Magical Childhood Newsletter
Volume 16
August 17, 2001


Hi guys!  I'm sending out a super quick issue because I just got an e-mail that the Northern Lights are possible tonight and I wanted to let you know.  I'll snip the important parts below.  What fun!  Talk about magical.  :)

Hope you all are having a wonderful week.  Here's an assortment of tidbits, links and sap I've put aside for you.  G!
Alicia

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Did you get the last newsletter?  Several readers have let me know recently that they've missed one or more issues.  I know that others have received them all so I'm not sure what's going on.  If you want to see if you've missed any, the archives are up at the magical childhood site.  I'm not sure if #15 is up there yet, but it was the one with dinosaur projects.  If you have missed any, can you let me know?  I'd like to try to figure it out and make sure it doesn't happen again.  Sorry!

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A geomagnetic storm is in progress and conditions are ripe for aurora, definitely in Europe and possibly in North America if the disturbance lasts long enough.  It's still too early to say how big this one might be.

The northwest aurora monitor is doing fine;  the midwest monitor is still off-line due to some persistent network problems at the site.  They are being worked on, and if a resolution is achieved by early evening all will be well.  Check the current data at

http://angwin.csl.uiuc.edu/~haunma/aurora/

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Tweezer fun

Here's a great way to keep a toddler or preschooler occupied while helping her use her problem solving skills and develop small motor skills.  Most importantly, you can soak in the tub for a while.  ;)

Get two large containers and a pair of tweezers.  Gather up an assortment of small items like film canisters, small lightweight toys, coins, barrettes, yarn, etc.  Show your child how to use the tweezers to pick up an object from one container and put it into the other.  Some objects will be very easy to pick up and move, while others will be hard.  With coins it seems nearly impossible, but if you have them piled up you can grab them by their sides.  Encourage your child to figure out ways like that to get the objects moved.

You can also give her other objects to use.  Try chopsticks for an older child and spoons for a younger one.  A clothespin works well too.  When she gets bored, encourage her to look through the house and guess which items would be easy to pick up and why.  She can also use the tweezers to pile the objects on top of each other.

Make sure you stay in sight since this involves small objects.

With our tweezer kit, we used a large tupperware container with a lid.  Victoria poured everything into the lid and then carefully moved it into the bowl.  When she was finished, she dropped the tweezers in and snapped the lid, and it was all cleaned up and ready for next time mama wants to read a chapter in the bath.  <G>

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Too Hot!

Magical mama Jackie shared this fun craft and poem:

We've been doing all activities this week with ice and water and anything to stay cool... last night out on the deck we cut out pictures of people and animals staying cool or in water and put together a collage with this in the middle

Too Hot

Too hot to growl,
Too hot to purr,
Too hot to run wiggle or stir,

But it's just right for sighing
Dreaming and lying...
Down by the pool
Where it's cool........cool.......cool

--Georgie Adams

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Make your own fairy wings!  These beautiful, elaborate wings look easy and adorable....

http://www.monitor.net/~mamazon/wings.html

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Deal with the faults of others as gently as with your own.
                      — Henrichs

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I'm closing with a poem I wrote to my girls the other night.  I hope you like it......

Flight

I know women
who would lose their children
like throwing off a robe,
unbraiding a red ribbon
and discarding it, to let
their wild self fly free.

I know women
who put aside their children
like cheap jewelry by the side of the bed.
I know women
who never seem to wear them at all.

My girls, I do not want
to be free of you.
You are like my wedding rings
which I could have easily slipped out of
but wear
every day that my heart beats.

I want you near me.
My girls, my husband,
when I see a sunset
I want these two eyes
to be part of the eight who see it.
I want our laughter and stories
to be so tangled
that our memories weave into one dream.

This is my time with you.

Soon enough, you will be off
swimming your own new seas.
Soon enough, we will step back and watch you
blooming and bursting in solitary ways
in your own fresh, separate skins.

How could I waste this?

Oh my darlings, you are not my cage.
You are my wings.

~Alicia Bayer

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And with that, I'm off to make egg salad sandwiches and clean the basement.  ;)  Have a fabulous week and don't forget to take care of you!

Alicia

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A Magical Childhood
http://www.magicalchildhood.com
Copyright 2001, Alicia Bayer

A Magical Childhood Newsletter is just something I throw together because I love children and those who love them.  To subscribe, send a message to abayer@magicalchildhood.com.  We do not use ads.  It's not about money.  :)

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