it's dinovember at our house

those silly dinosaurs are up to some fun-loving hijinks

by Melissa

every year, writer Refe Tuma and his wife devote the month of November to convincing their three young children that their plastic dinosaurs come to life. they take a snapshot, capturing the feisty fossils in various escapades (jamming, getting into the candy jar, unrolling the TP, breaking stuff, interrogating Michelangelo the TMNT, and occasionally cleaning up after themselves). i came across Tuma's post at Medium, and then quickly became a fan of Dinovember on Facebook as the fun concept went officially viral. "Childhood is fleeting, so let’s make sure it’s fun while it lasts," Tuma writes. amen! i dove right in. (and thus ends a too-long hiatus from this blog. i have many drafts that have remained just that. i promise to bring them to light soon. they involve mixed tapes and slugs. and maybe some silly-sanisms or two. but back to the dinosaurs...)

my cousin gave me her son's hand-me-down Dinosaur Train figures. Sweet One and Small One love this show. my oldest gets excited to tell me about what she's learned. my youngest giggles. we sing the song. it's good times. so now the familiar dinos are breaking out of the toy cupboard while the girls sleep.

the first night, the dinos decided to get all crafty and make secret messages to hide in the girls' lunchboxes. they snapped a photo mid-action (see above) and sent it to Mommy to share with the girls. at first, the girls were convinced this was daddy's doing (sigh). then the idea that dinosaurs came to life while they were sleeping really set in, and Sweet One became Detective Sweet One. "i have to figure this out!" she commenced to steal the camera while i was finishing up dinner and took some video. then she snapped photos of evidence.

yes, a photo of a photo

she interviewed suspects.

ok, maybe just one suspect

she tried to determine their next target.

not the pumpkins!

for a while she was plotting to sneak downstairs in the middle of the night and catch them in the act again. but then we reminded her of the consequences for getting out of bed. so she shifted tactics, and instead left the dinos some notes of her own. the dinos did not disappoint...

this time, they raided Small One's Basket of Things That Go. ho, boy...

something tells me these dinos are enjoying their life brought back from the brink of extinction. (hand-me-downs rock!)

something tells me this cryolophosaurus is going
to be trouble. sigh. theropods will be theropods...

the look on this kentrosaurus' face ... and the fact that he's
riding backwards ... lead me to think he may not be the brightest
stegosaurid in the Jurassic time period

the ornithomimus checks under the hood of the '64 Dodge
(darn if that one isn't always failing to turn over for Little One),
while a velociraptor gives some velocity to the wind-up bug

there was no tank for Tank.
so the triceratops settled for the dozer.

the pteranodon siblings race.
Tiny is on a Mini... snicker

a mini maiasaura gets a lift

phew! no crash landings. Buddy the little T-rex shows he may
just belong in a pteranadon nest after all

what will they get into next time...? watch the silly = sane Facebook page for more of our Dinovember photos.

climbing back into the toy cupboard to sleep off
the mayhem... and plot their next move...

how about you? are you participating in Dinovember? don't have dinosaurs? how about Barbies, or princesses, or army men, or Lego dudes... the possibilities are endless, really. let your imagination go wild, and then watch your kids' imaginations blossom too.