Making the Grade?

For whatever reason, the boys and I were largely on our own during the daytime hours this week. Sometimes we have weeks like that, when we don't see much of our friends and it's up to us to entertain ourselves as best we can. The pressure's really on me to come up with fun ways to amuse the boys when we're on our own like this, and I give myself a solid B- for my efforts this week (that may be overly generous, though). Monday we were supposed to have lunch with friends, but the morning was very stormy (Henry has already learned to fear tornadoes, and I hope he won't be plagued by the lifelong tornado nightmares with which my sisters and I are afflicted) and our plans were thwarted. Once the really severe storms had passed, we ventured out in the rain to Target. (D+).

Tuesday, I was determined to make up for Monday's lack of creativity, and I decided to take the boys to the airport in Nashville to see planes take off and land (A+!). We called the airport first to make sure that non-ticket-holders could actually pass through security and out to the terminals to see the planes, and it was a good thing we called, because as it turns out, they cannot. It was a gorgeous day, though, and I quickly came up with the somewhat less original idea of taking the boys to the Nashville Zoo (B). Once we had wakened Charlie from his morning nap, packed lunches, and driven into Nashville, we only had about an hour and a half to spend at the zoo, so we had to enter the zoo with a definite plan for what we wanted to see, and what we would have to put off seeing until a later trip. Henry really wanted to focus on monkeys, because we've been reading a book called Little Monkey Lost, which contains a variety of monkey species. Specifically, he wanted to find the uacaris, a species he favors for its angry crimson face. Now, the Nashville Zoo doesn't have uacaris, but we didn't know this for sure when we entered the zoo (I suspected as much, but I didn't want to burst his bubble unnecessarily). After passing the howling black gibbons just inside the zoo entrance, we set out on a loop the zoo map promised would have lemurs (which are monkeylike, at least) and guenons (which are definitely apes). Henry found these to be acceptable substitutes for the absent uacaris. Along the way we also saw meerkats, alligators, cassowaries, red pandas, a cougar, a clouded leopard, and a flock of astonishingly pink flamingos. We ended up at "Critter Encounters," a fenced barnyard where kids can touch, or at least come in very close proximity to, various beasts of burden, including goats (OK, I don't know if technically a goat is a beast of burden), donkeys, and camels. The lady zookeeper charged with caring for the goats was particularly (1) close with the goats - she knew each one's name - and (2) helpful in pointing out which goats were most amenable to brushing. (Apparently goats require brushing.) She provided Henry with a special goat brush, which he used shyly after a brief period of hesitation. After Critter Encounters, we shared a quick lunch of hummus and crackers, turkey and swiss sandwich, carrots, and baby food. Just before we finished eating, a low jet flew overhead, so we got to see our airplane that day after all (B+).

On Wednesday we went to a park in Gallatin with a group of mamas we don't get to hang out with too often, which is always nice (but C+). Charlie crawled in the grass and tried to eat pebbles while I alternately did finger sweeps of his mouth and pushed Henry in the swing. Henry was acting a little puny, and sure enough, Wednesday night, he came down with a fever of 103.5. He does this about twice a year: gets a really high fever for about twenty-four hours, with no other symptoms, then he's back to normal the next day. I think he has a super strong immune system, like his mom, and just burns to smithereens any invading bug he might encounter before it can make him really sick. So anyway, this ensured that we would be homebound on Thursday. No pressure that day to get us out and having meaningful life experiences, but no meaningful life experiences, either (D).

On Friday, Henry was back to himself and, perhaps inspired by Tuesday's trip to the zoo, we decided to go to the local pet store to look around (B-). We started as usual with the cats ("I want a cat like that, Mommy." "We already have a cat." "I want another cat." "No way.") then moved on to the birds, stopping briefly at the doggie treat bar, which Henry likes to dig around in with the scoopers. Then we checked out the rodents, where we briefly considered getting a dwarf hamster, which despite its being a rodent is unbelievably adorable. However, when I checked the bags of hamster litter to see how often the cage should be cleaned, I read that the hamster owner is advised to check the cage daily for signs of urine or fecal matter and change the litter weekly, or more often, I quickly employed my standard "We'll have to ask Daddy first" stalling tactic, and we moved on to the fish and reptiles. We almost escaped without buying anything, but then Henry noticed a shelf of little succulent plants, and we bought one of those to take home and repot, singing Sesame Street's "A plant needs water and sun and LOVE," as we left the store. The three of us ate lunch at Cafe Rakka afterward (hummus and pita, that's always a safe bet for everyone, I thought), but only one of us enjoyed the lunch (me). Charlie refused it outright, while Henry picked at it for a while and started wondering aloud about dessert.

OK, briefly, here's what the boys are up to this week:

Charlie: He's definitely waving hello now, and if he's holding something he's particularly enthused about, he'll hold it up and wave it at you. "Look at THIS!" He seems to have grasped the concept of willfully pestering Henry while Henry tries to play, and I'm pretty sure he'll be using this trick for the rest of his life. In the past day or so, he has begun insisting on holding his own bottle of milk, which he holds casually in one hand, sips from, lowers, then sips from again.

Henry: We've implemented a new "Gum for Kindness" plan, whereby if Henry is nice to Charlie all day (i.e., doesn't harm him physically all day), he receives a piece of gum to chew when Daddy comes home at the end of the day. Bribery is working out very nicely for us, better than anything else we've tried - time out, positive reinforcement, taking away toys - though for some reason it's not mentioned in the parenting books. Henry is also working on learning how to snap his own pants, and he's almost got it. An important life skill!