Created a Monster!

Or, a ghoul, goblin, wizard? It's Harry Potter craziness here at our house. And before I talk about that can I just say that you are the best bunch of people ever?! With all that great feedback on chopsticks with cheerios mornings I'm tempted to confess more of my mothering blunders! That had me smiling all day...perhaps even better than a package from Etsy! (but those have given me happy days too- thanks!) You guys are the superest! Thank you!
So...as much as I would like to digress...i simply can't escape the Harry Potter frenzy we've been whipped into. I'll admit it's MUCH better than reading ameilia bedilia crap and that predictable curious george...don't even get me started on the bunny with the pink nose! Billie says it in a taunting voice with such glee "I get to choose the story...and it's going to be a LAME one!!!" Bill and I both roll our eyes and give in to ONE lame story but refuse to re-read in one sitting...it's just beyond our parenting patience limit.
So..we've usually got some pretty good reads going on around here. I throw all my un-used acting skills (Best Actress award- 1993, Annandale High School thankyouverymuch) into personalizing the characters with accents of their country of origin (or a made up accent...if it suits me), using facial expressions, and introducing otherwise forbidden phrases to my children like "shut up you idiot!" I know the bad language isn't much of a learning 'ideal' but the rest really get the kids riled up. Jackson will be shaking his fists back and forth while jumping on the couch next to me as I read an especially frightening, hanging-on-by-the-skin-of-your-teeth scene from the book. He's nearly acting things out as they happen...it's kinesthetic.
Billie can't stop herself from interrupting with 'useful' (?!) bits of information ("he should have listened to Hermione...he's going to get into trouble!") but also gets caught up in the plot and perils. And then...THEN...after finishing the first book in a grande 2 hour reading finale...they were bouncing off the walls with the thrill of the ending (I nearly had myself in tears I was reading it with such feeling) and THEN...we let them watch the movie (which they didn't know we had). I must say, there is all SORTS of creepy stuff in here...but it was already in their heads via the book, so, we thought...what the heck? And it was SO funny to hear them comment on the movie. "I thought Fluffy was white" "I thought Uncle Vernon was skinny but he's fat" "That's not really what happened to Norbert!" "But Dudley doesn't have his smelting stick" They noticed EVERY difference. I can NOT believe all the details the kids got out of that book...i just could never name them all. But it's SO cute to think of them having these ideas in their heads- clearly Billie had pictured Fluffy the 3 headed dog with white fur. I LOVE seeing how their brains work with these little insights. Geez, people are worried about kids learning enough ..but what are they NOT learning? That's what i'd like to know...they notice EVERYTHING and then they think about it.
Of course, we had to start book two that night...and both children crawled into our bedroom sometime during the night because they "had bad dreams...not just about Harry Potter!" (yeah, right! this following at least 2 years of no bad dreams) And i'm reading during breakfast, i use it as an incentive to get them to do a quick playroom pick-up, it's Harry Potter all day and all night. I think we're on Chapter 6...and this is day 2...so, it's officially an obsession. Just thought I'd share that with you...since it's what's happening with us. Tomorrow i'm taking them to Mt. Vernon because Jackson LOVES George Washington and anything to do with him...hoping to get them on another topic for a couple hours at least.
Haven't gotten pictures of the kids up in a while...here's what's up: still-walk-with-a-peg-leg-even-though-i'm-cast-less-Sloane, drama class, and home puppet shows...it's better than looking at shirts and kitchens, right?