Learning By The Way

Yesterday, Raquel taught Samuel how to make marshmallows. Yep, marshmallows made at home. And Samuel wanted to make them again today. He was motivated, so I gave the go ahead. He consulted several times with Aunt Raquel on various issues, and he forgot to butter the pan before pouring them in. But other than that, he did it by himself. Gathering the ingredients, lots of stirring,and checking the hot syrup for what ’stage’ it was in. Great job, Samuel! We are in the waiting stage now, and look forward to having Samuel’s marshmallows for dessert tonight.

This morning, in a particulary vigorous game involving yelling and getting wrapped up in blankets, Peter got a bloody nose. He was not paticularly perturbed by this, but a bit bothered by having to stand there holding a tissue on his nose, so I proposed a book. He chose a book about Arizona desert animals (a gift from Grandma and Grandpa in Phoenix). We sat and I read it to him. On every page there is a rhyme about a different animal, a funny cartoon picture, and a photograph of the animal. On every page he would point to the photo and say “This is how it REALLY looks.” Somewhere in the middle he got distracted by the lovely winter tableu visible out our picture window. “Look mama, more snow!” He then explained to me that a little bit more snow comes every day. After a quiet moment of contemplating Orange Street blanketed in blindingly beautiful snow, he said thoughtfully, “They say Snow White has skin as white as snow, but she doesn’t really. They just say that in the story.” Then it was back to cougars and vultures, and “This is how it REALLY looks.”