A Considerate Boy

This afternoon I had a bit of a headache, and since Boylee is bigger and can amuse himself (at times) I grabbed a few minutes to lie down with a heating pad on my head. Boylee took one look at me, walked out of the room, then came back, saying, "If I'm right, this is exactly what you need." And then he handed me a glass of water. He was right, that's exactly what I needed!

Yay, Burbank!

The fabulous older kids from the gymnastics school did cartwheels down the street, preceded by the instructors who did amazing flips...but I didn't get a pic.

That's Boylee and Daddy at the back of the truck. (You can click on it for a closer look.)


This is the airport's fire truck, and every few hundred feet it would stop and blast this massive shower of water. Kids would run into the street to get soaked, then the parade would proceed.

I'm sure this would have been Aunt Laura's favorite part.

Sadly, because Boylee was actually riding in the parade, not standing alongside watching, he didn't get to see this highlight.

Weekend Highlights

Saturday: Boylee will participate in the Burbank city parade with his gymnastics school. Bigger kids will walk along the route and do cartwheels. Littler kids will ride in strollers. Kids around Boylee's age will ride in the back of a truck with one parent. (Daddy was selected.)

Sunday: Taco Night at home with Nana, 2 aunts, 2 uncles and 4 cousins, for a belated (and final) 6th birthday celebration.

Tale of the Tape

Boylee had his 6-year-old checkup today. He is 46 1/4 inches tall, and he weighs 47 1/2 pounds.

More Party Fun

The Party!

Getting Ready for the Big Day

Boylee and I launched a baking project today!

Uncle Kevin Was Right!

It was sauerkraut -- and according to Mrs. Richards, Boylee was one of the few to love it. Doesn't surprise me one bit. Sauerkraut, pickles and the like are always a big hit around here.

Back to School

Mrs. Richards was on her belated honeymoon the week before spring break, so when the kids came back to school on Monday it had been TWO WHOLE WEEKS since they had seen her. And boy, were they happy to see her! They really, really adore her.

She made them even happier by announcing that all this week she'd be serving them treats from the countries she visited on her trip. On Monday they had croissants from France. On Tuesday, gelato from Italy. Today's treat was going to be from Germany. I will find out what it was when I pick up Boylee! Hmmm....pretzels?

She Came!

Easter: How We Do It

I have always remembered celebrating Easter, despite the fact that I'm Jewish. And for several years I was pretty famous amongst my friends for my adults only, alcohol-fueled easter egg dying parties. But then when Boylee was born in April, I got a little overwhelmed having his birthday, Easter and Passover always falling within a few days or weeks of each other.

A few years ago, I decided to get serious about Easter again, so off the top of my head I decided on a new Easter mythology to share with Boylee. Here it is: First of all, the Easter bunny is a she. And her entire purpose is to bring Spring to gardens worldwide. But she won't do it unless you tempt her properly.

So the first thing we have to do is dye a bunch of eggs. Then, a day or two before Easter, we have to hide or otherwise distribute the eggs throughout our garden. This will tempt the Easter bunny to visit us. And if she likes our eggs, she will bring us spring, and also bring us little presents of various kinds. She may also take the eggs we have given her...but usually she doesn't take them all. (That's because I'm usually distributing the Easter treats in the dark after Boylee has gone to bed, and I can't find them all. Oh well.)

So first we dyed a lot of eggs. We started with two dozen and considered ourselves done, but then Nana gave us another package of dyes, so that required another two dozen eggs.



Then we decided which eggs would be placed in the garden. We save a bunch for ourselves, but that's okay -- with four dozen to choose from the Easter bunny will be satisfied with her share. Here are the ones we are giving her this year:



Then Boylee places the eggs throughout the garden.



And now we just have to wait to see if she falls for our bait!



And just in case you are in a cold part of the country, please reflect on how fabulous springtime is in L.A. We already have our first strawberry!



Stay tuned for our updates on how Easter goes!

What Happened Was

We were behind the scenes in the giraffe area, and we had the opportunity to feed them a delightful treat -- something called "leaf eaters crackers" (or something like that). The giraffes LOVED them, and actually we got to try the crackers, too. They were actually quite tasty -- just a hard, dry cracker that tasted vaguely of rye. Anyway, it wasn't till the very end that we noticed that one of the female giraffes had a bloody nose. And it wasn't until we had actually left the area that I noticed that some of that bloody nose residue had gotten on my shirt.

Well, turns out that the folks at the Santa Barbara Zoo do not mess around in a moment like this. Keepers had to be notified, very important personnel were called, my shirt was scrubbed clean (in the elephant area!) by a plastic-gloved guy, and then the offending shirt was placed in a biohazard bag. It was all quite dramatic, and very fun. It was just part of the adventure, and I actually didn't care that much about the shirt. (And yes, let me just say that I was wearing two shirts at the time so when the top one came off I was still clothed.)

We also got to pet a Humboldt penguin! And we visited with the Asian elephants' keepers, who taught us quite a bit -- like the difference between Asian and African elephants, the fact that elephants have a set of 4 teeth, and that they lose their teeth 5 times. We didn't get to pet the elephants, I'm afraid, but we did hear about their painting techniques, and touched the rubberized flooring in their barn. We tried to taste their pellet-type food, but it was un-crunchable with our pathetically small teeth.

We also went behind the scenes into the zoo's "Ew" area, where we met several snakes, a gigantic skink, a tree frog and other lizard-type creatures.



As for my shirt, the stain did come out, but I'm a little sad about it.

Last Clue, Then I'll Tell

A Clue

A Little Drama

We had an ultra-cool, very VIP behind-the-scenes tour of the Santa Barbara Zoo yesterday. It was amazing, and wonderful and thrilling.

And this was one of the highlights:

Pride Inside

Boylee felt quite proud of his report card. I went over it with him and discussed each part. I showed him how he got mostly threes, a couple of fours and a couple of twos for the first marking period, and contrasted that with the current marking period, where he got all threes and fours. (Actually, more fours than threes, but who's counting?)

His favorite part of the whole thing was when Mrs. Richards wrote that he is "a pleasure to have in class."

Report Card Time!

Excerpts:

-- Great progress in reading. I tested him and he knew all of the 63 sight words I have taught him so far! He is trying to sound out words and loves to participate in reading activities in class.

-- He has maintained great writing skills, even with a harder grading scale. I am asking the children to tell me more when they write and sound out words.

-- He has a positive attitude about school, coloring and learning!

-- He gets along with his peers and is always respectful, responsible and helpful.

Yay, Boylee!

Quote of the Day

(this happened at about 6:45 this morning)

Boylee: Mama, your hair is a little messy.

Mama: Yes, I know. It's because I just woke up.

Boylee: April Fools!

Another Random