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Sunday, November 20, 2011

Thankful tree, 2011

In 2009, I got the idea of a Thankful Tree from Emily, and it has since become one of my favorite holiday traditions. This year was the best yet, because Jack is old enough to write his own things down, so I get to see it in his handwriting.

There’s not much to say here other than to mention that Nora does not yet understand what we’re doing, so she mostly just echoed what Jack said, or else said, “Yus,” when he said things like, “Nora, aren’t you thankful for green?”

So without further ado, here are our lists:

JACK
Blueberry muffins
Angels
Cherry pie
Pizza
Pineapple pizza
Cupcakes
God
My birthday
Bunk beds
Family
New baby

NORA
Blueberry cupcakes
Pineapples
The letter H (This one was I think her own idea. I’m flummoxed also.)
Toys (My suggestion)
The color green

ME
Jack
Nora
Daddy
New baby
Our house
Pancakes
Autumn leaves
The color red (Jack’s suggestion)
My health
Books

Andrew does not have a list because I guess he has nothing to be thankful for. Or, OK, fine, possibly because he works all day and then comes home and has to take over all child-rearing responsibilities as soon as he walks in the door since I am morphing into a useless, weepy, pregnant mess. So maybe he hasn’t had time to sit and write down ten things he is thankful for.

Speaking of useless, I would post a picture of our thankful tree, and maybe a belly shot, but that would mean I’d have to stand up, so forget it.  Just imagine a tree cut out of brown paper, taped on our brown wall. The leaves are multi-colored, though, so you can tell it’s there.

Incidentally, Jack came into the kitchen this morning and said, “Mom? Dad? I suggest that there is too much brown in this house.”

Oh! And speaking of lists, one of Jack’s favorite bedtime stories is the book I gave Andrew last Christmas about the elements. And honestly, I could sit for hours and gaze at Jack and Andrew snuggled up on the couch reading about the periodic table. It absolutely warms the nerdy cockles of my heart. Currently, sitting on top of the book, is a list in childish handwriting that says, “HeLiUM, Nitrogen, Florinen.” Andrew told me that it’s the start of a list of all the elements we can’t touch. You see, Andrew told Jack that some people collect elements, and he could too if he wanted to. Jack said, “Daddy! We need to make a list of the elements we can’t touch so I know which ones I can collect!”

So Jack knows, for example, that you should not touch the alkali metals, and that fluorine is dangerously reactive so it’s best to avoid it as well. Helium was his own addition to the list since you can’t “touch” it because it’s a gas. Ditto for nitrogen.

Did I ever tell you I have a wallet-sized periodic table that I used to carry around*? Oh, my heart cockles.  

*I really did, and I used it all the time because it had the gas constant in about eight different unit sets on the back of it. So handy.



6 comments:

Elsha said...

I love the idea of a thankful tree. And I'm a little jealous that I never had a wallet-sized periodic table. I could have used one of those!

A'Dell said...

This post makes me smile at almost every sentence. I tried to do a Thankful Tree with Claire and got nowhere fast. I think maybe next year. (Although, in the car the other day she did randomly tell me she is thankful for bananas.)

WHERE IS THAT BABY?! COME ON OUT, BABY!

Becca said...

No kidding, I *just* stopped carrying my pocket-sized periodic table around!

Krizzzz said...

As a fellow nerd, I agree: few things are better than watching your family get nerdy.

Doing My Best said...

Is it the newish book with the GORGEOUS illustrations? We have that one ("The Elements"?) AND Husband snagged a matching poster at work!!

Dr. Maureen said...

@Doing My Best: Probably the same one you're thinking of, the one by Theodore Gray? And there's a poster? I WANT THE POSTER.