Molly Monarch Emerges

We never thought it would happen, but Rowan's butterfly, Molly Monarch finally hatched out of her chrysalis yesterday. She made her chrysalis about a month ago, and monarchs usually only take about 14 days before they come out as a butterfly---so this one took her sweet time. I was just about to take the lid off of her container and set the chrysalis outside because I thought something had gone wrong and it was never going to hatch out, but she surprised us just in time. It was a great thing to discover late in the afternoon yesterday. Since we're all currently sick and spending waaaay too much time at home, this constituted a big event and really turned the day around! Rowan was mesmerized by the new butterfly and jumping up and down and giving everyone in the family congratulatory hugs. We realized there aren't many flowers left in our yard for it to find food, so we cut what was left and put it in her container last night while she got used to flexing her new wings. This morning she seemed ready to go, so we took her down the hill to our neighbors for the big release (our neighbors have a far superior flower garden with a few things still blooming). Rowan proudly carried the butterfly down the hill and then got to hold her for a few seconds before she flew off and perched on a birdhouse in the yard. It seemed quite content there, so I'm not sure how far this slow butterfly is going to get before the next stretch of cold weather, but maybe with the coming winds of the hurricane she'll get blown around and pushed far enough south to catch up with some other monarch stragglers! This was a really simple yet magical fall activity--bon voyage Molly!

Retta at 7 months

 Yesterday my sweet little Retta turned 7 months old! What a big month this has been for her--she is now sitting up, almost crawling, waving, making the sign for "milk" and saying "Dada!" So much has happened in a month. She has also decided that sleep is not a hobby of hers- last night she was up literally every hour on the hour, but the night before she woke herself up laughing so hard in her sleep, which was one of the most adorable things I've seen. She may be getting the nasty cold that is methodically working it's way through our family, or her first tooth might be finally coming to the surface, but as I manually forced my eyelids open this morning I just kept trying to remember that these sleepless nights won't last forever. So, at 7 months we are tired, but happy!

 

 

Three Outside Activities for a Blustery Fall Day

Parachute Man

 
Materials:

• Plastic shopping bag
• a pair of scissors
• hole punch
• yarn or string
• a lightweight figurine

Pick a favorite lightweight figurine to be your skydiver. Take a plastic shopping bag and cut out a square shape (here you have to kind of experiment with the size and just guess what size square will most likely support your figurine). Once you've got your plastic square use a hole punch or pierce holes with a pair of scissors in each corner of the square. Cut 4 pieces of string each about a foot long and tie one end to each corner of the square and the other to the figurine. Crumple up the parachute and press it against the figurine, then find a high spot to drop your figurine! We let our parachute person fly from Rowan's bedroom window on the second floor of our house. It works best when one person stands down below to be the catcher and the other person tosses from above! 

  
Pinwheels

Materials:

• 1 piece of cardstock
• a pair of scissors
• a ruler
• a pin
• a pencil with a good eraser

Pinwheels are also a fun and easy activity for a day like today. Find a piece of cardstock and make a square any size you'd like. Use a ruler to draw an X across the paper and then use something small and round to trace a circle shape in the middle of the paper in the center of the X. Next, cut each line of the X, but stop when you get to the outer edge of the circle. Gently bring the left corner of each segment into the center of the circle and poke a pin through all four corners and through the center of the circle. Then press this into the eraser of a pencil and voila! A quick homemade pinwheel you can test out in the wind!







 The Unnatural Trail

Materials:

• 5-10 plastic figurines or random small household objects

 This game is not at all dependent on a windy day, but last week Rowan and I had fun playing this game with her figurines outside. It is a game that Aaron and I used to play often with our students when we worked in environmental education. All you do is take 5-10 figurines or small household objects and place them in a partially hidden spot along a trail in the woods (or we just hid them along the front of the house in the flower bed). Then have your child walk along the trail and see if they can notice the "unnatural" objects hidden amongst the natural ones. Ask them how many they found. If they can't find the objects just by looking, they can go back through and use their hands to pull back leaves and branches and find the hidden toys. It's a great way to introduce the concept of camouflage to your kids, or to discuss what constitutes something from "nature."