February 22, 2008
Turtlerama 2008
We finished Henry’s turtle project, without any tears or yelling, although I have to admit to having very little to do with the diorama part, for obvious reasons (hello, NO CRAFTING SKILLS). Fortunately, I married a man who used to build models and dioramas for fun when he was a kid, so that worked out well.
It’s really a habitat, Henry says. Whatever.
Last night as we were getting ready to sit down to dinner, my phone rang; it was a call I really needed to take, so I went off upstairs to consult and Wade fed the kids and cleaned up and then moved everyone up to the playroom to make a turtle habitat. By the time I finished on the phone, the turtle was living large in my shoe box.
Well, not too large; they were small shoes.
You will notice that this is a mixed medium piece, with various contributions from Charlie’s dinosaur box (the trees and rocks) as well as from his extensive plastic turtle collection, in addition to some original construction paper cut outs and a small selection of rocks and sticks from our yard.
Sea turtle, in a stream, chasing mulch.
Land turtle, leaving her nest. Henry couldn’t get over the fact that the mama turtle lays her eggs and then leaves them there. “Why does she DO THAT?” he asked.
Probably because she knows that 100 turtle babies is too much for any one mama to deal with.
When I came upstairs, the grass was cut out and glued on. “Did YOU do that?!?” I asked Wade, worried that he was taking over the diorama. “Nope,” he said, “that was Henry’s idea and he did all the cutting.” The crappy sun, on the other hand, was done entirely by my husband. Nice.
The directions for this report said that it was to be a “family project.” I honestly didn’t know how that would go; I imagined the worst. But this has been a fun week. We’ve read books about turtles and Googled pictures; Henry wrote his whole book by himself, with very minimal coaching from me (which consisted mostly of saying things like, “Just do the next TWO things on the list and then we will take a break”). He had great ideas for his habitat, and Wade was able to step back and let him make (almost) all the decisions.
I declare Turtlerama 2008 a success. I have two years to recover before Charlie has to do this. I hope that’s enough time.
Posted by Susan @ 2:41 pm • three martini parenting
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February 22nd, 2008 at 4:47 pm, All Adither Says:
Look how much I learned just from Henry’s project. Thanks!
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:10 pm, Sue Says:
That is one FINE looking turtle habitat diorama! (Well, except the shaggy sun…) You all deserve an A+!
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:16 pm, Deva Says:
that is lovely! if I were Henry, and you, I would be very proud!
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:19 pm, Jenn @ Juggling Life Says:
It looks like it has just the right amount of adult involvement!
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:07 pm, daysgoby Says:
I am SO IMPRESSED with Henry!
February 22nd, 2008 at 7:53 pm, Deb Says:
Is that a sun? Or an asteroid barreling toward Earth about to destroy all mankind?
Either way: lookin’ good!
I don’t think anyone in my family has the crafty gene, so hopefully when the time comes, I can hire someone from Craigslist to do it for us…
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:31 pm, Undercover Mutha Says:
When I started reading this I thought, “Oh no, you did not just go out and get a pet turtle!” I’m glad he is made of plastic and not real turtle parts.
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:38 pm, slynnro Says:
The sun is the weak link here. Go kids!
February 23rd, 2008 at 3:39 am, jenB Says:
YOU, lady, are fantastic.
February 23rd, 2008 at 7:24 am, jen Says:
from a former kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade teacher looks great! just the right amount of parental help. i hate when parents take over the kids projects!
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:50 am, gorillabuns Says:
Your husband has some mad cutting skills.
February 23rd, 2008 at 2:12 pm, Sarah Says:
Love it! Too cute.
February 23rd, 2008 at 9:25 pm, standing still Says:
I, too, have the coaching job of saying , “do this and then we can take a break.” What IS it about the breaks? Can we get a little work done? When do I get my break???
February 25th, 2008 at 5:28 am, Debs Says:
Ok, I’m from London, Uk, and I don’t think we really use the word diorama over here. Anyway, these posts have prompted me to google the word, because I suddenly realised that it obviously didn’t mean what I though it meant!
I think I must have read it in a Judy Blume book when I was younger, and somehow got the impression that a diorama was a type of Viking boat!
Now, however, I know it means “a three-dimensional model, usually enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum” (thanks to wikipedia!
So there you go!