Playdates and playmates

What do you picture when you think of kids interacting and getting to know one another? For girls, maybe you expect to hear talk of their favorite princesses. For boys, maybe their favorite superhero. Maybe you expect to hear talk of their favorite games, sports, toys or music. With any age, it seems like we try to find something in common to talk about - a common interest. There is a local child whose mother and I have been talking. Our kids have much in common, so of course, we've been saying we need to get the kids together. Finally, it happened, and ended up being a larger family outing of sorts. The kids, having heard about each other, were naturally curious about each other, as the adults got introduced all around. Before long, it was clear that these kids DO mesh well. I didn't hear about any superhero talk, nor games, nor sports, nor movies or music. I heard them talk about dogs giving birth. My husband heard M tell the boy about her snails, and I assume she mentioned how quickly it had multiplied from one. The boy said they must be asexual. M said that yes, they are hermaphrodites. And the conversation continued as if this was a typical everyday conversation. My husband was not surprised, but had to sit back and notice another new normal. As we were heading our different ways, the boy was talking about how the moon appears larger during some parts of its orbit around the earth and why that was . . . yep, this is a kindred spirit for M. I just never imagined that a sign of a good childhood friend for my daughter would be evident in a conversation about the reproductive practices of snails . . . Anyone else have their atypical kid conversations to share?

Fishy stuff

I've been AWOL for a while, but busy accumulating more observations of our new normal. We recently took a summer vacation to an area that is full of amazing things to explore. One particular group of them is much more commonly visited than the others, so we got to address that assumption over and over. Although the parents were willing, the child was not interested :) Instead, we visited a historical site M read about in her history curriculum last school year, a couple of science destinations and some sea life destinations. It was a blast, and none of us missed the "main attraction" of the area. I never thought we'd be visiting a science museum in a different area, as the MN science museum is awesome, and . . . not many people do that. However, that was a major draw for M. The best part is that they had different local attractions, just like SMM has the Mississippi River Parks exhibit in the entry. Our membership is also part of a reciprocal membership to science and technology museums across the country, so it worked there o.O - SO cool to save on top of everything! Most people return home with stuffed animals and t-shirts and photos and sunburn. We did bring back all of those things. We also brought back an unusually high number of nonfiction books. One of them features Angry Birds, which is SOOOOO cool. I'm the biggest fan in the family. Don't be fooled; the book is full of nonfiction info and features Angry Birds characters on every page. I'm still thrilled at that find. Most moms look for jewelry - I brought my mom a piece of jewelry back, but I was more excited about my Angry Birds book . . . I mean, the book we bought for M ;) We returned to a fish tank that had an algae infestation. Apparently, in our area this happens to tanks a lot. We were the tenth family or so to ask about it at the fish store. This was very emotional for M, but she was taking in everything the clerk said, even though she didn't appear to be, and even though I was struggling to follow it. This young man was very knowledgeable, very passionate about fish and tanks, and talked at lightning speed. I have a headache just remembering it. Through the whole thing I was concerned that she wasn't listening, yet . . . Algae infestations can be caused by one spore airborn. As we live in an area of many lakes, and fish tanks have lights and warmer water than outside, this creates problems. The solution is not fun, but relatively simple. There is basicly algae poison. They asked about what we had in the tank and were reading the warnings related to one particular fish we have (a pleco, I believe). As the salesman read the fine print, he spoke even faster, and I basicly heard that our fish and plant would be fine. I said OK and grabbed the bottle. "Wait!" I was startled to hear from my 7-year-old. "Invertebrates includes my snails, right?" Uh . . . I vaguely recalled hearing some slurred syllables that sounded vaguely like that in between the whines from my daughter who is quite attached to her fish tank. She was right. The salesman didn't seem concerned, calling the type of hermaphrodite snails we have "cocroaches of the aquarium world" and shrugging. My daughter wailed . . . this guy was too young to get that you don't talk like that in front of an emotional 7-year-old, even when she seems more aware than her mother that snails are invertebrates. He never did seem to catch on to that . . . ah well. My girl is very into science and has taken many classes from scientists. She is aware that some species are becoming extinct because of humans and some are because of other animals. She also knows that there are animals that have been relocated by humans and are causing imbalances in the ecosystems where they were relocated. However, when it relates to the snails she hugs goodnight and spends hours talking to, this concept got lost inside the fact that she is seven and loves her snails. We went from one to more than a dozen quite quickly, and she has named most of them . . . and can tell them apart. Did I mention that the largest one is about the size of a very small pea?! We also have several pockets of snail eggs on the side of the tank, even after an algae treatment that is supposed to be toxic to invertebrates. I digress. In the end, these snails cannot be released into a local body of water, even though they probably originated here (as they came to us through SMM). I am adamant about not telling lies to my daughter. We seriously answer her questions about santa by telling her about St Nicholas and she helps fill stockings for St Nicholas Day. I don't want to lie to her. Those of you thinking you never want snails, please learn from our mistakes. There are snails that are born male and female. They have beautifully decorative shells and are larger than what we have. They only breed in salt water, but survive in fresh water. You can have snails without having an infestation problem, but ask questions to avoid the drama. The kind of snails we have are generally food for other fish . . . and snails. Seriously. So, we have a jar of protected "favorite snails" (including Muncher, Dotty and Speck, among otherss) in a jar next to the aquarium while we do the algae treatments. Eventually, they will be put back into the aquarium and M will choose a fish and/or snail that eat the mini snails, in hopes of balancing our ecosystem. We are hopeful that there will be some small snails in the tank on an ongoing basis, but that additional pets in the aquarium will keep the population under control. We did some light research. If we leave the algae unchecked, everything in the tank will have the oxygen used up and all of the animals will die. I don't like that one. Plus, the green water looks and smells bad! If we leave the snails unchecked in the tank, they will reproduce until the food is gone and all die at once. That would be drama. In addition, the shells would get into the filter and burn up that motor, necessitating some major expense (that our daughter is covering from her earnings). That option didn't sound much better, and I'll admit to having nightmares about the snails getting thick and pouring out of the tank, pushing open the lid from sheer numbers . . . .*shiver* . . . We could leave the snails in the tank during the algae treatment and they would probably all die. That didn't go over with M. Even if they didn't, or the eggs survived, we'd need another solution. In the end, she chose the idea of predator fish, although there was wailing about Muncher being eaten . . . There were tears at first, and we had to balance her age with her interests and intellect, which isn't easy. However, I think it will be a good lesson. We also offered to make the decisions for her, if she'd rather. She wanted to choose. I'm glad my husband brought up the emotional struggle of wondering if she had made the right decision. He wanted her to know that we would make the decision if that would be easier for her. Another adventure in our new normal. Hard lessons, but good ones.

Sick = Anatomy lesson . . . for Mom

My daughter was moaning and complaining in her sleep. Of course, as a caring mother, I went in and talked with her. She didn't say much, except that her throat hurt and she didn't know what was wrong, but she was quietly crying. She felt warm, so I took her temperature . . . fever. She welled up with tears at the news, but took her medicine obediently. I reminded her that each sickness makes us stronger, building up our immunity to the new bug. She giggled, smiled, and started talking about how white blood cells "gobble up the germ" and how she'd like to see that. From there, she talked about platelets (yellow was the key word for me) and on and on . . . "When I was four or five, I thought there were only red blood cells in there [arteries, etc.]" ~M Not the converstaion I was expecting at 2 AM, as she woke up sick and upset/uncomfortable. She also said, "What are sinuses again? I keep forgetting that part." I explained briefly and simply. "Is that how your ears nose and throat are connected?" was her response. I had been massaging her sinuses to help relieve some of her discomfort . . . One more example of how our new normal still feels wierd. It's cool, though :)