Some conversations this week:
Joe: Look Mom, I figured out how to polish these rocks! (He shows me a few of the pebble sized petosky stones he found at Lake Michigan.)
Me: Great, Joe. What did you use?
Joe: Ear wax!
Even though Elizabeth's kids already know about the birds and the bees, I haven't been so sure about the level of knowledge that our boys have, and I've been after Dan to cover the subject with them. At lunch Monday with all the kids, we shared the news of Lucy's death. James wondered if Nana and Pop were going to get a new dog. Dan said they might get one from Randy Cochran. Then one of the kids asked about Kenai having puppies, but I said she was too old, but that the cows were perhaps going to have calves. So mating came up:
James: I saw one of Pop's cows getting on top of the other cow and that's how Pop knew they might have babies.
Dan: Well, actually, James, there has to be a boy part and girl part. You know about sperm right? (uncomfortable squirming all around. Annie gets up and leaves.) The boy and girl parts have to get together to have a baby.
James: That's why the rooster gets on the chicken and does this (he imitates pecking the chicken.)
Dan: Actually, the sperm don't come from the beak but from the penis, but from a separate tube from the urine. And they go into the girl's parts. (The conversation immediately turns to the oddity of dog penises and the largeness of Art and Neal's.)
Later, on the porch, to me:
Dan: Look how easy that was! (He puts hands up for high fives.) I did it!
So I guess we've covered reproduction. James displayed his knowledge to Nana last night by asking about Pop's bull that was making the cows pregnant.
I just have to vent about our rough day:
1. I rushed all the kids out the door to get to the dentist at 8am, only to find out the appt is next week.
2. I got a call from Mobile Meals reminding me that today was our day, so I threw all the kids and some snacks in the car and was late delivering meals, so consequently,
3. We were late to piano lessons.
4. Claire left her shorts at the library. (She was wearing a bloomer thing over which I meant to put the shorts, but she wanted to carry them.)
5. Got to the Y and the I-zone worker was late, so I had to wait around for more than half an hour to drop off the kids, and I argued with the front desk people about what time it opened.
6. I was honest with the Child Watch lady and told her that Claire had had MRSA and the doctor suggested wiping everything down with Clorox wipes. About 20 mins into my workout, the manager came to tell me Claire couldn't stay until she had a dr's clearance on file since she had had a communicable disease. (I wouldn't be surprised if she got the infection at the Y, although Dan blames the squirrel.)
7. Elizabeth bailed out on her offer to visit me, preferring to hang out in her hotel room near DC. Well, guess what, Liz, I'm having a great time blogging at 11 pm, instead of cleaning up for you.
The highlight of the day, and a bright highlight it was, was arriving home to a box from some wonderful friends who had been stationed in Italy with all the makings for a fancy pasta dinner, including an enormous block of parmigiano, a box of wine, and Nutella for dessert. They also sent back a book on Ronald Reagan that Dan had loaned, and a copy of Obama's Audacity of Hope. What an appetizing way to campaign! If only all political advertisements came wrapped with a gourmet dinner! Or at least a chocolate bar.
4 comments:
These cows are providing much fodder for our childrens' inquiry. Thanks Mom and Dad!
Well, I did bail on driving down to visit Emily. I'm a complete schmuck. Tell me though, which one of you, who might have been complaining for months about how tired they were, when offered a week in a hotel with her husband and no kids, would chuck it to drive an additional 8 hours to a place where you might be asked to babysit for six kids? I know pregnant Mary did it for Elizabeth. I know that it is in giving that we receive.
Hmm... how to spin in?
Ah, yes...I am making an investment in my marriage, by staying here. And protecting my unborn child from communicable diseases. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the thrift store to muddle in the castoffs of strangers.
Since Elizabeth didn't come to visit, I also finally read that Camille Paglia article Kate linked. Loved that a liberal journalist can take the pro-life cause seriously! We'd get a lot farther in bipartisanship if both factions could acknowledge their opponents' strengths. Thanks, Kate.
I really did enjoy that article. I sought out a conversation with a liberal classmate, hoping for an interaction that would rival the discourse in my head while I read that article, but so far that hasn't panned out.
I've been worried about what the boys will pick up at our, gym, too. I'm going to assume along with Dan, for my own workouts' sake, that your MRSA was from the squirrel.
Eliz, you ARE pregnant Elizabeth. Doesn't the Bible therefore clearly tell us that Emily should have come to see YOU? :)
Apparently my gut reaction to everything I do or don't do is guilt. But thanks Kate for helping me get this straight--I should be feeling rejected by Emily! What a relief.
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