"Me Want to Pet the Squid!"

The dead animals came yesterday. Everyone found the squid fascinating. T, of course wanted to get started right away. K, although still insisting that she would not participate, was right in there eyeballing the dead critters with obvious curiosity. R got in on it, too, at first sweetly asking "please" as he tried to yank the squid from my hands. Then he went into full meltdown (as only a just turned 3-yr. old can) throwing himself on the floor and screaming "me want to pet the squid!" I had to hide the specimens. Hopefully, he won't find them; although, he's been searching for them off & on since he got up this morning.

E is definitely going to have to be around to keep R from trying to get in on the dissection. I had planned to use this weekend and the Thanksgiving holiday for doing the labs. However, E has decided to spend the holiday doing some long overdue projects on the house. I haven't yet figured out how I am going to be able to do two things at once. I've promised the kids we would do the dissection at the same time E has planned for me to be up to my elbows in joint compound. And, somewhere in there I have to cook a turkey.

Multi-tasking is not one of my strengths. This is going to require a great deal of thought.

Shadow Monster

Last night R got up about 10:30pm wanting chocolate pudding. After I sent him back to bed, he came bolting into my bedroom frantically asking, "Where's Dad?" He refused to go back to bed and kept staring at the bedroom door saying "me scared." Apparently, there was a monster in our living room. At first, I thought he was just trying to avoid going to bed; but, he insisted there was a monster in the living room.

So, I trudged into the living room asking where the monster was. R was screaming, "right there," and pointing at the front door. "There's no monster in here," I told him. He kept pointing at the front door, insisting a monster was there. He was so frightened and so insistent that the hairs on the back of my neck were beginning to stand up. It was clear he wasn't pretending. I walked over to the front door and checked the lock. Right then R started screaming. Then I saw it. The monster was right in front of me. It was about 7 ft. tall, and black. I raised my arms up and wiggled my fingers. So did the monster. R screamed louder.
"No R, it's not a monster. It's a shadow. The light from the kitchen is making a shadow. Look, I can make it move. See, there's no such thing as monsters! Now, it's time to go back to bed." R, too wound up from his near-monster experience, wasn't going back to bed. "How about some chocolate pudding," I asked. "Yeah," he nodded enthusiastically while keeping his eyes fixed on the shadow monster still lurking on the front door.

The Dead Animals are Coming!

I am so excited! I ordered our dead animals yesterday. When I informed the kids, T was so excited he started bouncing on his toes. K looked nauseous and announced that she would not be participating. (Oh yes, she will. Her curiosity will get the best of her once she gets used to the smell.) When I told E the dead animals would be arriving shortly, he too looked nauseous. His first question was "don't you think they're too young for that stuff;" quickly followed by "where do you plan to do this?" I almost said, "why the kitchen table, of course!" But, I decided to go easy on him and explained how I would contain the mess...in the office...far away from the kitchen and R. He nodded his head in acceptance and walked off still looking very much like he was going to vomit. E has never had much enthusiasm for biology.