And then he caught a centipede and begged me to let him go next door to ask Jeff all about it.
(Jeff said the centipede was dehydrated and he chose to release it in a muddy spot by the garden hose. Thank Heavens!)
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
RIP Christy
Just held a funeral for a praying mantis. Pretty sure it might have been the finest mantis funeral ever put on. This is the first pet Gavin has lost. Poor kid was heartbroken. But the work of the funeral seemed to help him a lot. After sobbing and sobbing, talking to Grandma on the phone, then sobbing some more, then having to be convinced that it wasn't his fault and that bugs just don't live very long, he chose a brick from a pile in the backyard, carefully scrubbed it and painted her name on it. Then he dug a hole, all by himself. We put her in a plastic box. I tried to talk him into something biodegradable, but he didn't like the idea of her decomposing and being eaten by other bugs and plants. So we went with plastic. We sang a song, he buried her, he said a few words about how grateful he is that God created bugs and all the other things on Earth which he loves.
And then he caught a centipede and begged me to let him go next door to ask Jeff all about it.
(Jeff said the centipede was dehydrated and he chose to release it in a muddy spot by the garden hose. Thank Heavens!)
And then he caught a centipede and begged me to let him go next door to ask Jeff all about it.
(Jeff said the centipede was dehydrated and he chose to release it in a muddy spot by the garden hose. Thank Heavens!)
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Taking after his Grandpa
Great trip to the air and space today. We met up with some friends from church to tour the Udvar-Hazy branch of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Jasper had been eagerly looking forward to this trip and was so excited to go! He was very interested in looking at and talking about all of the planes and helicopters and rockets they have there. And could have sat in the observation tower watching planes take off and land all day!
He kept asking me if they had any planes like Dusty (from the Planes movie) so I stopped by the information desk and asked if they had any crop dusters. There were about half a dozen little old men behind the desk and they started falling all over themselves in eagerness to help me out. One came around from the desk and volunteered to walk us to where each of the two crop dusters they have were. He gave Jasper and I our own little private tour of the museum on the way pointing out especially interesting planes housed there (the Enola Gay--which dropped the nuclear bomb, the First Fed Ex Plane, the largest collection of military planes in the world, etc) then he showed us the two crop dusters and shared everything he knew about them. Another tour guide found us and gave me a bunch of papers he'd printed out about crop dusters. They said that it's not often they have someone so young asking specific questions. And that we were only the second person ever to ask about crop dusters specifically. One of them got a little emotional talking about how great it is to see the younger generation taking an interest.
Jasper sure is a pleasant kid to take on an outing!
Tomorrow I am going to take him with me to meet with my adviser at school. I am 99% sure it will be just fine. Certain other children of mine would never be able to handle such an outing though. Funny how kids can be so very different from one another. They just really come with their own personalities don't they?
He kept asking me if they had any planes like Dusty (from the Planes movie) so I stopped by the information desk and asked if they had any crop dusters. There were about half a dozen little old men behind the desk and they started falling all over themselves in eagerness to help me out. One came around from the desk and volunteered to walk us to where each of the two crop dusters they have were. He gave Jasper and I our own little private tour of the museum on the way pointing out especially interesting planes housed there (the Enola Gay--which dropped the nuclear bomb, the First Fed Ex Plane, the largest collection of military planes in the world, etc) then he showed us the two crop dusters and shared everything he knew about them. Another tour guide found us and gave me a bunch of papers he'd printed out about crop dusters. They said that it's not often they have someone so young asking specific questions. And that we were only the second person ever to ask about crop dusters specifically. One of them got a little emotional talking about how great it is to see the younger generation taking an interest.
Jasper sure is a pleasant kid to take on an outing!
Tomorrow I am going to take him with me to meet with my adviser at school. I am 99% sure it will be just fine. Certain other children of mine would never be able to handle such an outing though. Funny how kids can be so very different from one another. They just really come with their own personalities don't they?
Thursday, September 5, 2013
School Days
We are all back into the school swing now. I thought I was looking forward to it so much and now I find myself kind of sad to drop them off in the morning, missing them during the day, and overwhelmed with the demands of my own new class schedule--which is a lot more demanding than my previous two semesters. I'm also finding myself having to make some decisions regarding my long term school and career plans a little sooner than I'd thought. And that has been stressing me out.
It's all good stuff, but it takes some time to adjust.
Gavin's first day of Kindergarten was, in his words, "epic." That word makes me feel old, but it definitely means he liked it. ;) The second day, he didn't want to go. And he cried so much at drop off that the school counselor had to come help him separate from me. Today was the third day and while he expressed some reluctance over breakfast, he went happily off to class once we got there. It helped that the giant moth he'd found on the playground yesterday was still there today and a great teacher had even done research about the moth overnight and had cool facts to share with him today.
Jasper misses Gavin, but has had two playdates with his good friend Henry this week and spent a lot of time with our pets. I've never really considered myself an "animal person" but I do think all these pets are really good for my kids.
It's all good stuff, but it takes some time to adjust.
Gavin's first day of Kindergarten was, in his words, "epic." That word makes me feel old, but it definitely means he liked it. ;) The second day, he didn't want to go. And he cried so much at drop off that the school counselor had to come help him separate from me. Today was the third day and while he expressed some reluctance over breakfast, he went happily off to class once we got there. It helped that the giant moth he'd found on the playground yesterday was still there today and a great teacher had even done research about the moth overnight and had cool facts to share with him today.
Jasper misses Gavin, but has had two playdates with his good friend Henry this week and spent a lot of time with our pets. I've never really considered myself an "animal person" but I do think all these pets are really good for my kids.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)