Friday, October 16, 2009

Halloween Fun

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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Taking a break...

We take a break from our regularly scheduled "catch-up post" to share some breaking news. Okay, okay, so we were ALREADY taking a break because I am VERY far behind on catching up. I am now to the point where I have to do catch ups on my catch ups. Before I get to any of that, I want to share a few conversations I have either participated in or overheard in the last few days.

Monday, Oct. 12:
-I see Spencer pick up an antenna and a broken remote control car.-
Me: That's broken, we're going to throw it away. You can play with something else.
S: No. I know it's broken, that's why I need it. With this antenna, I am going to make it connect to the satellites.
-Goes outside, comes back a few minutes later.-
S: I need tape. (he starts digging around in the cupboard so I ask him to stop and offer to help)
Me: Tell me what you need it for so I know what kind of tape to get you.
S: I need to connect 3 wires together.
Me: Oh, I see. (Of course. Normally, we would use electrical tape, but I couldn't find any so brown packing tape it was)
S: (after I handed him 1 piece) Mom... I think I will need more than that. I have to connect 3 wires and fix some broken parts AND connect the antenna.
Me: Okay. (3 more pieces of tape) Start with those and come back for more later.
-he went outside for about 5 minutes, normally he would have run off, losing interest in that long of time, but he came back in asking for more tape.-
Me, as I was cutting off the tape: What's this piece for?
S: I need to put the tiny battery back on, so make it a very small piece of tape.
-The tape I gave him was apparently really big, he ran out to get the battery, it WAS very tiny. He needed one more piece of tape to attach the spring to the end of the antenna.-

My sweet boy spent a good 20 minutes on this project, much longer than he normally devotes to a project. It was fun to watch him experiment. I am sure that if he had ANY knowledge of electronics that he could probably have made it work.

The next conversation happened on the same day, same child.
Me: When are you going to give me my birthday present? (I was teasing him because he had already told me he really wanted to buy me a diamond ring for birthday)
S: I don't have any money so I can't give you a present.
Me: You don't have to buy anything to give a gift. I would really like to have someone pick up the toys in the family room, and (muttering under my breath) I would really like it if I didn't have to make dinner.
S: I could make dinner! You will have to teach me to use the oven... hmmm... do you have to know how to read to use the oven?

I explained that I would help with the oven parts and we decided on something that he could make for dinner, he then went out to play. Later, in the evening, he did make dinner, cresent dogs, accompanied by potato & ham soup provided by Denise. It was a great birthday dinner. The boys also worked together to clean up the family room and then they let Miana vacuum when they were done! It was fantastic!!