We went to the Zoo today. It was gorgeous – a perfect day. The first thing the kids wanted to see were the giraffes so we made our way up there. I love the giraffe pen at the zoo because you can stand right in front of those beautiful creatures and just drink in God’s creativity and handiwork. Today, the largest and oldest giraffe was standing directly in front of us. I didn’t know at that very moment that the darker the spots are on a giraffe, the older it is. When Sloan asked me why that particular giraffe was so dark, I said that maybe it was because it’s a boy. Sloan’s response?
“No, mom. It’s a boy because it has a big penis see? That’s what makes it a boy.”
Of course everyone else in St. Louis was at the zoo today and 90% of them were at the giraffe pen to hear Sloan’s anatomy lesson. Laughter erupted all around. Do you know what laughter does to a precocious 5-year-old? Encourages him to say that which incited the laughter in the first place – over and over again. We finally had to leave because I feared my ever reddening face would spontaneously combust and kill the poor creature.
Saturday morning was phenomenal, so we packed up the kids and the dog and headed to Castlewood Park, one of my favorite in St. Louis where we ran, played and hiked up to the overlook. It was so fun to be out in nature. Lee, Sloan and I had a blast. Tia whined most of the time and Landon seemed a little perturbed that we were once again denying him of his coveted morning nap. But it was still a good time.
I looked just long enough to snap these pictures, but watching my husband and my babies on this rock, hanging perilously over a large and deadly drop-off pretty much terrifies me. I think I lost a couple of years waiting on them to return.
Tossing rocks over the edge.
Landon got his first shoulder ride.
Later we went to Sloan’s soccer game and had a good laugh at his complete lack of motivation in sports. He’s a great little athlete but is not even remotely competitive so he just runs around and grins and waves. But he has a blast so that’s all that matters.
Bradburns is a fun place. It makes me wish I were homeschooling so I could get all the fun little gadgets and gizmos for learning. Then I hear Tia start screaming and Sloan smack her for doing God-knows-what that made him and angry and I thank the good Lord above we live in a good school district! I did buy a couple of books to help him work on reading though. While I am thrilled, nay ecstatic, that he can read in russian, I’m a little concerned that he doesn’t know English phonics – like, at all. So, we will begin working on that. I really want him to have basic reading skills by the time he goes to kindegarten. He knows all his letters and can write most of them, but he doesn’t really know how they sound. And guess what? Russian is a lot easier than English when it comes to phonics because, in general, every letter has only one sound. Geesh. I think I’m going to let daddy teach him to read in English! For those of you with kids already in kindegarten, or higher grades, what do kids need to know when they enter school? What is expected of them and what will give them a leg up? Sloan is a smart kid and I want him to be challenged, but I don’t want to have too high of expectations. I’m not expecting him to be reading Dostoevsky by the end of this year, maybe just a little Pushkin. No, seriously, three or four letter words would be great. Is that too much to expect? I dunno.
I swear, I have never once bathed any of my children like this – I just wanted to clarify.
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