Theodore is so cute. Edwin suggested "Let's play the game. .." in the car. Theodore said "Let's get bored first! "

Double lucky double flat tires

This past weekend we were very lucky. We had both cars at the Pack campsite, because Zachary was at the Troop camping event, and I had planned to leave the Pack campsite early to meet up with him.  Our gray car got a flat, and we innocently tried to install the donut.  The donut would not take air. Our red car has 5 nuts per tire but our gray car has 4, so we could not make use of our other car's spare.  All the friends we were willing to ask also had cars with 5 nuts. This seems quite unlucky.  But we were in fact SUPER lucky.

The flat was entirely our own fault (the tires were 8 years old) and it would have been entirely a bad idea to try to make it home on a donut and 3 now-unbalanced 8 year old tires.  This mess could not have happened at a better time, as all of us were safe and it was a weekend. Zachary was with Nayher and Diego, well cared for and having a fun time.  AAA towed us to a AAA repair shop where they sold us good tires, fixed the valve in the donut, fixed our headlight, realigned the car.  It was entirely good luck all around.  And now we realize what happens to tires after 8 years. 

We had not driven on them nonstop for 8 years, as they were winter tires. We had been alternating them with the all-seasons, but when the all-seasons lost their tread, we just kept the winter tires on, thinking we would just use them up and then buy all-seasons on the next go-around.  But we had not considered the actual age of the rubber in this decision.  Now we know.

Although this was good luck, it was nonetheless very tiring this weekend.

Sundial

Theodore asked Michael today on the way to the bus stop, "Does your sundial automatically adjust for daylight saving time?"

Theodore is my thoughtful boy. He's constantly thinking deep thoughts and I can't even remember them all well enough to blog.  But he's constantly asking for "classification" clarity.  "Is an acorn a seed?" and such. 

Today, I took him to the bathroom during a rainy swim meet.  This brought us inside briefly.  I squatted down to talk to him and he looked intently into my eyes and asked, "Mommy... why are your glasses dry?" (Because it was not raining too hard, and I was wearing a hat.)  So we talked about that.  "If it is raining hard, will the rain go through your hat!?"  (More discussion...)

At lunch, we all went out for Chinese (the 5 of us, plus my parents, Crissy and Cathy).  Theodore (unbeknownst to me) had opened and read his fortune cookie.  He turned to me and asked, "Will I even be alive next century?"  I had this thoughtful response that he listened carefully to, and after my long answer,  I saw that he'd read a fortune that said something like "Maybe you could live on the moon in the next century" or something like that. I didn't even realize he read his fortune.

He stares right into your eyes, and if you smile, he smiles right back, a huge warm smile that just wraps you up in it. 

Theodore has been asking so many great questions I can't even recall half of them.  Last weekend, I told him an acorn grows up into an oak tree.  He thought about it and said, "Is an acorn a seed?!".  Tonight, he asked me why bread has a crust and why the food has to spin around in the microwave oven. 

In the bathroom, he was staring at my shirt (Theodore was) and he asked me, "Mommy, your shirt says 'Pi Day of the Century'.  You have a spiral of (infinite) digits.  But Pi is between 3 and 4.  Pi is not infinite. So why do you have that spiral?"

Today, Theodore asked me something that I can't quite repeat but I think he was asking me for the day of week of the last day of the year. I told him it depended on which year, and that it changed.  So, I told him December 31 is the last day of the year.

T: Except on a leap year, then December 32 would be the last day of the year!

Me: No, it's always December 31.

T: But then when is leap day!?

Theodore whispering to Zachary at dinner... "Don't read 'kid' backwards..."