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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Up Close and Personal

I was barely awake this morning when I looked out the window and wondered if I was really awake at all. "Conner! quick! come look!" I stage whispered, lest I scare them off. "And bring my camera!" So rare is a show of emotion from me so early in the morning that Conner came running, and my camera was actually where it should be. I kept my eyes glued to the window in case they really were an apparition and threatened to disappear. Indeed, one of them almost did, if you look carefully at the photo I caught of them with my point-and-shoot through the glass.Deer? In our yard? This is suburbia. It was so cool.

I gathered they had wandered from the Nature Park a mile away or so. Thing is, they were headed away from it. Looking for some last-minute morsels from neighboring gardens? Out for a last jaunt before hunkering down for the winter?


Because it is cold here now. Not that you would know it by watching Conner walk out the door in shorts to catch the bus. When I question his choice he says it's just easier because this quarter he has gym class and shorts are required. Oh but you can change clothes, you say. Yes, but it's such a pain because the teacher was so disgusted with the mess in the boys' locker room because "someone couldn't control his pee" he shut it down and the next closest bathroom to change in is just too far to be worth the trouble. Besides, like, half the school is still wearing shorts, Mom. He's usually walking away by this point but I can still see his eyes rolling.


This kid was the three-year-old who always balked at wearing a coat. I finally decided not to fight that battle and figured he would learn on his own when he got cold and I could say, "See, that's why I told you to wear a coat." Except I never got to say that because he never got cold. From that day I learned that his need for a coat was at least 10 degrees lower than mine.


But sheesh. Today was a high in the 40's. So when I was checking my email later this item in his school's Daily News caught my eye:


"DRESS FOR THE WEATHER: We would ask that parents make sure that their child is appropriately dressed for the weather when leaving for school in the morning." A-ha! They're talking about my son. I knew it. "..... As the weather continues to get colder, students should remember to wear a coat and/or sweater/sweatshirt to school to keep them warm." Uh-huh, uh-huh. I am totally nodding. Even though he totally does this already, I'm sure they're about to make my point about the shorts. ".... Also, although it is not in the Student Handbook, we would appreciate it if students did not wear pajama bottoms to school."


Wait, huh? Pajama bottoms? Never mind. I guess my standards are too high. At least my son is getting dressed.


I did dress my younger son more appropriately this morning, this still three-year-old who seems to have a normal body temperature and doesn't balk at wearing a coat when it's cold outside. I put him in his winter one with a stocking cap to boot in preparation for a field trip his preschool class had today at that same Nature Park I suspect is the home to the two errant deer.I just can't get enough of these trees. They don't make 'em like this in Kansas. Really, can you believe the beauty? This is so much to me what Ohio is all about. Even the little guys are in awe.

And they got to walk through this glorious wonder like scientists and examine nature through their magnifying glasses:
And walk through a meadow like they were deer:
And climb on an alligator log:
They even got to experience one of God's creatures up close, a not-pretend kind:
This one's for you, mom, since I know how much you love snakes.
Let's focus on the fact that he actually touched this texture, okay? Even if it is just with the tippy tipness of his finger. And, yes, he washed his hands.

Even though I had met the class at the park, which was, like, five minutes from our house, I still let the guy ride the bus home. Which meant he rode the bus back to the school, then got on his regular bus to ride back toward home, where he arrived a full 40 minutes after I did.
What can I say? The kid loves that bus. But at least he keeps his coat on.


5 comments:

Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom said...

Very cool! So sad Ry had to miss the field trip. Glad to see pictures...and way to go SP touching the snake! I am impressed!
See ya Friday morning!
Erin

the dragonfly said...

Way, way cool that you had deer in your yard, and that you got pictures! :)

And about pajama bottoms...I don't think I ever wore them to school (except on pajama day, of course), but I very very often wore them to my 8:00 German class in college. And so did many of my classmates. Go figure. ;)

Jerilyn said...

What great pictures! Love the one with the magnifying glass. If I were a techie I'd take some pictures of our beautiful trees, email them to you and you could share them on your blog - all in about 5 min. Alas, it would take me all day to do that, so you'll have to trust me when I say we have some beautiful trees here this year, but singly, not in groves.
I'm glad the deer were safely in your back yard. We seem to be having an unusually large number of deer/car collisions this year.

Anonymous said...

I heard on the radio this morning at 8:00 that there had already been five deer/car collisions in that single morning. Must be mating season. They are throwing caution to the wind and following their hearts...or...something like that.

Tam said...

LOVE LOVE the DEER Picture....we here in GA have lots of DEER on the MOVE this time of year due to all the HUNTERS....I love it when the Deer ROAM in to my yard!