And from the ground, grew a seed...

A happy moment for our little Lachlan. On day 14 of our seed planting we had a wonderful surprise...

It was a rainy and misty morning so Lachlan and I put on our gumboots and opened the front door to check on his pot. Like every other morning, he rushed over to the pot hoping the fruits of his labour would have sprouted. Tpday he leaned over to catch a glimpse and he was silent for a moment. I big smile filled up us face and then he finally said, "Woooooooooo!" and clasped his hands together in excitement.

"What is it?" I asked. "It's a fow-er, mommy!" He began pointing to the sky. "It gonna grow up big and tall like a twee!" He continued to ramble on with so much excitement I only caught few words; something about watering it and high as the sky. Now that his pea seedling is a real tangible thing, I'm sure he was envisioning it growing up to the clouds; perhaps to climb and find treasures galore and battle giants. The rain began up again so we had to go inside. Lachlan continued to talk about his seedling an occasionally ran to the front widow to look at it (the reason it is growing in the front of the house in a pot and not in our veggie garden. He can sit and look at it from this spot whenever he'd like)

So we'll keep on keepin' track of the seedling. Only one of the four up thus far. I'm thankful for the one. Lachlan was drowning the poor things with water I thought they'd never sprout! I was already thinking of way to secretly swap out the duds with a dummy! Thankfully it didn't come to that because if I had to I would. After all, a mommy's got to do what a mommy's got to do!

From Little Things, Big Things Grow

Winter. Winter in Australia is lovely. On a sunny day we can go outside and not worry about chasing around our toddler trying to keep his hat on. We don't need sunscreen and we can stay outside as long as we want without feeling like we are going to melt.I love it. So far, this seems to be one of the warmest winters we have had since I've lived here. (knock on wood! We're only in the third week or so...)I do remember my first winter here: my husband and I just moved into our house, were sleeping on an air mattress with no heat and woke up to frost and icy windows. We soon found out it was a record low. So far that hasn't been the case, it has been great weather to explore the outdoors.

We try to take advantage of the sunny days as much as we can in our house. I can not stand being cooped up inside. Something I thank my mother for because she always made us play outside on days when it wasn't rainy or too cold. I later realised this was to keep the house clean. Something I didn't appreciate as a child, but with two little ones of my own, I totally understand and they haven't even reached the age of inviting friends over yet! I can definitley add "maid" to my resume.

We've been spending a lot of time at the zoo or finding an orchard or farm somewhere to visit. Last weekend we went mandarin picking for the second time this year. Although, Lachlan says he doesn't like mandarins, he certainly enjoys the orchard experinece. I always found an orchard to be somewhat magical when I was a child; running along the rows of trees, weaving through low branches trying to get lost in hopes that you could be smart and brave enough to find your way back. An orchard appeals to the senses as well: sweet smells and tastes, soft grass, smooth leaves, the sounds of birds singing and pruning shears clicking; followed by a soft thud as the fruit joins the others in the bucket. Oh, how I love a day at an orchard!

Lachlan found his magic in the tree ladders. He'd climb to the top platform and look at the tree in search for the perfect mandarin to pick. Once he'd find it we would hear "this one, Daddy!" My darling husband, no matter how far away or how high up a ladder he was would stop what he was doing to clip that perfect mandarin for Lachlan.

I wasn't much help in the orchard this time around. I was carrying our 12 week old so I merely supervised and most importantly tested a mandarin from each tree to ensure its sweetness. Sometimes I wasn't quite sure and did a second run just to be certain--very important and tedious business, I tell you. What ever would the boys have done without my tasting expertise?

I particularly enjoyed Lachlan helping his daddy out. They have that special father-son bond that any parent would hope for. He loves his dad and likes to mimic him; such an important process in the developing child. Sentimental me tried to capture every moment I could with the camera hoping that the feeling would forever live in the photo;sometimes a photo is truely worth a thousand words.

After our mandarin picking adventures, Lachlan became more interested in seeds and how things grow. I always cut an apple for him crosswise so he can see the little star that lives inside. This week, Lachlan wanted to keep the seeds and asked if we could plant them. It was late at night so I told him we could in the morning. He gripped the seeds so tight in his hand and keep them safe and warm. He even slept with them that evening. In the morning we went headed out to the garage to find a pot and some soil to plant his seeds. During this process, Lachlan dropped his seeds somewhere never to be found. He was very disappointed and of course there had to be no more apples in the house to replace them! I promised him he could plant seeds and I wasn't going to break it. I went in the house and dug through my seed drawer to see what I could find. I took the whole drawer out for Lachlan to pick something. While he was doing this he discovered the labeling stakes and decided to created design with those as well.

Lachlan in the end decided to plant some sugar snap peas. You can tell by the pictures he was very involved every step of the way. In fact he did all the labour. I only guided him by asking questions to see if he knoew what to do next. I always beleive in speaking in developmentally appropriate detail to children.Sometimes we 'dumb down' our talk thinking they won't understand; however children are very capable of understanding more than we think. How else will the make connections to the world unless we provoke thought through conversation. Our process went something like this:

First, we find a pot and soil and discuss that we are preparing a nice little bed to plant our seeds in...

Next pick out the perfect seeds. We talk about how inside of each seed there is a tiny little baby seeding waiting to come out. All it needs is some love from us which we give with a sunny spot and some water...

We then space our seeds out in the pot, explaining that they all need their own bit of room to grow; just like us. When the baby seedlings wake they'll want to stretch their little root legs and feet and will need some space...

Each seed gets pushed into the ground to make sure that it is warm and snug in a blanket of dirt...

Next we get our watering can and some water from the tap. If it doesn't rain the plants will need us to give them a nice drink...

Lastly we give the seedlings a nice long drink to help them get a good start in life. Growing is thirsty business!

We also write a name label for the peas so we won't forget what they are and so they'll know who they are when the pop up into the world!

Finally, the thoughest part--we watch and wait and wait...

As stated in other blogs of mine, provocation is so important for the learning process; asking questions to expand on what children already know is very helpful to their cognitive/problem-solving skills. Lachlan did really well coming up with the answers. He knew a lot more about gardening then I would have given him credit for. I suppose he pays attention to hubby and me in the veggie patch after all. Either way I hope he has a little green thumb. Time will tell! Why not try planting a seed with your little one. It is a great first lesson of life, the responsibilty of caring for something and even teaches children about death. I'm just hoping our little peas make it to the seedling stage first, as Lachlan is watering the heck out of it! Peas are a great plant to grow with children though as their germination is only 7-10 days. It is a relatively short length of time, though for a child it can seem like an eternity. Lachlan's immediatley began staring at his pot, and staring and staring and waiting and waiting. Guess I'll go wait with him. Until next time, Happy gardening!

A Visit from a Very Hungry Caterpillar

As you might have guessed from previous blogs, we are keen gardeners. Since we like to eat organic, we choose to grow a lot of our own produce. Like all organic gardeners we find it challenging and often frustrating trying to keep pests out of our veggie patch and fruit trees. Generally the culprits are fruit flies but this year we have had some new visitors- caterpillars.

Inspecting our hungry caterpillar

I was making my routine morning check of the patch and while inspecting the tomatoes I found an unwanted guest who had invited himself for breakfast- a green, plump caterpillar. At first I was annoyed--he'd eaten through many of the tomatoes and I could see damage on most of the leaves. However, I knew that Lachlan would be very excited to see a caterpillar, as Eric Carle's, The Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of his favourite books and also where I observed his first experience of representational play when he was reading the book to himself one day and pretending to make a caterpillar eat through the fruits on the pages. It was from this experience that his reading journey really blossomed and he began to explore and act out more and more images from books.

I gathered our little caterpillar friend and placed him in a clear jar and poked holes through the top for ventilation. I called Lachlan over to show him what was inside and he was so excited! He began giggling and pointing at the caterpillar and watched in fascination as it slinked its way around the jar. "He's just like The Very Hungry Caterpillar," I said. "Look at this tomato he ate through!" I showed Lachlan the tomato and he smiled with amazement. "Should we give him something more to eat?" Lachlan shook his head yes and his daddy suggested we put a large tomato leaf in the jar so the caterpillar could finish his breakfast. The caterpillar didn't waste anytime. Right away we crawled on the leaf and began nibbling away. Before we knew it he was eating so much that the bottom of the jar was filled with little caterpillar poos. I never knew a caterpillar could poo so much! This of course was of great fascination to Lachlan as well.

Lachlan took a nap and after he woke up he was surprised to see that the caterpillar had already finished half of the huge tomato leaf and was still eating. Lachlan sat and ate his lunch and insisted that the caterpillar sit at the table with him. He ate and watched the caterpillar eat. He also have the jar a little shake to see what would happen. The caterpillar clung to the leaf for dear life, survived the mighty toddler earthquake and resumed back to his eating rituals. I took out Lachlan's The Very Hungry Caterpillar book so he could look at it. He took the book over the the jar and began smiling and pointing at the caterpillar in the book and pointing to the one in the jar. I reminded him that the caterpillar is eating a lot so it can make a cocoon and turn into butterfly; this made him very happy and excited as he understood the possibility.

Each day we monitored our caterpillar and feed him well. On Tuesday we tried to switch up his food to add some variety and I put a lettuce and mint leaf in the jar. The caterpillar refused to eat all morning and searched the bottom of the jar. That evening we put another tomato leaf in the jar and he was happy again- eating and pooping as usual. Wednesday morning Lachlan insisted that we take the caterpillar with us where ever we went. He had gotten very attached. I told him that I'm sure his friends at our play sessions would love to see it so we'll bring it along. I also took The Very Hungry Caterpillar book to share with the class. Lachlan was very proud. Anytime someone walked over to the table to look at the jar he ran over and pointed inside to show them the caterpillar. All the toddlers were fascinated and enjoyed it when I shared the book with them. Lachlan helped in the reading by making smacking noises with his lips and wiggling his toy caterpillar along the pages and into the holes of the fruit. We talked about the caterpillar and how we hoped that it would also make a cocoon just like the one in the story.

Finding the same cocoon in The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The following week came and we continued to monitor our little hungry friend. Monday of that week he began to look very unwell' just like Eric Carle's caterpillar in the story. For two days he ate nothing, not even a fresh tomato leaf. He laid on the bottom of the jar and we had to wonder if he was going to make it or not. I thought we might be dead. Wednesday morning however we woke up to a lovely surprise. On the bottom of our jar was a cocoon! Over night the caterpillar had begun making his little house and by morning he was completely wrapped up. I couldn't wait for Lachlan to see. I only hoped he would understand what has happened and not be sad to see the caterpillar gone. When Lachlan looked in the jar he was astonished. "Look! Our caterpillar made a house around him. A cocoon!" I exclaimed. Right away Lachlan understood. He clapped and laughed. He trotted his little feet over to get his caterpillar book and turned it to the page with the cocoon and began pointing to both of them. Again he sat and ate his breakfast with his little cocoon next to him.

Pupa, Day 1

That morning we went to our play session again and shared our cocoon with our friends. The children were delighted to see the cocoon and the parents enjoyed the opportunity to talk to their children about what had happened to the caterpillar. When we got home set up Lachlan's table with a magnified glass and some books with butterflies, caterpillars and cocoons in them. I told him that the caterpillar inside the cocoon is now called a pupa; over his head I'm sure but we should never underestimate a children's ability to take in information. Lachlan was free to go to the table and explore the items. He enjoyed looking through the books and at all the different types of cocoons. I talked to him about how I was imagining what our caterpillar might look like once he emerges from the cocoon and becomes a butterfly.

A week went by and we patiently watched the cocoon. If Lachlan gave the jar a little shape, the tail end of the cocoon would react and wriggle. Two weeks approached and it was time for us to prepare for Christmas. We always go out of town and we intended to bring the jar with us so we couldn't miss the butterfly make its grand entrance into the world. Among all the hustle and bustle, we forgot. When we got to the beach house we wondered what would happen to our little friend- would we arrive home with a beautiful butterfly sitting on the twig or would it be dead or would we get lucky and it still be in a pupa state?

Well, I wish I had a beautiful happy ending for the story but I don't. We arrived home and I went to the kitchen to look in the jar. I was very happy to see that the cocoon had busted open; but where was the butterfly? I looked all around the jar and saw nothing. I inspected the cocoon again and it looked like possible there might have been a little bit of something inside but I couldn't tell because it was all dried up. A sad ending to such a hopeful story for a toddler. I didn't bother to show Lachlan. He don't think he'd understand what happened and he'd only wonder where the butterfly was and probably get frustrated. Thankfully since we'd been gone for awhile on holiday he forgot all about his cocoon and hasn't asked for it so that is where we are leaving it. Perhaps we'll find another caterpillar this summer and try again or next year will come around and Lachlan will be a bit more mature to try the experiment on his own and contemplate the results whatever they may be. It was a fun science experience for him though and it was wonderful for him to be able to make the connection from his book to the real world of mother nature. The joys of learning! Hopefully better luck for us next time...

Just a Little Snail Tale...

Spring is approaching over here in our neck of the woods. It is arriving with much anticipation as we are ready to enjoy a little warm sun on our faces and some trips to the beach. More importantly, spring offers a rebirth of all Mother Nature's creations; baby birds in nests, spiders webs glistening from the morning dew, baby blue tongue lizards trying to find a place to live. The is a lot of curious things going on in our backyard!

Over the last few weekends my husband and I have been making us of the good weather to prep our garden beds for their spring plantings. Since our trip to Europe, quite a few weeds decided to make an appearance so we had quite a bit of work cut out for us. Lachlan enjoyed his time running around the yard playing with our dog Max and watching me pull weeds. While pulling weeds, I discovered a gardeners night mare: snails. They are a pesk to the garden, but very interesting for a child...an even me! I was labeled a 'tomboy' as a child and still live up to the name. I brought the snail over to Lachlan. It was all curled up in the shell so I think he just thought it was a seashell and began to say, 'shell.' I told him, "That's right. It is a shell but something lives inside of it. Watch and see." Slowly the snail began to uncurl itself out of the shell. Lachlan stared with much curiosity. He looked at me with a face that said, "What in the world?"

"It is a snail." I told him. "I'm going to put it down and we can watch it crawl." Together we watched the snail slowly slug its way across the patio, shooing Maxwell away who was just as curious as Lachlan. We watched the snail retract itself when Max tried to touch it with its snout. We saw how gracefully it would uncurl and push out its little eyes. "See those little black dots? Those are his eyes! They really stick out don't they?" When Lachlan was comfortable he picked up the snail and examined it closer. It was nice to see him up and close with nature and at an age where he can explore more freely. The experience really got me excited about all the nature experiences that are in store for us this spring and summer. It also inspired me collect some nature items on our family walk that afternoon. In the evening I set up Lachlan's table with some interesting things to explore; a few seashells of various sizes and textures, a pine cone and a leaf found on our walk and also a magpie and a cockatoo feather. I provided a magnified glass for Lachlan and showed him how to use it. First we had fun looking at one another through the glass, then we began to explore the objects. He particularly like feeling the different textures. I even encouraged him to try a little experiment with me by blowing on the objects. We blew on the shells but they wouldn't move. The pine cone shook a bit when mommy blew on it. The feather flew off the table when Lachlan blew on it. What a surprise it was for him! We each grabbed a feather and practiced blowing them off the table laughing the whole time.

Hopefully our little experience has inspired you to go out into nature this week and find a few things to get curious about! Until next time...Happy Parenting!