A Child's View of the World

Things had relaxed a little by Tuesday. I wasn't anxious to work (fortunately all my deadlines had been met the week before!). After a wonderful breakfast, we packed up S and headed to see the river again. What was our fascination with the river? I think MM just wanted to see it for himself. He's accustomed to being home during such events so not seeing it over our road himself is uncomfortable.

Following in his dad's footsteps, click here to see what S does in the river on the road. For those who don't want to see the adorably cute S running in circles around his mother, who was required to be in the midst of the water!, here's a picture of us.

After we had romped a little in the river we loaded up the van to head back to G & P's house for the night. As we left S was rather chatty (obviously tired!) and asked with all sincerity "We go our house?" Proud that he knew where we were and how close we were to home, I replied with the very adult "No, the water's in the way." Realizing that this excuse doesn't phase the 2 yo who knows we have boat, I chase it with "The alligators and snakes are in the way!". About an hour later he wakes from his travel nap and manages: "No our house, 'gators snakes way." Apparently he got the idea!.

Now, for those who care, yes this blog is at the top. Re dating is getting old since I can't get you to scroll and see the latest post that's not dated. And since no one's suggested any names for S, M & L, they'll stay that way until I'm adequately inspired.

I'm so hungry, mom...

If you haven't enjoyed a 2.5 yo lately, you should. I have one to share, but I know he won't perform for you as well as he does for us here at home. Along with his expressive hunger pangs he's also very inquisitive: "Mom, er Dad, What are you doing?" [he really does switch between mom and dad like that, guess he's practicing like we do...] To which one must respond in a short time frame lest the question be asked again... and again... and again. We try to keep him from learning to ask repeatedly therefore we must answer him. Next we'll try training him to ask once then waiting for the answer. Somewhere in this post is the answer for which I'm looking.

You train them for years. They learn your every skill, right down to the annoying "I must have a plan for everything or surely it will all fall apart!". How did I come to a place where my first born must know what is going on at all times and be in on the planning of the event/day/outing/week? I like this trait some times, but when I'm trying to surprise him, it's really difficult. Perhaps I should just quit trying to surprise him. Perhaps I should just quit doing special things for him...

Special skills, we'll call it that for now. I just learned that Man in the Middle (MitM)has been teaching his girl cousins some pretty amazing things. They are younger and very impressionable. Arranging your child's bedroom furniture so that they can climb all around and through the room without ever touching the floor is not the best idea for raising boys. However, it works great for girls... until said boys visit! Last time MitM was visiting he led a parade from the dresser to the crib to the bed all the while Nice Niece #1 and #2 followed suit.

Onto the Did you know section of this blog: Did you know that pediatricians are now recommending (on what basis I'll never know) that kids be in a booster seat until they are 57.5 inches tall? Weight doesn't matter, age isn't a factor, height is. I beat that height by only 6 inches. I used to think I was on the verge of beginning to be tall until I was, in no uncertain terms, declared to be short. This booster seat info, while not changing my behaviour toward MitM who is significantly less than 57.5" tall or L, who lacks only 4", leaves me feeling even shorter in this world. L has several years to grow and he's less than 10" away from my height.

Other crazy things Pediatricians have told me and various friends over the years: Babies must sleep on their sides. Bunk beds are dangerous. Babies must sleep on their backs. Bicycles are dangerous. Babies must sleep on their tummies. Skateboards are dangerous. Babies must sleep. Trampolines are dangerous. Babies must eat. Skates are dangerous. Get rid of them all.
... They didn't read about the gators did they? Praise the Lord I don't have ER bracelets to go with each of these points...

No answers found today. Just a few more ramblings...

You live where?

So, my fellow homeschooler and friend has been doing this blog thing. She started it. So now I've caught the bug. I don't think the local e-group of which we are part will tolerate my ramblings about the latest curriculum I found or my really lame puns. Therefore, I'm starting my own blog.

I think It's kinda cool. I get to write. You may or may not read. I'll have sated my keyboarding apetite. (I really hope this hasa spell checker.... Oh, there it is! Ah....)

You see there's this river, folks from out west -really anywhere else- would call it a stream or tributary, it runs right through my front yard. The road is on the back side of the house so even the most annoying people enter as back door guests! Do you know what lives in the river? Fish. Yes, lots of fish. Do you know what happens to lakes, rivers, and streams when it rains? You guessed it, they swell with water. When it rains enough our river swells right into our yard. It makes me queen for a few days in my castle. My castle is complete with rain, boating, wading, swimming and gardening gear. (You get wet when you garden, too!) When the water recedes (as it always does, Thank you for rainbows, Lord) there are certain places where fish are trapped, but naturally. The best thing we can do is catch them and eat them! Right now we have about 200 in our deep freezer waiting for a fish fry with all the fishermen present. Nets are great!

Do you know what else lives in rivers? Crawdads. We have them, too. But that's not all. Our river is the complete package, the real deal. We have mosquitos too. You might argue that you have them and you have no river, but we have river dwelling mosquitos. They are extra thirsty and very fruitful. That's not the big deal around here (according to everyone else), we have cotton mouths and gators to boot! Really, we do have them but they have their house and we have ours. We live here they live there. If they come to visit, it's sure to be their last (except the gators - they're too ornry to ever visit our side of the river. We've got to go boating to see them most of the time!

Back to my friend. She used to live in a different city altogether and enjoy the country life, sans rivers and gators, but now she boasts her life in the city. I'm glad she started blogging.

Final river notes: You don't have to live on the river to seel the snakes. They're everywhere. We had some friends visit today and rather calmly one of the children notified me that down on the ground with my toddler son is a snake of unknown kind. Without shoes I bee-lined to the location. My oldest knows what a moccasin looks like and they all know to steer clear of all snakes. I wasn't too worried. A little prodding brought out a thumb thin oak snake that was very long (2-3 feet) for his breadth. After observing it in our habitat for a while, we proceeded to clear the area and go about our business.

When, I married my dh I knew that this house would be our home. I've always felt at home here.

I promised ramblings and that's what you are getting.