Getting schooled by my six year old

Well, he is almost seven, so it is totally normal that he should be teaching me things, right?

Last week as we were playing outside (and heard thunder) he told me "Mom, did you know that thunder is caused when lightening heats the air around it to 55 hundred degrees?"

Me:  "Uhmmm.... no.  And how do you know that?!?"

E: "I read it."

I had him show me where he read it.  It is actually 55,000 degrees.... but really, if you're six years old, what difference does an extra zero really make?  To me, the fact that he even read this information and then was able to recall it at an appropriate time with generally correct information was pretty fascinating.

--------------------------------------
This second story is a little bit harder to stomach because my six year old was actually CORRECTING me, CORRECTLY, while I was reading to him before bed last night.

We are currently reading "Mary Poppins" which is quite a fun little book.  There is a story in the book about a dancing red cow going to visit the king.  The king has a sceptre.  I read the line about the sceptre and made some comment like "I don't know what in the pants that is?!?"

Elijah responded with "Show me the word, Mommy."

Sure.  I am sure that my child who just finished kindergarten will be able to assist his mommy who graduated college with honors.  Go for it kid.

Elijah: "Oh mommy.  You pronounced that wrong!  The 'c' is silent and it is a sceptre!  I read about it in 'Mummies in the Morning' (a Magic Treehouse book).

Me: "Uhmmm, so, what is a sceptre?"

Elijah: "Oh, it's this stick thing that kings and magicians have.  Sometimes they have jewels on them...."

And he went on explaining a sceptre to me.  He was so ridiculously proud of himself (as he should be) and I was slightly disappointed in myself and my lacking knowledge of sceptres.

When he went upstairs to climb into bed he proudly shared the story with Marty.

Marty says, in my defense, that I probably didn't read a whole lot of books that involved a sceptre in my youth..... whereas little boys will read many.

Schooled by my six year old.

(Also, in my defense, blogger is trying to tell me that I am spelling sceptre incorrectly.... but I double checked Mary Poppins and that is how it spelled there.  So there.)

3 year old funny....

I love the things that 3 year olds say.  And I rarely remember to write them down.  So, here is a quick note from the weekend.

Gavin: "Mommy, Daddy have long legs?"
Me: "Yes Gavin, your Daddy has long legs."
Gavin: "No Mommy, the spider's daddy have long legs?"

Which caused me to laugh out loud.

Further explanation in sharing the story with Marty revealed that earlier in the day he, Gavin & Owen had seen a "Daddy-Long-Legs".   Which Owen promptly attempted to squish and apparently got Gavin thinking about the fact that the spider's daddy has long legs.  :)

Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men.  Great book by John Steinbeck that I read in high school.  And although this post has absolutely nothing to do with that book, the title came to mind.  Here is why.....

We bought our house 6+ years ago.  When we did the inspection we found that there was a bit of a mouse problem.  As in, the previous owners had d-Con (mouse poison) positioned throughout the main level and basement of the house.  YUCK.  Before we bought the house we had them remove the d-Con and hire an exterminator.

Thankfully, we did not have any mice problems.  Whew.

Sometime after we moved in we hired someone to clean out the ducts in the house..... the nice man told me that the ducts had a lot of Fruit Loops in them.... possibly placed there by the mice (or maybe small children).....  I, however, have never bought Fruit Loops.  Double gross.

Fast forward to 2012.

We remodeled the main level of the house.  It is great.

Before.

After.

We really like the update.  Apparently, so do the mice. (You can see where this is going, huh....)

One day last fall as it was getting colder, I sat enjoying the afternoon quiet while the boys napped or played quietly.  And a mouse ran across our kitchen floor and behind the trash can.  AUGH!!!!  

I called Marty at work.  He didn't answer.  I called my mom in Iowa (since somehow that might help). She suggested that I move the trash can and kill the mouse with a broom.  What that?!?  Apparently that is what my Grandma would have done.  My Grandma also butchered chickens.... she gave truth to the statement "like a chicken running around with it's head chopped off".  She chopped off chicken's heads and killed mice with a broom.  I am not that cool.  Instead I freaked out and just wouldn't go into the kitchen the rest of the afternoon for fear that the mouse might be hiding behind the trash can.  

We battled the mouse and some of his friends and have felt triumphant.  Somewhere in there I took the kids to PetSmart for a "field trip" and experienced a little bit of PTSD when the kids suggested we get a mouse as a pet.  Uhm, no.

Then last night Marty was on conference call..... sitting at the breakfast bar as I had been months earlier.  A mouse ran across our kitchen floor behind the trash can.  I was safe in the living room as he told me "don't come in here."  I didn't go in there.

He tried to smash the mouse with the trash can (unsuccessfully - gross) and when the mouse ran out from the behind the trash can he grabbed the first thing he saw on the counter.

A butternut squash.

He threw a butternut squash at a mouse.  

He actually hit the mouse and killed it.... with the very thing I was planning to use to make our dinner.  

He was still on the conference call for work through the entire ordeal.  No joke.  

Marty can now say that he killed a small creature with nothing more than a gourd.  How many people can say that?

Now if only we can figure out how the mice have gotten access to our kitchen!?!  AUGH!

Stories.... Of mice and men.

Edited to add:  Marty read this blog post and would like me to clarify.... his clarification point goes something like this "It's not like I threw the squash 6 inches, it was good 5 foot!  That's a big difference and you failed to mention it."  So, now I mentioned it.  He really squashed that mouse.  :)

Independence Day

We celebrated Independence Day yesterday.  More commonly known as "the 4th of July".  However, Marty is passionately against calling it "the 4th".  He says "we don't call Christmas December 25th, so why would we call Independence Day July 4th?!?!"  It is kind of like his thoughts on "the f word".

Throughout the day, Elijah was asking what we had independence from.  Regardless of what Marty or I would say, he always came back to "so, we are celebrating the day that the white people were freed from slavery."  Uhmmm, no Elijah.  The white people were not freed from slavery.  No discussion could convince him otherwise.

We decided to celebrate the evening with the city fireworks.  We got there 2 1/2 hours prior to start time.  We were armed with friends, juice boxes, glow sticks, balls, and plenty of snacks.  All things considered, the kids did amazing waiting for the fireworks.  We got a GREAT viewing spot on the top of a hill right by a fantastic pine tree perfect for climbing.  We sent the kid who already has 3 stitches in his head up into the tree for a couple hours and told him good luck.  He was in heaven.

The only photo we have from the evening.... Elijah up in the tree. 

9:35 finally arrived: scheduled start time.  The symphony orchestra finished up with a wonderful patriotic song.  The crowd cheered.  YAY!  One big red firework was launched and then we waited.  And waited.

It was slightly windy which is what we believed was causing the delay.

So we waited.

Someone around us was smoking pot.  Which is completely legal in Colorado... at least I think so?  I have absolutely no idea.  But the kids loved saying "Mommy, what is the funny smell?"  Hmmm.... let's talk about Independence day.

We waited.

Then the pot smoking kids lit off a bottle rocket.  While smoking pot may be legal, all fireworks in Fort Collins are illegal (including sparklers).  And of course, bottle rockets.  That led the local police to the happy little climbing tree behind us where they addressed the bottle rocket launching.  Not sure if anything happened with the pot smoking?

Well, by then it was well after 10p.  Many people were leaving, Owen was oscillating between trying to sleep and cry, and the nice police officers informed us they had no idea if/when the fireworks would go off.  We decided to join the crowds of people leaving.... by the nearest accessible exit: under the pot smokers in the pine tree.

We made it about 3 blocks and you guessed it - the fireworks started.

We went back to the park and watched the fireworks from the bottom of the hill.... behind a couple trees.  And they were still great.  All the boys LOVED the fireworks.   It was HOURS after their bedtime and they all just stared in amazement.  Owen said "more boom booms".  Gavin commented on the different colors, shapes and sizes.

Elijah said "Yay!  We are celebrating our independence from when the white people were slaves."