Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
A Pack of Wolves
Both Summer10 and Spring7 are active in Cub Scouts. In fact, Mike is Spring7's den leader so really our family is active in Cub Scouts (or "Scub Scouts" as Winter4 says as only he can).
The boys recently earned Catholic religious awards through scouts and were invited to "Scout Day with the Bishop" being held for both Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts at a local church. An awards ceremony was held after a brief prayer service. (During which I answered garden variety questions from Spring7 such as "How long is this thing going to last?" and "Is that guy the bishop?") The speaker stated that the scouts were to proceed to the altar to receive a patch from the bishop when their particular award was announced. Egad! This required a quick rebriefing in "how to shake hands with someone important." In a hushed voice that probably half the church heard, I reminded the boys to shake with their right hand, look him in the eye and say thank you.
The first awards were given to Girl Scouts. All this did was raise the expectations for scout behavior. Let me tell you that there was a noticeable difference between the girls and the boys. The seven and eight year old girls, when called, weren't really sure what they were supposed to do but they cautiously approached the altar and looked around at the adults for cues. They lined up in a fairly orderly way, shyly shook hands, said thank you, smiled and quietly walked back to their seats.
The approach of the Cubs was, um, different. Rather than a cautious approach, they more or less stampeded up the aisle. These seven and eight year old boys are Wolf cubs and walking in a pack is exactly what they did. Not that any of them were trying to push or trip each other but when a large pack of boys attempts to walk together, someone is going to get tripped up. As they approached the altar and formed something sort of like a line, when one Cub took one step forward, the other Cubs took three steps forward and got all bunched up. They were in constant motion...forward, back, to the side like magnets being alternately attracted to and pushed away from each other. Each serious handshake was followed by maybe a "thank you", maybe a grunt. Each boy walked back to his seat as if he was on fire and water was around the corner. Fortunately, the bishop had a sense of humor as he chuckled the entire time!
I always give credit to the Boys Scouts for really understanding little boys and knowing what sorts of things they like to do. Clearly, they classify them well too. Next year, I think Spring7 will be a Bear Cub. Does this mean his wolf pack run will slow to a lumber? I don't see that happening!
The boys recently earned Catholic religious awards through scouts and were invited to "Scout Day with the Bishop" being held for both Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts at a local church. An awards ceremony was held after a brief prayer service. (During which I answered garden variety questions from Spring7 such as "How long is this thing going to last?" and "Is that guy the bishop?") The speaker stated that the scouts were to proceed to the altar to receive a patch from the bishop when their particular award was announced. Egad! This required a quick rebriefing in "how to shake hands with someone important." In a hushed voice that probably half the church heard, I reminded the boys to shake with their right hand, look him in the eye and say thank you.
The first awards were given to Girl Scouts. All this did was raise the expectations for scout behavior. Let me tell you that there was a noticeable difference between the girls and the boys. The seven and eight year old girls, when called, weren't really sure what they were supposed to do but they cautiously approached the altar and looked around at the adults for cues. They lined up in a fairly orderly way, shyly shook hands, said thank you, smiled and quietly walked back to their seats.
The approach of the Cubs was, um, different. Rather than a cautious approach, they more or less stampeded up the aisle. These seven and eight year old boys are Wolf cubs and walking in a pack is exactly what they did. Not that any of them were trying to push or trip each other but when a large pack of boys attempts to walk together, someone is going to get tripped up. As they approached the altar and formed something sort of like a line, when one Cub took one step forward, the other Cubs took three steps forward and got all bunched up. They were in constant motion...forward, back, to the side like magnets being alternately attracted to and pushed away from each other. Each serious handshake was followed by maybe a "thank you", maybe a grunt. Each boy walked back to his seat as if he was on fire and water was around the corner. Fortunately, the bishop had a sense of humor as he chuckled the entire time!
I always give credit to the Boys Scouts for really understanding little boys and knowing what sorts of things they like to do. Clearly, they classify them well too. Next year, I think Spring7 will be a Bear Cub. Does this mean his wolf pack run will slow to a lumber? I don't see that happening!
Popsicles, part deux
Almost a week later and I still don't know what happened to the popsicle. No stick. No sticky red puddle. My best guess is that he ate part of it and threw the rest away or gave it to his brother. A friend suggested I look in the freezer which I did and found a stick from an ice cream treat he ate a couple of weeks ago. I checked in the fireplace which is the little boys' new place for tossing things. I found a book, a drumstick, a train and Tuck the Wonder Pet. The world may never know what happened to that red popsicle as that knowledge has come and gone from Winter4's brain. I wouldn't be surprised if he tells me all about it in 3 months. As long as it's not stuffed between my sofa cushions...
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Anybody See My Popsicle?
Winter4 and Fall2 love popsicles. Really, who doesn't? This evening after dinner, Winter4 asked me, "Mommy, pweese can I have a popsicle for Fall2?" (He thinks I'm more likely to give in to him if it's for his brother.) I told him they could each have one. Everyone celebrates! I got the little guys set up at the table with their treats and left the room for 15 seconds. I returned to find Winter4 doing a dance in the family room.
Me: "Winter4, where is your popsicle?"
Winter4: "My popsicle?"
Me: "Yes, the red popsicle you were just eating."
Winter4: "Hmmmmm..."
At this point, Winter4 puts on a very serious face, furrowed brow and all, as if his popsicle vanished into thin air and he can't imagine what could have happened. He pats his head with his finger and says, "I finking...I fink it's behind the TV!" He runs and looks. He finds a Christmas ornament and a toy. Then he looks at me and exclaims, "I don't what happened!"
Winter4 has a reputation for running off with things and throwing them behind furniture. Today I found a friend's baby rattle behind the entertainment center. Earlier, I found FOUR doorknob covers behind a cabinet (you know the kind that are meant to keep kids OUT of rooms?)
Misplacing a treat?! How DOES that happen? I'll let you know if it shows up...
Me: "Winter4, where is your popsicle?"
Winter4: "My popsicle?"
Me: "Yes, the red popsicle you were just eating."
Winter4: "Hmmmmm..."
At this point, Winter4 puts on a very serious face, furrowed brow and all, as if his popsicle vanished into thin air and he can't imagine what could have happened. He pats his head with his finger and says, "I finking...I fink it's behind the TV!" He runs and looks. He finds a Christmas ornament and a toy. Then he looks at me and exclaims, "I don't what happened!"
Winter4 has a reputation for running off with things and throwing them behind furniture. Today I found a friend's baby rattle behind the entertainment center. Earlier, I found FOUR doorknob covers behind a cabinet (you know the kind that are meant to keep kids OUT of rooms?)
Misplacing a treat?! How DOES that happen? I'll let you know if it shows up...
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Hi-ho, Silver, Away to the Bowl in the Sky
One of our geriatric goldfish, Silver, swam away to the big bowl in the sky this weekend. You may think we're being clever naming a goldfish Silver but really the goldfish was just silver-y colored. We can be very literal people. The other goldfish is named Gold because he/she is, yes, you guess it, very gold colored.
When I say geriatric, I mean that he/she has been around for more than 3 years but I've lost track of the time. Those fish have survived many, many things such as Winter4 bobbing for apples in their tank when he was only Winter2, a trip to the neighbors to be fish-sat and overfeedings by several well intentioned boys.
I noticed that Silver looked pretty bad one evening while I was making dinner (a dinner of fish sticks, by the way). I didn't take it too seriously as Silver had a melodramatic streak and has appeared to be dying several other times in the past. Within a day, I'll find him swimming around like nothing ever happened. Not this time. He kept up the dying act for a couple of days which made me consider just putting him out of his misery. Enter Summer10 who took moral offense to this idea. I tried to tell him that it's not fair to let Silver flounder (get it?) for days. He told me that it's not fair to make Silver die from not being able to breathe or worse yet die in a sewer pipe. Even though I thought, "Hello! This is a geriatric goldfish!" I appreciated the fact that he had weighed these moral issues and had an opinion.
Fortunately, Silver didn't linger much longer. Now, my confession. I, as a woman who has put her hands in toilets, applied ointment to various locales on all sorts of people and animals and caught vomit with her bare hands is skeeved out by dead goldfish. Mike doesn't understand how I can prepare and eat fish for dinner but can't pull a dead one out of a tank. What can I say? It's just gross!
So, in honor of our Silver, I think I'll lay off the fish entrees for this week and perhaps rescue another 19 cent "feeder fish" so that Gold has a friend.
When I say geriatric, I mean that he/she has been around for more than 3 years but I've lost track of the time. Those fish have survived many, many things such as Winter4 bobbing for apples in their tank when he was only Winter2, a trip to the neighbors to be fish-sat and overfeedings by several well intentioned boys.
I noticed that Silver looked pretty bad one evening while I was making dinner (a dinner of fish sticks, by the way). I didn't take it too seriously as Silver had a melodramatic streak and has appeared to be dying several other times in the past. Within a day, I'll find him swimming around like nothing ever happened. Not this time. He kept up the dying act for a couple of days which made me consider just putting him out of his misery. Enter Summer10 who took moral offense to this idea. I tried to tell him that it's not fair to let Silver flounder (get it?) for days. He told me that it's not fair to make Silver die from not being able to breathe or worse yet die in a sewer pipe. Even though I thought, "Hello! This is a geriatric goldfish!" I appreciated the fact that he had weighed these moral issues and had an opinion.
Fortunately, Silver didn't linger much longer. Now, my confession. I, as a woman who has put her hands in toilets, applied ointment to various locales on all sorts of people and animals and caught vomit with her bare hands is skeeved out by dead goldfish. Mike doesn't understand how I can prepare and eat fish for dinner but can't pull a dead one out of a tank. What can I say? It's just gross!
So, in honor of our Silver, I think I'll lay off the fish entrees for this week and perhaps rescue another 19 cent "feeder fish" so that Gold has a friend.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Things I've Learned
Things I've learned but really wish I didn't know.
1. How to remove crayon from the inside of a dryer (scouring powder preceded by a glass of wine--in you, not the dryer.)
2. How to remove silly putty from the carpet (Goo Gone)
3. How to remove little boy smells from the carpet (Urine Gone, "For pet or people accidents.")
4. How to cook Spaghetti-O's on a gas grill after a storm knocks out power for a few days (big cast iron pot)
5. How to use an Epi-Pen.
6. The only people who watch Disney Channel in the middle of the night are in the E.R. at a children's hospital.
7. If someone vomits on a pillow, just throw it out.
8. While vacationing, even though the kids don't get in the car after being on the beach you will still return home with alot of sand.
9. How to care for ants in an ant farm (they don't eat much and bury their own dead).
10. How to drop to the ground and crawl stealthily out of the room if a sleeping baby wakes up and starts to look around.
11. Yelling brothers will not wake up a sleeping newborn but Mom walking into the room will.
12. How to remove cold candle wax from the sink and garbage disposal (This is a story that I've tried to forget. Pretty sure it involved a knife or ice pick.)
13. That funky smell in your car is probably an old sippie cup. Just throw it out. DO NOT OPEN THE CUP.
14. Clean a window and 15 seconds later, a toddler will put his face on it or lick the glass.
15. Containers of leftovers that you don't remember eating should not be opened. (See #13)
All these things I know and I'm still learning how to outwit my newly four year old!
1. How to remove crayon from the inside of a dryer (scouring powder preceded by a glass of wine--in you, not the dryer.)
2. How to remove silly putty from the carpet (Goo Gone)
3. How to remove little boy smells from the carpet (Urine Gone, "For pet or people accidents.")
4. How to cook Spaghetti-O's on a gas grill after a storm knocks out power for a few days (big cast iron pot)
5. How to use an Epi-Pen.
6. The only people who watch Disney Channel in the middle of the night are in the E.R. at a children's hospital.
7. If someone vomits on a pillow, just throw it out.
8. While vacationing, even though the kids don't get in the car after being on the beach you will still return home with alot of sand.
9. How to care for ants in an ant farm (they don't eat much and bury their own dead).
10. How to drop to the ground and crawl stealthily out of the room if a sleeping baby wakes up and starts to look around.
11. Yelling brothers will not wake up a sleeping newborn but Mom walking into the room will.
12. How to remove cold candle wax from the sink and garbage disposal (This is a story that I've tried to forget. Pretty sure it involved a knife or ice pick.)
13. That funky smell in your car is probably an old sippie cup. Just throw it out. DO NOT OPEN THE CUP.
14. Clean a window and 15 seconds later, a toddler will put his face on it or lick the glass.
15. Containers of leftovers that you don't remember eating should not be opened. (See #13)
All these things I know and I'm still learning how to outwit my newly four year old!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)