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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Kids' Picks (and a Kiddo Update)

Every month 5 Minutes for Mom does a feature called Kids' Picks where bloggers are invited to write about the books their kids are interested in at the moment. I try to write about what Kiddo is reading on a regular basis but I'm failing miserably at it, so this is my kick in the butt to actually do it. Here goes!

(For those new to my blog, or here just for Kid's Picks, Kiddo is my 7 year old son.)

We've had dragon theme in our house recently. I think Kiddo's love of dragons started with Harry Potter but now it has grown to encompass anything dragon related. He was even excited about the Barnes & Noble gift card that I won from Chartroose because it had a dragon on it (thank again Chartroose!).

But back to the books ...

A few weeks ago Kiddo came home from school with a library book called George and the Dragon. I've mentioned before that Kiddo is really struggling with learning to read but this book was PERFECT for him. First off, the story is adorable: A dragon is terrorizing the land but has a fatal flaw - he's afraid of mice. George is a mouse who accidentally learns that he can scare the dragon, so he becomes the protector of the castle. Second, the illustrations are fun: every page contains a glimpse of the dragon, and everything is bright and well-designed. And finally, the story is short: There's only about one sentence on each page, something Kiddo can handle without much difficulty.

The book was supposed to go back to the school library one week later ... but it has now been at our house for over a month. Since he loves it so much, I promised to buy him a copy. Of course, now I find out that it is no longer in print, and Amazon.com doesn't have it. So I'm on a hunt to track down a copy for him - wish me luck!

The second book with a dragon theme is one I picked up for Kiddo at his school book fair: Puff the Magic Dragon, book and music CD. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the old Peter, Paul, and Mary song by that same name (if not, I'm posting the video down below). I loved that song when I was a kid but Kiddo had never heard it. The book has lovely illustrations and the text is simply the words to the song. Kiddo and I took turns reading one page each. On my turn I'd sing the words. Kiddo quickly caught on to the chorus and enjoyed reading those pages. After we read the book - which we BOTH enjoyed - we popped in the CD and listened to the song. Kiddo LOVED it. In fact, he listened to it over and over again, and wanted to read the book several times over the next few days.

The CD has two other songs on it: The Blue-Tail Fly (which I remember singing as a child) and Froggie Went A-Courtin' (which I remember one of my grandfathers singing to me when I was very small and he was bouncing me on his knees - it is one of my few memories of him). Kiddo enjoyed both of these songs too, but not nearly as much as Puff.

A quick Kiddo update ...

For those who have been following along with Kiddo's oh-so-fun medical issues lately, thanks again for your thoughts, prayers, and comments. I love hearing from all of you and Kiddo thinks it is really COOL to hear from people he's never met. Like I said before, he thinks he's famous now.

We found a way to make the powdered version of the calorie/protein formula more palatable (because it really tastes nasty). We mixed orange juice, orange flavored Rice Dream (a rice-based dairy free ice cream), a bit of sugar, and lots of the formula in the blender and made a smoothie. Kiddo LOVED it. He's also drinking it in the mornings with orange juice and a bit of sugar. He still isn't up to the 32-42 ounces they want him drinking in one day, but he IS making progress. We are hopeful that he won't need the feeding tube after all.

The removal of chicken from his diet has been hard, but not as bad as we feared. We're coming up with new ways to make turkey (which is the only meat he can eat right now) and trying to think of ways to hide some beans in his meals (since he doesn't like them but they do have lots of protein). My newest idea is to puree some beans and put them in some turkey chili - that way he can't pick them out or say he doesn't like them. Ha! I'll get him there! ~LOL~

I promise to keep you all updated as the weeks go on. Thanks again for all your support.

And now that video I promised you ...

13 comments:

Unknown said...

I love the look of George and the Dragon on the cover. Sort of scary, but also not too much. Perfect for 7 year old boys, I would think.

Look -- I found two links for the book that look viable:

George And The Dragon (Book & CD)George and the Dragon

Unknown said...

Oops--they smashed together, but it's actually two different pages.

Violet said...

I LOVE dragons too, I think they are magnificent :)

Of course Kiddo is famous, I keep thinking about him on and off. Glad everything is going well.

bermudaonion said...

I'm glad to hear your son's doing so well. Kids are so much more adaptable than adults are. I loved the video. That song was popular when I had the chicken pox and my mother played it over and over and over for me.

Ti said...

I'm glad the smoothie idea is working for him. Much be a huge relief just to know that he is getting something in his tummy.

Z-Kids said...

Chris Wormell's art is awesome. He's so diverse... He has a second style as well - linocut - that is as different as can be, but also amazing.
Z-Dad

Stephanie said...

Puff the Magic Dragon brings back memories - I think I had a record of that one. :) Thanks for the review!

morninglight mama said...

The illustrations in that Puff the Magic Dragon are absolutely beautiful!

Dreamybee said...

Wow, I just read all about Kiddo's week-poor guy! What a trooper he's being! Glad to hear you've found a way to make his formula more palatable. If drinking it gets to be too much (I even have a hard time drinking that much every day!) could you freeze it and make popsicles out of it? Might make for a nice summer treat...or a weird chunky mess. LOL.

Is it possible that he's allergic to steroids or antibiotics that might be in chicken and not to the chicken itself?

I'm not a bean gal either, but I do like black beans with a little bit of cinnamon. I know, sounds weird right, but I had them at a restaurant like that once, and they were really good.

George and the Dragon looks awesome; I'm surprised Amazon doesn't have it. I loved Puff the Magic Dragon when I was a kid. I never read the book, but once a year or so they would play a full-length cartoon version on TV.

Cynthia said...

Both of those books sound really great! I love the Puff song, too :).

Amy said...

I'm so glad he (hopefully) won't need the feeding tube. I've been thinking of you guys.

Dawn - She is Too Fond of Books said...

I'm glad to know that Kiddo is doing better, and that you've been able to make the adjustments you need to ... hoping he continues to tolerate the amount of protein drink he needs!

Susan Elliott said...

YEA!! Score two for Mom! I'm so glad you found the right combination of ingredients that kiddo could stomach. Listen, I think kiddo is so cool that I really hope I get to meet him one day...plus, I'm wondering what he thinks of the series that starts with The Black Cauldron...maybe he's not quite old enough yet?? Jack read them in second or third grade, I think...

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