The Good, The Bad, The Amusing

The Good: My children got to experience their first crawfish boil! Sure, two of them mercifully slept through most of it, but Wyatt thoroughly enjoyed himself. He petted the crawfish and then ate his weight in crawfish, shrimp, corn, and brownies. It was a great way to celebrate my sister-in-law's pending graduation (she has one more final!). 42 pounds of mud bugs gave their lives for a good cause.

The Bad: At the crawfish boil, I was sitting with my back turned to Wyatt, but I guess my mommy-radar never turns off. Even though I am not even listening to Wyatt's constant chatter, I still somehow manage to tune in enough when he speaks words I shouldn't hear, such as "That's a stinging worm." I turn, and sure enough, there was a huge, black, stinging caterpillar on his shorts. I jump up and scream, "Wyatt! Don't touch it!" I continue to yell this phrase, as if repetition and volume are the 2 components to keeping him safe. Granddaddy swooped in for a save, at which point Wyatt burst into tears. Turns out, he had already "petted" the stinging caterpillar. The swelling was down by tonight, so all is well.

The Amusing: My father-in-law has one of those super duper lawnmowers that can turn on a dime and goes faster than I can run. My husband loves it. I do not. He goes too fast (because he can), ultimately hitting things in his path. Last year alone, he killed a small bush, dented 2 of the posts on Wyatt's swing set, chopped a hole in my watering hose, and pureed a couple toys left in his path. And, since I am female and can't help myself sometimes, my husband has had several warnings about his actions on this expensive toy. Today, though, was the coup de gras. He hit and broke a water line where it comes out of the ground for the faucet I use to water plants. Yep--broke it. Water everywhere. Angry? Oh no. I think this is hysterical. So, instead of finishing the mowing, he had to turn off the water to the entire house, dig up the pipe, go to the store to get the pieces, and reassemble it. Lesson learned? I doubt it.