Buttercups and daisies

We've been learning some pretty cool stuff at preschool recently:
We've fed caterpillars until they were so fat they made themselves cocoons to sleep in. When they woke up, they'd turned into butterflies we could release in the park.
Then we had an excellent story about tadpoles that turned into frogs. How cool is that?
So there we were - mom, ollie and i - going down west 10th: i was clearing the way for mom and ollie on my bike, they were coming along at a more sedate pace with the stroller, when suddenly i stopped in my tracks. "Wow mom, look at all the buttercups". There was a whole garden where they were growing nothing but buttercups all over their lawn it was ever so pretty. "Mom, did you know if you pick buttercups and put them into water they turn into daisies?"

words that make a mother quiver....

"i know mom, i've got a GOOD IDEA"

a phrase we seem to be hearing quite often at the moment.....unfortunately. why did we encourage our son to think for himself?!!!

Granny May (10 May 1916 - 19 May 2008)

Mom's been busy the last couple of days looking up flights to england, while dad's been away at historymaker. unfortunately great-granny died before mom was able to get to the airport. i told mom she didn't need to be sad, as now she could share my granny.
"little" played a far greater role in the family than her nickname would suggest. maybe one of the reasons she loved me was that finally she wasn't the smallest person in the room?


Granny May loved singing, especially the old war songs from her youth



I think she might have been an opera singer, if circumstances had been different

watching 'the bocce boys"

our next door neighbours are a household of graduate students who must have plenty of time on their hands: not only did two of them run a marathon recently, they spend an inordinate amount of time playing bocce.
sometimes they let me play with them, but not too often as i'm rather good. i think my enthusiastic cheering interrupts the flow of conversation somewhat, too. now that ollie wants to join in as well, mom went and bought us our own set of bocce balls. we could play in the back garden, but authentic bocce happens out the front, just like next door.

things you never thought you'd hear your 3 year old say....

(the first in an occasional series)

on arriving home from preschool, when asked what he'd like to do next joel replied: "it's a lovely day for croquet, mommy"

actually he said "croquery", but he meant croquet!

Swimming lessons

I've just graduated from my Sea Turtle class today, so now i'm officially a Salamander. Starting on Saturday i'll be having lessons again with my friend ethan - he's missed out on the last set of lessons with Chris. Chris is definitely my favourite swimming teacher i've ever had.

Today i managed to blow bubbles for five seconds, i went right underwater looking for fish, i floated on my back for three seconds all on my own, and THEN....i started kicking and i was swimming all on my own. After about five seconds i realised chris wasn't holding me and i started sinking, but i was doing great until then :)

that's what they do

investigating the underneath of rock in the back yard: the damp dirt reveals the expected combination of ants and wood louse.

dad: "there's a worm with lots of little worms"
joel: "that's what worms do"

dad couldn't argue with that and made a mental note to check up on how hermaphrodites reproduce.

is this the precursor to the birds and the bees?

joel then watches "the magic school bus" and is treated with an amazingly detailed and visual account of how a hen lays an egg with full internal pictures. they hinted at the rooster's part in the operation, but declined to show it.

i guess we're lining up for an investigation of a beehive sometime this summer??

the best fun 50 cents can buy

Spend 50 cents on this

use this for inspiration

and behold:

with thanks to the chillis for their autobiographical funk-rock piece: "good time boys"