Tales From the Baby's Mouth

In the bright, cool morning I went briskly outside to mow the lawn. After retrieving the mower from the garage (no easy feat as anyone who has seen the garage can attest) I checked the lawn for stones, pine cones and toys, and then proceeded to turn on the mower, pulling the cord powerfully and with great force.
Nothing.
I tried again.
Still nothing. Not even a little.
I checked the directions and kept at it. It was kind of embarrassing, as I spent one summer as a maintainence worker for a family camp in the mountains, mowing the huge lawns with tractors and driving all kinds of large and heavy equipment, but I couldn't start the lawn mower today. Then I checked the gas tank. Ah.

The weather is lovely. It's still not swimming weather, unless you don't mind a really cool breeze as soon as you step out of the pool, but if you aren't wet it's a glorious day. The cats are happy. The birds who eat all the cat food are happy. Child Six was eager to get outside and explore. Child Four asked me to help her get the stroller out of the back of the van, and while I was coming outside to help her, Six, who was sitting on the driveway, inserted something in his mouth. "Are you getting a taste of nature, little one?" I asked and then stuck my finger in his mouth to remove whatever tasty treat he had found. Out popped...a SNAIL! All covered in slime and saliva. Eeeew! He coughed and choked a little so I stuck my finger back in and removed some snail flesh and a bit of shell. Eeeew! He's the first of all of us to try escargot and, judging from the way he squinched up his big blue eyes and snorted, I don't think he especially liked it. I'm sure the snail was pretty offended, too. When we got back from our walk the snail was gone, so it must have survived it's first adventure in a human mouth. (I am, of course, assuming that was the first time Mr. Snail was in someone's mouth. Maybe there are stories untold that would astound and shock us from the snail world.)

The girls excitedly showed me a patch of wheatgrass they had accidentally grown. It's a long story, but there was a bunch of old wheat in the back room we call the "spa." A lot of it made its way to the patio, where some of it was carried to a little round planter in the back yard. Lo and behold, it grew lush and thick. I can now juice it. I have a wheatgrass juicer and the kids know I juice the stuff, so they were very pleased to show me such a nice bunch of it.

Oldest Child saw me crocheting and wanted me to teach her. I have taught her the basic chain so I taught her the single crochet. All the girls are left-handed (what are the odds of that?) and I am right-handed, so teaching them to crochet is an awkward thing for me. Needless to say, though I tried my best, Oldest got frustrated and decided to never do it again. Kind of how I feel about sewing. We'll try again when she's less upset about it.

Child Five's joke: "There were three Nemo's in the water and a guy shoots two. How many are left?"
Me: "One?"
Five: "Nope. None. You know why?"
Me: "Why?"
Five: "Because the other Nemo swimmed away because he didn't want to get shooted. Shot."