By Atticus, who came to help me get ready for my sub yesterday morning. 🙂
One thing about being a teacher is that a day off is almost never a day completely off. Plans and copies must be made; classroom desks must be organized; agendas on the board must be written.
So while I took care of all that I need to, Attie amused himself with the markers and board. Love it!
photo credit: rolandojones
This morning, we were sitting in the van at the bus stop, right on the side of Highway 29.
It was about 7:15, and since we had a little time before the big yellow bus would be stopping to pick up Lucas on its way to school, we were checking out the little black birds and robins hopping around in the grass.
And then we spotted a little rabbit, in between two telephone poles, and way too close to the road for comfort.
“Don’t go to the road, little rabbit!” we all said aloud, though the rabbit was far away and oblivious to his audience.
But with each little meandering hop, the little bunny got closer and closer to the cars, trucks, buses, vans whizzing by … sure destruction!
I could see the splat in my mind. I certainly didn’t want to witness it with my boys!
Lucas decided we should all pray.
“In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.” Lucas, Atticus, and I — good Catholics — made the sign of the cross on our chests: “Amen.”
As I thought to begin a prayer for our new hopping friend, Lucas started one of his own:
“Dear God, please protect the little bunny rabbit and don’t let him get hurt on the road. Amen.”
So precious! My heart is full of joy, peace, and love just writing it. (And missing, as well, since today is the day we have to let him go for a week…)
And such that I am, I couldn’t let the life-lesson opportunity pass.
“Sometimes, you guys are like that little rabbit,” I began (probably with my teacherly tone, though I’m not sure I would recognize it myself), “on the edge of getting hurt or getting in trouble. And we try to do everything we can to keep you away from it.
“Sometimes, we have to go right up to you and pull you away, especially if it’s really dangerous, like walking in a parking lot or not getting lost in a store.
“And other times, if it’s not life-or-death, we stay back a little — praying, hoping, loving — to let you learn how to stay out of trouble on your own. Because eventually, there will be times when we just can’t get that close, like when you’re in school, Lucas. Or when you’re at Susie’s, Attie.
“We can’t be right there beside you guys all the time, and you need to be able to figure out where the road is for yourself.”
By the time my little lecture was over, the bunny had hopped into the taller grasses at the far end of the yard, out of danger for the time-being, at least.
We cheered.
Then, the bus came and went, my little one inside, going down that big highway, and Attie and I drove on into our day, me praying, hoping, and loving.
Even after four shots and a finger prick-and-squeeze, Atticus still had it in him to hug Mrs. Charlotte. Then, at least. Later this evening, when I mentioned that he really liked her, he said, “Yeah, but I don’t like her shots!”
Today was the day for his school physical because he’s eligible for kindergarten this fall.
I still can hardly believe my “baby” is heading to school soon. It seems like just yesterday that we were cradling him, changing him, and feeding him bottles. The older you get, the faster time seems to fly.
By the way, Charlotte Williams is pediatric nurse practitioner at Piedmont Primecare next to the mall in Danville, and she is AWESOME!
She spent so much time with Attie! She listened to him sing two songs (the “Our Father” and the Latin “Ave Maria”) and was so impressed that she wanted him to sing for the other doctors and nurses afterward. She was so sweet and kind and really made our whole visit much less painful — as always. She is highly recommended!
The dyeing step of the Easter egg process is much more fun for everyone (but more so especially those of us who don’t have to clean up afterward).
We used a water, vinegar, and food dye mixture. It didn’t make for as vivid eggs as we’re used to, maybe, and they’re a bit splotchy, but it was more like “cooking.”
The kids loved stirring up the dye liquid and pouring it over the eggs. They liked mixing up the colors a little, too.
Thank goodness I put down the old cloth. We survived with relatively few dyed areas, furniture, skin, or otherwise. 😛
I don’t know why, but this kid loves to draw some kids.
All kinds of colors and look at that hair!
Today’s captions brought to you by the letters K-E-V-I-N. 🙂
#1: His get-up-and-go done got up and went.
#2: What IS that behind my eyelids?
#3: Aha! You can’t see me!
#4: I’m not tired.
And one from Mr. Atticus himself:
#5: I see Puppy’s head.
Way to go, Attie! He made what he could and then made do with the rest. Ha! A couple more sets of these magnets, and we’ll be in vocabusiness. 😉
Notice the first two words: UP and DOWN.
Atticus spelled them after I recorded him (at his request) singing an old Jimmy Reed song called, “Baby, What Do You Want Me to Do” in front of the fridge. (You can hear Kevin’s version — better than the original, IMO — at number 11 on the 2/5/2010 Kitchen Concert.)
Here’s the video of Attie:
First thing this morning, Lucas had a comic to share with me.
“Look, Mommy, I drew you when I was in your belly. You were thinking about if I would have a square head or a round head.”
Very interesting! And perplexing!
You know this doesn’t really happen this way, right? Yeah, he knows.
Attie wanted to know why the guy has arms where his ears should be. Those are thought bubbles, Lucas said, not arms.
The picture didn’t make it long before Atticus had stripped it clean. This is actually the second version of it, since the first was gone before I’d taken a picture.
Later, we told Kevin about it. “I see she picked square,” he quipped.
And then ensued a lengthy discussion on whether or not Lucas favors the dentist from “Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer,” Shermy, complete with Google search. (A little bit, though not in head shape. :P)
I <3 my boys!