a dragon in our midst?

Bearded Dragons -- it's a reccurrant theme around here lately. None of these Dragons pictured are ours -- in fact, no Dragon is ours as of yet. That's something that will be changing shortly if Zoo Boy has his way.

A few months ago a nearby homeschooling family found a litter of kittens inside a hollow tree outside their home. They were working on taming down the kittens and finding homes for them. I tentatively reserved one for us, thinking that it was probably time to broach the topic of his own pet with Zoo Boy. Previous attempts had resulted in requests of Turkey Vultures, Casawaries, and Wombats, so we'd shelved the idea for a bit. J has his own cat, something that Zoo Boy has been making comments on, so we used the opportunity of available kittens to make the suggestion. At the time we got the pattented Zoo Boy answer of "No thank you, I already have a cat." In questioning him on that, he pointed to our ancient, sickly Dori. I gently reminded him that Dori is VERY old and not well and in all likelihood won't be around for much longer, and suggested perhaps he'd like to get a kitten so that he had another cat when she wasn't around anymore. Looking around he pointed at another cat, and said "That's OK, Kismet can be my cat!" And so he's claimed her to be ever since. The fact that Kismet won't even let him come near her seems to be entirely beside the point. But at least she's young and healthy and should be with us for a good many years to come, so problem solved as far as he was concerned. I metioned other sorts of typical pets -- rabbit, guinea pig, parakeet. He brushed them off with a "no thank you", and so we dropped the subject. Apparently, he didn't.

On our last visit to the children's museum, we happened to be present as one of the workers took a Dragon out of it's enclosure, so we got to pet it. I was pretty impressed with how gentle it was, and how it actually seemed to enjoy the handling -- even seemed friendly -- all fairly uncommon for the reptiles I've had previous contact with. The worker mentioned that they are pretty much all like that, and so they are actually highly reccommended as pets for young children. Zoo Boy didn't seem to be paying a whole lot of attention to the conversation, running back and forth between petting the Dragon and talking to his favorite Owl.

A little later that same day, as we were watching the parakeets for the umpteen-millionth time that day with Zoo Boy squealing with delight a their antics, I mentioned the pet thing again. I said "you know, Parakeets make good pets. Would you like to get a parakeet". His eyes sparkled as he turned to me, and he said "yes! I'd like to get a pet! A bird! I want a pigeon!"

A pigeon?? OK, that's not what I had in mind. At all. The thought of a pigeon in the house....well, um, no. I tried to talk him into a parakeet, he was having none of it. I scrambled. I remembered the last animal we saw that was said to be a good pet. "Oh, I thought maybe you'd like a Bearded Dragon, " I mumbled more to myself than to him.

The eyes sparkled again with delight. "Yes! A Bearded Dragon! And a pigeon." "Honey, I don't think a pigeon should live in our house with us." "That's OK, Mommy, the Bearded Dragon can live in the house. The pigeon can live in the barnyard." Ah, the barnyard, why didn't I think of that!!! "OK, well, we can see about setting up a coop in the barnyard for a pigeon." Admittedly, I was relieved at the thought of getting away with another barnyard animal instead of a house pet. "Don't forget about the Bearded Dragon!" Zoo Boy said as he went back to watching the parakeets.

I tried letting it drop. Truly I did. But he keeps bringing the topic back up again. And, to tell you the truth, I'm starting to get a bit intrigued at the idea myself. I don't know anyone with a Dragon as a pet. Seems sort of, I dunno, cool. A pet Dragon. How many kids can say that?

So I started researching how to find a Bearded Dragon (seems they're fairly easy and somewhat inexpensive to come by, as they are pretty popular, as reptiles go), and have discovered that they come in a handful of different colors/varieties. I've been reading about what they need -- a largish cage (a 45 gallon fish tank is reccommended, but I'm partial towards a specially made enclosure like at the museums, just seems more natural), some substrate that they can't swallow with their food, a rock or log to bask on, proper heating (they're a desert animal from Australia, so they need a very warm end of the cage and a warm but not too warm other end of the cage), full spectrum lighting, places to hide, and places to climb. I've read about what they eat -- they are omnivorous, eating primarily crickets and chopped greens, but also other bugs and veggies/fruits. Apparently you need to dust their prey items with a specially made reptile calcium supplement, and occassionally with a vitamin supplement. They certainly don't sound like the lowest maintenance pet on the market.

And they need to have a weekly bath, which helps keep them hydrated and helps them shed their skin. In fact, I've read that it's best to mist them with warm water twice a day. Handling them regularly keeps them tame and "snuggly" (if you can picture a reptile being snuggly).

So, we'll see. There may be a Dragon in our future.

friends and sandcastles

What's more fun than an afternoon at the lake? An afternoon at the lake with friends! We met some friends over at our favorite beach today -- now that J's swim lessons are done for the season, it's all about the fun. They all decorated the rock with chalk, then jumped in the lake to wash the rainbow of colors off their hands, feet, legs and arms.

At the end of the day, Zoo Boy decided to build a sand castle. His technique is a bit unique. First, he uses the double-shovel method to pack his form with dry sand.




Then he fetches a bucket of water from the lake...









...and adds it to the form to moisten the sand. (Hm, something seems a little backwards about that procedure, but let's wait and see how it turns out for him:)






And, voila! A, um, er, big muddy mess, sprinkled on top with some dry sand. He contemplated it for a minute or so, then stomped it into oblivion with a big smile on his face and moved on to another project.

feeding my inner planner

I'm a planner. I always have been. I love to plan days, weeks, months, even years ahead. I plan parties, vacations, special events, get-togethers, and playdates. I plan work schedules, animal breeding schedules, feeding schedules, project schedules. I'm planning an addition onto the house that won't even get drawn up by an architect for another 6 years. I've planned an entirely new house. And a garage. And several barns. The fact that most of my plans will never be seen in reality does not deter me -- it's not the completion of the plan that is the fun part for me, it's the actual planning.

So planning for our fall homeschooling semester is feeding my inner planner in a big way! I'm choosing curriculum stories, movement activities, baking projects, art exercises, craft actvities, and special excursions. I'm planning out daily, weekly, and seasonal rhythms. I'm ordering art materials and craft supplies. I'm planning how to fit all my farm chores and housework into our homeschooling days. It's a veritable planning fest!

And it looks like we're going to be having a bunch of fun this fall! At least until I feel like I need to replan everything....but so far, here's what I've got:

7:30ish -- wake, arise, and greet the day; kids play while I feed the critters

8:30 -- Breakfast; followed by clean-up, tooth brushing, and dressing
-- outdoor play while I finish up the morning chores

10:00 -- Movement Circle (@ 20 minutes of songs and verse with sensory integrative related movement)
-- Curriculum Story (same story is told each day during that week
-- Creative Play (@ 1 hr), which is the "work" that a Kindergartener does

12:00 -- Lunch; followed by clean-up
-- Rest Time (@ 1 hr)

2:00 -- Afternoon Adventures:
Mondays: Baking at home, followed by a trip to the Playground
Tuesdays: Painting at home, followed by a Nature Walk
Wednesdays: babysitter here to watch kids while I work
Thursdays: Craft at home, followed by a Playdate
Fridays: Excursion (field trip)

5:00 -- outdoor play/chores

6:00 -- supper; followed by clean-up
--play

7:00 -- tooth brushing/bed prep
--Family Story Time

8:00 -- bedtime

We'll be starting our "school year" the day after Labor Day. In the meantime, we'll keep on enjoying the lake and our laid back Summer rhythms! (Which are basically the above listed rhythms, just replacing the entire morning activity block with creative play and the entire afternoon activity block with the lake, plus an hour later bedtime.) And I'll keep on planning -- now that I've got the Autumn semester pretty well figured out, I'll probably start looking at Winter....I am giving myself a 2 week break between semesters to plan each semester, although I'm sure that won't stop me from doing some of the planning now!

our weekend, part 2

I already wrote about what we did on Saturday. Here's what we did on Sunday -- worked on our fencing project! (Actually, The Map Man worked a bit on the fencing project on Saturday too -- hey, we can't ALL be party animals all day!)

Here the kids "help" us lay out boards. Fence posts are already in place. (They'd been holding temporary fence panels for the past several years, waiting for us to finally get around to putting up the permanent fencing.)

Next, we put up the wire that goes behind the boards. This is the fencing that encloses the kid's play area (and runs along the front of the house), so since it's built to hold in dogs and kids and not livestock, we can get away with a much shorter and lighter guage wire. Around pastures we use something much sturdier.

Step #3, boards. It was really looking great by the end of the day! We're about 2/3 done with our front fencing project -- we're hoping another two weekends worth of work will find us at the end. We still need to replace fencing along the pasture side of the driveway and around the garage. The Map Man and I are a pretty good fencing team -- he's a pro at digging holes and setting fence posts (I provide supervision, cold lemonade, and the general layout instructions as to where the posts need to go). He stretches the wire while I tack it to the posts. Then he cuts the boards while I pilot-drive the nails, then I hold the boards in place while he tacks them on. Then I drive in the rest of the nails while he cuts more boards. It's a good system.

our weekend, part 1

We spent most of the day Saturday at a friend's birthday party. They had a big bouncy thing in their yard, which the kids of course enjoyed bouncing in. But the real hit of the party for my boys was the:

sprinkler! Who'da guessed that MY kids, the kids who once feared water in any way, shape or form, would someday choose to spend the bulk of a summer afternoon running through a sprinkler with other kids? Of course, J now says that WE need to buy a sprinkler.

Being a birthday party, there was, of course, cake! J took over my chair so he could enjoy his piece. Well, the frosting at least. He and Zoo Boy make an interesting team, J only wants the frosting, Zoo Boy only wants the cake....

Zoo Boy up a tree. I've always suspected he was part monkey....






And both boys enjoyed playing with the birthday boy's presents. It was a really nice party, plenty of fun outdoor stuff for the kids to do (I could have included pics of the kids swinging on the rope swing, or climbing on the play structure, or playing in the sand table, or drawing chalk pictures, or peddling around on tricyles/bicycles). Wish my kids had birthdays during fair-weather months! Would be a lot nicer to be able to utilize our yard and not to have a bunch of people all crammed into our limited indoor living space. Wonder if the kids would mind celebrating their birthdays 6 months off....

a little artwork

I had been blogging about J's artwork at another location, but have since decided that I'd rather just include it here. Of course, in the meantime, I 'lost' a lot of interesting art work while waiting to find time to post it. But in any case, now that I'm committed to putting it here instead, maybe I'll be better about getting it up! Need to be selective, though, the boy is always working on SOMETHING.

His long-standing favorite medium is his Magnadoodle -- I think he finds the writing implement comfortable to hold because it's chunky, and it doesn't require a lot of pressure to produce a nice, strong line. He also likes how rapidly he can create, erase, and create again with it (in fact, it's hard to get pictures of it sometimes, he erases things almost as soon as he draws them, and I've missed a lot of really cool stuff I'd love to have documented). He still uses it quite a bit, although he's starting to explore other forms of making art as well. But to start with, I'll post a few of his recent Magnadoodle creations. Here's a pig.

This is a wanted poster for a jewel theif. I like that he pointed out where the guy's head, chest, hand, and legs are, in case there was any trouble recognizing them. Oh, and the jewel too. That's a very important feature to look for when trying to catch a jewel theif.

This is a good example of J's use of multi-media to tell a story. He's pretty big into art productions (as opposed to art that just sits there). In this production, he tells a story about a guy (the white square, which is a folded piece of paper) who climbs up Jacob's Ladder (the Jacob's Ladder toy). The guy falls off a few times, but he finally gets to the place he's going to in the sky (delineated by the line on the magnadoodle). Very loosely based on the bible story, which was very loosely told to him by me when he was wondering why the toy was called "Jacob's Ladder". (Not being Christian myself, my take on the bible isn't always particularly accurate, I try to leave that sort of thing up to my Catholic Mom, but in a pinch I can usually pull out a shaky story or two, in this case with help from Wikipedia!)

As I mentioned above, J's begun experimenting with other art media as well. He's on a real paper-folding kick as of late, so we've had paper fans cooling us and paper airplanes cruising around. There's also been lots of cutting and taping lately, tho danged if I could find any of the creations to include in this collage. He's also been making "science charts" for recording observations and experiment outcomes -- I have NO IDEA where any of that is coming from, by the way, but it sure is interesting to watch. The other day he was experimenting with ramps and marbles, and came to find me triumphantly at one point claiming "I came up with a solution for my what-goes-up-must-come-down problem!" (Your guess is as good as mine on that....) He then showed me that a marble rolls DOWN a ramp, but not back UP again. Good discovery! Gravity is always fun to play with, even if he's never heard the word gravity. I didn't have my camera for the gravity experiments, but I did toss in this morning's chart in the above photo -- he was recording (by drawing a picture of it in one of the squares he drew on his grid) everything that he saw that jumps. He drew a picture of his cat (Linus, also in the photo because he's never far from J), his brother, himself, a few of his toys that he can "make" jump (including the Zoob Dude he built in this picture), and an eye and a heart. I ask him about those last two, trying to figure out for myself how they jump. He said that his eye lid goes up and down (opens and closes) just like jumping, and that his heart feels like it jumps in his chest. Ok then.

And one final shot from this morning -- my performing artist. I bought him a keyboard on sale this summer, and he's been learning to play it ever since. And play he does. He can already pick out dozens of songs on it, which doesn't really surprise me since he can do the same thing on his xylophone, his steel drum, and his ocarina. One note at a time, of course, I'm not laying claims to him as a musical prodigy of any sort! But he sure seems to have an affinity for music, so I want to provide him as much opportunity to explore as he needs.

the secret power of bed making

One of our kitties, Kismet, enjoying a freshly made bed this morning.

Ok, so those of you who know me, or at least read my blog and look at the photos, know that I'm not the world's tidiest housekeeper. I try to keep the level of sanitation to a reasonably healthy status, but Marth Stewart I ain't. So it may come as a surprise to many of you (much as it did to myself) that I'm a big proponent of making beds.

For years, I resisted making my bed in the morning. Or any other time of day. My mother can attest to this fact, as I fought tooth and nail against it my entire childhood. In the sanctity of my own dorm room at college, I rejoiced in my failure to straighten sheets or tuck corners. As a newly married woman, I decided to incorporate anti-bed-making as a morning ritual -- I'd pull all the covers down and let them drape over the floor each morning, using the excuse that I was "airing out" the bed, when really I was just revolting against the image of a classic housewife. For that past two decades, unless there was company expected, the bed cloths remained in disorganized, careless heaps.

But over the course of the past year, I've discovered that there is magic in the ritual of bed making. It all began when I first started reading about daily rhythms in my newly aquired Enki Kindergarten Curriculum materials. Actually, more acurately, it began when I started trying to IMPLEMENT some of their ideas. Mind you, nowhere in their materials do they suggest making a bed (one of the things that instantly endeared them to me). But I tried to come up with some sort of morning ritual that would get our day off on the right foot. And in the process of fiddling around with various ideas, at some point I made a bed.

It was a revolutionary moment for me. I made a bed. And I liked how it made me feel to do it. Accomplished. Look at that, it's only 8:05 AM , and I've already DONE something, something I can point at as proof of having gotten my butt in gear. In fact, I liked it so much, I went and made another bed. And then another. Then I turned to admire my work -- all the beds were made. And it was only 8:09. I turned to the kitchen and started cleaning up in there too.

I repeated the experiment the next day. And the following. And each day I felt envigorated and ready to take on the world -- or at least the mundane household tasks that I usually procrastinated long enough on that eventually the end of the day would come and I'd run up my white flag, admit defeat, and promise to get to it tomorrow. I did loads of laundry. I did the dishes. I paid the bills. I vaccumed the carpet.

And then, coming out of my housecleaing high after a week of organization, I awoke with a start one morning. WHAT was I doing? What was I becoming? A HOUSEWIFE (egads, gasp!) MY MOTHER?? (Eeeeeeeeeeeek!) The supressed rebel in me surged to the surface and I flung the sheets and blankets aside, and left them lying there. I didn't need no stinkin' bed making to get me going in the morning. Defiantly I strode to the kitchen and made some breakfast and sat down to eat with the kids.

After breakfast, we took the dishes to the sink. I looked at the mess before me, promised I'd get to it later, and went to look at the laundry situation instead. The computer was singing out to me, so I sat down for a quick check of emails. Zoo Boy tugged on my sleeve at some point in the following hour or two, begging for a diaper change. I finally got the kids dressed. I looked at the clock. 11:00. I looked around at the mess -- piles of laundry, piles of dishes, and that darned unmade bed, all taunting me. Hahahahaha, they laughed, look at you, you sloth.

I made the beds the next morning. And most mornings since. The days I don't, I don't get much else done either. The days I do, I sing my way through it, and even though it only takes about 4 minutes to make all 3 beds, it does something to my brain. It organizes it. It energizes it. It puts it in a place of rhythm that the rest of my morning -- the rest of my day -- flows from. Once I'm moving, I keep moving. Things get done. And I'm left with time -- SPACE -- for the more important things.

The beds don't stay made long, by the way. The kids mess them up pretty quickly. The dogs and cats roll around on them. And eventually Rest Time lands us all in a bed to rumple things up again, and nobody bothers to fix it, me included. But it's not about the appearance of a made bed. It's the process of doing it, first thing, as soon as we get up, that starts me down the right path.

Hm, what do you know. Maybe my mother was right....