Bug Collection

Presenting the Doodlebug Ladybug Fall 2012 BUG COLLECTION!

I was reading a while back on this great blog post about how the average American kid can identify thousands of corporate logos, but can name less than 10 plant or animal species indigenous to their area.  That inspired these parents to learn about native species by doing a leaf collection with their kids. 

The Doodlebug/Ladybug, however, aren't so much into leaves.  But do you want to guess what they are into?  BUGS!  My kids are endlessly fascinated with creepy-crawlers. 

We kept running into bugs on the farm all summer, and it turns out there are some really nasty looking bugs that won't hurt you at all.  For instance, there are bugs that are disguised to look like bumblebees so they can steal all the bee's food and nobody will bother them.  Apparently this kind of chicanery is rampant in the insect world.  Seems like a handy thing to know, right? 

The Doodle making his first catch:

 We've been pinning the insects to a piece of cardboard so we can look at them carefully and look them up to read about them. 

We realize this makes us supremely dorky parents, but the kids love it.  They run up to other kids on our walk and announce "We're looking for INSECTS!"  It's very much the cool thing.  :)

Summer Catch Up

Hi, there!  We're back.  Back to town, back to school, back to wireless internet access at home.  Here's a quick catch-up post from this summer.  

First, we had an absolutely wonderful time back in Stillwater.  We spent hours and hours out at the farm working on the little house.  The kids pretty much had the run of the place while Craig and I were working, so they were as barefoot and dirty as any kid would want to be in the summer.  

When we got tired of chasing the kids, we found a great way to hold them in one place.  :)

 Here's the Doodlebug pretending to be Little Boy Blue (under the haystack, fast asleep).

Franny-girl was a kitten for about half of the summer.  Oh, and she finally decided she likes letting me braid her hair.  :)  I've been absolutely itching to braid it for almost a year, but she would never sit still.  I'm loving it!

 

The last week we were there, our (most wonderful) nanny had to go back to school, so I stayed home in the mornings with the kids and we went exploring.  So much fun.   

When I told the Doodle that I was going to stay home with them in the mornings, he got so excited and said, "You mean like a babysitter?!!"  ::facepalm::

What else?  Atticus is in preschool four days a week in the afternoons, and is doing great.  He had to get four shots at his doctor appointment and shed not a single tear.  Lady Frances is finally out of diapers at night, and is doing so well.  Her brother still comes and wakes up daddy when he has to use the bathroom at night.  Ladybug gets up and goes by herself, and if she can't get her underwear back on, she just goes back to bed without it.  We moved both kids out of their toddler beds this summer and into twin beds, so the kids think they are pretty big time now.       

Stay tuned  because I have lots more things to post and actually time to do it.  And an internet connection (!)

Who Needs Toys?

So I get home this afternoon and the Doodlebug is out in the backyard, carefully cutting up chunks of mud with the side of a garden spade.  

What are you doing, Atticus?

Cutting up vegetables.

He recently figured out how to cut up his pancakes with the side of a fork, and the other day he got to help dad cut up carrots with an actual knife.  Apparently this new skill is very simulating for him, because I got him a plastic knife and he literally sat out there for two full hours doing this.  We had to drag him in for a bath but promised him that he can work on it again some more tomorrow.   

I think it is amazing when the kids hit on something that coincides so well with their development that they are willing to concentrate on it for hours.  It's pretty amazing.  He was just so relaxed and happy out there, perfecting his technique.

In other news, we go to the dinosaur museum and the "bug guy" is there with a cart full of snakes, turtles, and tarantulas.  When we walk in he's sitting there with a snake around his neck.  Franny-bug, of course, shrieks, "A snake!  I want to PET IT!" and makes a beeline for the snake.  She loved on that snake and let it lick her all over the hand and face with its little forked tongue.  (Ugh, right?)  She didn't even hesitate for a second.  

I'm kind of proud of her for being so brave, but it also terrifies me a little on a daily basis.  I mean, this is a girl who caught a bumblebee in her bare hand.  I'm a little scared she might walk in the door with a rattlesnake one of these days.

One more thing: I try to take the kids' questions seriously and give them the best, most truthful answers I can.  So Atticus asks me the other day, completely thoughtfully, "Mom, why does everything have sides?"  

Good grief.  What do you say to that? 

Ladybug Girl to the Rescue!

Tuesday afternoon.  I am cleaning house, sorting through the kids' clothes and packing up winter things, etc. The kids are running around playing and entertaining themselves, so I'm not paying too much attention to them.  Then the Doodlebug wants to go outside and help Dad, who is working in the front yard.  So I let him out, and when I come back inside, I can't find Franny-girl anywhere.  Then I see her running through the backyard, like this:

 

She looks like some strange Frog-Butterfly Superhero on a mission.  In case you are wondering, those are Christmas trees on her glasses.

 She was running around the backyard carrying on this intense running monologue.  "Look at those puddles!  Those are BEAU-tiful puddles!  Let's count those puddles.  One...two...three...four...Look at those birds!  Those are beau-tiful birds!!  Let's count those birds!"  I couldn't quit laughing.

 

 The Doodle came back with some dandelions he had collected.  

  

Which makes me think of this sweet little book:

 Does anyone remember this book?  We'll have to look for it at the library.  By the way, have I mentioned how much I love it that the kids are old enough now to follow actual stories, and not just read picture books?  So much fun!!  (Except that Frances still wants to read Go, Dog, Go! every single night.  I feel like I've read it at least once a day for the past four months.  Would it be wrong of me to hide this book?)

Fall. I love it.

 

Guess what we did last weekend?  We went on a leaf walk.  The kids thought we did it as a fun activity for them, but they were wrong.  It was something fun for me.  

 

First, we all decorated leaf-collector bags.  We each had one.  

Then we went for a walk here:

 

We found big leaves, small ones, acorns, berries, and seeds.  We took them home, looked them over, and then set them free outside.

We stopped by the park on the way home.  Here's Ms. Adventure on the rock-climbing wall:

The past few weeks have been absolutely Fall Perfect.  Crisp-but-not-cold, with a lovely leaf smell.  We even took a walk with the kids in the drizzle the other night.  After this past summer, I'm glad we are getting a real fall.

Love it.

A Ladybug and a Bumblebee

Yesterday, Franny got stung by a bee.  This is not surprising, since she has been determinedly trying to catch one for a while now, in spite of our warnings.  She was a trooper.  She cried briefly, and then kept telling us, "It's okay."  She was eating up all the attention she was getting from her Daddy and brother, though!

I need to add a label for "Escapades of Frances" posts.  This girl can climb on something faster than you can turn around.  In just the past few weeks, she has gotten stuck on top of her changing table, we have pulled her out of the bathroom sink I don't know how many times, and last week Craig caught her on the kitchen counter, attempting to cut up an apple with a knife (she had already eaten a banana before he found her).  This girl is childproof-proof.


 Looking for worms in the garden:

 Feeding the Ducks:

But look how sweet I am:

Barefoot Summer Days?

The heat wave is not cooperating with our routine.  I think we spend a good amount of time outdoors, year-round.  And aren't summers supposed to be spent barefoot, running around in the backyard?  But lately we have been spending most of our time finding things to do indoors: storytime at the library, the dinosaur museum, even hitting up the air-conditioned mall playground.  So we were thrilled when we woke up this morning and it was "only" 91 degrees out.  I don't know when 91 and humid became my idea of a balmy summer day, but here we are.

 

The Doodle asked to take his "new" tricycle to the park.  He has only ridden it around the kitchen, so he was itching to take that baby out on the road and see what it could do.  He toted the sippy cups around in his "trunk" for us.

 Ladybug on the slide.  Isn't she a handful beautiful?

2 kids + 105 degrees =

Have I mentioned how much we love the splash pad?  

1. It's a fun way to cool off.
2. It's free.
3. When you have two toddlers, letting them run around and splash is MUCH less stressful than trying to take them to the pool.

 

 

For some reason, the Doodlebug enjoys running around the perimeter as fast as he can on the hot concrete.  He'll get another kid to run with him, and then tell me, "We raced, and raced, and raced..."

 

Franny Girl jumps right in there with the big kids.  When she gets splashed in the face, she flaps her arms wildly.

 

Has anyone noticed how HOT it is?

I mean, seriously. This year, Oklahoma has had a year's worth of 100+ days, and it's only the beginning of July. Last year, New York had a week of temperatures in the mid-nineties, and the "heat wave" made national news. I don't want to hear it.

We've been having fun while trying to stay cool. I've been home for a week now on what may be the last "summer vacation" of my life, and it has been great fun. Tonight, Craig and I are heading to Shakespeare in the Park, something we have done every summer for the past four years at least. It doesn't start until 8pm, so hopefully we won't melt.



The Doodle lounging in his folding chair. He got a real tent from my grandparents for his birthday, and we set it up yesterday. He immediately began camping out in there with his favorite toys.



We typically go for walks in the evening after dinner, or we go to a park and let the kids play while Craig and I toss a baseball. But it has been so hot that the kids get flushed after 20 minutes at the park, so last week we stripped them down after dinner and let them splash around in the backyard instead. We have an actual kiddie pool, but this little tub is easy to fill up and let them splash around in.



A few more pictures from the Doodle's birthday. I love this picture of Atticus. He's eating the cake that Grandma made him and looking quite contemplative. Lady Frances looks all partied out, but she still has a grip on that balloon. Atticus told her to hold it "tight" and she took him at his word.



This great hand-me-down tricycle was at Nana and Papa's house, and it is almost like new. The Doodle has decided to keep it in our laundry room, otherwise known as his "garage."



And...at this very moment my most awesome husband ever is putting up a clothesline for me in the backyard. Ever since we moved, I have been missing our deck at our old house, which I adored. It was my birthday present from him the year we bought the house:



We hung a clothesline across the deck, and I loved it. I have been yearning for a clothesline at this house and have been asking for one about once a week since we moved in. It is being put up right now, so I'm off to hang some laundry...

Mud Puddle

Tonight we let the kids go splashing in the backyard.



My serious boy had fun, but he was concerned about getting mud on himself. However, Franny...let's just say that she rocked that mud puddle.



We're talking shrieking with delight, spinning and stomping, hair flying, falling on her bottom in the mud, yelling "fun! fun!" the whole time....





Time to go inside:



Atticus said, "Whoa! I need a towel!"