Last night, Paul and I were standing out on the porch outside the front door and something large and black caught my eye on the wall.  It was the biggest beetle I have ever seen in person, EVER!  Well...this even at least had to be memorialized in photography!  Out comes the Droid X!

The beetle was very obliging.  It stayed put for quite awhile.  We even pulled out the "real" camera.  And a dollar bill to get a good size comparison.  Then brilliance shined through -- the kids need to see this!  Off I went for a canning jar and a screw-top lid.  Paul carefully prodded the little beastie into its new prison. 

In the morning the kids were delighted by their new toy-in-a-bottle.  What a cool bug!  The shook it and saw it wriggle.  They turned the bottle up-side down.  They commented when the bug tried to climb the walls of its prison. 

Perhaps it wasn't kindest to the poor beetle...but three munchkins were so delightfully entertained. 

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Today the kids brought me a math activity book.  I read the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and had 3 sizes of chairs & bowls there in the living room for demonstration purposes...we were talking about sizes.  Then I invited them to draw pictures of things that the bears might have in their home in multiples of 3, in different sizes. 

...So Zac drew the bears' caca.  (I did insist on 3 sizes of it.)
...Chris drew baby bear's wee little toilet.  But he said that it was dirty.  I suggested he should clean it.  So he drew a stick-figure baby bear holding a towel.
...Chelsea reports that her picture is of baby bear eating porridge.  (But another one had something to do with caca....)

I think the universe is having vengeance on me for disliking bathroom humor.  :P

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Friday, July 22, 2011....

Paul had suggested that it was time for Zac to not need a diaper at night.  I was hesitant...he had never wakened dry...EVER!  However, I was game to try this out as long as Zac received only positive reinforcement, just in case his nighttime incontinence was due to things outside of his control.  So I created a chart to track how well he did at staying dry and of complying witht the things that would help achieve that.  (Such as no drinks after dinner.)

Today...(drumroll, please!)...Zac awoke DRY!!!!!!!!!!!!  Congratulations Zac!

(And we have also discovered that Zac likes award charts.  There may be many award charts in Zac's future.)

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Sometimes the kids find bugs in the house.  They know what to do.  Grab the fly-swatter.  Swat the bug until it is broken.  Problem solved. 

Several mornings back, the kids awoke us letting us know that there was "a big bug" in the kitchen. And Chelsea had hit it, but it was still moving!  Groggily, I got out of bed and followed Chelsea to the kitchen, where Christopher was keeping vigil at the site of the bug. 

Yuck.  It was a full-size cockroach.  Eww.  Chelsea slapped it a few more times for good meausre with the fly-swatter.  You go, huntress!  But it was only stunned; it weakly moved a few legs.  I grabbed a paper and cup, and maneuvered it into the cup and to the toilet, where the kids bid the cockroach a watery farewell.  (And, no, we don't get many in the hosue.)