Great Brain Project (Erik)

Erik has a school assignment called The Great Brain. The children are supposed to choose a subject that they want to learn more about. Then they read books about this topic, keep a notebook on it, prepare a simple poster and present the information to the class. Erik wanted his Great Brain project to be birds of prey, more specifically, falcons. We went to the library and checked out a bunch of books and began reading.

Well, this week I mentioned Erik's Great Brain project to a friend. She replied that her brother was a Master Falconer and would we like to meet him and his birds? I replied "Yes, of course!"

(Side note: I read the book "My Side of the Mountain" when I was younger. In the book there is a boy with a falcon named Frightful. After reading the book I too wanted a falcon or small hawk and began reading about them and trying to convince my parents that owning one was a good idea. It didn't work. I had to wait until I was an adult and then bought baby chickens instead. Not quite the same. Sigh.)

Last night I took the kids to meet Shane and his Praire Falcon. I gotta tell you, it was love at first sight with this bird. The falcon was beautiful. We spent close to an hour hearing stories and asking questions and Erik even got to hold it!

The funniest part was Megan's reaction when she first saw the falcon. She said, "I like your chicken! How many chickens do you have? Can I pet your chicken?" She then went up to the hooded bird and began petting its back.

Shane carefully moved the bird and said, "That might not be the best idea." And I told her this bird might bite her fingers off. Megan didn't seem too bothered by this and replied, "I like your chicken!"

That is one strong hamster

Dinner Conversation...

Erik: Who is the strongest in the family?
Everyone: Daddy!
Erik: Well I am the next strongest. George* (our hamster) is third strongest.
Claire: No he isn't! I'm stronger than George!

It turned into a rather touchy subject. I knew that I wasn't going to land one of the top two spots but thought that I had a chance at numero tres. If not that then, come on, I am for sure one of the top four strongest members of this family.

George, I'm going to challenge you to an arm wrestle. Let's see what you've got.

*For clarification purposes I should state that George is the hamster formerly known as Daisy. How can this be?! When we got Daisy from the pet store she was a young hamster. Now that she is older we see that she, in fact, is a he.

Sorry George! (haha)

Humble Pie

The internal dialogue went something like this…

Brain: Hey Janae is doing pretty good.
Body: (in a combative tone) No she isn’t.
Brain: Sure she is.
Body: No she isn’t. And I’ll prove it.

The day started with a nasty fall. This one left me with a wickedly colorful bruise on my hip and arm.

Erik needed a permission slip signed for a school outing. I took a pen and began to scrawl out his name on the “student name line” and then signed my name on the “parent’s signature line.” It looked pretty bad. I hoped Erik’s teacher wouldn’t think he was trying to forge his parent’s name. (I laugh as I remember a kid, Gary, from my own second grade class who sat behind me. I turned around and watched him forge his own mother’s signature so he could go on a fieldtrip.)

Later we had dinner at Jeff’s parent’s house along with some extended family. While I was talking with his cousins I had a laryngeal spasm (the description I have given in the past is that my windpipe will cramp and I can’t breathe until it relaxes). When I feel them coming on I stop talking/eating and just try to stay relaxed until it passes. When people don’t know what is going on it is alarming when one minute Janae is talking and then she is all of a sudden very quiet and not verbally responding.

With troubled looks on their faces the cousins asked “Are you okay? Are you choking?” I shook my head no to the choking questions and motioned for them to get Jeff so he could explain what was going on. So if you are around me when this happens, and I respond “no” to the choking questions, just wait for a minute and I will be okay. Though, for me, that will be a scary & frustrating minute (and embarrassing if you make a big fuss).

By the end of the day my body had successfully proven its point to my brain. I had had serving after serving of humble pie. It tastes nothing like a fresh homemade pie.

Humble pie is gross.