Thomas was reading through our recent blogs and was quite put out that very few were about HIM! So, since he is asleep now and looks no different than all the other photos of him asleep that we have included in previous blogs, I will include photos of his results of his activities instead.
After taking him to the Flint Art Fair to see Stephanie's Monster booth, Thomas lamented that HE couldn't make monsters. So I asked Stephanie if she would spend a few hours with Thomas showing him how to translate his drawings (of which he has hundreds) into 3-d objects. I proposed paying her to cover the costs of babysitting for her 1 year old daughter Olive, but she wouldn't take money--but did ask that we sit with Olive while she and Thomas worked. Since Simon was going to be home, I thought nothing of it and agreed. That first evening, when Stephanie handed Olive over to us, she screamed like someone had pulled her foot off but, unable to resist Simon's expert "jiggling", she was soon deeply, sweatily, asleep. Thomas and I had cut up pieces and he and Stephanie managed to sew them together. Apparently, though, I am no expert monster designer as I only made things worse for them by having Thomas cuts all the bits separately. Thomas refuses to name him (other than "The Flame Dude") as he isn't satisfied with it (note the seams not lining up) but, for the sake of historical accuracy, here it is:
For the second piece, Stephanie and Thomas cut and assembled the pieces themselves with no interference from me and it went much better--it took less time to make it and it turned out much better. (Though during this sewing lesson session because Simon was at his art class, I was in charge of Olive and, not the jiggling master Simon is, it took me much longer to get her to fall asleep. Then, once I finally did, Frederick came home and his jubilant trumpeting through the house startled her awake like someone fired a shot gun. It worked out fine, though, as she found Frederick fascinating and it turns out they share a love for Sesame Street songs, "C is for Cookie" in particular.) I like this one and Thomas is more satified with it than the first one. (Though he did say that this one, too, fails to live up to the splendor he had envisioned. So the lesson here is that Thomas is getting his first taste of the Hegelian thesis/antithesis aka the immaterial mind confronting material nature--perhaps it's time he read my dissertation?) If this one has a name, Thomas isn't telling.
Meanwhile, his garden continues to flourish. Here is the Pumkin Palace brought out of storage. Thomas got me a gardening book for a present years ago and one of the suggestions for parent/kid activity was to circle a piece of chicken wire, fill with compost and plant pumpkin seeds. We tried it then with only moderate success as, thought the plants grew, the squirrels ate the pumpkins just as they were starting to ripen. Refusing to be beaten, we are trying again, this time with the compost being held in check with cardboard and the whole Palace nearer our backdoor, the idea being that it will scare away the squirrels. So far the pumpkins and cantalopes are doing well and as ofyet no sign of squirrel damage, though I wouldn't be surprised if they are simply biding their time.
And this is Thomas's real pride and joy, his balcony garden which features tomatos, beans, parsley, basil and sunflowers. Thomas is a very attentive gardener: he weeds and waters every day. He also talks to and cuddles his plants very encouragingly. I have told him that plants might prefer to NOT be squeezed and fondled like one would a puppy, but what do I know--he's getter better results than I ever have from a tomato plant.
As stated above, we're just heading into a heat wave so I am going to be keeping an eye on those tomatos. Some are just on the verge of being ripe.
I'm surprised I found beans as I know that Thomas checks for (and eats) the beans as soon as he finds them. (This is, after all, the same child who would sneak into Granny's poly tunnel to feast on beans when no one was looking--and sometimes even when people were looking.)
The sunflowers are all in bloom, most over 5' tall.
We haven't had any rain in weeks and so the yard looks parched and sad. Rumor has it that we are going to get rain tonight and, if we do, I'll take photos of the backyard to show how things there progress--and even if we don't get rain, if only to show how crackly and desperate the grass looks.
