Babies Galore: Tadpoles and Shoots!

Today was a nice balance from that of yesterday. Much cooler at home and in the car, much more smooth-flowing, and everyone kept busy and Bobcat was less needy. Ah, sweet relief!


Today was sort of exciting because there were many little baby surprises (no, I am not pregnant). This morning, after taking a trip to the post office, we stopped at the store for spring water (yeah, I know I should have obtained it from upstream, but this was easier), and then headed to Lee's Feed for some tadpoles. We bought 6 cute little critters and brought them home. They are swimming in a large heavy-duty bin of spring water (chlorine is in tap water, which kills tadpoles). We are going to create a pond for them, soon, once we dig it out and prepare it. We will have to wait 5-7 days after filling it with hose water, so the sun can filter out the chlorine. They are so simple to care for. Simply feed them lettuce, ensure 3/4 shade, and keep the water clean. Also, they can't be too close to pines (which we have a lot of) because the pine needles are toxic. Jaguar and Bobcat are both completely intrigued by them, as am I!

Also, we went out to check Jaguar's garden that he planted on Sunday, and many-a-baby have been sprouted! We were both really happy to see such progress. He has at least 4 each of 2 types of tomato, 8 each of 2 different beets, 4 each of 2 lettuces, at least 6 onions, 1 of his 4 bean plants, tons of 2 different corns, and a bunch of his sunflowers are sprouting, as well. Very rewarding! Oh and a little broccoli is peaking through, also. After checking and watering the garden, Jaguar decided to play in the dirt with a watering can to simulate the gardening he had just done.

This morning, he was able to help Mommy clean house, do yoga for about 10 minutes, and play at the park with some other children (like I said before, he is a social little dude when he wants to be). This afternoon, we went to the store to get lettuce for the tadpoles, we read Summer by Gerda Muller, we made homemade Screamers (again, a pb/banana smoothie), we talked, Jaguar built floor puzzles, Bobcat slept a while, Jaguar explored outside... I recieved Soul Mate Dolls by Noreen-Crone Findlay in the mail, which is wonderful because we were already supposed to be working on a doll this week. I think we can fill in some time this weekend for meticulous doll-making (Handwork is important for any child).

This evening, Jaguar took a bath and played on top of his newly-built loft bed with Bobcat, while Daddy finished the bed off with lemon oil. Then Jaguar spent a solid 15 mintues on the back deck singing and playing his drum set that we found at the thrift store a while back. Then he began boasting about his rock and roll song and urging me to dance while he played it again. He went outside a few times to check on his tadpoles, and continued telling Daddy about them. We ate bow tie pasta with garlic marinara, and homemade garlic bread, with steamed asparagus on the side. It was actually a hit with Jaguar and Bobcat. Jaguar is so picky sometimes, but not usually with any kind of greens. And it is still hard feeding Bobcat our food sometimes, too. We had rocky road for dessert. Daddy gave into a movie again with Jaguar this evening. Disney's Robin Hood is on the menu for tv viewing tonight. I guess it's okay...I like the movie and the music, too. This is about it, other than working on my other blogs a bit tonight. Then I will hit the hay - Daddy's already passed out. So is the baby. I am allowing Jaguar to finish his movie - bad Momma...

Trip to the Zoo

Today was very demanding, between the heat, the needy baby, the easily-distracted wandering 4-year-old, the car running out of gas, the heavy load I toted around all day......

I was going to pack a lunch and handle a couple other things this morning before I took the kids to the Sacramento Zoo and Fairy Tale Town, but no. Bobcat was screaming crying, somehow saying, "Drop what your doing and get me, Mom!!!!" I can't handle it, so I decided to get sandwiches, apples, and baby carrots later on from Raley's instead. I got in the car, started driving, and then he was fine. I just wish I could split myself in half and have one of me holding the baby and the other one doing all the other stuff that needs to get done.

When we arrived, we started at the zoo. I am not the biggest fan of zoos...I wish we wouldn't lock up living creatures, and I also wish the effects of humans on earth and it's inhabitants wasn't so major. But, since zoos exist, I might as well take Jaguar (and Lynx when he was younger) to see these animals live and in person, so their reality becomes more concrete. He had a blast seeing all of the beautiful animals and watching their behaviors, although many of them were sleeping (it was hot out). He spent most of dinner telling Daddy all about them. Actually, the original reason we decided to go to the zoo was to support the frog aspect of our summer learning. I wanted him to see a few different species of frogs in person, though we occassionally see frogs in the wild near where we live. Tomorrow we will go to the feed store and buy some tadpoles for raising.

After the zoo, we grabbed our lunch from the car and enjoyed eating inside Fairy Tale Town. Jaguar explored and played a little and then we watched a mini-production done by children, called "The Dragon Princess." Jaguar couldn't wait to find kids to play with, like he always does at the park. It's funny, he acts so incredibly shy in most situations, but when it comes to that, he's pretty out-going and tries to be the leader. In fact, he gets carried away. He got so carried away that I lost sight of him at one point. He had shifted to another area with the little boy he was playing with. I was a little upset, but tried to make it clear that it was important to let me know what he is going to be doing. Other than that, we had a really good day (other than my own irritability with aspects in the opening paragraph).

We made it all the way up the mountain towards home, until I ran out of gas on a hill, just past a blind corner on the freeway. Luckily, the kids were both sleeping at the time. Within 5 minutes, a sheriff came over and stayed with the kids while I ran up around the hill to purchase a gas can and gas. My feet were slipping with sweat in my sandals, so I slipped them off and darted up the hill. I bought the rip-off of a can, went to the first pump, struggling to get it open, then tried pumping. Nothing. Tried again. Nothing. Went to the second pump. Same. I ran inside, payed, and came back out. This time was successful. I ran, barefoot once again, back to the car to make sure the kids weren't freaked out. They were still sleeping. I opened the door to release the gas tank cover, and the car alarm went off, waking both of the kids. Bobcat began getting upset....Long story short - I bought a 1-Gallon can to save money, and I ended up struggling back up the hill twice more on Murphy's Law mode (there were a bunch of in between events that added to the entire "theatrical"), still with no results because the car was on the hill. All the while, the baby was really upset and we were all hot, tired, and thirsty. My husband called, after having recieved my messages, to let us know he was on his way with 5 gallons. In the meantime, we sat in the front seat of the sheriff's car talking about all the different gadgets and their uses. And finally, the end of the madness came when Daddy arrived at the scene. After that, we went and filled up and bought a Screamer (smoothie with PB and banana). Ahhh.

The rest has been a normal evening, just overly-tired....and Daddy gave in to Netflix! I forgot to change the queue in out Netflix, so we got Jaguar's movie still. So, of course upon spotting it, Jaguar conned his Dad into allowing him to watch it. Oh well, we will do better in the future.

I need to hit the sack. I am whooped. Hopefully, tomorrow will be more mellow...