Stuff worthy to write up
- Micah cut his own hair this weekend. This is because Isaac was “pretending” to cut his own hair with his pocketknife, and well, Monkey see, monkey do… Micah actually did and used his preschool scissors for the job and now he has a tiny bald spot right where a unicorn horn would pop out of his head.
- Reece is an avid reader. A very aggressive one lately too. He has been literally growling “READ IT!” at us at bed time. “Read, it, read it, READ IT!” He sounds incredibly funny, but don’t tell him that. And if you don’t read whatever story he wants, he fights you to the ground.
- Another sentence he has said to us is “I did it.” He was very proud of himself at the park the other day because he climbed all the way up these monkey bars that are dangerous for a kid his age. Take away the panic emotions from me about him climbing up where he isn’t supposed to and you get a really cute kid with an ecstatic smile who says “I did it” so happily after he sneaks up those monkey bars.
- Isaac is obsessed with his pocketknife. He keeps asking why it isn’t allowed at school. He opens it up in the car (yikes!!!). He has been whittling at a bar of soap and has already cut himself. The blood made me queasy, but it was not a terrible cut and no stitches were needed. I have decided that he can only use the knife portion when Bryan is around. I am a wimp. I used to think I was a boy mom, but now I know I am not!
- We have the coolest sand box. There is a problem though in that our neighbors have gotten cats since we built the sand box. It has become a cat box and that is not ok with me. How do we get rid of the cats without shooting them? We have tried a tarp over the top held in place by big heavy rocks but this one cat keeps squeezing under the tarp. That cat is determined to defile our sand box. The latest thing we are trying is planting marigolds all around the sandbox. The marigolds smell unattractive. Even to me. I have heard they can keep rabbits out of your garden, we’ll see if they keep cats out of our sand box. I have planted the marigolds in big #10 cans (the size of a coffee can) and we are now using those to anchor down the tarp. Maybe it will work, maybe it won’t, but it is worth a try. And it is a lot cheaper than a motion detecting sprinkler.
- Reece and Micah started gymnastics. I enrolled them in classes at the same time. I have no clue how Micah did because I spent my entire time chasing Reece all over that gym! He doesn’t quite understand class structure yet. Taking Reece to gymnastics will be my workout until he gets the hang of things. Maybe sometime I will get to sneak a peek across the gym at Micah.
Posted by Ily on June 4, 2008
Comments
Steffenie June 5, 2008 at 9:42 a.m.
Or you could get something heavier to put on the sandbox, like mdf or plywood. Do you throw the poop back over the fence??? I would.
Vernon June 6, 2008 at 11:58 a.m.
A tuna can full of antifreeze? Or is that too mean?
A sheet of 3/4 inch plywood (exterior grade) cut to size might be less risky (if your neighbors found out about the tuna can, they might sue).
A big dog that eats cats for breakfast.
Bryan is totally qualified to rig up a motion sensor with a targeting, fully-automatic bb gun.
Bryan June 6, 2008 at 1:03 p.m.
Thanks for the ideas for coping with the cat problem, folks. Keep them coming. Some things to consider about the ideas so far:
Kid operable - they were able to cover and uncover the sandbox with the tarp on their own. I'm not sure if they can handle a big sheet of plywood. The sandbox is rather large:
http://themurdockfamily.org/gallery/s...
I don't know, maybe Isaac could handle it. The tarp was also very tolerant of large toys left in the sandbox that stick up over the top edge.
Kid safe - antifreeze in a tuna can probably wouldn't be very enticing to the kiddos so that could work. An automatic motion sensing sprinkler or bb gun could be problematic. We could give them controls to turn it off, but what if they forget?
The big dog solution is looking to be the best, but would we just be replacing a cat poop problem with a dog poop problem?
Maybe I'll look into the motion sensing sprinkler. If the kids forgot to disable it when they went out to play it wouldn't be to drastic of a mistake.
Nolan June 5, 2008 at 8:19 a.m.
That is funny stuff! The only thing I have to say is about the sandbox. The motion detecting sprinkler would be so cool that you should do it anyway, because then those cats won't stand a chance, and the boys would probably love it to boot!