Experiments and Underwear

Jonah came home from Joy School yesterday with a note saying he had done some experiments in school that day. He was telling Max about it tonight and we got the impression that they were seeing which sorts of things float and which sink. Max said that he could show the boys another experiment and thus began a very fun evening. 

First Max showed them the pepper/dish soap experiment. I followed that with the baking soda/vinegar experiment bubbling up and out of a tall cup. (I probably should have saved that for last because it was a big hit and would have made a true grand finale!) They wanted more experiments and so we got out food coloring and mixed yellow and blue, then blue and red, then red and yellow, and then all the colors. They still wanted more so we got out some magnets and paper clips. Max first said he could move the paper clip just by talking to it. He would tell the paper clip to go visit each of us and then move it across the paper. The boys then learned the secret and each took a turn "talking" to the paper clip. Since they still wanted more, we gathered various things for the old favorite, "Will it float?" 

The boys are at a really fun age right now and generally they are very good boys. Today at a Relief Society Enrichment activity a friend jokingly asked me if I wanted to teach parenting classes since my boys were cleaning up toys not because they were asked but just because they were done playing with them and then when I called Jonah over to come and get his coat on he ran across the gym and said, "I'm obeying!" Little does she know how often it takes 20 minutes and 50 requests (by me) for us to get down the stairs, coats on, and in the car. 

They are also really fun because they are interested and awed and excited by so many things. Like tonight with the experiments or earlier today when we went to buy new underwear. Wyatt got his first pairs of underwear. He was pretty thrilled to pick out some Cars underwear and only had two little accidents for his first day. Not bad! 

It just occurred to me last night that I hadn't bought Jonah new underwear for a while so as I did laundry I checked the size and yes, my 4 1/2-year-old was still wearing size 2-3 underwear. (I wonder if I should mention that in my parenting class.) So he got to pick out some new underwear, too. He is REALLY into pirates right now. (For example, when Max asked him to say the dinner prayer about 2 weeks ago he replied, "Arghh, yes, ye scallywag!") So he immediately picked out the skull and crossbones underwear at Target. It was a little scratchy--his term--when we opened it at home so of course it had to be washed and dried immediately and then promptly put on. When Max came home, the first thing Jonah said was, "I got skull and crossbones underwear," and then showed Max just in case the explanation wasn't clear enough. Tonight, after his pajamas were on and just before bed, he had to look at them one more time. I'm sure he'll be begging me to do laundry more since there was only one skull and crossbones pair in the set of three. 

To feel such excitement over such little things is really enviable, but I think it is also a little contagious.