Why I Want Our Son To Be A Zookeeper

Or better yet, why I want our son to be the next Jack Hanna, or why I hope he convinces his brother to join him in being the next Wild Kratts:

Because no 4-year old should know as much about animals 

and habitats as he does, and such wide and intimate knowledge 

about the Animal Kingdom should not go wasted!

Today at preschool I asked the kids to draw a map of a zoo.  We had just watched an episode of Curious George in which he wanders through a zoo and learns about maps, so I wanted the kids to try drawing their own maps.  The results were varied, as expected, but long after the other kids had ventured off to play games in the lawn, Caleb continued to work on his map.  He continually showed me his progress with each new animal exhibit he drew, and informed me what kind of animals were at his zoo.  To name a few: cotton-topped tamarin, armadillo, manatee, proboscis monkey, bowhead whale, and pangolin.  I really really hope he becomes a zookeeper someday!

It was just another example of Caleb's passion for animals.  He loves learning about habitats and discovering how animals defend themselves from predators and reminding us that coral is actually an animal even though it looks like a plant.  He loves watching Planet Earth and creating "animal scenes" with stickers and crayons, and just this morning while I was clipping his fingernails he commented that actually I was clipping his claws because he was pretending to be a panther.

Oh how we love this boy and his animal obsession!  I really really hope he becomes a zookeeper someday!

18 Months of Bubba

Our baby is officially 18 months old.  He's not a baby anymore, but I can't bear to think of him any other way.  Asa is such a joy, such a handful, such a Bubba.  We love our Asa Bubba more than we can express and can scarcely believe how much he's grown and changed.  He's incredibly active, rather chatty, and far too independent for an 18-month old.

Who, me?

He doesn't wait for anyone or anything to do whatever he wants.  A few weeks ago I discovered Asa standing on the dining room table, holding the pot of chai.  Egad!  His desire to explore has exploded recently, and he's so fast that we can't take our eyes off him for a second or he's gone.  Case in point: while we were outside recently I stopped to say hello to someone and less than a minute later Asa was up the stairs behind our building, trying to open the back gate that goes to the road.  Ahh!  He's discovered every single drawer in the house that can be opened, every single puzzle piece that can be scattered across the floor, every single book that can be pulled off the shelf before he simply walks away.  This boy is a handful.  But oh how we love him.  And oh how he smiles and giggles with every mischievous thing he does, and oh how he melts our hearts for it!

He's a big and beautiful Bubba, and he's proven to us (yet again) that boys are fun and exhausting at the same time.  And sooooooo worth it.  We love you, Bubba!

Snow Day!

Last week the Missionary Kids celebrated a Snow Day!  Everyone took the day off homeschooling in honor of the fact that most of them would've enjoyed a real Snow Day or two if we were back in the States.  It was a great chance to bring all the kids together and enjoy a slip 'n slide, make fake snow, and eat ice cream!

Thanks to Grandma Horn for sending along the fake snow with us when we moved here last year.   (It's the kind where you just add water and watch it grow.)  We were supposed to use it at Christmas to remind the boys of all the snow in Minnesota, but I completely forgot, so we used it for Snow Day instead.  The boys were quite happy :)  And they were fans of the ice cream too, since that's such a treat these days.  We sure hope there'll be another Snow Day next year!