The boys played alongside me as I made a desperate attempt to remove weeds from the unbelievably weed-filled flower beds and play area in our backyard. My middle Jake, forever by my side, offered his services - I had no choice but to accept them.
So as I worked to rip the weeds from the ground by their roots, Jake took a baseball bat to the taller ones...whacking them feverishly until they broke off (giving me a mere half inch to wrap my tired and disgusting hands around). As he whacked, he talked, questioning, marveling and pondering life incessantly, and then would briefly stop to breathe when a bug, worm, or spider would emerge from the uprooted holes in the ground. He would then call Hudson and Cole over to show them his new "pets" and ramble on about their characteristics. The brothers would glance over in feigned interest, then go about their own business with Jake chatting on...
The worms he named Slimey. The june bug he named Limey. And all of the rollie-pollies were called Timey. The spiders received no names, but were chased away or killed. And with each emerging creature/pet new questions arose. Here is a sample of some that I ashamedly left unanswered.
"Where do you think their [rollie-pollies] kitchen is?"
Regarding the worms: "Is this his head or his bottom?"
"Maybe we can take them [Slimey, Timey, and Limey] to the grocery store because it is a long way away."
"What did I say his name was again?"
"Do you think Limey likes spiders?"
"Is Limey going to his grandma's house?"
There were about 487 more...Even now he continues to talk about his new backyard "pets".
No comments:
Post a Comment