L's 4th Birthday

 

L turned 4 on July 7th!  She's getting so big!

I went into labor with her on my birthday on the 5th, and she was born 2 days later.  My first VBAC baby, my lover of all things creepy crawly, my quiet child.  She generous, kind, easy going, and sweet, with a love for jumping off anything high, digging in the dirt, bugs, critters, and swimming.  Happy Birthday, L!

We went camping for her birthday and the 4th of July weekend.  She got to swim in the hotsprings and the cold pool, which is quite a treat since we don't have a pool near our house.  We also hiked to a waterfall where she swam.  She's not *quite* swimming yet, but getting close to swimming under water, and she likes to jump off the side.  

Snakes and Worms and Snails- Oh My!

L with her bug catcher she got for her 4th birthday. 

L has a thing for bugs, snakes, frogs, and pretty much anything creepy, crawly and slimy.  We got her a bug catcher kit for her 4th birthday.  It has the containers with air holes and magnifying glasses to see the bugs better.  She's used it just about every day. 

A snail L caught.

Today L caught a snail and put it in her bug catcher.

L with a HUGE worm she found in the yard.

She also caught this HUGE worm.

A few weeks ago, she caught a frog. Unfortunately, it died, since she has not yet learned to be very gentle with them.  She just grabs them and holds on tight.  She frequently comes to me with a handful of bugs she wants me to hang on to for her, or spiders she's caught by the legs that she wants to keep.

I wish I had a picture of the big bull snake D caught on the day of the eclipse!  It was 4 feet long- bigger than L.  It escaped the terrarium we were keeping it in, and D was trying to catch it with a stick.  L ran up to it, grabbed it around the middle and held it up.  "Here daddy, I got it!" she said.

I love watching her love of all things crawly, but I get a little concerned.  We've showed her the difference between a bull snake and a rattle snake, and we've shown her pictures of black widows.  Still, she's so young, that I don't think she'd remember or have the impulse control to stop herself if she saw either one.  At least she's having fun though!

Caves, Caverns and Catacombs

Yesterday E told me that she wanted to live underground with the bugs! The first thing that popped in my mind was the catacombs and I told her about them. Not the violent, scary parts, but the fact that they are underground and people lived in them and there are probably lots of bugs down there. Then the conversation turned to caves. We were in the car, so I made a mental note to look them up when we got home.

Today I found this Planet Earth video all about caves and the bugs and bats that live in them. We watched about half of it so far- fascinating and beautiful!

Mermaids, forts, maps, days of the week, bugs......

On a message board I'm on there's a thread about our unschooling days and I posted this. Thought I'd copy it here too.

Today we made mermaid cookies. Dd watched Little Mermaid last week and had the idea to make these cookies, so I finally got around to it today. They were just sugar cookies that we cut into mermaid shapes, though they looked more like snakes and sea horses. We discovered that no one in the house actually like sugar cookies, so we'll use the left over dough tomorrow for playdough.

I made her a fort this morning by putting a blanket over the table. That was fun! She's been wanting me to play pretend games with her stuffed animals. I do the funny voices and she keeps the story line going.

The days of the week have been coming up more often lately. We just joined YMCA and Thursdays are going to be our swimming pool days. So when she asks when we're going to the pool, I say Thursday. Today is Monday, tomorrow is Tuesday, then Wednesday, then Thursday. Or whatever day it is. We've done this before when she wanted to know when something was happening, so now when I start naming off the days of the week, she can almost say them with me.

She was looking at her map today. It's a map of the US that I have on the dining room wall. I've told her before that she was born in Maine and now we live in Oregon. Grandma lived in California. So, today she was repeating all that back to me and asking me to name other states. Then dd2 started pointing at different states, so I was naming them for her. That was too cute!

We went outside in the rain today and they splashed in some puddles and we threw a football around. Then she went on a bug hunt and found a beetle and a worm. Usually she likes to keep them, but today she didn't want to trek back inside to get something to keep them in. She REALLY likes spiders, but for a few months now we've been talking about how there aren't many spiders around in the winter time. So, she's looking forward to summer.

hhhhhmmm what else today..... she watched Dora, we listened to a Veggie Tales cd, she played on uptoten, played with her sister a lot, we went to our church class and she went to the nursery.

Oh, she helped me clean up the house. It was so funny! She was running around saying "I'm Superman! I'll help you, what do you need help with?!" I wasn't even cleaning the house up and it was her idea. She said, "I'll rescue you! I'll put toys away!" and she did.

More Bugs!

Worms....






Wolf Spider...


Woolly Bear Caterpillar...