Silly me. Of course it doesn't DO anything.

Explanations for and stories from my long blogging absence will come in the next day or two (hospital, with Alan, again), but for now I just wanted to share this story:

Dale was already showing signs of much 4-year-old restlesness, and after a morning of only rain, rain, and more rain, things were about to pick up.

I blogged once, long ago, (ha - I could just end that statement right there, couldn't I!), anyway.... I've mentioned here before that Dale often has to be encouraged and helped to find things to do outside. Especially if it wasn't his idea to go in the first place.

So when the sun popped out after lunch yesterday, I immediately sent him out the door with a little assignment:

Go out and find something interesting and come back and tell me about it.

I was sure in a rain-soaked spring-time backyard that shouldn't be a bit of a problem. I was particularly thinking earthworms and slugs, and even suggested so to him.

Well, Dale, being my little resistant one, made this assignment way more difficult than it should have been.

I was sitting at the kitchen table eating lunch with my mom and sister at their house. The back door was open, and I couldn't see out from where I sat. Dale would come up to the screen approximately every 45 seconds and this would be our blind exchange:

Mama.
Mama?
Mama!
Mama!?

What?

I can't find anything. I give up.

Try again.

So finally, finally, after way too long (this was supposed to be an easy assignment that actually turned into distraction and .... you know... fun)...

But still, after so many tries, Dale finally announced:

I found something interesting!

Oh really? What?

A stick!

Ohhh! Ok. What does it do?


.....pause-pause-pause......


It's a stick.