Focus on Family - Bubbles and Squirrel

Alexander loves bubbles. Jeff makes bubbles. Fun ensues for Alexander.

On Saturday, Jeffery and I took Alexander and Isabel to the playground at the school down the road to hang out with our friends Ray and Ashely and their two kids, Natalie and Jeremy. They called us with the invitation while we were eating, and when I asked Alexander if he wanted to go play with Natalie and Jeremy, he got excited and kept on saying, "Jeremy! Jeremy! Jeremy!" I think he likes Jeremy.

There are no swings at this playground, and I was beginning to wonder what Alexander would do - I was expecting him to cling to me the whole time. But I took him down one of the slides, and he was hooked! I went down with him the first time, and he wanted to do it again and again and again. After the third time of taking him up the stairs to get to the slide, I went down to socialize with Ray and Ashley while we watched the kids.

Each time Alexander made it down the slide, he would run to me and ask, "Again?" When I said, "yes," he would run back to slide down again. It was great to see a little bit of independence after he got comfortable where he was.

On Sunday, our church held a farewell luncheon for the Brethour family. Steve is the pastor I talked about last week who resigned. It was great to see them all (and little Nadia finally!).

On Monday, I took Alexander and Isabel to the Early Years Center. Alexander really enjoyed being back, I think. Isabel loved the attention she got from the kids who swarmed around her once I put her in the exersaucer. She usually sleeps for about 30 minutes at around 9:30/10:00 ish, so when she didn't sleep (too much to look at), she got fairly overwhelmed. We left at 10:30 a.m. so I could put her down for her nap. I was planning to take them on Tuesday too, but Jeff's morning appointment cancelled, so we stayed at home.

Tuesday was SO HOT!!! I am beginning to wish for winter back. I am hot a heat person - I like being able to bundle up. That's the great thing about cold versus hot. When it's cold, you can always put on layers. But when it's hot, you can only get to your bare skin, and that's it - but it's still hot! That's why I like winter better than summer. That and you can't get sunburned in the winter. I have many horror stories about getting sunburned, I don't even go out in the sun anymore. That is why I am pasty white.

Jeffery's friend, Paul, says that if we were able to survive yesterday without turning on the air conditioner (which we did, by the way), we should be able to survive the entire summer without a/c. Ummm, no. I don't want to go through another day like yesterday again. blech. Today is beginning to feel a bit like yesterday.

Isabel is getting really good at holding things. She likes to take the soother and stick it in her mouth to suck on it. Weird child. She wouldn't take it when I gave it to her, but she'll take it on her own. . .?

I don't think I've blogged about this before, so I'll start from the beginning. In October we heard a scratching noise in our living room behind the television, where the chimney chute is. We thought there was a squirrel trapped in the chimney, because he would occasionally start scratching, as if to escape where he was trapped (I'm only assuming it's a 'he'). We expected this squirrel to die after a month or so, for what animal could survive in an environment like that for very long?

Well, on Saturday I went down to the basement to switch over the laundry loads, when I saw this little black squirrel sitting in front of the washing machine! It looked like he was cleaning himself, sitting on his back legs. It also looked like he was swaying a little bit, as if he was dizzy or drunk. We looked at each other for about five seconds, then I turned around and went back upstairs, WAY too freaked out, thinking that this squirrel will start screeching and attack me. Very dramatic, I know. But I have quite the imagination.

So I stayed out of the basement until Jeff got home at around 4:00 p.m. from his appointments. We went down together, but we saw no squirrel. That's when we knew that it was the squirrel from the chimney. We saw a hole coming from where he would have wintered. This darned squirrel hibernated in our chimney and is now trying to take over our house, starting with the basement!

So we borrowed a trap and put peanut buttered treats in the trap, and hopefully the squirrel will smell the peanut butter and be drawn to it like this:

That's a funny movie, by the way. A Bug's Life. But I digress.

Not that I want the squirrel to die, we plan to release him far away from our house once he's in the cage. I just want him to be drawn to the peanut butter like the mosquito was drawn to the light. "I can't help it, it's so beautiful. . ."

That is all the drama from this past week. Cheers!

-Shirley

"We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." - 1 Thessalonians 1:3