Wanted: A Pet

During our week of fine weather, Jackson had the opportunity to excavate our empty (for now) garden.  His first find was a handful of grubs (he called them 'worms') which he proudly showed me (several times) and which I could only persuade him to let go of once I promised him his very own tupperware container to use as a home for his new pets.  Sadly, the grubs weren't able to withstand Jack's affection and later in the evening Justin sprayed the dirt that contained their little corpses (Eddie had overturned the container) off of the cement patio.  When he couldn't see his grubs through the window the next morning, Jackson soberly asked me, "My worms go live with Heavenly Father?"  

On Friday Jack returned to the garden with his shovel in hand and actually uncovered a real earthworm.  I was so happy that he finally found a real worm (because truly, the grubs were just gross) that I decided to join him in digging for more to make a 'family'.  I should explain... Jack is very into making everything represent our family.  When he plays with blocks he'll make a 'Daddy' tower, a 'Mommy' tower, a 'Jackson' tower, an 'Eddie' tower, and a 'Baby Norah' tower.  When he rearranges the food in the refrigerator door he'll arrange it according to size like it's our family:  the Miracle Whip is 'Daddy', the applesauce is 'Mommy', the grape jelly is 'Jack', the raspberry jam is 'Eddie', and the little jar of garlic is 'Norah'.  

So, naturally, Jack had to find enough worms to represent each member of our family.  After much digging we took inventory and discovered he had more than enough worms for our family and decided that the extras would need to be named after his friends.  And that's how we came to have a worm named 'Josh'.  

Once he was satisfied with the amount of worms he had, Jack thought it would be a good idea to give the worms a bath:

"Mom, I think I need a-give a-worms a bath."

"Okay, Jack.  Be careful not to use too much water or they might drown."

While Eddie looked on Jack poured water from his little watering can onto two of his worms that he'd separated into another little container.  They immediately started to frantically wiggle and float and, quickly sensing it probably wasn't the best idea anymore, Jackson said to Eddie, "I think they not need a bath... They don't like it like us."  He quickly lifted them out of the water and then turned around and said to me, "Mom, I think I not give them a bath.  I think it kill them."

I think Jackson needs a dog.  A REAL pet that he can bathe and hug and play with without worrying about sending him to live with Heavenly Father.   

     

This has nothing to do with the rest of this post, but I had to show Eddie's latest battle wound.  We're not sure how it happened because he went upstairs unscathed and came down twenty minutes later bleeding and swollen, but happy as a clam.  You just can't keep a good man down. :)  (If you enlarge the picture you can see the yellow remains of a large bruise across the bridge of his nose thanks to the disc golf disc Jack threw at him last week.)

  

Jack and his earthworms.

A proud new pet-owner.  Jack took his worm-tending responsibilities very seriously.

Jack made me take a picture of his 'worms' (the ugly grubs) for him.

And then of course he wanted a picture of him hugging his new pets.

Justin - our son needs a dog.