Messy Art Again and All the Rain

This last week has been a very busy one for us. At least I remembered to take my camera with me, most of the time.

M asked to do a Big Messy Art project! Hooray, this has never happened before since he'd rather do almost anything else than paint. But this time he asked, no, insisted, on doing the "blow-dryer art". Remembering lessons learned the last time we tried this project, I prepared a couple of ping-pong balls, paint thinned with water, and a piece of paper securely taped to the box.

Also this week - we've had quite a lot of rain, but in between all the showers and thunderstorms we managed to go pick some mulberries. Actually, we got to go a couple of times, once with Chris and then, during the week - just M and I. For that second trip I got an old trike out of the attic. It's an old Kettler that I picked up at a Kids Exchange sale a year or so ago. I thought I got a good deal on it, but turned out the bike needed new set of tires which meant that the entire rear wheels assembly had to be changed. So for right now it's running as is and I'm just counting on M outgrowing his trike soon enough.

Big surprise this year - turns out, M can ride a trike all by himself... on a smooth surface and preferably on a slight downhill slope. Anything rough or uphill requires too much work, so he stops pedaling and asks me to push him. But boy, he loves riding downhill, going as fast as he can. Except that he keeps looking over his shoulder to make sure I'm not holding the bike. And when he does this, the bike swerves widely which scares me a whole lot since the breaks aren't all that great either.

Still, we managed to get as far along the Art Museum trail as the Two Mulberries. You see, the mulberries at the trailhead get picked a lot. When we got there, there weren't that many berries within easy reach. But most casual walkers don't go far enough into the woods and runners and bikers don't care about stopping and snacking. So it's left to us, serious berry hunters, to pick and eat them berries.

With our bellies full (we also had a mini-picnic half-way to the mulberries), we started heading back, but got caught in a downpour. So M pedaled and I pushed and panting we got to a little pavilion half-way to the car. It's a very nice pavilion with sweeping views of the entire Museum Park, but we never before made it there.

Another thing we did this week was testing our water wall. I saw this idea here and liked it 'cause it looked so simple. Besides, I already had all the components - a big piece of left-over peg board and lots of containers. So I took the next step - handed it all to Chris and told him that, when put together properly, it would make a terrific water toy (yes, he is a very patient and understanding man).

He set to work. Turned out that the bolts I had didn't match the holes in the pegboard. Nothing some drilling couldn't fix though. M seemed to be interested mostly in getting a hold of the drill. Once the wall was assembled, he showed remarkably little interest in it. Hmm, back to the drawing board since he generally likes everything that is remotely like a marble run. I might try PVC pipes and clear tubing instead.

At the end of the week we made a great discovery. We found a new (to us) park not far from the house (15-minute drive). The awesome feature of this park is its slides. They are built into the slopes. Somehow this makes them a lot more attractive to children of all ages (and to adults as well). M and a bunch of other boys from the local homeschooling group spent close to 2 hrs on these slides! Or rather on the rubberized slopes. There's something very compelling in being able to slide down the hillside.

What Happened to This Spring Thing?

My last week or so in NY I was very antsy and wanted to get back home. My NC friends would tell me of all the amazing 70+ degree days they were having and frankly, I was afraid that I'd miss spring this year. Sure, the first few days were just that - temps in upper 70s and sunny. But then, as soon as hurriedly planted a bed of greens, they dropped to just-above-freezing. So for the last week to ten days the weather has been, how to put it mildly... crappy. All my gardening was put on hold. Instead, I started painting M's room. Well, I'm happy to say that the room is now finished, at least as far as the painting part goes. The glow-in-the-dark stars are up again, glowing. I even moved the huge cardboard rocket from the family room to M's room. BTW, it's no longer a rocket, but a "lunar module Appolo 11-and-4". Chris went back to work on Friday even though his heel is shattered and he's on crutches and the doc said to keep the foot elevated above his heart. Which pretty much means Chris has to stay in bed all the time. Ok, so he's got a desk job, but for this particular injury a desk job is not good enough. Gotta be a recliner-type job. Don't think NC State budget will provide for this, not this fiscal year anyway. It's still too cold outside to plant warm-weather veggies. Which is fine by me 'cause I'm now busy planting blueberries, a persimmon, and a fig. Plus I'm thinking about re-arranging the beds in the veg garden. M really helps me out, mostly by not getting in the way. He also sometimes brings tools, holds landscaping fabric, protects me from bandits, pretends to run a carwash, and says hilarious things.

Ice Skating 101

Actually, we went ice skating a couple of weeks ago, but I just downloaded the pictures. This was M's first time ice-skating and we were a bit worried. At least I was. You see, neither Chris nor I can skate very well. As often as we do it, it's a wonder we remember how to put the skates on.

I, for one, can skate forward and make gentle turns. I can also come to a full stop given enough time and clearance or a sturdy object to crash into. Chris is at about the same level. And now, I'm proud to say, so is M.

To our surprise, not only did he stand up on skates without any difficulty, but he took a few steps totally by himself without holding onto us, the wall, or any other support! Of course, at first we were holding him pretty tight. He did fall a few times, but found it hilarious.

We all got tired pretty fast though, especially M. My legs felt like Jello after less than an hour of skating! Awesome! And then, after watching the Zamboni machine, we all went to get ourselves a few treats for being such great skaters.

Astronaut Training

A couple of weekends ago M and I spent almost the entire weekend in astronaut training. Well, he spent it in training. I was just helping him.

But before that happened, we went to a friend's birthday. Actually, the birthday was at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham. It's an awesome place with a rocket outside and a bunch of cool exhibits inside and on the museum's grounds. And yes, kids can touch and play with pretty much anything there.

So on that particular trip M spent quite a lot of time outside, primarily at the water feature. He said it was a space station's chocolate making factory. Making space chocolates... Hmm, as long as he's got his priorities straight.

Inside the museum M spent most of the time at the astronaut's exhibit looking at the videos of lunar landings and monkeys getting trained up for space flights. He also spent quite some time at this contraption kinda like the one they have at some malls. We launched a few coins down it and M concluded that it was a black hole (I couldn't agree more).

Finally, he spent the remaining hour or so in the space capsule, counting down and launching it (his countdown goes like this: "One-two-three-one-blast off!".

So the following weekend we had an astronaut training camp. Since M already knows so much about solar system, it was a bit of a challenge to come up with the age-appropriate learning tasks. And then I realized that even though we had a total of 4 solar systems around the house, we didn't have a single comet!

That became our first training task - to learn about comets and make one. Here it is, complete with a tissue-paper tail and a cotton-ball coma.

We then experimented with gravity, practiced putting the space suit on, discussed which foods cannot be eaten on the space station, ran around a little obstacle course, and went to the planetarium. By the way, M wore his full astronaut costume - space suit, glothes, helmet, etc - into the planetarium to the great pleasure of 100 or so people that happened to also attend the "Earth, Moon and Sun" show there that morning.

Further training was delayed due to inclement weather - snow! It was awesome, falling in huge heavy clumps that quickly covered the garden, the car, the driveway. M was so excited! You can see that he didn't even want to take time to change from his astronaut suit, but instead put a shark hat and a jacket on.

But then the novelty wore off and it started getting really cold outside. So we went inside and made a huge space mural of Astronaut M Exploring Lunar Surface. Then, while M acted out space shuttle's landing on the Moon and launch of Hubble, I asked him all sorts of questions for his letter to NASA (because you know, now that he is ready, it's up to them to decide what mission he'll fly and when).

Plus M wrote his own letter to NASA just to be on the safe side. Afterwards he put some more star and planet stickers on his space ship (he says they show all the places the space ship's been to) and the day was over. Now we're waiting for NASA to write back to us.

Last Month or So - Real Quick Recap - Part II

We also went for a picnic with our friends who have a 2-year old boy. The Drummer Boy has playdates with this little boy almost every week and they are good friends. It helps that the boy's mom is Russian.

So one weekend we all went to Sarah P. Duke Garden in Durham. It's such a gorgeous place too. It's right on Duke U. campus. There are lots and lots of trails to walk on, beautiful formal and informal gardens, several water features, etc. But the biggest attraction, especially for families with young kids, is the Great Lawn. It's very big and perfect in every respect. All around it there are large old magnolias that provide plenty of shade for picnicking. There's a small water feature that all kids are fascinated with. Otherwise, why would they all congregate there and throw sticks and leaves into it? There's also a beautiful grassy knoll, perfect for rolling down. And did I mention the low stone walls that are so irresistably climbable and walkable? Isn't it just perfect?!

Anyway, M took off running around with his friend and exploring the lawn and the little pond. And then something super-awesome happened - he learned to jump off the low stone wall all by himself. How super-cool! I mean, he jumped off of obstacles before, but I had to hold his hand or he would land on his butt (not the best option for most surfaces). But here are the action shots of my happy little monkey jumping and jumping and jumping some more. And then he had some chocolate cake and fresh blueberries.

All Play and No Work

makes for one happy little boy! Ok, so we did do some work today, but it was well-camouflaged as a fun game.

A few months ago the hubby cut down some bushes to clear up some much needed space (what for - don't ask; the site is still empty, except for a pile of dry twigs). These bushes provided habitat for some of the birds. So naturally I felt very bad (although, we've got enough bushes and trees left on the property to house most of North American birds).

Anyway, I felt bad and, with winter fast approaching, I finally made my way to a home improvement store and bought a bird feeder and a big package of bird seed. Ok, to be honest, I wanted to buy the seeds for both the birds and Mr. M.

Don't call the authorities yet! Of course, Mr. M doesn't eat the seeds. Instead, I pour them in a big plastic tub, hide some small toys and let Mr. M dig for them. It's a great sensory game plus it's quick to set up and is practically free (if you plan on eventually using the seeds to feed the birds).

Well, back to the birds. After I explained to Mr. M about the bird feeder - what it's for and how the birds eat out of it, he wanted to help. So I let him pour seeds from the bag into the feeder with a little scoop. He absolutely loved the activity. Besides, he was totally fascinated with the sound the falling seeds were making on the sides of the feeder.

Once we were done, we went outside on the deck. I decided that it was about time to sweep all the leaves and pine needles off the deck and got to work. What d'ya know! Mr. M immediately started running around and stomping on the leaves, essentially negating my hard work (the push broom IS heavy).

Fortunately, I came up with an idea of making a giant leaves-and-needles pile for him to jump in. He LOVED the idea and patiently waited until the pile was just big enough (and more importantly, off the deck). That was some great gross motor work, jumping and rolling and climbing and walking all over the pile. Oh, and of course all the sensory work - touching leaves, needles, pine cones, twigs and listening to all the crunching and rustling. Fortunately, Mr. M never suspected a thing (or else he'd be inside playing with the trains).