i quit

We took our little wagon ride yesterday as usual. It’s not a major source of exercise; if we walk even a couple of miles I’d be surprised. All was going fine until we were a block from home when the 4th grader decided she had walked far enough.

Just stopped. Parked herself on the curb. Otherwise known as right in front of someone else’s home!

I had to explain to her that one way or the other, those legs of hers were getting her back to the house because there was only room for one of ‘em in that wagon.

They spent part of the day putting a puzzle together today. A flat tray helped out a lot.

Tornadoes are swirling around my sister’s house. Bad news for her, given that 2008 has been the Year of Weather for them so far. But at least it gave me a chance to call Mom and tell her to keep an eye on the weather at her house since what starts west must move east at some point.

I was so embarrassed this afternoon. That same aforementioned 4th grader was reading a book before it was time to take her to karate practice. I didn’t recognize the book so I asked her if it was a library book. She said no, it was a book Mrs. Thompson gave to her when I was in Indiana earlier this year.

News to me; I knew of no books handed over when I was out of town. The daughter assured me that one afternoon when she, her dad, and her brother got home one afternoon that was while I was in Indiana, my friend had left a big box of books for both her and her brother.

That was probably 2 months ago and I just found out about it. I’ll bet my friend was wondering why she never heard so much as a simple “thanks” from me. Needless to say, I called her as soon as I found out this afternoon!

Lincoln

I was on a quest for Lincoln logs last week; I never found them. My problem was I had snuck out of the house for some “me” time, which meant the 10 year old didn’t go with me. Well any sane person knows, if you want to find a specific toy at a specific store, take a kid with you. Duh.

She found the Lincoln logs. And the oversized Legos that I wanted also last night. My challenge in the past 5 weeks has been to find toys that are age appropriate, that keep his interest for more than 5 minutes, but that he can also play with on the floor with limited movement.

Train tracks were out; we tried and our family likes the big tracks that cover an entire room. Oh, we still have that set up, but it’s too much for him right now. Some things, like the smaller Legos are too tiny and they get lost in his cast.

And Jennifer knows I just love her to pieces, but if there’s one thing you do not give a child who has a cast on, it’s Floam! We found that out the hard way. Oh boy did we ever.

But they did have fun with the Lincoln logs. I was on the ball and bought 2 sets with the idea that he could build bigger and better cabins!

After lunch, they set out on the Easter egg decorating project. Being the wise one, I of course moved that outside. I wasn’t sure how well that would work for him, but having that creeper paid off in spades today because it was the perfect solution. He was able to scoot around to the different bowls as well as transfer them to the dry tray.

And he only busted one! Well under the expected quota. Sidewalk chalk followed that. It didn’t take long for his sister to figure out that the day was better suited to shorts and a t-shirt; she changed clothes shortly after I took this picture.