellow and chiogga beets, pea shoots/tendrils, red mustard, chard, and Aztec spinach as we want to eat.  Spencer and I planted most of it together, and while he previously said he hated salad and refused to eat it, he will now scarf it down when I point out that this is food that he planted and helped harvest.  Something about having made it himself makes it tastier, and even though I have always heard that this was the case, it is still surprising to see it in action.  We've also planted sunflowers and baby corn, which is supposed to be ready to harvest 31 days after planting.  We are enjoying how very, very quickly it is sprouting and growing.

One thing that I have had good success with is over-sowing my seeds - that is, I plant much, much more seed than is ok for the actual growing space.  As the seeds sprout, I thin them, but I don't pull the excess plants.  I use kitchen scissors and trim the young plants at the base, leaving all the roots behind.  I think that this is good for the soil, and it doesn't disturb the roots of the seedlings that I am leaving to grow.  The thinnings make fantastic and very nutritious salad greens, and the plants left behind are eventually thinned to the recommended spacing.  (That is, the spacing for a square foot garden, which is sometimes closer than the package directions might indicate.)  This also lets me thin the smallest sprouts, leaving the stronger and taller seedlings to continue to flourish.  Pea shoots make especially fantastic salad greens or braising options - to the point where any peas I may get are just a side bonus.  I mostly grow them for the greens.  (I do like to grow the purple and yellow podded peas, though, for the novelty.)  If I do get any pods, I can then use the pods to enrich stock for an intensely flavored and delicious soup, and that means I have gotten as much out of the lowly pea seed as possible.  This feels oddly satisfying.  (Here's one recipe - there are a lot of others out there!  I like mine with a touch of cream.)

Spence likes to help in the garden - spreading mulch, pulling dandelions, planting seeds, adding compost - and while his "help" is often not that helpful, it keeps him happy and busy and makes him feel useful.  Also, since he loves to water, my plants are enjoying a more consistent watering schedule.  I like the idea of letting him enjoy puttering around outside.  I plan to do a bean teepee a little later in the year, which I am sure will be a hit.  (I'll use royal burgundy beans to make it easy to see where the harvest is.)  I am hoping the bees won't like it too much.  We picked up garden gear last year, and a few new things this year, to make it more fun for him - a froggie kneeling pad, rubber gardening gloves in his size, tiny shovels and rakes and trowels and so on.  We've found great inexpensive gear at Target, and it actually lasts pretty well.  He gets almost as into the gear as the actual work.  (I think he takes after me in that.)

Three Little Pigs

We've been reading retellings of the Three Little Pigs over the past few weeks.  I wouldn't have thought Spencer was old enough to enjoy that, but I read this article and felt inspired.  The Longmont library had a number of these books, and we requested others through the Interlibrary Loan service.  Since Spence is only 3, some of the stories were too advanced or too scary for this time through, and others were fantastic with minor editing.  The first few times we read an alternate story, he said, "this isn't how the story goes!"  But soon he was really into the concept that the wolf could be a hero or a villain, and the pigs could be innocent or naughty, and that the pigs could be javalinas, tamales or fish without losing the spirit of the story.  I think the idea of enjoying a story through several different viewpoint was very new to him, and I'm glad that we've done it.  It was also nice to be able to introduce the more involved elements of the story (wolf going down the chimney or not, pigs being eaten or not, the wolf taking the pig to the orchard, fair, etc. after the 3 house stands strong, etc.).  I'm not sure what story we'll tackle next - maybe the Three Bears, since he is familiar with that story and likes it?  Or maybe Cinderella, although a lot of Cinderella stories are too advanced for his age.  We'll see.

Books we've tried include:

• Alaska's Three Pigs - (Interlibrary Loan)  The three little pigs are homesteading in Alaska and frolicking in the snow, but their fun awakens a bear who is very hungry and irritable at being awakened.  One of the houses involves an igloo, which is fun, and the bear is neutralized in an interesting way.  None of the pictures should give you away if you change some of the details.  This was a fun one.
• Clancy and Millie and the Very Fine House - (Longmont Public Library collection) Clancy moves into a new home and meets a little girl named Millie.  They build amazing houses with moving boxes and play Three Little Pigs together.  This is a sweet book, and Spence really liked it.  They do build a train with boxes that runs all the way out into the street - that is, far into the street, past the sidewalk and well out onto the asphalt.  Spence wasn't sure why the kids were playing in the street, but it wasn't an upsetting detail.  (I told him that the movers had left the boxes there, not the kids.)
• The Three Horrid Little Pigs - (LPL) We edited this one just a little - deemphasizing the mother kicking the naughty pigs out of her house, emphasizing how wrong it is of the horrid pigs to steal straw and sticks and houses without asking permission, praising the wolf for wanting to help, etc.  Worth trying.
• Three Little Cajun Pigs - (IL) The dialect is too thick in this one.  We'll pass it up.  It is written in rhyme, and not one line is straight English, and that's too irritating to read and confusing to listen to.
• The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark - (IL) This was another hit.  The shark does not munch on the actual fish.  He does lose his teeth after trying to eat his way through a sunken ship.  This was initially upsetting (Spence loves sharks), but my husband told him that shark teeth grow back, and I stressed how yummy the seaweed salad is that the shark is shown eating, and I also explained that he was trying to eat things that are not food.  (This is a frequent topic of discussion in our house right now.)  
• Three Little Gators - (IL) This one seems fine until the end, when the boar (stand in for the wolf) manages to get his rear barbequed.  The pictures of that are graphic and impossible to gloss over if that kind of imagery would be upsetting for your child, so I don't know that we will read this one together. 
• Three Little Hawaiian Pigs and the Magic Shark - (IL) The story is fun, the details are entertaining, and I think Spence liked it - but the pigs tie up the shark and toss him in the dump and then celebrate their triumph, and the pictures of the dump tossing are too specific for me to really be able to gloss over the details.  I ended up sticking the pages together and turning quickly, but Spence was still upset at why the shark "deflated."  I can't say that this was the hugest hit, but might be worth a reread, since the fishing and lifestyle described were so fun. 
• The Three Little Javalinas - (LPL) This one was a big hit.  It's a southwestern version of the 3 Pigs, with javalinas standing in for the standard pig, and the houses of tumbleweeds and cactus ribs and adobe are entertainingly different but still familiar.  This was the first version we read in which the coyote (standing in for the wolf) goes down the chimney and meets up with an unhappily singed tail/backside.  Everyone comes out of this one alive, though. 
• The Three Little Pigs - (LPL) We liked this one.  The first two pigs do get eaten, but the pictures aren't explicit, and you can skip that part if you want to.  At the end, the wolf tries to entice the third pig by inviting him to three locations (after his house stands up to being huffed and puffed).  This last part is a classic bit of the story, often left out, and the pig still outwits the wolf and ends up with a happily full pantry and a frustrated wolf.
• The Three Little Pigs - (LPL) We love David Weisner's work, but this one was too complicated to try to read with Spencer at his age.  Maybe when he is older.
• The Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Tale - (LPL) We love this one.  The modern and interesting houses and furniture are fun, the story is satisfying without being scary, and it includes the attempt to entice the pigs to the orchard, the fair, etc.
• The Three Little Pigs and the Fox - This might be a little too old for us right now.  The fox imprisons the older two pigs, and the baby sister (Hamlet) has to save them by trickery.  But the older pigs are shown being locked into a basement/shed, and the sister is shown being frightened and trying to physically hold the fox out of her house.  All goes well in the end, so maybe when Spence is older. 
• Three Little Tamales - (LPL) We have read this one again, and again, and again, and eaten tamales in its honor.  It's a definite hit.  The houses of sage and cactus and cornstalks are interesting, the tamales have a fun character, and the wolf tries to come down the chimney.  In this one, the tamales threaten to make the wolf into wolf tamales and eat him, and he runs away.  We edit that part a bit.
• The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig - (LPL) Interesting story, and fun to see the three sweet little wolves frolicking and the mean pig who destroys their houses.  He really does destroy the houses, though, starting with a jackhammer and ending with dynamite.  It has a change-of-heart happy ending that we enjoyed.  The picture of the dynamited bunker of a house was initially upsetting. 
• Three Pigs, One Wolf and Seven Magic Shapes - (IL) This is an interesting book that introduces some math concepts.  It also includes the wolf eating the first two pig siblings, so we may wait to read this one.  I did like it enough to buy it on Amazon, though (where it is very cheap).
• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs - (LPL)  Funny and entertaining.  The BBW blows down houses due to his bad head cold, and loses his temper with the third little pig when the third pig insults his sweet old granny.  (You will recognize her picture as the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood.)  He does eat the first two pigs.  I didn't edit this one - I wanted to see how that would go over - and it was fine.  It might be a little over the head of a 3-year-old, but it is still fun.
• Three Swingin' Pigs - (IL)  This was interesting, but apparently it is the uncles of Ella, Satch and Mo who originally had a run in with the wolf, so Spencer was confused about why there were no houses to be built or blown down.  The three pigs in this case are popular musicians, and they team up with the wolf (and cure his halitosis).  Rather than get eaten or blown away, they make music (and records).  Spence seemed unsure but also kept singing Ella's scat ditty, so I guess it is a hit.  It tries a little too hard to be hip.
• Where's the Big Bag Wolf - (IL) Another hit.  An intrepid dog detective tries to find out why that suspicious sheep is hanging out around the three little pigs all the time, and why the Big Bad Wolf is trying so hard to pretend to be sick and unable to hunt pigs.  Spence loved feeling smarter than the dog detective and caught the visual cues as to what was really going on before the story revealed it.  There is a nice side theme about listening to your wiser elders (in this case, elderly cows) and a fun implication that the wolf will continue trying to trick the pigs, but the cows and dog will continue to protect them from their naivete.

If there are other Little Pig options, I'd love to know about them!  I think the downloadable options here are interesting to supplement, but I haven't printed any of them out or used them yet.  Any other suggestions are also welcome.