February 11, 2007

Yesterday I was listening in on the boys' playing in the kitchen and I really got a kick out of it. They were doing "experiments," one of their favorite activities, which usually involves mixing lots of different things in cups or other containers which then usually get accidentally spilled on the floor... I have banished most "experiments" to the outside, but I was having so much fun listening to them that I let them continue. So they were discussing what to mix in next-- they had water, some torn of pieces of paper, some orange pop, some oatmeal, and various other substances. And then Joseph says, "But wait-- first we need to have a hypothesis!" Brigham says, "What's a hypothesis?" Joseph says, "It's a question. Before you do an experiment you have to have a hypothesis." I gtuess they must be discussing the scientific method at school. Who knew they got into such sophisticated stuff in kindergarten?! I don't think Joseph and Brigham actually ended up with any kind of coherent hypothesis, but they did have fun doing "experiments" all morning, and only one got spilled.
I also wanted to tell another story that happened on Thursday. On Wednesday we drove back up to the Inner Space Cave so that Brigham could use his chore money to buy a Shark tooth (genuine shark tooth only $1.25!). Of course on Thursday he had to bring it to school for show and tell. He's only supposed to bring one show- and-tell item per day, and you can only bring that one item in once. He had previously brought in this pirate medallion he got at Claire's the week before. But he loves that medallion, so before walking into the school he put it in the side pocket of his cargo pants and closed the velcro. I told him he better leave it in his pocket or it would get lost at school. So when I went to pick them up that afternoon, Joseph runs up to me and tells me that a girl in Brigham's class buried his his medallion in the sand at the playground. Both boys apparently searched for it all during recess with no luck-- the girl told them about where it was buried but didn't know exactly where it was. So we walked back to the playground and I was feeling pretty sick about it. It is quite a large playground and the whole thing is sand. And there are several different recesses throughout the day for the various grades, so what were the chances that it wouldn't have been taken by another student, and/or that we could actually find it buried in some unknown part of the playground. As we walked, Joseph told me, "I said a prayer that we would find Brigham's medallion, so I know that we'll find it." So at that moment, I said my own private prayer that we would find it so that my little boy's faith would not be eroded. We looked for a while, both boys digging around in the area where they said the girl said she buried it. I was not feeling too optimistic when I turned around, and somehow managed to catch sight of the chain of his medallion in the sand about 6 feet away! We were all very glad, and I had the boys kneel right there in the playground and say a prayer of thanks for helping them find the medallion. Good lesson on faith for my boys AND for me. Later in the day, Brigham dropped his shark tooth in the gravel at another park. Luckily he found it, but then as we were walking back to the van sometime later, he realized he again didn't have it in his hand. Aaarrgghh!! I went back and looked futilely in the gravel for the while, and was about to give up when somehow, miraculously, I caught sight of the elusive shark tooth in the gravel under the tire swing. I HOPE Brigham learned a lesson about keeping track of his treasures and maybe not taking them out to the playground (after he lost the tooth the first time I told him to give it to me to hold, but he promised he would keep track of it...). I have a feeling there will be at least a couple of lost treasures before he really learns that lesson. But Heavenly Father is at least giving him a couple of chances!

It turned cold again after our beautiful 75 degree Wednesday last week, but Ben has been practicing the "as-if" theory in our backyard. If he acts "as-if" it is spring, working on fixing the water fountain on the patio, cleaning the grill for a barbecue, and planting some flowers, then it really *will* be spring, right?? It's not working so far, but at least the boys had fun playing in the backyard and getting soaking wet in the 45 degree weather... :-)
All right, I can't think of any more interesting stories so I will close now. Hope you all are having a fabulous February!