Sunday, June 24, 2012

Avery Mommy and Daddy Learn about Quetzals

For anyone who didn't already know, Avery has an Eric Carle/mostly "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" nursery. I know it's kind of boyish, but I figured, we are going to have more children (God willing) and all of our kids can use the same decor. Good plan? I think so :) Here is a smattering of pictures from our house in Texas.



Troy's mom is a genius! She made the bedding. The crib sheet and pillow in the glider chair are from Pottery Barn Kids. Love. I ordered the wall stickers here. I ordered the framed pictures over her book shelf on amazon here.





One of my co-workers in Dover got this for me (Avery?) as a baby shower gift, knowing our nursery theme. Avery is just now getting to an age that I really feel like she is learning things and observing our behaviors with interest so now seemed an appropriate time to bust them out. They are Eric Carle flash cards and I LOVE them.



Here is the side with the letters. I love how they all have a different color/pattern on the back (front??). They are made of super thick cardboard, so I am hoping that she doesn't get bitten by a genetically altered spider or something and end up bending/breaking them with superhuman strength.



On the other side of the flash card is an animal that corresponds with that letter. Now before I address those issues, here is a picture of the other sides of the cards:



Now for the issues. I know you can probably guess what most of the correlating animals are for the letters based on the picture. We feel that some animals could have been more "regular." For example, a frog instead of a flamingo, a horse instead of a hippo, a pig instead of a peacock. However, Troy and I noticed a few things that I will share with you via a play by play of our conversation as we flipped through them together.



Regarding the Jellyfish:

N: Awww, this one is so cute. I want to frame it for our house!

T: What? Why? I don't know if I want to sensationalize murder.

N: What are you even saying?!

T: Look at the little fish swimming towards their death! You know they are going to die in 2.5 seconds.

N: Whatever.

T: Look Natalie, these cards are for learning and I want Avery to learn that jellyfish can hurt her. Haven't you seen "7 Pounds"?

Anyway, moving on to the next card:



Regarding the Narwhal:

T: I love this one!

N: This is weird.

T: What would you have picked?

N: I don't know. A newt? I'm sure there's some other common "N" animal they could have picked.

T: Exactly! Avery is going to be a genius. I'm pretty sure I didn't know what a narwhal was or that it existed until after college.



Regarding the Quetzal:

N: Really? They couldn't pick something else?

T: Queeeetzel? Quatzel? Cue-tzel? Or like pretzel with a Q? How do you say this?

N: Avery can barely say "hi." How is she going to say quetzal?

T: laughs*

N: I mean, pick a QUAIL. They could have even used the same picture.



Regarding the Urchin:

N: (shows Troy the urchin card) Is this technically an animal?





Regarding the Xolo:

T: Oh my God. They had to include a definition for this one.

N: What! What's a xolo?

T: Well let me tell you. It's a "xoloitzcuintli - the mexican hairless dog"

N: Oh good, an animal that we talk about all the time and use in everyday language. I'm pretty sure Avery is going to be smarter than us.

T: I hope so. She's learning words that we just learned today and animals I didn't know about until after college graduation.

N: Go ECU.

As weird and unusual as some of the animals are, I am thrilled with the cards. They come in a sweet little box with a hinged lid and are perfect for her fat hands. I know we are laughing about some of their animal choices, but when it comes down to it, I know she will learn the "normal" animals (sing Old McDonald and try to match those up with the cards...not gonna happen) from everyday life. So I'm glad she can learn some of the unusual ones as well.

Here we are looking at them with her. Excuse the nasty Natalie look...I actually went to the gym. You can close your mouth now. It's true, there's no faking the sweaty hair.











Avery feels the same way I do. Or she's just my daughter. That's totally a Natalie face...



What do you think of my flash cards? Love em or Leave em?



















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