This morning, although Giggles was pretty much over her chicken pox, we stayed home from church. We had slept in a bit (Giggles had difficulty going to sleep last night, what with the heat and not being allowed to fall asleep in Mommy’s bed) so would have missed Sunday School anyhow, and she and I just needed a bit of down time. The past few weekends have been super-busy, and weeknights seem to fly by too, so it felt good to have a lazier day.
Giggles has taken to taking the cat for walks – meaning Giggles walks and carries the cat, who at 19 ½ years old with creaky joints, isn’t inclined to do much exploring these days, though when she was young she did. Giggles’ theory is that by taking the cat out for walks she (the cat) will get some exercise and energy and build her muscles stronger. (Not too likely, kiddo, but as long as the cat tolerates it – which is another change from when she was young! – and Giggles is gentle, I don’t mind.)
So this morning Giggles, cat and I all went for a walk to the big oak park two blocks away. After exhausting the entertainment opportunities afforded by the cat (who wasn’t really cooperating with Giggles’ attempts to make her dance and run and jump), Giggles and I played Queen and servant (guess which one she was…!) during which I had to attack all the enemies about to invade, so I picked up my special oak tickle torch and set upon the enemies, who all died laughing. Then we played hide and seek followed by freeze tag. (Meanwhile, cat was sleeping in the shade under one of the benches, with her leash securely attached.) Then it was back to Queen and servant, and my task was to prepare a feast of congee and jiaozi (rice porridge and dumplings). After preparing the congee (ripe dandelion fluff) and jiaozi (dandelion flowers) we sat on a bench to eat it.While sitting there, I noticed a caterpillar taking a break on the bench too and called Giggles over to take a look. She was quite entranced by the little creature, so we carried it home with us and attempted to find out on the internet what kind of caterpillar it was, to no avail. We then found pickle jar and I pounded some holes in the lid for airholes, and in went Sherman the Wormin (name borrowed from a Backyardigans adventure!). Then back to the park it was, quickly (and sans cat) to pick some leaves for Shermin to eat. Since we’d found him a park bench, we picked some of the leaves from the trees in the park (oak and lilac) as well as some clover and grass. Into the jar they went, along with a popsicle stick for his playground.
Sherman provided endless entertainment for the rest of the day. He is a very good pet- listens well, does what you ask him to do, doesn’t make messes, and doesn’t eat much (oak leaves seem to be his preferred food). He spent the rest of the day having lots of ‘ventures (as Giggles says): being shown around the house, introduced to the neighbours, garden, various rooms of the house, beds, toys, etc. etc. He even had story time with Giggles and me, and helped Giggles read one of her books. A very helpful little critter! (If caterpillars could think, I wonder what Sherman would have thought of all that!)Giggles intends to take him to school tomorrow in his little playground. She’s been asking if she could take cat, to which I have said repeatedly no. (I think she got the idea from the Junie B. Jones book we’ve been reading, in which Junie B. tries to find some kind of live animal she can take to school for pet day, as they’re only allowed to bring in pictures of cats or dogs, which just doesn’t cut it for Junie B., but they are allowed to bring in small pets in cages. June B. end up taking Fish Stick – and her pet gets first prize for best behaviour, which is no doubt a first for Junie B!) Anyhow, a caterpillar in a jar is much more portable and well-behaved than an old cranky cat. And seeing as the Grade 1s are studying butterflies right now and have several caterpillars that have already formed chrysalises and will soon emerge as painted lady butterflies, taking Sherman to school has the added benefit of fitting the curriculum. So off to school he will go!
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