Treasure Map

Art Thief, Spy Notes & Bear Pizza

Sat, 27 Jan 2007 18:54:26 GMT

Ben and I spent Thursday evening at the Family Resource Center. We ate before we went, because Ben lives in fear of encountering something gross like "meat salad" there. We did enjoy some brownies for dessert, and had a good time with friends. Ben played with the other kids and invented some games of his own. When the carpet was cleared to be a dance floor, he busted a few moves. Later, at home, he got up the courage to hold each of our ten mouse girls in his hands as they took turns playing in their tub while I cleaned tanks. Before bed, he fed the dwarf frogs for me, dropping bloodworms into the water with a toothpick and watching their antics and laughing.

Yesterday was freezing cold, and we opted to stay home all day. While Dave was working, we made pumpkin cookies and played a new game called Art Thief. I'd found two collections of art postcards on my bookshelf, Matisse and Van Gogh. I pulled all the paintings out of the little binding, and set about 20 of them along the walls in the living room (the museum). I sat at the kitchen table with a stack of notes and a dish of change. I asked Ben if he would steal paintings for me, and he'd receive a reward for each one. I handed him one note at a time, which had a description of the painting and the reward amount, and he found it and collected his reward himself from the dish of change.

Examples: 10 cents for a Matisse painting of a white head swallowing three swords

2 cents for a Van Gogh painting of crows flying over a wheat field

3 cents for a Matisse painting of a woman with a blue and yellow face

25 cents for a Van Gogh painting of a cafe terrace at night

We spent about an hour after that playing Spy Notes, where we write each other notes and slip them under the door with a pen. Here is some of our written conversation:

Ben: Who are you?

Me: I am a short man. Who are you?

Ben: A spy.

Me: Why are you spying on me?

Ben: Spys do it.

Me: How do you plan to escape?

Ben: I kill you.

Me: How will you kill me if I am invisible?

Ben: Radar.

Me: I need your description, and do not lie. What color is your hair?

Ben: Tan.

Me: What color are your eyes?

Ben: Purple.

Me: What color is your skin?

Ben: Pink.

Me: What do I do if there's a spider over my head?

Ben: Stay still.

Me: What if it falls in my mouth?

Ben: Swallw it.

Me: What would you do if I put a spider in your pants?

Ben: Take it out.

We went upstairs and Ben played a racing game on the computer while I lay on the couch and read out loud from the 2006 Ultimate Book of Lists (Top Ten of Everything). Ben asked about the longest cave in the world (Mammoth Cave System, Kentucky, 360 miles) and we were surprised to learn that half of the world's longest caves are in the U.S. We talked about the most popular names, fastest roller coasters, largest populations, largest animals.

Ben worked with Legos for a while, and we watched Nanny 911 as a family, and Ben decided he wanted a half sheet of bacon pizza. He also decided to buy it for us with his own money. He gave the pizza guy the money and the gift of a small styrofoam plane ("because he deserves it"), and I held the door open for him as he carried the pizza into the house. He pretended that we were were eating a bear we'd killed. "Wow," he said. "He had lungs all over his body. I like his skin. It's cheesy."

We all watched Antiques Roadshow. Lots of cool stuff, including a confederate sword with a dolphin on the hilt. Ben built with Tinker Toys. He arranged the pegs on a Chinese checkerboard to indicate different types of food by color, and served us food. We played hallway soccer. Ben and I created a construction paper collage of some mountains with a moon and snow over them, a skateboard ramp next to some big rocks underneath, a cave in the mountains and a fire-breathing dragon in the sky. We put it on the fridge and played with the magnetic poetry words for a while.

"You should start reading Treasure Island tonight," he told me as we hung out on his bed.

"I could," I said. "But since I just finished Kidnapped last night, I want to lie here and think about it for a while."

So I did, and Ben read his Peanuts comics and chuckled, and fell asleep with his book by his head as usual.

Ancient Mom

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:00:48 GMT

Ben: "You're like...thirty-nine years old. Oh my god."

Me: "Does that seem really really old to you?"

Ben: "That's just the nature of a six-year-old."

Hotdogs in Brazil

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:53:47 GMT

I must mention that Ben has readied his backpack several times to go on a journey with his cat Hobbes. They were striking out for the Yukon at first, and then decided they'd go to Australia instead. When I read the weather forecast for Sydney on a particular day, however, Ben was appalled at the high temperature, and told me they'd go to Brazil, which was ten degrees cooler.

"And," he added, "I've decided to bring some cash after all, so I can buy a hotdog in Brazil. Even though I hate hotdogs."

Blagorius Buffin & Mavis Muffin

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:32:50 GMT

Ben and I really enjoy walking in the cemetery. It's so big that we still hadn't seen all of it, and yesterday we found a section that's chained off from car traffic but fine on foot. Many of the oldest graves are there, with deaths dating from the mid-to-late 1800's. The path and trees are beautiful, and we found yet another tree to lean against as we contemplate life. We played I Spy from this position, and looked up in awe at the height of the trees.

The path was frozen in spots, with snow covering it, and we delighted in the sound of ice threatening to crack as we stepped on it. We made two tiny snowpeople with pebble eyes and twig arms, right in the path. Ben named his Blagorius Buffin (which he says is from a Calvin & Hobbes book), and I named mine Mavis Muffin. I sat with Blagorius and Mavis as Ben entertained us by trying to juggle snowballs, which segued into a comedy routine.

Ben found a rock and told me it appeared to be an igneous rock, "which means it's of volcanic origin." He asked me what the word "molten" means, and then remembered on his own.

We hiked up a steep hill and spent some time collecting stones and acorn caps beneath a huge oak tree, and tucking them into crevices in the bark. We discovered we could see the upstairs windows and roof of our house from the top of this hill. We half-slid, half-climbed down a steep embankment to get back to ground level again, and then we crawled through some underbrush and fought tangled branches to cut through to another part of the cemetery. Had a wild moment when my boot lace got stuck on a limb!

We found a tall grave marker upon which someone had placed pretty rocks. The marker read that it was the site where Indians and other Americans were reburied after being moved from their original burial site five miles down the Susquehanna.

We found a towering mound of dirt and stones (piled up as they'd cleared land), and played stone toss to see if we could pitch a stone up the mound and get it to stay in place. Then I hiked over the mound and threw snowballs at Ben from the other side. He climbed up and over to continue the fight. I told him I was going to put HIM in the wash machine when we got home- he was covered with mud and snow.

We saw squirrel, dog, cat, mouse and bird prints in the snow. Ben dragged a multi-pronged branch along the ground and said he wanted people to think a two-ton chickadee had landed.

At home later, we ate pumpkin banana pancakes while we watched, as a family, a National Geographic video about bears, focusing on polar bear survival in the harsh Arctic. We discussed the often-unfair hunting tactics of humans. Ben built Lego creations, read books, and we watched America's Funniest Videos, and then he researched Lego sets online while I cleaned the rat cage and our boy mouse ran around in his exercise ball. Then Ben took a bath, and we read our books side by side in his bed for a while as usual.

Stuff we do

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:45:09 GMT

Some of the things we've done lately...

Watched the community college hockey team practice, played frisbee at the park and met a beautiful white pet rabbit named Cadbury, visited our elderly friend Rosie at the retirement center, had snowball fights, went sledding and rolling down a hill, made snow angels and letters in the snow with our feet, shopped for ingredients and made recipes from the Peanuts Cookbook, played with friends at church and other places, played guitar, built with Legos, read books, played hallway ball games, played with our rats and mice, sponsored a 17-year-old girl in Guatemala to go to school, talked about the Guatemalan culture, sent a donation of a flock of chicks to a needy family through Heifer International, discussed some of the plot points in Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped (which I am reading), worked with numbers a lot, wrote letters, watched shows about medical mysteries, invented games, painted, danced, did research on the computer, talked with friends and family on the phone, learned some Spanish words, did a puzzle, played Tic-Tac-Toe a lot...

Cemetery Trees

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:26:19 GMT

Andy decided some time ago that his name is Ben. He is quite firm on this. And so he shall be referred to as Ben.

Ben and I have taken a couple of Really Long Walks lately. We found a secret path that leads to a gap in the iron cemetery fence. The cemetery is big and gorgeous, with lots of trees, lots of little hills and lots of old graves.

On our first walk, on a brilliant blue day, we sat under a pine tree on a carpet of needles and soft dirt. Ben knew I was sad because a friend of mine died the week before. We weren't talking about it, though; we were discussing other things like vampires. Then Ben scooped up a handful of pine needles and dirt and let it fall gently from his hand back to the earth.

"This is like remembering your friend, isn't it?" he asked.

He scooped up another handful, and as he let it slip from his hand, a breeze lifted some of the needles and dirt and blew them away from us.

"This is sort of like her soul, isn't it?" Ben said.

"Yes," I replied, in a whisper. And we sat there, thinking, and my heart was ready to burst with wonder and love.

Our second walk was colder, and we were on the lookout for vampires from the start. This time they were not leaving us feathers as clues. So when we suddenly heard them give chase, we ran up a hill to hide behind a thick tree. Safe.

We sat there for a long time, our backs against the tree. We listened to the birds, watched the squirrels scamper in the brush and leap from tree to tree. We were quiet, just Being. Ben sighed happily.

"I love this," he said. "This is a good spot. It's our tree."

"It's the best," I agreed.

When the vampires eventually found us, we ran away, and found the gap in the fence on another street which allows us to squeeze through and escape.

But our tree is waiting for us, and I know we'll be there soon.

Picnics, verbs, Clue and numbers

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 16:21:47 GMT

Yesterday we ate lunch on our picnic blanket in the side yard as we watched for meteors- Andy had gotten word that 63 of them were headed straight for us. We also had to be on constant alert for aliens. This was our second picnic in two days- in December! The day before we brought out bread and the assortment of fancy jellies from a holiday gift, and he loved the Oregold peach jelly.

Andy carved and flung the bark off the old tree stump next to us, using a butter knife.

"You know what I love?" he said. "I love verbing. It's like the word 'access' used to mean a thing, and now it's something you DO."

I came home with a surprise pizza for dinner, and some peanut butter pretzel ice cream. After dinner, upstairs, Dave played guitar and Andy read books and made a complicated insect trap out of thread while our boy mouse ran around them in his exercise ball.

Andy wanted to play Clue later (the original, classic version). We played two games, and he really enjoyed all the detail, and finally understood that he was not to reveal any information to anyone (that can be so hard when you're six!). He sometimes moves his piece toward the library to "take a break and read books."

In the larger world, he does like to share the information that he can count to 100. He can also count backwards from ten, which he does a lot because it's become so easy. He looked at the analog clock the other day and said, "You know what's cool about numbers? How they relate to each other." He pointed at the one and then the two. "Like one, two. Twelve. And two, three. Twenty-three. Thirty-four. Forty-five..."

He asked how much money was in our bank account, and I told him. "Wow, that's a lot," he said. "It is a lot," I said. "But we have to pay this bill next week, which is such-and-such amount, and the following week we have to pay this bill, which is such-and-such amount, and we still have to buy food, and we'll probably spend such-and-such on that..."

"So wow," he said. "That leaves about such-and-such dollars!" And he was very close!

I love his enjoyment of numbers, because he is approaching them on his own terms. He is making friends of them in his way, because he finds them interesting- and so perhaps this is a friendship which will last.

Soup, crafts and soccer

Sun, 03 Dec 2006 01:42:28 GMT

Andy and I dropped off some homemade creamy potato leek soup (with fresh chives!) to our friend Jeane this evening, and gave her sister Blanche my pumpkin pie recipe...Jeane said it was the best pumpkin pie she ever tasted, and I was in total shock. All I can say is *whispering so as to not jinx anything* maybe I can do this cooking thing after all.

It was craft night at church- and beach ball soccer night at church. It's good to remember some large motor burning-off-steam activity to combat the I've-done-enough-crafts-and-eaten-enough-pizza blues.

Andy really loved the crafts. After I set up mine- foam doorknob hangers with a big variety of things to stick/glue on them- he got right to work gluing green glass stones on two of them in the shape of arms, legs, a body & a head, with white glass stones for the ears. He said he was making Buster, Arthur's friend, who has his own show (Travels with Buster). Andy and Tyler chatted and realized they are both Buster fans.

Note to self: all the kids were drawn to the glass beads- they used some stickers and ribbon and other stuff, but the beads definitely had some magnetic pull going on.

Andy also made a candleholder from a large marshmallow, with a ribbon tied around it to hold a white Lifesaver as the handle and a birthday candle stuck inside. He made a beaded necklace, a butterfly from beads, and an ornament filled with purple glitter. He was very focused at each activity he chose, and happy with the results.

We played beach ball soccer for a long time in the hallway with Austin, Tyler, Will, and Everett. Thankfully none of the lights broke! But honestly, long hallways with smooth floors are meant for balls- and hmmm, maybe rollerblades...

Math and everything else

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 16:01:42 GMT

Last night we watched an interesting segment on TV about math- specifically, about the tricks and shortcuts developed by the mind of Mike Byster, who seems to be an effusively nice person who happens to have a passion for patterns, and who quit his unfulfilling job as a day trader to volunteer with kids, sharing his math methods. As a child, his parents told him to do math his own way, even though his teachers insisted that their methods were the only correct methods. Ahem- sound familiar?

After the show, Andy asked me to give him a math quiz. This was purely his own idea; we don't do quizzes.

He is getting better at forming numbers on paper; it took longer for this confidence to develop than for letters.

Without help, he correctly answered nine of the ten addition questions, which were 1 + 1, 2 + 2, etc. up through 10 + 10, which he decided was 21. We discussed adding numbers in rows; he seemed to grasp the concept, and we talked about zero and zero combinations always equalling zero. He seems able to add on his fingers AND in his head- what fun to watch him think! He asked for another math quiz, and I introduced counting by tens. When we talked it out, adding ten to each previous number aloud, he understood and added 50 to the column under 40.

He can do very simple subtraction in his head already ("I want 11 girlfriends, and I already have 3, so I need 8 more!"), and I introduced it on paper. I showed him how to substitute fingers for taking numbers away, and he loved that, and then figured out that if he had 8 marbles and someone stole 3, he'd have 5 left.

He asked for a true/false quiz about Legos, and then a quiz about bugs. He asked for help spelling cricket (needed a reminder that there is a "c" before the "k"), and did his best with blood ("bollot"), but without help spelled ant, worm, and stinkbug; labybug was very close with "ladebug"; with a little help he did butterfly, and then spelled it again from memory with no trouble.

He really seems game to try spelling anything, and is using question marks more. He continues to write simple sentences almost daily, and likes writing letters for us and neighbors. (Usually saying something like, "I love you. You are the best. Please give me $1000. Ben.")

He was fascinated to learn the other day that canyons are formed by streams wearing through the rock over a very long time.

What else have we done lately? Andy helped Dave knock down the coal bins in the basement. He helped us paint the walls in his room. We visited Grammy, went to the Discovery Center with friends, had dinner and playtime at the PAL center, and he helped clean at the church a little bit. We went to Otsiningo Park a couple of times to make observations of pond life, collect specimens, and write in our log- and we also got an up-close visit from some mallards there! We played baseball, fast-and-furious soccer in our yard, and invented a game called Rock Toss, where we toss colorful stones down the sidewalk next to our house and get points depending on how many lines they cross, IF they land ON the sidewalk! We dug deeper into our backyard pit and discovered ash and clay.

Andy invented a board game called Minifig Walk, and drew most of the gameboard and the Flood and Trap squares himself. He also made another spontaneous 3-D collage, this time with batteries, a metal protractor, empty sewing spools (stacked), rubber chair stoppers and pennies.

We made paths of dominoes to observe the domino effect. Lots of Lego building & creating. We watched the Charlie Brown Christmas special, played beach ball soccer in the hall, read books & comics, played night frisbee, lots of computer research/favorite websites, made a habitat for our stinkbug and learned on the Web that they will eat green beans, watched our boy mouse run around the downstairs in his exercise ball...

In his sleep this morning, Andy said, "The train carrying the sun is almost here."

Freecycle, apples and Peanuts

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 22:45:34 GMT

It's been a long time, LiveJournal.

Things feel more harmonious here at the moment- my spirit feels slightly lifted after a difficult week.

Last night at 1:00 a.m. some folks stopped by to pick up items we listed on Freecycle- our older couch, some chairs, a coffee table, curtains, a few kids' toys...they needed stuff, and they have friends who are going through a really hard time. Andy donated the toys of his own free will and helped bring things from the porch, and sat on the curb with a bag of Tostitos chatting amiably with everyone. They are coming back tonight for more stuff. It feels good to help heal someone else's life a little bit- therapeutic for me. It's also great creating more open space in our home: an invitation to peace of mind and new things to come.

Andy and I had fun today. I finished building him the basketball motivational center from Legos, and he got a Lego magazine in the mail. We prepared food and baked together- made a version of Lucy's Applesauce Pie from the Peanuts cookbook, in honor of the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special tonight, which we plan to watch as a family. We went out back and dug in the dirt pit and played a fast & wild game of soccer.

He's in the tub up here now, narrating a battle of suds.

A potluck of friends

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 13:25:56 GMT

Yesterday was full of friends, food and fun!

Andy and I went to Cam's house for a couple of hours, where the boys spent a lot of time in and out of the van while Alexa and I sat on the back with the door raised. They were police, then they were criminals; they'd go into the house and return with an assortment of weapons- light sabers, laser guns, plastic swords, and of course the deadly inflatable sword. Bonk bonk bonk! "You are dead, Mom!" Criminals are smart- they know they need sustenance to carry out their elaborate plans- and so they brought out bananas and blueberry granola bars, and shared with their victims. And Ritz dinosaur crackers, which my "bad guy" now loves.

For dinner, Dave, Andy & I headed over to the Binghamton Family Resource Center in the converted train station near downtown. Every Thursday they have a dinner activity for families- last night was potluck, and future dinners include making/eating stew, roasting pumpkin seeds/making grilled cheese sandwiches, etc.

I brought veggies and dip last night, and Andy decided he wanted to contribute something as well, "So everyone can taste my sweet goodness."

He went into the kitchen and said confidently, "Okay! First, we need bread. Everyone is going to love my Mexican Delight sandwiches."

Recipe:
Two slices of whole wheat bread
Vanilla yogurt, spread thinly on bread slice
Cooked rigatoni
Apple slices, no skin
More yogurt on top
Add second piece of bread and ask Mom to cut into attractive pieces

As it turns out, there was only one sandwich piece left at the end of the evening. Surely someone enjoyed the Mexican Delight sandwiches.

Alexa & Cam were at the center, and we were excited to see our friends Marilyn, Katie & Jewel. Andy played basketball, ran around with a cape on, participated in a good-natured pile-up on Katie (who volunteers there!), and played with lots of kids.

We all got to see a train going by on the tracks out back, and then we saw lots of lightning. It rained and rained and rained and flashes lit up the many windows. Andy was afraid to even go outside and get into the car, but we finally did when things calmed a bit.

Back home for reading, Legos, hot cocoa, and the Polly Pocket/Barbie websites with his favorite music. My cool little man danced around in a stylin' baseball cap and sunglasses.

Before bed I held Misha Bear & Barbie for the first time, and Andy petted them. We marveled at the way a frightened little animal will learn to trust a big giant. It's truly a special gift to watch it happen.

And my son handed me a small piece of paper, saying it was the beginning of his diary. On it he had carefully printed the following.

I LOVE: LEGOS AND BARBIE AND MOM.

Throwing, glowing and hello-ing

Thu, 28 Sep 2006 02:50:16 GMT

My boys and I just played a game of night frisbee at the top of our dead-end street. Andy wore his light-up sneakers, flashing red as he ran back & forth.

He drew a picture of aliens today. Not just any aliens- the aliens he saw in our yard. Apparently they also flash as they travel.

Update: Andy called our friend Marilyn on the phone at 11:30, long-distance. She moved to California last month. She's in her seventies and is a night owl like us, usually up until 2:00 a.m. He told her about our new mice and his Legos. He asked how she liked her new place. She told me it was a delight speaking with him, as always.

Goats, mice and dinosaurs

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 13:52:42 GMT

Andy and I went to Green Brothers Apple Hills yesterday afternoon to wander around. We were greeted by the two portly yellow lab dogs, Mac and Crispin, and a little yellow tiger cat. The lady from the gift shop showed us how Mac loves being gently rolled over with a foot and then having his belly scratched with a foot. It's true!

Andy picked some cool little things from the gift shop, including a small dinosaur excavation kit, and then we went straight out to see the animals. We fed three goats, a sheep, and two small donkeys. We met another mom and her young son Andrew, and chatted, and Andy (who insisted his name was Ben) shared some of his candy from the longest candy necklace in the world with Andrew (who didn't mind his given name). The other mom and I gave green leafy stuff to both boys for the animals. "Here you go, Ben," she said.

The goat who usually jumps right over the wire fence did it again, to follow us like a dog and find choice munchings. "I'm calling him Shredder!" Andy announced. Shredder then went off with an older couple to pick raspberries, and was still there when we finished wandering. We talked about how we'd love to have all this land, and maybe a barn, but not farm animals since they'd require so much attention and work. "Except goats," Andy said. "I would like some goats."

He followed a big black & yellow butterfly in the field for a while, and finally bent down in the grass and caught her gently in his hands. Under a brilliant blue sky, he lifted his hands and let her go. "Oh, so beautiful," I said. "That butterfly has been touched by you forever." As it turns out, he didn't mean to let her go so soon. But she had other plans.

We got in the car and ended up circuiting the whole area, looking for two new mice to join our family. We only have girl mice, and choosing them from a pet store (not my favorite option) can be tricky- they must be very very young, or you run the risk of having lots of mice very very soon. All the pet stores here keep their mice in mixed tanks, and most of them sell as feeders for snakes.

We went to three places and ended up back at the first one. While I watched the mousies to determine gender and judge age, Andy commented that he loved the way guinea pig ears look like hearts. Then he went to find Susan, a sales associate we like a lot. And we brought home two new mouse girls.

Still thinking about her name.

Andy named her Barbie.

At home, while I got the new girls settled in their tank, Andy excavated his tiny dinosaur, part by part, from the block. The kit comes with a little scraper and a brush. He had a great time. When he was done, Dave helped him put the dinosaur together. It's a cool little glow-in-the-dark T-rex.

The zen of acid rock

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 13:24:55 GMT

I read this sentence to Andy from a book: "Buddha made a sermon by simply holding up a flower before the multitudes of people who had come to listen to him speak."

"That's silly," said Andy. "He should have held up a guitar and told them about rock bands and AC/DC."

Game-It, numbers and words

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 12:45:14 GMT

Dave, Andy and I went to Game-It Family Fun Center yesterday afternoon for 50-cent mini-golf (a special on Mondays). We were the only ones playing.

"This is GREAT!" Andy shouted. "I'm gonna be a professional miniature golf player!" He had an uncanny ability to hit the ball with no foresight and get it through the spinning windmill stuff on the first try.

We also played an awesome game of air hockey, and Andy managed to win the highest amount of tickets possible on this basketball tic-tac-toe game. We laughed our heads off as the game spit out 75 tickets. Chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug chug...he also played Ice Ball (skee ball variation) and the aim-the-rolling-token-into-the-hole game. He ended up with 180 tickets, and chose a suction-cup basketball net with foam ball (for the bathtub!) as his prize- with enough left over for a chocolate Tootsie Pop for him and a two watermelon Jolly Ranchers for me and Dave.

Total spent: $6.50. Moments shared: Priceless.

Speaking of money, and numbers, Andy continues to demonstrate his growing understanding of mathematical concepts. We'll be doing something, and he'll suddenly say, "One hundred plus one hundred is two hundred." "Right." "And two hundred plus two hundred is four hundred." "Uh-huh." "And four hundred plus four hundred is eight hundred." "Yep." "And eight hundred plus eight hundred is...what?" "Sixteen hundred." "Sixteen hundred. Got it!"

Yesterday I said, "There were ten, but we ate seven." He said, "Okay, so we have three left." He did this in his head. He's been doing this a lot.

He'll randomly say things like, "Six plus four is ten." "Two plus five is seven."

We introduced the concept of counting by twos.

Cyber Chase introduced the concept of even and odd numbers.

He's starting to grasp time increments on the analog clock. I took it off the wall and he's been twirling the hands, setting it. He seems to compare it with the digital clock. He'll look at that one and say, "It's 4:10. Okay, so..." and twirl the hands of the other clock to 4:10. He gets it right about half the time. I think it's helpful to have both kinds of clocks in one room, for comparison. He can now read the analog clock on its own and tell us, correctly, that it's 11:30 or 3:50 or 7:20.

Or 7:58, which means we better hurry up and put the popcorn in the bowl so we don't miss the beginning of our show! ;-)

About words...Andy wanted to chat with my online writers' critique group one night, and he typed in his own responses and comments. He asked me how to use the exclamation point key, and he occasionally asked how to spell a word, and showed great memory and concentration while typing in the letters. Here are the sentences he typed:

i love you
not!
that's nice!
you are good
you are best
you are good sheridanc
i love you
you are great trempsy
i do not like planes!
you are good!
its not that bad
i love you trempsy!
i love legos!
i love you charisk!
good night all of you!
yes i do
i hate duplos!

He is also starting to spell out loud.
"I'm having a glass of m-i-l-k."
"I want to s-l-e-e-p some more."
"Let's go to T-a-r-g-e-t."

T-a-r-g-e-t has been a favorite destination since Toys 'R Us is still remodeling after the flood. Not that he loves checking for new L-e-g-o-s or anything, he just wants to walk around and enjoy the s-t-o-r-e. Seriously.

N-o-t.

Bionicles, cats and mice...oh my.

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 12:14:03 GMT

Last Friday Andy and I headed straight for the McDonald's drive-thru for the first day of the new Bionicles Happy Meals. We sat in the car eating and watching the traffic on Main Street in Endwell.

"You know what, Mom?" Andy asked. "I wish the earth would live forever, even though people don't."

And then my reflective son smiled down at his Bionicle guy and was lost in the passion of new plastic. Really, his expression was nothing short of a True Love smile. :-)

We decided to visit the cats at Animal Care Council. We stayed for a while in one of the kitten enclosures, playing with two black kittens. Andy named the really super fast kitty Flash, and I named the kitty attached to me (hugging my neck!) Purr Machine. Andy tried to hold Purr Machine in his lap, but found her too tickly. And I remembered why I don't usually wear my velcro-strapped sandals to Animal Care Council! Kitties just loooove velcro anything- and toes.

We drove home to get Pandora, our black and white mom mousie who'd developed a mammary tumor. She'd finally shown signs of real discomfort, and we took her to the vet so they could help her to the Rainbow Bridge. Andy held her and gently kissed her goodbye, and then I cuddled her in my hands until it was time. We stayed with her through the brief procedure, and then Andy held her on top of a soft piece of fleece on the way home. He stroked her fur and examined all the mouse parts he could never touch before- her tiny teeth, her nose, and her feet.

"I just love her little feet," he said.

Andy asked if we could stop at the farm stand near our house and get some sweet corn. I had three dollars, and the guy cheerfully announced I could have NINE ears of corn, and enthusiastically shoved them all into the bag. NINE! I guessed the ratties and mice were going to feast on corn too.

Dave, Andy and I went out for pizza because we didn't feel like dealing with all the shucking, cleaning and cooking that night.

Andy and I DID, however, feel like playing beach ball soccer in the hallway, until we thought we'd been bonked enough by the ball. If you think beach ball soccer is not an extreme sport, play it in a narrow hallway with your 6-yr-old.

Howe Caverns

Tue, 26 Sep 2006 11:59:35 GMT

Last week Andy and I went to Howe Caverns. It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon on Route 88. Every fifteen minutes or so, a butterfly, usually a monarch, fluttered across our line of vision. We saw cows, horses, goats, and hawks. And we stopped at a rest area for a soda from the machine, which Andy thinks is very cool. :-)

We loved all the bright, colorful signs pointing us in the direction of the caverns once we turned onto Route 9. The funniest part of the trip was pulling into the parking lot of the dilapidated brown barn with "gift shop" signs on it. The windows were boarded up. "This can't be it," I said to Andy, as we stared. "I think it's up the road more," he concluded.

Gorgeous land up there. We found the right building, and there were hardly any cars. We felt so FREE and excited to be!

We took a tour at 4:15, with just one other mom and her 4-yr-old son Dougie. Our tour guide was Mr. Bill, an older guy who seemed at first like an automaton- he would keep doing his spiel even though Andy asked a question. No time to chat! He loosened up after a bit. He showed us formations that looked like witches, mice, turtles. He steered the boat in the underground stream like a gondola. Andy and I sat near the front, so we could pretend we were the only ones in the cave. The first guy to ever explore the water in the cave lay on an 8-foot-long log, with a candle at the end for light.

Mr. Bill told us that every time water dripped on us, the cave was kissing us. He told stories of college students smuggling small animals down there, and the animals only live 6 hours. He told us about a woman freaking out in the cave of mystery, having to be pulled out by her feet inch by inch as she screamed. And another woman who got stuck in the walls of Tight Squeeze and would NOT allow her designer dress to be ripped- it took 2 hours to free her.

The cave is 16 stories beneath the earth at the current entry point. It was originally discovered because a farmer's cow had strayed from the herd- she'd found the cool breeze coming from the cave's natural entrance near a clump of bushes.

Andy and I picked out some cool stuff from the gift shop, including a little tin pail of precious stones he selected himself. We got ice cream treats and sat on a bench outside, where my boy became coated with chocolate. :-) Then we enjoyed the drive home- more country-gazing and conversation. We saw plane trails in the distance which had spread out and looked like rivers in the sky. Andy asked about the difference between the colors gold and yellow, and told me the sun is definitely yellow.

As we approached home, my son sleeping in the back seat and the sky that deeper shade of purple signalling approaching night, I felt euphoric about life. Again.

A smattering of stuff

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 14:52:53 GMT

Let's see what we've done lately...watched an episode of Cyber Chase on PBS Kids which used percentages as fractions to solve problems. Watched a video on Mr. Rogers demonstrating how garden hoes are made in the factory. Andy and Dave went bowling with the homeschool group. Andy and I took a trip to Howe Caverns. He helped our neighbor pick tomatoes, helped Dave paint the basement landing, helped Grammy walk out of Friendly's so she could "keep her sense of balance." We went out for Chinese with our neighbor Wally. We went out for Chinese with our friends Alexa & Cam. Andy enjoyed learning and pronouncing some Chinese words and coming up with 101 uses for chopsticks. We played a game of invisible baseball in the park. Andy drew some comics complete with words, and wrote us some notes, many of which said "I love you." He talks with his girlfriends on his pretend cell phone. He got a crime investigation kit from Barnes & Noble and loves to look for clues and evidence. We've watched and discussed Animal Planet, Wife Swap, Supernanny, some comedies, some cop shows, and the news (on occasion when Dave happens to be watching it- but I am becoming more aware of how this affects him and makes him worry), and loads of PBS kids shows...

From frosties to the cosmos

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 14:34:07 GMT

Yesterday our best moments came between 6:00 and 1:00. Yes, I mean 6:00 pm and 1:00 am. We seem to really connect with our creativity as a family during the night hours.

We headed out to Vestal and got vanilla frosties from the Wendy's drive-thru, and parked up on top of the hill by the Hampton Inn to eat them. Had a great view of the valley. Watched a large hawk take off from a light pole near us and soar and fly. Andy insisted it was an eagle. "On Reading Rainbow I learned that eagles flap their wings and then glide. Flap flap flap gliiiiiide. That's exactly what this bird is doing."

We went to Target to see how Andy might wish to spend his $6. We'd discussed the 8% tax, so he knew he really had about $5.50 in order to play it safe. He found a cool little Lego car, and I told him to go ahead and toss in the box of Bionicle zamerspheres. Total: $6.35. I told him I'd happily gift him the 35 cents. "That's so nice," he said.

Next stop: Vestal Veterinary Hospital. I wanted to put some money on my account ahead of time, which is the best way to make sure it's not frittered away on vanilla frosties. On my way out, I saw a darling little black bat roosting by the door, not very high at all. I ran to the car and got Andy, and we observed him together. He groomed himself just like one of our mice. The vet staff said he'd been there for a few days, then disappeared, and now was back.

We swung by Jo-Ann Fabrics so I could get some fleece and velcro, and then nixed our trip to Home Depot because Andy wanted to go home. We didn't need to get the stuff last night, and so we chose to stay in harmony and postpone.

Andy put his new Lego car together as per the directions, complete with tiny stickers in all the right places. He watched me try to figure out the problem with the computer, which Dave finally solved.

Then Andy and I played a game of crazy marble ball in the hallway, which basically involved rolling a big marble past the other person to get a goal, except there were specific rules about exactly what constituted a goal and what actually made you lose points. I had negative one, then negative two, and Andy asked what a negative number is. I think, after much raucous playing and insane laughter, the score was something like 55 to -2000.

We gave the mice and ratties their evening snack, and I cleaned the rat cage. Andy dipped the end of a zip-tie in the green bean mush and let them lick it off as they played on their table.

He studied more of the Big Big World Atlas (which is a 2-foot-tall heavy cardboard book). He was really interested in the flag designs of different nations, and in pronouncing the names. The other day he was noticing which states in our country produce which things, and asked how people make pulp.

He took apart and rebuilt the Lego car two times, following the directions, while listening to his favorite skits on the Strongbad website.

Then we read books before bed. His choice was Calvin & Hobbes, mine was On the Divine Compassion of the Cosmos, written by a friend and her husband. He thought the title was neat, and asked what cosmos were.

"You're the best mom in the universe," he pronounced.

"You're the best boy in the cosmos," I answered.

"That's so nice," he said. Surrounded by his stuffed animals and open books, he drifted off to sleep.

What do we do, anyway?

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 19:41:11 GMT

Just wait until later and I'll tell you all about it...gotta go play baseball!

Robot Surgery

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 19:22:00 GMT

We dismantled a small boom box today, although in reality we were performing surgery on a robot. We organized parts by type: we unscrewed screws, clipped wires, pried apart covers, examined circuit boards and gears, removed knobs and springs, popped apart casings, observed which buttons led to which gears, discovered the magnets around the interior speakers, the insulation around the wires, some removable and some permanent. "The insulation protects the wires and us," Andy told me. "This was built by a genius mind."

Unfortunately, the robot was bleeding everywhere. "We must not laugh," said Andy. "He may be able to hear us."

We did all we could for him, in any case.

Word Find

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 06:58:56 GMT

Sunday 9/10

Andy created a new word game tonight while reading a Better Homes & Gardens magazine. He found words hidden in other words..."scoop" becomes "coop" & "behind" becomes "hind".

Also lots of crazy Lego building happening.

= }

Magical Night

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 13:48:35 GMT

Sunday night was magical, and if I don't write about it all now, I'm going to forget some part of the magic.

Andy and I watched America's Funniest Videos, and then decided to take a night walk.

We went to the park near our house. A softball game was in full swing, with lights casting a soft glow over other parts of the park. We played football, which involved throwing, catching, tumbling, tackling, stealing the ball, racing it around the tree while the other person did a countdown, and trying to dislodge it from the tree with sticks and rocks.

We saw two rabbits in the little shadowy field, and Andy walked quietly within a foot of one of them.

"Wow," I said. "Let's call this The Magical Rabbit Field."

"Nah," said Andy. "Not magical."

We sat on a cement slab and pulled out the contents of his backpack, which included a full set of silverware and his 10-inch-tall action hero, Ben. Andy made me a weed salad, and Ben took great risks posing at the edge of a cliff, and always fell. When Andy wasn't looking, I hooked Ben into a climbing pose on the softball fence.

"Look!" I said.

Andy gasped. "Oh. My god. Ben!" And he rescued Ben again.

We played a game- Andy threw the football to me as I stood on top of the playground climber, and I sent the ball tumbling down the spiral slide.

We found a huge climbing branch on the ground for Ben, and swung him in the tire swing. We discovered, on the cement wall, a really big gray slug with black leopard-like markings. We watched him ooze around.

"It looks like he's making letters," Andy said. "Slug poetry!"

Andy climbed the rocks of the low wall with me as a backup. "Rock-climbing's hard."

We took Ben's huge branch home, and another stick, and sat on the front porch. Andy took the butter knife from his backpack and started to carve an "H" into the stick. Then he sawed and carved on the big branch. He asked for a sharper knife, and I brought out two small steak knives. He tried using one and then decided to go back to the butter knife. "It's hard work being a woodcutter," he said. I agreed. I was shaving all the outer bark from the stick, watching it curl and fall to the floor.

We were also keeping the next door cat company (Joe, the Siamese). We stroked him and talked with him. Andy crouched beside him and stared into the road to try and see and sense like a cat- what had caught Joe's intense attention? "Maybe a mouse," Andy mused. "Or a worm." We discussed the sharper vision and hearing of cats.

As he stroked Joe's head, Andy told me there are three million people in New York City- he heard that on the previews for the show "Six Degrees."

"How many people are in the whole world, Mom? Counting you, me, and of course Joe."

We talked about the density of population in some countries and states and cities, as opposed to others.

Andy stood near one of the porch pillars and closed his eyes and went "Boop. Boop. Boop. I'm using echolocation to find the pole." We'd seen a piece on Primetime's Medical Mysteries about a small number of blind people who have developed a form of echolocation.

Lying in his bed later, Andy said he had a question. He sighed with the heaviness of it.

"There's something I don't understand. Since God is a PERSON, how did he create other PEOPLE? Like him? That just doesn't make sense."

"Hmm," I said. "What do you think?"

"I just don't know what the answer is," he said.

And sometimes that IS the answer.

Testing...

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 13:17:03 GMT

...before my big entry. All systems go?

Yeah...

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 13:24:11 GMT

...not ready to type a bunch of stuff yet. It'll happen.