Mother's Day at the Zoo

What To Do With a Cow

Sometimes during dinner or dishes Eric will pitch the kids math story problems, something my dad used do to me in the wintertime.  (e.g., If you have four calves, how many ears and tails would there be?  As I grew older, I had to figure in frostbite for a few unlucky ones, etc.)

The other day Eric asked Adam how many legs there would be if he had two cows.  Adam was stumped and started guessing wildly:  "Nineteen?"

I intervened and popped some fingers up for him to count:  "Okay, Adam, here's one cow, okay?  One, two, three, four," I counted out.  He watched.  "Now," I said.  "What should we do with the other cow?"

He thought for awhile, and then finally shrugged.  "Milk it?"

Happy Easter!

Birf-Day Coincidence

Poor Adam doesn't have a completed baby book yet, and he's going on five.  Abby has one and loves to show it to anyone and everyone.  I'm quite surprised she hasn't shown the Schwan man yet, come to think of it.

Anyway, Adam thought maybe I could make his baby book while he took a bath last night (dear, dear soul; Michael's would be bankrupt), so I went downstairs and dug around in tubs for some pages I knew I had started years back.  I found about a dozen completed pages, to my surprise, so Abby and I worked them into the sleeves of his empty book and presented him with a good-enough-for-now, genuine baby book.

He has cradled it ever since, though it made a rocky sleeping partner last night.  This morning they're out on the couch, flipping pages again and memorizing the photos.  A few minutes ago, as I was selecting an appropriate outfit for Jeans Day (Hello, Four Day Weekend!), I heard a surprised and delighted exclamation from the newly created book's owner:

"I - I was born on my BIRF-DAY???"