It starts...

Last night, when I heard a car pull up, I went to the front door to welcome Nathan back from scouts. I stood looking out through the storm door while he gathered his things and thanked his ride. He turned and smiled at me, but as he approached, his smile quickly faded and he started yelling to me, "Mom! Get down! Get down!"

I thought, "What does he think is going to happen? Are we going to be shot at? Is there someone lurking in the bushes?"

But then he said, "Why are you in your pajamas? That's so embarrassing! Get down! Don't let them see you! Oh my gosh!"

I, of course, started laughing and assured him that everyone has pajamas and these people had certainly seen them before. But he continued to shout commands at me and act as though I had a negligee on rather than just ordinary pajamas. I kept laughing, but I also started thinking back to those good times from my youth when my parents found new and creative ways to embarrass ME. You know, things like--making conversation with my friends, or wearing pants with an elastic waistband, or those funky glasses that change from regular to sunglasses as you go from inside to outside (now I think those are awesome). Nathan also recently informed me that my new pair of white Keds (that I LOVE) look like "old person shoes".

I'm reminded of a great Cosby routine where he talks about this very phenomenon with his own kids and says he had to drop his kids off at the corner because they "wouldn't want anyone to know they had parents!"

Nathan turns 12 next month. So I guess...it starts.

In Memoriam

Few things say, "It's going to be a great day!" like 12 dead tadpoles. Yes, that's right, we are officially down to 45 amphibians to raise. The price for all this glee is a few sad children. But I can live with that. I've tried to reassure them that it's not their fault and that tadpoles often don't live to adult froghood, while inwardly I'm celebrating and hoping soon to reclaim my tadpole-free life. I've grown weary of having containers of pond water on my kitchen island.

Our owl pellet lab went well. Once they got over the smell, the kids loved discovering all the tiny bones hidden in their pellets and then trying to identify the skulls. We were also able to clear up a few misunderstandings about owls. Some of the kids figured that since owls regurgitate these pellets, they must not have a "back door" for other waste products. Not so. They have a dual exhaust system.

Next Tuesday we will be dissecting earthworms. I wonder what extra rules I will have to create while we are using scalpels...

So this post is dedicated in loving memory to the creatures who, by being dead, allow us to have interesting science labs.

Last note. While writing this, I have been informed that we are now down to 44 tadpoles. So sad.