Although spring has arrived, its been snowy here. More snowy than before Spring sprung. We’ve enjoyed the storms, playing in the heavy, wet, slushy stuff and realizing that spring snow is not ideal for snowmen or for snowballs. But it is ideal for snow drives and appreciating its blanketing effect from the comforting warmth of the kitchen window. The most perfect thing about spring snow in Colorado is that within a few days its melted and everything greens up. So, all evidence of our three blizzards has transformed our neighborhood into emerald perfection.
Into this blaze of color, we released our ladybugs. The second batch, that is. The first batch didn’t fare too well after Tessa and Asher dropped them onto the floor. Only three larvae pupated successfully. We let those go in the front yard in between snow storms and hoped they made it to the safety of a rock’s underside before freezing or being eaten by hungry birds. Our second batch pupated almost to a bug. We released close to twenty lady bugs yesterday.
Asher kept yelling, “Oh, cute!” and then laughing and shaking as the bugs climbed up his arm. Tessa, who has a bit of a heavy hand, squished a few while enjoying their release. She justified the accidents saying, “That’s okay. There are more.” We spoke of recognizing the need to be gentle and respecting life. She apologized to the dead and moved on. Riley and Emmett quietly enjoyed the release, letting the bugs crawl over them before placing them on the balcony’s edge, aiding their bids for freedom. Be well, little bugs.
We look forward to even warmer weather and more outside fun. We displayed our hard earned swim skills at the Rec Center last weekend with Daddy and everyone was well pleased. The big kids slid down the water side and splashed in the deep end, while Daddy swam with Little Pig. He loved splashing in the pool’s in-water playground, sliding down the little slide into the water and climbing up to shoot a water cannon. Cute!
Riley and Emmett passed a swim test allowing them to dive into the deep water next to the swim climbing wall, and Tessa professed to being “Okay” with not passing because she’s quite a bit younger than the big boys. She’ll work on swimming one length of the pool in a crawl stroke without stopping (which is what the boys did to pass). She’s almost there, though. Keep up the good work, Tessa! And well done boys!
We are slogging through story problems in math, which we all (all!) dislike immensely. We are getting to start reading chapter books and having been diligently working at our writing, both in emails and on paper. Our science understanding has been markedly improved by watching Go, Jet, Go on PBS and Miles from Tomorrowland and almost everyone understands how to apply what we learn to our real-world experiences. We talk about planets being in the Goldilocks Zone, what it means for a planet to have gravity, and finding life on other planets (and how we haven’t yet). We are budding astronomers and enjoying it.
Asher’s talking quite a bit more these days. His favorite thing to say is, “I got this.” Though, he’s also been known to walk down the stairs and call to the room in general, “Mama, where you at?” He’s learning more to share, not to scream when he doesn’t get his way, and to ask for help. Its a process, and we are all working as Team Pig to support him. He’s amazing, as are the rest of us, and we love him.
Be well,
The Larson Pigs
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