Dragon Makes a Friend: A Play For Dad

My handsome hubby had a birthday this weekend! While I personally am not one to make a huge deal about birthdays, my boys are just crazy about them - their own, each other's, mine, Matt's, really anyone's as long as they get to be a part of it!

The boys woke up bright and early, eager to FINALLY give dad their present they were so excited about and that we had all wrapped up (and then rewrapped after Jack thought it was for him) the day before. As happy as Matt was to receive his thoughtful gifts from his sons, (Mitchell wanted to keep wrapping up more and more of his toys to give him, plus they both made him 3 or 4 cards each, plus the knife) I think the boys might have been even more excited. Mitchell's feet were just dancing around all morning. He just could not stand still and was hopping around and spinning and grinning and... just being so Mitchell.

After the presents, it was time to get down to the entertainment: the play they worked so hard on all week! Remember my fairy wings? Well, it was time to get them out of hiding, get them on, get costumes on, set up the stage, get the props, and paint Mitchell's face! It was like a party around here!

We had a blast. Ben remembered every one of his lines, Mitchell looked fabulous as Jack Skellington in his tuxedo, the sets turned out so nice, and our front porch was just the perfect stage as daddy and Jack and Uncle Carl sat down below in the audience, cheering us on.

I am so proud of my boys. They love their dad so much and were so excited to do this for him. They are already planning their next production and I have heard rumors of a space theme with an astronaut dog and a space alien. I wouldn't be surprised if a dragon or skeleton made it in there too somehow...

Never Thought I'd Be Doing This!

Ben and Mitchell are planning a play for Matt's birthday. They came up with the story, the characters (a dragon and a skeleton, of course), painted the sets on big cut up moving boxes (with a little help from mom, but I'm just about as artistically gifted as they are), found costumes, and even found a part for me, the lone girl!

Now what part could a mere "girl" play in their fantastic performance (besides organizing and overseeing this whole production, plus being the narrator)? Well, I get to be the fairy. What did I expect? I'm a girl!

Once I was assigned a role in the play, the question of what my costume should be came up. Now since I have no little girls, I have no princess accessories; no wings, no magic wands, no glittery skirts or tutus. Ben suggested I find a costume store and stock up on some costume staples, as he just might need me to play a fairy more than once. "You will need this stuff again, mom!"

Well, I don't know of any fairy princess stores around here, so we decided to draw, cut out, and paint some giant cardboard wings for me. So that is what I have been doing for Jack's entire nap today: painting my fairy wings.

I have three boys. I have come up with plenty of dragon and monster and dinosaur costumes, but I never thought I'd find myself making fairy wings!

When I asked what part Jack could play, Ben thought about it for a bit and said, "The only thing he could be would be a tornado that messes it all up!"

Dragons 101

The first thing you need to know about dragons is what is and is not an appropriate name for this fierce creature.  

I discovered this a few days ago when Ben insisted that I be a dragon with  him.  Of course, the first thing we had to do in order to become a dragon was name ourselves.  Not feeling terribly dragonish and distracted by something else, I was not coming up with much that he found satisfactory.  When I finally asked if I could just be "Mommy Dragon," he sighed and said, "Mom, let me teach you something about dragons.  You have to have a scary or tough name if you want to be a dragon.  'Mommy Dragon' isn't scary.  It has to be something like Horny Face or Volcano Fire or Lava Spikes or Fire Breath!"  He just rattled off these names and more without much pause in between, as if he learned these in Dragon 101 and had them memorized for time such as this when a dragon amateur needed some schooling.  

We finally decided on "Dragabelle" even though that is not very scary because it is a name from one of his favorite Dragon books and is actually a pretty good name for a mommy dragon who isn't really all that scary... unless her little boy dragons are misbehaving, that is.  

These are pictures of Dragabelle and her twin sons: Dragonix and Dragonux.  As you can see, she knows how to take care of business!

To help us along with our dragon learning, we read (and re-read... and re-read... and re-read...) a few favorite dragon books.  

The Woodland Folk in Dragonland, by Tony Wolf, is probably our favorite and is where one can read about Dragabelle and her little rascals.  The pictures are amazing and my boys love it!

This book: How to Train Your Dragon Mix & Match, is so much fun!  The pages are divided into three sections so you can create your own species of dragons.  The boys love this book!

We also love My Father's Dragon (and the other two in the series) by Ruth Stiles Gannet, about a boy who rescues a baby dragon.  It is a fun and silly tale and also has cute pictures in it, but it is a chapter book, so not really for the littlest of listeners.

Sidewalk Chalk and Gummy Worms

When I think of my sister coming to visit, I always think of sidewalk chalk and gummy worms.  Sure, sometimes the weather does not allow us to spend time creating masterpieces on the ground outside, but I still think sidewalk chalk when I think of her visits.  If she doesn't use chalk, she finds a different medium to use - window crayons work well in winter!  I sometimes wish I could be a bit more creative and spend hours drawing with my boys, but the problem is, only one of my boys will actually draw and the other two need more and more attention the more time I try to draw.  It is so nice to have someone else encourage my son's imagination with drawing in a way I cannot normally do.  We love it when Aunt Nenni visits!  Our sidewalk became alive with dragons and outlines of the kids and many other amazing pictures and, as we are right next to a school, they had many admirers of their artwork!

One other thing that always reminds me of a visit from my sister is gummy worms!

She always brings them with her and uses them at the most opportune moments.  I personally am not terribly fond of them - they just get stuck in my teeth and I can think of much tastier treats - but my boys LOVE them.  Rain or shine, snow or sun, hot or cold, we can always eat gummy worms.  I actually have considered buying them for the boys before, but usually decide against it in order to keep it a special thing we only experience when Aunt Nenni is here.

A Dragon Of Our Own

It seems our love of dragons in this house knows no limits.  It is funny actually, but once one or more of the boys get a certain theme (such as dragons, or Cars, or dinosaurs, etc.) I almost get as excited about it as they do.  For example: when they were obsessed with the movie and toys from "Cars," I got a little carried away with collecting as many of the toy Cars I could find.  It got to the point where once when I was shopping for a specific Car, Ben said, "Mom, don't you think we have enough Cars now?"

I suppose that makes sense for me to get excited about their current phase.  I want to encourage what they are excited about and the more I can help them by supplying materials or helping create scenarios or help make up relevant games, the better for us all!   I've gotten to pretend to be all manner of characters and creatures from Sally the Porshe to Dragabelle the Dragon to Doris Tyrannosaurus.  (They usually don't see much need for a female character in their games, but when it is absolutely necessary that they add one, I am quickly nominated.)

Well, since "How To Train Your Dragon" came out a couple months ago, our Cars and dinosaurs (which were, up until then, never out of sight) got shelved and our world has transformed into a world where my boys are dragons and we growl and breath fire and fly from couch to couch.  My couch cushions may never be the same again, but we have fun.  Once again, I find myself looking for toys of a certain theme.  Well, I found something that, once I got it made, has got to be one of the coolest dragon toys I've seen so far!  

Meet Toothless, the Night Fury.  He is a very welcome addition to our family and rarely out of Ben's sight.  He is a hit at the park, but not to be touched by anyone!  I overheard Mitchell telling a little girl that if his mom wanted to take him to the yarn store and get her some pink yarn, his mom would be happy to make a dragon of her own!

So far, we just have the one, but one toy is tough to share, so a green one is on the way (Mitchell pronounces his name "Night Fairy" so that will be his name.  I know - scary, right?)

He Asked For It...

For the first time since Mitchell became a part of Ben's world, Ben has decided there are some of his toys that Mitchell MUST not be allowed to touch anymore.  For the 3+ years that Mitchell has been alive, Ben has graciously shared all of his toys as if they belonged to both of them.  It has been wonderful.  

Yesterday, however, Mitchell crossed the line.  He completely destroyed one of Ben's precious dragons - it was just a stump of a toy - legs all missing, wings gone, half the head pulled off.  It really did look unrecognizable.  As I struggled to hold in the laughter at how completely and effectively Mitchell totaled this thing, I tried to get Ben to figure out a way to keep it from happening again.  The answer he came up with (and became increasingly excited and animated and detailed about as he thought about it) was to have a special place where he could put any toy he didn't want Mitchell to play with.  But the best part of his master plan was to make signs with NO MITCHELL written on them, which he would post at this secret place (so much for being secret, huh?)  It really is a forbidding-looking corner of the house.  He was not subtle with his artwork.

So the dragons are safely put away in my coat closet with half a dozen signs up, warning his little brother that he is no longer trusted with his most valuable possessions.

Mitchell's response to all this?  I think he actually showed some true remorse once he saw that, for the first time, he was not welcome, or even included, in some scheme Ben was up to.  He was definitely feeling left out.  As sad as it was to see him feeling this way, I think maybe this might have worked!  I doubt he will be destroying any more of Ben's dragons or other precious treasures.  Maybe I should leave the discipline up to Ben more often...