Gerritt: "Mommy, my tongue hurts!" (after biting it accidently while eating too fast). Me: "Do you want me to blow on it?" Gerritt: "No, I need vitamin D." (Funny, but no coincidence since I give him vitamin D3 drops once or twice a week)
"I am full, Mommy. My belly is so happy!" (satisfied after dinner)
"This one looks like poo poo!," pointing to the country of Madagascar on the wall map (the country just happened to be colored yellow & in the shape of you know what)
Sophia's 1st mollar on the right lower gum is out & the 2nd one on the left is on its way. Poor girl & poor Daddy who has to work full-time feeling constantly sleep deprived. We had to resort to some infant Ibuprofen to help Sophia get more restful sleep for a couple of nights, but there is just no way around it - molars hurt! We have not had a full night's sleep since Sophia has been born & I will throw a BIG celebration when she sleeps through the night for the 1st time.
This week Gerritt & I had a brief introduction to the Greek mythology accidentally. We took the beautifully illustrated book Blue Moon Mountain by Geraldine McCaughrean home from the library & were pleasantly surprised to discover that it was full of stories about such mystical creatures as unicorns, cyclops & mermaids, just to name a few. How many 3 year olds do you know who have such words in their vocabulary? I was certainly impressed with Gerritt's concept understanding & ease of pronounciation. I've always been fascinated with Greek mythology since so much of the fantasy literature is based on it (think of the Harry Potter series or One Thousand & One Nights, for example). Here is a review of the main creatures of the Greek mythology:
Harpy - a fearsome creature that lived in ancient Greece. It had the body & wings of a giant bird & the head of an ugly woman. These foul-smelling creatures were always hungry & snatched most of their food from humans causing some of them to eventually starve.
Hydra - a huge snake-like monster with several hideous heads. It was impossible to kill & one whiff of its poisonous breath caused death. When one of its fearsome heads was cut off, two grew in its place. The hero Heracles destroyed Hydra. Each time he cut off a head, he sealed the stump with a flame to stop new ones from growing.
Mermaids - creatures living in the seas, with the body of a beautiful woman from the waist up, & the lower body of a fish. Sailors told tails of mermaids sitting on rocks, combing their hair & singing, to lure the men away from their ships so they would drown. They had powers over the sea & if angry could make giant waves that sank ships & flooded villages.
Orc - was a medieval sea monster that was greatly feared by sailors. They told many tales of how this fearsome beast would pursue & devour any creatures that came within its reach. Today, people believe that the creature they described was probably the killer whale, or Orca, which is a very skilled hunter of fish & seals.
Dragons - Fire-breathing, winged reptiles, who had magical powers. In Norse myths, dragons were a symbol of war & guarded the burial mounds of warriors. Chinese dragons were the companions of the weather gods. In Europe dragons were regarded as evil creatures. Their name comes from the Greek word for serpent.
Cyclopes - a mythical race of giants who looked like hairy humans except they had only one eye in the center of their forehead. Wild, savage creatures, they kept herds of giant goats & sheep & lived in caves. Odysseus & his men were captured & imprisoned in a cave by the cyclop Polyphemus. They blinded the giant & escaped by clinging beneath the sheep as they left the cave.
Gorgons - 3 sisters who lived on a remote island in ancient Greece. They had the bodies of women, hideous faces, the teeth of hogs & brass claw fingernails. The most spectacular feature was their hair - a mass of live, hissing snakes. Any human who dared to look at them was instantly turned to stone. Two of the gorgons were immortal, but legend says that the third, Medusa, was killed by Perseus.
Gryphon (or Griffin) - a fierce beast with a lion's body, legs & tail & the wings & head of an eagle, but with pointed dog's ears. It's said that they were native to India & lived in wild mountainous countryside, building their nest, which were said to be lined with gold, on high cliff-tops. Gryphons served the gods as guardians, & were often used as symbols of wisdom & heroism.
Cockatrice (or Basilisk) - had the head & body of a cock, leathery, spiked wings, & a long, barbed serpent's tail. Its poisonous breath could scorch plants & split rocks & one glance from its scarlet eyes was enough to kill. Only 3 things could kill it: a weasel, a cock crowing, or the sight of its own image.
Sphinx - a monster with a woman's head & the body of a lion. Some Sphinx asked travelers riddles & if they could not answer, ate them. The city of Thebes was terrorized by a Sphinx, who asked travelers, "What animal goes on 4 feet in the morning, on 2 at noon, & 3 feet in the evening?" The hero Oedipus gave the right answer - man. The Sphinx was so angry she killed herself.
Unicorn - a beautiful white horse-like creature with a long, spiral horn in the center of its forehead. It lived in meadows & forests & its horn, or alicorn, could protect against poisons, fits & fevers. A symbol of purity, it could only be captured by a young unmarried maiden.
Roc (or Rukh) - a gigantic legendary bird who would blot out the sun when in flight, casting a huge shadow over the land below. The females fed their young on elephants. Marco Polo described the bird in his travels through Madagascar & Africa, & The Tales of the Arabian Nights tell how Sinbad the Sailor, cast ashore on a desert island, came upon a giant Roc egg.
Phoenix - the rarest & most beautiful of all mythical birds. There was only one Phoenix, which lived for at least 500 years. When its end approached, the bird would build a nest of sweet-smelling wood & herbs. At dawn, it would set fire to the nest & be consumed by the flames. As the flames died down, the Phoenix would rise again from its own ashes, young & strong, a symbol of immortality.
Wyvern - a mythical flying serpent, it looked like a two-legged dragon with enormous wings. Its tail was barbed & its claws were like an eagle's talons. Both winged & wingless Wyverns are important symbols in heraldry & have often been used in royal designs.
Pegasus - the winged horse who was the offspring of the Greek God Posidon & Medusa. Bellerophon, a Greek hero, captured Pegasus with a magical golden bridal & rode him to the cave of the two-headed monster Chimera in order to kill her.
It took me more than 2 hours to find all of the appropriate mystical creature photos. Time consuming, but like they say - a picture is worth a thousand words. So here you go - a short library trip for Gerritt evolved into a fascinating research project for Mommy. I had so much fun learning that I don't regret a single minute of it!
Other books that deserve honorable mentions this week are:
Freight Train by Donald Crews (Gerritt loves anything to do with trains!)
Three Feet Small by Michael Rosen (illustrated by our favorite Valeri Gorbachev)
The Mitten by Alvin Tresselt (an old Ukranian folktale)
Mr. Murry & Thumbkin by Karma Wilson
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