With apologies to Monty Python.

We went to Woodland Park Zoo again last Friday – because the keeper at the penguin chat the last time we visited told us that they do a live trout feed on Fridays at 11 am.

Since it was the last Friday before the kids start school, I had the Webmaster take the day off, and we went to the zoo.  Got good parking, went in, and headed straight for the penguin habitat.

We were not disappointed.

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As bedtime approached last night, this was the scene in Tad’s room.  Which isn’t only Tad’s room anymore.

Yes, that is Tad’s bed on one end of the wall, and the crib on the other end.  This crib is doing it’s third tour of duty, and Rerun now has something much bigger than the basinette to sleep in (thankfully).  And the road map floor rug that Grandma and Gichan gave Tad for his birthday last year has finally made it into the bedroom!

The corner shelf went to the shed for now (which means that Tad’s books are in the closet, under his bed, and in that milk crate next to his bed – we will need to figure out shelf space later), and the glider went to the end of the hallway – for now.  It may move to the living room later, once the cradle is no longer needed.

And the changing table went to the corner where the glider used to be:

Nothing in this room had really moved in nearly 7 years – except that we’d swapped the crib out for the toddler bed.  But footprint-wise, nothing had changed.  Now the Webmaster and I are completely confused every time we enter the room.  I did manage to set up the changing table in the exact same manner as before – diaper pail at one end, garbage can at the other – so we don’t get all discombobulated.

Rerun was liking his new pad.

He was relishing the extra space to roll around and rotate without hitting the sides – like he was in the basinette.

He was pretty happy about it, I think.

Tad was strangely excited about having a roommate.  This could end up being a very good thing for him, because he is still continually coming into our room at night and sleeping on the floor.  We’re not sure if he just feels lonely, or needs to know exactly where we are.  I’m very interested to see how this pans out over the next few days.  And I’m also interested to see if Rerun sleeps a little more soundly now, without Mommy and Daddy in the same room.

Ane, predictably, wanted to know why Tad always gets EVERYTHING – up to and including getting to have Rerun sleep in HIS room instead of HERS.  As she kissed Rerun good night, she said, “Good night, Rerun – I hope you have a really lousy time with Tad, because then you’ll have to move into MY room.”

I can’t win.

Regardless, we have a boys’ room now.  And it’s going to stay that way for a while.

So, Ane is done reading the Ramona series.  And we just finished the latest Clementine book from the library (with many thanks to our friend C. the librarian for recommending the series).

Now I need help.  Is there any other series or books out there that anyone thinks is appropriate for a six and a half year old who will be starting first grade next week?  I was considering The Boxcar Children series, but maybe we should start The Chronicles of Narnia instead?

Any suggestions for me?

Oh, and if you happen to be the parents of Little Cousin, Littler Cousin, Belle, Berry, Beth or Baby Bee (her blog name until she is born) – your Obachan needs book ideas for your girls’ Christmas gifts (and since I do Obachan’s Christmas shopping, this means I need ideas).  Hint, hint.

And if anyone knows of a children’s series that features a shark as the main character, I should probably know about that, too.

I had promised Ane that once we had read all the Ramona books, we would go see the new movie.  Well, we finished Ramona’s World right around Tad’s birthday, and she has been waiting to see the movie ever since.  On Sunday afternoon, the Webmaster watched the boys while Ane and I went to the movie theater.

Ramona and Beezus was a really sweet, fun movie (also appropriately rated G), but I am glad that I insisted that Ane read all the books first.  The movie is a more modern take on the stories – considering that Ramona the Pest was published in 1968, and Ramona’s World was published in 1999, all the stories had to be modernized in order to fit together into one cohesive script.  And the movie does borrow elements from all the different stories.  For example, one of the major plot points is Mr. Quimby losing his job (very appropriate for these times), which is taken directly from Ramona and Her Father.  However, Roberta is also a part of the family (she makes her appearance at the end of Ramona Forever), and Aunt Bea’s relationship with Uncle Hobart is also a big part of the movie.

The casting was perfect, though I had initially expressed my doubts to Friend about the casting of John Corbett as Mr. Quimby (My Big Fat Greek Wedding came out 8 years ago???) because he didn’t strike me as a good “Dad” type for the movie.  However, it worked!  I also liked the fact that the movies reflected the characterizations of the books, possibly even better than the Ramona TV series from 1988.  Speaking of the TV series, my Dad taped those shows all those years ago; now we need to borrow them and put them on DVD so Ane can watch them.

Ane enjoyed the movie – though she kept talking through it, mostly because she was pointing out all of the things she remembered from the stories – but even she noticed how the movie was not exactly true to the book.  And so, my daughter learns one of the sad truths of movie adaptations: The  movie ALWAYS leaves things out.  Being Ane, she was quite indignant about it later, but that didn’t keep her from asking if we could get the movie when it comes out on DVD.

Oh, and I cried when Picky-picky died – at which point Ane, who was quite clearly exasperated with me, hissed, “Mom!  MOM!  It’s just a movie!”

Anyway, Ane’s criticisms aside, we had fun.  It was nice to be able to take her to a movie and enjoy a little time away.