Ice Skating

Oliver's school had a going away outing this Saturday for a teacher who is leaving.  It was at an ice skating rink.  This was Oliver's first time, and he had lots of questions.  Most of which revolved around the safety of the event.  Mommy: "What happens if you fall down on the ice?"  "Will there be a Zamboni?"  "How sharp are the blades on the skates?"  "Do people break their bones ice skating?"  Despite my assurances, he informed me when we arrived that he did not want to ice skate.  I said it was fine and we could just watch.  So we found a spot and visited with friends.  He watched the kids and asked more questions.  I asked a couple times if he wanted to go get skates and try it.  His response, "No, thank you."

After about 20 minutes of watching.  He looked at me and said, "Mommy, no one has broken any bones."  I agreed.  About 5 more minutes passed, then he said, "Ok, I am ready, let's go ice skating."  And he did.  He was fearless and happy.  He loved it.

With his good pal, Avery.

For perspective, chatting with his friend who is 6 months younger.  

Oliver is still the little guy for his age.

Video:

My Little Engineer

Before work on Tuesday, Grandma was talking about a conversation she had with a Wisconsin Congresswoman at the airport when she was flying out to DC.  One topic that came up was related to digester legislation.  Oliver, who had been playing with his trains, immediately perked up..."mommy, do you know what Grandma is talking about?  What is a digester?"  After a short verbal description, he was still not satisfied and asked to see some pictures and a video of a digester on my phone.  We managed to find some good information on-line (thank you YouTube).  For a good basic intro on anaerobic digesters see:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aULRryCVMyY

 
Once he was done with his research, he declared that he wanted to build a digester.  So I set to work scanning the kitchen for options.  Our first version was a good attempt, but our work was not done because he insisted, "I want this digester to work!"  Version two was more to his standards, and he digested manure and organic waste (aka chia seeds) for at least an hour while discussing the process of using a digester to make biogas.  We have been talking about digesters, biogas, and energy therefrom all week.

Another day this week, Oliver declared: "I want to build something."  So I flipped through one of our science project books and we settled on this marshmallow and toothpick tower.  He built most if it himself, I just helped by adding a few extra toothpicks for stabilization at the end.  He was pretty pleased with the resulting "parking garage tower."  And, yes, I did let him eat a few of the non-essential marshmallows.