Happy Trails

Let's just say, for instance, that over breakfast you discovered a long, windy snail slime trail stretching for several feet down the middle of your large kitchen table that mysteriously ended at the (covered) butter dish. The snail is nowhere to be found, and the 8-year-old is insisting that she's down not one, but two precious pet snails. That were apparently left uncovered on the kitchen table all night. Would you:

1. Leave out food as bait (the 8-year-old's suggestion)

2. Dispose of the butter, clean everything, find a lid and a better place for the remaining snails, let the 8-year-old know that everyone is entitled to one occurrence of escaped pets but not really more, and then try to forget that there's a snail or two roaming the house. And not go barefoot. (What I'm doing)

3. Burn down the house. (What I kind of want to do)

4. Ruminate on all the unanswered questions. About parenting, life, and why there weren't two snail trails if two snails are indeed missing, why the lid was left off, why the snails were on the kitchen table in the first place, whether or not snails are actually attracted to butter, and what kind of predator must roam our house at night to have snatched away a snail or two out of thin air. And of course, where are the snail(s) and what will it feel like to step/sit on one/them?!?

Elise loves her snails. We've learned a lot already. Their names are: Biggle (the biggest one), Tiger (one that has a striped shell, except they all do, Billy and Bob (twins) and another few I've lost track of. Some are shyer than others, but their antenna are really cool when they sink into their heads. They like dark places and always climb upwards--to the point that I'm actually pretty amazed there aren't more snails roaming around our house. Yesterday the snails spent large portions of their lives riding around on her finger, being loved.

Meanwhile, Easter is totally Naomi's season. As soon Naomi and pink, furry, sparkly bunny ears crossed paths in Target, they were on her head--to stay (thanks to the allowance she'd saved up). She wears them everywhere. If the conditions become unfavorable to bunny ears--windy, for instance--she simply holds them in her hand until she no longer has to worry about them blowing away. And although she never notices the sidelong looks people give her in public, she readily accepts their comments and compliments with a matter-of-fact "thank you." Yes, I know they're adorable, thanks for noticing.

I hesitated to let her wear her bunny ears to various classes, and piano lessons, and even occasionally ran the idea past her teachers in case they felt like bunny ears might be distracting. Due partly to the fact that Naomi sees them as an extension of herself, rather than an accessory, the bunny ears cause no more ruckus than her regular ears do. And possibly because we homeschool, no one we come across seems to bat an eye at the fact that for several weeks now Naomi makes virtually every public appearance as a bunny. Or maybe they don't care because she's so stinkin' cute in them.

I enjoyed hanging out one-on-one with my little bunny a little bit extra this week as her sisters took standardized tests. It was a good, learning experience for everyone: Kalina learned that next time, she should make sure her ruler has centimeters on it (not really her fault--she just grabbed one!); Elise learned how to jump rope during testing, where a threatened bird species is nesting near the testing site, and good places to find snails; and Naomi learned place value. In one sitting. Well. And she thinks it's fun.

Which boggles my mind: how can a little girl who thinks she's a bunny and that her stuffed bunnies are her sisters breeze past 100 in counting (her goal was 1000, until Elise interrupted her) and laughingly tell me that I would need 10 tens to make 100? In addition to math, we scootered to the park and pretended to run away from dogs, worked on an Easter sticker book, braved glitter, and so much more.

For some reason, I'm not able to write captions today, but all of these photos came from our backyard photo shoot. Elise is posing in some of her favorite places (including the fort!), Naomi alternated normal poses for Mommy with bunny poses, and Kalina's pictures turned out beautiful despite the fact that she's hiding a very skinned knee.