Patent Pending

The soon-to-be-first-grader and I have had some very interesting conversations lately. From tidal waves (and his concern over whether one will ever engulf our friends' cottage on Shawano Lake, about 50 miles northwest of Green Bay) to nightmares about the Gum Monster (?), he has definitely kept me on my toes today.

Just over dinner he asked me why daddies can't feed their babies milk. Before I could respond, he said, "Oh wait! They can. They can give them bottles. With formula. Or......." He paused briefly. "I was going to say they could put the mommy's milk in a bottle, but I don't know HOW they would do that." Seemed like a great time to bring up his visit to his Great Uncle Tom's farm this summer, so I did. That was all he needed and he proceeded to tell me how Uncle Tom milks his cows, right down to the "vitamin" he gives each one to let the cow's brain know it's time to make the milk come out. "Do mommies get that, too?" he wanted to know. "Maybe some mommies..." I said. Satisfied with figuring out the milking process (both bovine & human), he went on to tell Loic, "Babies drink milk when they're born. My whole family was born. Alastair was born. You were born. Mom was born. And Dad was born." I said, "What about you, Laurence? Weren't you born?" "Nope," he answered. "I was INVENTED!" Sometimes I wonder...

Goin' Green...or Not

I can't say we're an incredibly environmentally conscious family, but we try to do our best. OK, so maybe our "best" simply means we recycle, but at least it's something, right? (Oh, and we also have some of those fancy light bulbs, too.) Anyway, watching as my kids have caught on to the recycling craze is kind of neat -- I can't even remember when recycling really took off, but as a kid, I certainly never thought twice before throwing something in the garbage can. It makes me feel good that the boys can identify, for the most part, what gets recycled and what doesn't. And I think they even know what recycling means (sort of). We are well on our way to raising good little citizens.

Or so I thought...

The other day we were walking at the park and Loic finished a bottle of water (oops -- bottled water. Certainly NOT environmentally friendly.) He dropped the bottle and kept walking. I asked, "Did you just drop that bottle on the ground?" "Yesss!" he replied enthusiastically. "Why would you do that? You should put it in the trash ca...er, recycling," I said. Then he replies, singing a little song, "Nope, I can throw it on the ground, because the world is one biiiiiig trash cannnnn!" So much for my eco-friendly little guy. I have no idea where he came up with that, but it seems we've got a ways to go!