The Butterfly Effect

Just got back from Siena's first class trip, to the butterfly garden at USC's natural history museum.

We gathered at day care with the children, teachers, and other parents; Siena wasn't the only kid blessed with two parents for this trip. But several kids, as you'd expect, had no parents with that kind of time on their hands. So how to get them the two miles across the campus neighborhood to the museum, when Siena and the rest were in strollers?

USC Day Care's answer was a six-seater wagon that needed a parent foolish enough to push the darn thing two miles. Guess who drew the short straw? Actually, it was a blast pushing the kids across campus, waving to the students and pigeons. But on the way back, Daddy was happy to let another father do the honors.

The garden sits across from the L.A. Coliseum within a mesh-enclosed house, with double-doors entrance and exit that resemble poor-man's airlocks to keep the butterflies inside. The kids certainly enjoyed runing among the butterflies, but I don't think that many of them read the signs saying Do Not Touch the Butterflies.

After the tour we caravaned across the street to a park for lunch. And Siena proved an adage that was true when Daddy was her age: the kids whose parents chaperone are always the worst behaved. When the other kids quietly ate their sandwiches, Siena was hurling herself on the floor in protest over not being allowed to play on the jungle gym. But soon everyone finished lunch and went berserk on the slides while the parents played a deep zone defense.

Mama had to cut out early for class, so on the way back to day care Daddy pushed Siena's stroller rather than the Li'l People Mover. Sure enough, after that morning, once Siena sat in the stroller she crashed like the Hindenberg. So rather than leave her at day care for the afternoon, Daddy just took her home; you can't deny her a much-needed nap.

Summer School

Siena's in USC Day Care, and appears to be flourishing. She's got herself a boyfriend, whom she has to hug and kiss goodbye at the end of the day. I'm not sure that the gentlemen is aware of this development, but he doesn't let it bother him. Actually, the kids are generaly feeling the love; there's lots of hugs among Siena and her friends.

Siena's learning to spell, sort of. Between the chalk board and Etch-A-Sketch, we've been able to get her to recognize "S," and to know that it's the letter that starts Siena ("Enna!") She also knows that "M" starts Mommy, Mimi, and MawMaw. "D" for Daddy and "P" fpr Pop-Pop and PawPaw, however, are taking a little longer.

Thursday her day care class will take a field trip to see the butterfly collection at the Natural History Museum. Yours Truly shall chaperone, and I'll be sure to recount all the precious moments.