Riley and Avery

So we did manage to go to the Butterfly Pavilion and Insect Center yesterday. It was a busy and long day, but it was fun. Riley went to school at ther normal time, I came home to make us some food to take with us, and we all picked her up from school and went right the the Butterfly Pavilion. It is in a suburb north of Denver, so it was quite a drive but everyone behaved.

Once we got there we ate outside (it was in the 70s) and then went in. Riley's favorite, by far, were the spiders. She astually held a tarantula! I was so proud of her (did I hold it?-uh, no). Before she held it, I told her to listen to the man and do what he says because he is going to make sure that Riley and the spider are both safe. And if she gets scared I told her to say "please take her off me" instead of throwing it or dropping it. She wasn't even the least bit scared. In fact a middle-aged man wanted to hold her but was scared and said that if Riley held it he would have to. I think he thought that there was no way Riley would hold it. But he was called on it and had to hold the tarantula, lest a three-year-old show him up. Avery's favorite, by far, was the vast assortment of cockroaches. (yay!) Riley also touched some starfish and a horseshoe crab.

The actual butterfly pavilion was so hot and humid, like Maryland in August. The kids were drinking juice like it was going out of style and their hair was curling up. Neither of the girls were really interested in the butterflies. When they flew they were too fleeting and when they landed they were too still to catch their attention. Riley was interested in the ones we pointed out to her, but she mostly wanted to run around. Avery loved the little foot bridges they had and she only wanted to go over those again and again. It was funny, she would go up to the top of the bridge and then get down and descend backwards. Like it was some high-grade decline.

Then we went to the Tattered Cover Bookstore and by the time we got home Riley was practically comatose. I tried to get her to eat some of my homemade chicken noodle soup, but she wouldn't wake up, just collapsed on the couch and fell asleep. So Avery and I ate way more than our share. No problem.

While at the bookstore, Rudi saw a free publication called "A Resource for Vegetarianism in Colorado" and gave it to me to look at. I thought it would be about vegetarian-friendly restaurants, area farmer's markets and so forth. Instead it was a graphic telling of conditions in factory farms. And I couldn't take my eyes off it and I regreted ever looking at the thing. Although there were some interesting facts, such as: it takes more than 5,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, while only 60 gallons to produce one pound of potatoes. Interesting. I found it interesting that many vegetarians don't eat actual meat, but eat dairy and eggs, when the dairy industry is hands-down the most inhumane sector of the industry. I still will eat meat in moderation, but I think we'll only buy it from the Whole Foods Market from companies with more humane practices, not from factory farms. A plague on Rudi for showing me that magazine!

Rudi got frustrated with Riley a couple of times, although I thought she was behaving really well. I think his real frustration was dealing with two children not even two years apart. He can get really mean when he spends a lot of time with them. I know it's hard now having two children so close together, but it will only get easier. Pretty soon they'll be able to play cooperatively with each other and entertain themselves. When I told him when we got home that Riley had been away from home for more than twelve hours, he kind of understood the behavior.

Another little cute thing about Riley. We were coloring in a coloring book and Riley was coloring a picture of someone holding balloons and one of the balloons was flying away in the distance and Riley said "look, one is flying away!" I thought it was cool that she realized that the balloon was small because it was in the distance, not simply because it was smaller than the other balloons. Just a little thing, I know, but it's really interesting watching children learn and develop. Ah, learning depth. She has a much more artistic mind than I thought she had when she was younger. Her coloring is getting really excellent and her drawings are getting more and more detailed. Any craft, especially if it involves glue, will entertain her for a long long time.

So Avery's naps are really wonky. She wakes up in the morning around 8 (since the onset of daylight savings time) and falls asleep in the car on the way home from dropping Riley off at school, which is around 9. And then sleeps until about 10:30. What's up with that? And then she won't take an afternoon nap at a reasonable hour. This also messes up her meals, since she doesn't wake up in time in the morning to feed her a descent breakfast before school, is asleep when we get home, and wakes up just before it's time to pick Riley up. Ugh.

So this is what I do when Riley's at school and Avery's sleeping: I blog. A lot. Well, I have a lot of catching up on housework to do and phone calls to make and mei tais to sew, so so long for now...oh god if the pictures would hurry up and upload already. Cursed dial-up.