(cheery piano music begins)
♪ You are the best you ♪
♪ The world will see ♪
♪ Come along now ♪
♪ And share you with me ♪
♪ Let's learn something new ♪
♪ And share feelings too ♪
♪ 'Cause these are the things to do ♪
♪ To be the best you ♪
(cheery piano music continues)
(magical chiming)
- Hi Possum, and hello friends.
- Hi, Auntie Lena.
- Oh, what have you been up to, Possum?
- Oh well, Mama Possum and I looked at my baby book today.
Everyone in class has to bring a baby picture to school.
- Oh, fun.
I bet you were an adorable little baby.
You'll have to show me your picture sometime.
- Oh I will, Auntie Lena.
I can bring my whole baby book
and show you all my favorite things from when I was little.
- Well, I can't wait to see it.
What are some of the fun things you remember?
- Oh, I remember that I liked being carried
on Mama possum's back and chasing my tail. (laughs)
I was pretty silly.
- Well, I'd say you're still pretty silly.
- Aw.
Oh, and do you have any pictures
from when you were little, Auntie Lena?
- I do.
In most of them I'm holding my purple blankie
and I wouldn't go anywhere without it
when I was a little kid.
- That must be why you love the color purple.
- You're probably right.
- Oh, Auntie Lena, well, I like being a kid
and I don't wanna grow up.
- Oh, well why do you say that?
- Well, I'm gonna miss all the fun stuff
that I get to do with Mama Possum, with you,
and with our friends.
- Oh, I hear you Possum.
Lots of things change as you get older.
But remember, change is an adventure.
Mama Possum and I will still be here
for many more adventures as you grow.
- You will?
- Of course. We're a family of choice, right?
- Yes, we are.
- I know a story that may help you
feel better about growing up.
It's called "I Am Perfectly Designed"
by Karamo and Jason Rachel Brown.
Let's go to the Filipino Community Village in Seattle
and listen with our friends.
(magical chiming)
- [Unison] Hi, friends.
- I'm Mr. Duane and this is my son...
- Jace.
- And today we're at the Filipino Community Village.
We are reading "I Am Perfectly Designed"
by Karamo Brown, illustrated by Anoosha Syed.
- [Jace] "First there was you, dad,
then there was me, and now there's us."
- [Duane] "That's right. Now there's us."
- "When you first saw me, you said,
'He is perfectly designed from his head to his toes.'"
- [Mr. Duane] "And I meant every word. Still do."
- [Jace] "When I was a baby, I looked just like you...
Only I had no hair and you had lots.
Now it's the opposite."
- [Mr. Duane] "So true."
- [Jace] "The first thing I remember
is being carried on your shoulders
while you walked me all over the city.
Remember that?
I had such a big baby head."
- [Mr. Duane] "Indeed.
But your big baby head was perfectly designed for you."
- [Jace] "When I was really little,
I thought you could touch the moon.
Remember that?
We'd sit on the roof and reach for it."
- [Mr. Duane] "One day, you'll be big enough
to reach it yourself.
But until then, it's perfectly fine to ask for help."
- [Jace] "Remember when we went
as syrup and waffles for Halloween, Dad?"
- [Mr. Duane] "Ha, I do. I do."
- [Jace] "That was awesome.
I wonder what we'll be this year.
When I run in the park, jump in the park,
climb trees in the park,
and pretend I'm a statue in the park,
you remind me I am perfectly designed to explore the world."
- [Duane] "You are and you always will be."
- [Jace] "Sometimes, Dad, when I get mad,
or sad, or confused, you wrap me in your arms.
I like that."
- [Mr. Duane] "Me, too.
And I remind you
that you are perfectly designed and wonderful.
No matter what you're feeling."
- [Jace] "Dad, when I grow up and leave home,
will you miss me?"
- [Mr. Duane] "Yes, very much."
- [Jace] "Will you go into my room
and play with my race cars and stuffed animals?"
- [Mr. Duane] "You know I will."
- [Jace] "Will you sit on the fire escape
and feed the pigeons like we do in the summer?"
- [Mr. Duane] "The pigeons and the sparrows."
- [Jace] "Will you remember our favorite moves?"
- [Mr. Duane] "I will.
And I'll invent some new ones, too."
- [Jace] "Dad, will you always think of me?"
- [Mr. Duane] "Always."
- [Jace] "You know what, Dad?"
- "What?"
- "I will always remember walking through the city
and sitting on your shoulders.
And maybe when you're older and I'm taller,
I can carry you on mine
because we are perfectly designed for each other."
- [Duane] "That's right."
Well, that was a good book, huh?
- Yes, sir.
- You know, this book really reminds me of you and me.
We'll go out and play soccer together.
- Yes, sir. - I'll try to teach you
some new moves.
- I think it does, too.
- Let's say goodbye to our friends.
- [Unison] Bye, friends.
(magical chiming)
- The father and son in that story,
remind me of you and Mama Possum.
- Well, the boy's dad used to carry him
just like Mama Possum carried me.
- It seems like they have a very special relationship.
- Oh and they have so many memories together.
- Mm-hmm. That's one of the best things about growing up.
- What is Auntie Lena?
- Being able to look back at all the special moments
and adventures that you had with the people you love.
- Oh, like when I looked at my baby book earlier.
- Exactly. How did that make you feel?
- Well, it made me feel happy and sad.
- Oh, well tell me more, Possum.
- Oh, I was kind of sad
because sometimes I miss being little
but it made me happy because Mama Possum made me laugh
and told me stories I'd never heard before.
- See, it can be fun to hear stories about the past.
Stories keep our memories and experiences alive.
- But what if I forget them?
- Well, that's why we have things like journals
and photos or baby books to help us remember.
And it's a reason so many families tell stories.
- Auntie Lena, I wish that we had a book
where we could put our memories.
- That's a good idea, Possum.
Would you like to make one with our friends?
- Yes.
- Well, let's go to Cherubs Nursery School
and Mr. Damon can show us how.
(magical chiming)
- Hello, friends. It's Mr. Damon.
Today we're here at the Cherubs Nursery School.
Today we'll be making memory books.
The supplies we will need for today's memory books
are some 8.5 by 11 pieces of paper, a variety of colors,
a variety of pens, a hole punch, scissors,
some string, crayons, stickers,
and maybe some cool glittery tape.
Let's start with the inside pages.
So I'm gonna grab a couple of pieces of paper here.
I think I'm gonna go with blue for my cover.
So I'm gonna put a page on the back
and then one on the front.
Gonna take my hole punch.
I'm gonna take one punch,
two punch, and three punch.
So after we put our three hole punches in,
we then are gonna take our yarn
and cut three individual pieces.
And we're gonna take these three individual pieces
and begin to put our book together.
And this part is gonna be like tying your shoes.
So we're gonna kind of make a simple bow
and then we're gonna repeat the process.
Now that we have our memory book put together,
let's design our cover that's gonna house our memories.
So I think I'm gonna go with blue
and I think I'm gonna do bubble letters.
Okay.
And then I think I'm going to
put a couple of stickers on it.
And you could put things on this book
that are gonna kinda remind you of your memories
and it's gonna be special to you.
So there we have it.
That's the start of your memory book.
What are some of your favorite memories?
I think some of my favorite memories is when I was a child
is, you know, cooking with my dad.
So I think the first memory I'm gonna draw
is a picture of me cooking with my dad.
And this was a favorite memory
just kind of cooking and making some food.
I'm gonna give myself some hair and make him bald.
All right, and that is one of my favorite memories.
And I hope that you fill up your book
with all memories that are special to you,
that are close to your heart,
and continue to fill it up with memories as you make them
so that you have a book of all your memories
that you can reflect on.
Bye, friends.
- [Possum] It's time for Movement Minute.
(Possum bouncing)
- Hi, friends. Mr. Doug here again.
For today's Movement Minute
we're gonna try something a little more challenging.
It's called the side twist.
So you're gonna get in this position
and you are gonna sit on your bottom
with your feet firmly planted on the ground
and then you're gonna cross your hands across your chest.
And then we're gonna lean to the left,
twist back to the right, twist back to the left,
and then back to the right.
Whew. That's the side twist.
Now, if we wanna make it a little more challenging
lift your feet up off the ground, cross them over,
and do the same thing to the left and to the right.
And that's all I have for you today. (laughs)
It's a little challenging, but I know you can do it.
Have fun, friends. Bye.
(chimes tinkle)
- Possum, you know what else is exciting about growing up?
- Um... Being able to eat anything I want.
- Well, that's not what I was thinking.
- Oh, well what else, Auntie Lena?
- As I get older, I enjoy teaching others
what I've learned over the years.
- But isn't that because you're an elder?
- Well, yes, but even though you're not an elder yet,
you can still teach others things that I can't.
Like your new slug stew recipe.
- Oh, and Grandpa Possum's worm-sghetti recipe.
- Exactly, because you started cooking
with Mama Possum when you were little.
You learned and grew into the young chef that you are today.
- Oh, you're right, Auntie Lena.
And there are still so many recipes that I don't know yet.
- Would you like to learn another one with our friends?
- Mm-hmm, yes please.
- Okay, Possum.
Let's go to Musang Restaurant in Seattle
and see what Chef Domingo is making today.
(magical chiming)
- [Unison] Hi, friends.
- My name's Chef Domingo.
- My name's Elijah.
- [Unison] And we're here at Musang.
- Today we're gonna be making pastillas de leche.
Can you say that?
- Pastillas de leche.
- Perfect, yes.
So the ingredients we have here today
is gonna be powdered milk, and it's about a cup,
and condensed milk we have a half a cup.
I remember when I was younger,
I used to make this with my grandma
and it's kind of like Play-Doh.
Do you have any memories that you have
cooking with your family?
- Oh, one time when I was little
I was with my mom and I was making brownies.
- Brownies? Brownies are my favorite.
So we can start off with a cup.
We can go ahead and put that in.
- Dump it?
- Yep, go ahead and dump it all in.
(bright music)
All right.
And then we're gonna do a half a cup.
So this is the full cup
but we're gonna do half of that into here if you want.
- Okay, so like down to right here?
- Yeah, perfect.
There you go. Go ahead and mix it all around.
And that's good, okay.
All right, and then if you wanna grab a spoon down here
we're gonna mix it all together.
And basically what you're trying to do
is you're gonna mix it around, um-
- I stir it.
- Yep, and you can hold the bowl right here
and kind of mix it around.
Perfect, yeah.
And we're gonna make it into something like Play-Doh.
- It's like...
It's kind of hard.
I feel like it gets harder.
- Yeah, the more you mix, the harder it gets.
- Yeah.
- We're gonna mix our hands in there in a little bit.
- Yay.
(Chef Domingo laughs)
- I'm gonna pour a little bit more in here.
There you go.
- This looks like caramel kind of.
- Yeah. It tastes like caramel too.
It tastes like milk caramel.
(Elijah grunts)
Oh, is it getting hard?
- Yes. - Yeah.
- Chef Domingo, will you please help me stir this?
- Yeah, absolutely. I got you.
It gets a little tough sometimes.
You wanna get all the ingredients incorporated.
Is this starting to look like Play-Doh?
- Yeah. - Yeah?
Let's get our hands in there.
This is the fun part.
All right, so what you're gonna wanna do is knead the dough.
So you wanna push down and fold over like that.
- So like this? - Yeah, perfect.
And then fold it over.
- Like this? - Mm-hmm.
And that's called kneading the dough.
So pushing down, folding over, pushing down.
My grandma used to always have me do this
'cause this was the hard part.
(both chuckle)
So then we're gonna take a little bit of this
and this is more milk powder.
So this is what we incorporated
in the beginning of the dish.
And you wanna dust it on top of this silpat right here.
- Like all over right here?
- Yeah, mostly in the middle,
but kind of all over the place.
You can use your fingers too.
Go like that.
Perfect. Perfect.
Okay, so then we'll take the dough out.
- Is it heavy?
- No. Do you wanna feel it?
- Yeah. Oh yeah, that's light.
- Yeah, it's really light.
So then you can go ahead and knead the dough down again.
Yeah, fold it over.
Just like you would be playing with Play-Doh.
You can make it into any shape you want.
- Okay.
- I think it's good now.
So what we're gonna do is actually take little bits of it.
So if you wanna take some and I can take some
and we can roll it like this.
Just like that.
So we're gonna make 'em into nice little round logs.
And in the streets of the Philippines,
what they do is they make these into balls or logs
and they roll 'em into cellophane or plastic
and different flavors and different shapes and stuff.
And it's a candy that all the kids love and enjoy.
But yeah, so we can make 'em into any shape like this.
There you go. Perfect.
Looks perfect.
I think this is why my grandma liked having us make these
because it's fun to play with.
You can make 'em into any shape you want.
You can make 'em into a dinosaur if you wanted to.
So then once they're done,
whatever shape you wanna bring them into,
we'll take a plate,
and then we're gonna add a little bit of sugar right here.
And then you can roll your balls
or any of the logs right into the sugar.
- Okay, so like- - Like this.
Just kind of roll 'em around.
- [Elijah] Okay.
(upbeat music)
- Nice. Do you wanna taste one?
- Yes. - Yeah?
All right, let's do one each.
Cheers. All right.
(upbeat music)
How's that taste?
Like milk?
- Yeah. - Mm-hmm.
Sweet, chewy.
- Kind of caramelly.
- Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I think that's the flavor of the condensed milk.
You can add any flavors to these
if you wanted to do like mango or ube
or fondant is a typical one you see too.
Any types of flavor you can add into the dough.
And they change the color of 'em too.
So just like Play-Doh.
But they're really fun to make and they're really easy.
- Thank you, Chef Domingo,
for helping me make these milk candies.
- Absolutely. And thank you friends for joining us.
- [Unison] Bye, friends.
(magical chiming)
- Oh, that looked so yummy.
- So what do you think?
Are you gonna add it to your recipe book?
- Yes, I'm gonna add it to my recipe book
and my memory book, so then I can teach the recipe.
And when I grow up, I can remember this fun day
that we had with our friends.
- Well, that is quite a plan, Possum.
It sounds like you're a little less worried
about growing up.
- I'm still gonna miss being a kid,
but I don't wanna miss out
on all the awesome new things I'll learn when I'm older.
- It's like I told you, change-
- Is an adventure. (Auntie Lena laughs)
- And no matter what age you are, you can always talk to me.
Even when you are 33.
(Possum laughs)
- When I'm 33? That's so far away.
- In the meantime, don't forget to show me your baby book.
I wanna hear all the stories that Mama Possum told you.
- Oh, I won't, Auntie Lena.
I can't wait. Thank you.
- You are welcome, Possum.
And friends, thank you for taking the time
to look, listen, and learn with us today.
Remember, you are the best you that the world will ever see.
- Bye for now.
- Bye-bye.
(gentle music)
Please stay tuned after the credits
for Auntie Lena's parent tip.
(uplifting music continues)
- [Narrator] Brought to you by Symetra.
Through the Symetra Empowers Communities program,
Symetra proudly supports organizations
like "Look, Listen and Learn TV"
that empower BIPOC women and underserved youth
to achieve their goals.
(uplifting music continues)
(gentle music)
- What's a favorite childhood memory that you have?
For me, it's hanging out on Grandpa Jefferson's front porch
eating snacks with my sister.
Childhood is filled with
hundreds of new experiences and discoveries.
Like Possum, it's no wonder that children may sometimes
have a hard time coming to terms with growing up.
Change can be difficult.
Spend time reflecting on past events with your child.
Share your favorite childhood memories
and encourage your child
to practice their storytelling skills
by sharing some of theirs.
Make a family memory book together
or a recipe box that your child can continue adding to
as they learn and grow.
As caring adults, it's our job to help our little ones
find joy in their memories
and the unique stories they have to tell.
However your child feels about getting older,
remind them that change is an adventure,
and that their loved ones
will be right there alongside them for the ride.