Warning: this activity is highly contagious. It involves ink, stamps, maps, compasses, clues, and an internet connection. It will make you look at your neighborhood differently. It will make you get on your knees a lot. You will spend time hunched down poking through bushes, counting trees, peering into hollow logs, …

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Salt dough letters and shapes: They looked like cookies until Sam painted them. Egg carton spiders: We made these when we were reading Charlotte’s Web. We also use them in French class when we sing “L’araignée gypsie” (The Itsy Bitsy Spider). Using the hole punch on painted egg carton was difficult and so the second …

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Tonight when I was putting Sam to bed, she said, pulling the covers up to her chin petulantly, “I want a new Mommy. One that lets me do the things I want to do.” “OK,” I said. And I thought, for the hundredth time today, “Thank goodness AC comes home tomorrow!” AC has been in the UK for the past two weeks. I’ve missed …

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I cried this morning during read-a-loud time. It was the penultimate chapter of Charlotte’s Web. Sam handed me a tissue and said, “It’s OK, Mommy. It’s just pretend.” While I was crying and trying to read the words using the voices for each character that I had settled on (Charlotte– cultured, standard American; …

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Sam: “Mommy, do you know what I’m going to be when I’m an indult?” Me: “No, please tell me.” Sam: “A cashier. AND an artist.” Sam: “And I’m also going to be a mail woman.” Me: “You mean like a mail carrier? Someone who delivers the mail to people’s houses?” Sam: “Yes! And I’m definitely going to be a mommy.” Me: “How …

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“So can I talk to her now?” “Sam! Mommy’s on the phone. Are you ready to talk to her?” … “She says she doesn’t want to. She’s too busy playing.” “She said that?” “Yup.” “Will you please tell her that I would like to talk to her?” Silence again. This time I hear some of that high chipper voice in the background. “Same …

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After a three-year hiatus I am once again teaching French. You know the old teacherly saying, “It seems like the students are getting younger every year?” Well, in my case, it’s true. These are the youngest students I have ever taught. They don’t remember 9/11. They don’t know who Michael Jackson was. They definitely …

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On Tuesday we counted 130 instances of the letter S during morning shopping errands. I’m trying the old “letter of the week” theme with Sam and we are starting this week with S. She’s keenly interested in that letter. She may believe on some level that it belongs to her. But it also belongs to Stop Signs and Sale Signs …

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Lobsters always makes me think of Annie Hall. Sam and I didn’t try to drop any live ones in a pot of boiling water but in our creation of the crusty crustaceans we did manage to get paint EVERYwhere, resulting in much giggling and hopping and contorting of bodies on our way to the tub. First we painted Sam’s hands and …

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While trying to organize some of the clutter in our little house before 14 people come over on Thursday for the first session of Allons-y les petits (my preschooler French class — !!!) I came across this story Sam wrote last month. She dictated it to me and after I’d written it down she illustrated it. The narrative …

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