Quote of the week

"Pants are not napkins"

Update on the hermit crab

... so, I'm sure you're all shocked to hear that Hermes (that's what we've named him) will be going home with us.

The world is your oyster... or, urinal, whatever.

Must be nice to be a guy, you can just whip it out wherever you are, whether there's a potty nearby or not. Liz just busted James peeing outside, and noticed that the spot he created looked alot like another one she'd noticed the day before. She said, "James, did you pee here, too?". He denied it, and she tried a different tact, "did you do it yesterday?".. affirmative. She said, "James, there's a toilet right inside the house", and he replied, "I just like to pee outside". nice.

Not quite Jacques Cousteau

Apparently, we've found a hermit crab. Kindof of a funny story, actually, Sterling, James and Jim went down to the beach behind Jockey's Ridge (on the sound side of the island). They found what they thought was an empty shell. They left it in the car when we went somewhere later, and when Sterling went to look for it, he couldn't find it. Jim said, "did it crawl up under the seat?", to which Sterling replied, "of course not! it just rolled".
Later, I went to take it upstairs, and could have SWORN I saw legs, but it was in a ziploc, I was told I was imagining things, so I went with it.
We put it in a little rubbermaid container just in case, and it's been on the counter for about a day. Sterling was sitting beside it and said "I'll be damned! There's a crab in there!". It started to move, we're not crazy! So now there's a full house plus a pet, which is going back as soon as we get the chance (no, we're not keeping it!).

James of the Jungle

Little Mr. J is running around the beach house in shorts, no shirt. I just asked him if he wanted to put on a shirt, and he replied...
"Mommy, I am NOT putting on a shirt now. I'm not putting one on at the beach house, or when we get home, or ever again. I'm just going to be a WILD BOY."
Very well.

Reptile Expert

Today we went to the aquarium on Roanoke Island. It was wonderful, as always. It's probably the smallest one we have, but it's just right...just enough to see, but not so much that kiddies get bored halfway through. So first off, James actually touched the stingrays this year, which is HUGE! Also, while we were there are the touchtank, they announced that there was a live sea turtle viewing in one of the theatres. So, we found seats up front, and the aquarium lady (what's the right term, aquarian?) started off by telling us that sea turtles were reptiles, and could anyone name some characteristics of sea turtles?
One little girl raised her hand, and pointed out that they are cold-blooded. "oh, that's a good one, you're right!" she got a little stuffed sea turtle. Another little kid raised his hand and stated that they laid eggs. "right again", HE got a little stuffed sea turtle. You could just see the wheels turning in James' head as he made the connection between raising your hand, offering some childly wisdom, and receiving a free sea turtle. You know what comes next, up shot that little hand, the lady walked over and said, "yes?", and James stated, quite confidently, "They Eat!". "uhh.. yes, that's right! Do they have bones?". Again, with authority, he replied affirmative, and got his little sea turtle, which he clutched happily all the way home.
Just goes to show you, it's not what you know, it's all in how you say it. Act like you know the answer and nobody's going to argue!

School

I still cannot believe that the little bean who popped out of my tummy yesterday is already in school. And it's totally different! We have NOT settled into a routine yet, and I gotta tell ya, it's just weird. It was one thing when there was a handoff to another grown-up, and you knew everything was going to get where it needed to be, now I'm relying on James to remember where his milk money is, and which snack is for school vs. YMCA after school, and don't forget to put this in your cubby at school, and HOLY CRAP. Can he handle all this (sometimes he can't put his shirt on straight!)? Can *I* handle this? He seems to be doing better than we are, I just feel like there's so much more prep involved to make sure everything goes smoothly. I am SOO looking forward to the beach next week!