Oh, For the Love of Mud

Boys are dirt magnets. It is a law of physics: the universe is subject to entropy, and boys are subject to getting dirty. A crystal clear spring day dawns, and my boys will find the only mud puddle within a 2 mile radius. They'll jump into it with their only pair of tennis shoes, before I can find the rain boots. They'll splash each other until their faces are covered in wet clay. They'll get so sopping wet that they squelch when they walk.

They'll also have a moment of absolute joy.

My washing machine may go on strike today, and I can't say I blame it!

Mud shower!

You missed a spot.

Checking the water level.

Jumping for joy.

Emptying out the excess mud.

The Cat

The cat showed up with a wound in his side. A rather nasty one, which had the diameter of a dime and was down to the muscle. We have two cats, but only Teddy shows up with strange wounds or disgusting illnesses. He is the cat which requires more grooming, and bathing him is definitely an ordeal.

Of course, the cat would show up with a nasty wound on Saturday evening. I called the vet's emergency line, and repeatedly got a busy signal. We live in a rural area, so there are not many emergency veterinarian services in the local area. Since Teddy didn't seem ill, I decided to wait until Monday for his vet appointment.


I got him crated up (which sounds so much simpler than the actual act of shoving a cat into a carrier) and we headed to the vet. One harried mother, a four year old running amok and "zapping" everyone with his imaginary laser gun, and a two year old hanging from the exam table. Not to mention the wounded cat, who was less than pleasant. I'm pretty sure they now have a warning note next to our file: "Tell family we have no available appointments."

While the wound in Teddy's side looked impressive, the vet looked at it and told us that it was fine- we should just smear some antibiotic cream onto it for the next few days. He thew in some oral antibiotics for good measure. Because if there's anything a cat loves more than cream smearing, it's swallowing a pill. If you don't hear from us by the weekend, we've all been horribly clawed to death.

Then the vet mentioned they could do a "shave down," to rid us of Teddy's terrible mats. I agreed, even before they tried to convince me that the Lion Cut was the newest rage among cats. They could have told me that Teddy was getting the Rat Cut, and I would have said, "Go right ahead!"


I retrieved him today. He promptly thanked me for his excellent medical care by peeing all over the dining room carpet. Cats like to share the love.

Pete, in the meantime, looks suspicious. He should- his appointment is on Friday.

I'm off to buy band-aids, leather gloves, and gauze. Fourteen days of oral antibiotics for a cat that is holding a grudge... this ought to be fun.

Twenty Questions

In the middle of a busy doctor's waiting room, Matt decided that "I Spy" had become passe. I had to find a new game, so I thought I'd try "Twenty Questions." After a few rounds of the game, Matt had the general idea. He decided it was his turn, so I started asking him questions:

"Is it alive?"

"Yes."

"Does it have feathers?"

"No."

"Does it move with legs?"

"No. It has wheels."

At this point, I thought his concept of "alive" was questionable.

"Is it a truck?"

"NO! Mom, it has fur."

By this point, I was thoroughly confused. An animal, with fur and wheels? I figured that his ability to understand this game was minimal, so I gave up and told him to tell me what the answer was. I figured he would say "train" or "elephant," and we could move on to another game.

No, he wanted me to guess. And after a long, long time of fruitless questioning, I finally begged him to tell me the answer. It turns out he was right- it was an animal, with fur. And it had four wheels. Care to guess what the item in question was?

A goat on a skateboard.

Well, why didn't I think of that in the first place?

The Terrifying Slide

When Matt got out of preschool today, I took the kids over to the church playground to burn off some energy. This playground has a rather clever design, and both boys loved playing on the equipment. Nolan, however, met his nemesis in the slide.


Oh, the terrifying, terrifying slide.


In what amounts to a great feat of courage for a two year old, he finally let go and enjoyed the ride. And then he showed his big brother how to conquer this foe!


Slides everywhere, be warned: Nolan is coming for you, and he is NOT afraid!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Brothers, At 33 Months

Matthew, August 2008

Nolan, March 2010

Dandelion Joy

I know that dandelions are weeds, but if I have a favorite weed, dandelions are the top pick. The kids have endless fun with them, if only because they are allowed to pick as many flowers as they want. Matthew brings me endless little-boy bouquets of dandelion flowers, which dot the house in short glasses filled with water.

A dozen roses has nothing on a handful of crumpled dandelions brought in by a four year old with tousled hair.


Dandelions are also the preferred flowers of fairies, so they must decorate our fairy houses. Fairy house building is a very serious business, which requires a solid afternoon of finding the right sticks, acorn caps, dandelions, and wood violets. Nolan prefers the log cabin style fairy house, because he can stick more flowers in the spaces. Matt prefers to build a tepee, "because they need a roof in case it rains."

It won't be long before the dandelions have all gone to seed and disappeared from the lawn for another year. In the meantime, we have some more fairy houses to build!

Deconstructive

The boys were running around like little crazy people, so I did what any sane mother would do and kicked them outside. I told them to find something constructive to do.

When I looked outside, I realized they had taken apart a few toys in the backyard. Upon further questioning, I found out that they were "constructing." Next time, I'll choose different words when I send them outside!

Peek-a-boo.

Saying hi to Mom.

Uh-oh. We got caught.

Are we in trouble?

They were worried they'd get in trouble, but I wasn't upset. These toys snap apart and are easy to put back together, so it isn't a problem to fix their "construction" work. I do have a feeling that they are outgrowing the toddler level toys, however!