I am so incredibly behind, that I'm just going to type tid-bits to go with pictures and then move on to the present. February has been busy... And full of excitement. Yes, Ethan did decide he must enter the Science Fair this year, so I got him what he needed for his experiment and he worked on it all month long. Every morning he'd go and check his plants - to see if the organic or regular potting soil was growing faster. He was a man obsessed and couldn't wait to show me when there was a change. I tried to convince him not to do it - I didn't want to worry about it - and learned quickly that he was passionate about it, so we went with it. Now I'm kicking myself for ever doubting him or wanting to hold him back. He worked so incredibly hard.
Ethan's basketball team wore lightning bolt tattoos one night in honor of their teammate who is battling cancer. We took lots of pictures and then the kiddo showed up with his own bolts on his cute bald head. It was a very heartwarming evening. Kids are the best.
In swimming, Ethan finally passed Guppy to make his way over to Minnow. His teacher wasn't sure she was going to pass him - wanted him to prove a few more things during class. I thought I was going to pass out I was so nervous for him. After 5 times in the level he was more than frustrated. He loves swimming but it was getting too much for him to take. I sat on pins and needles as he swam his heart out - not knowing if it was enough and I was going to have a completely broken-hearted boy swear off swimming for good. And then I got the scream across the pool - "MINNOW MOM" with a big thumbs up. And the tears started. I couldn't stop. I was so proud/frustrated/relieved that I just couldn't handle it. Luckily, the tears dried up before he got back over to me.
Lucas had his first crush this month. This was the first Valentine's Day that he really was interested in and it all had to do with a cute little girl in his class. "She's gonna walk with ME tomorrow," he told me as he filled out her card.
I heard her name probably 20 times over the next 24 hours. All with a shy, sweet smile creeping up the corners of his mouth.
I'm not sure anything happened that day, but I do know he was ever so eagerly going through each and every valentine -
"this one's bery 'pecial mom."
Ethan kept working on his project - dutifully writing and typing (until I took over the typing job - a woman can only take so much 2 word a minute typing). We discussed all things hypothesis and conclusion as we continued to watch the plants grow.
Lucas discovered he likes life as a dog. He never fails to entertain me. It's actually one way he deals with stressful situations, a coping mechanism, but he also just likes to play fetch. It probably is just confusing as there are more pets in the house than humans. I get it.
It finally came time to put together our results and for Ethan to do his poster. He measured, recorded, found the median (why, oh why did I pick an even number of beans), and was astounded.
His hypothesis was wrong. The chemicals did not help the plant to grow taller. The organic plants were taller.
I taught him to use the little plastic paper cutter and we found some easy stick letters and Voila - the poster was done.
On the night of the science fair he was so proud. The kids don't have to stand by their projects - they just present in class and then they are free to roam around. But he wanted to tell people what he learned and explain what he found out. And then they called his name as one of the ones who were picked by the judges to be sponsored into the State Science Fair. And he was speechless. And then the tears came again.
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