The riddle of the boy who grew overnight (and shrank the next day)

Do your kids ever seem to grow overnight? Do they ever have a growth spurt that leaves their clothes, which fitted perfectly the week before, looking far too small?

That’s what happened yesterday, when Benjamin came out wearing his “good” jeans, all ready to go out with his grandparents.  He seemed to have grown a couple of inches overnight. I have seen a few growth spurts in my time, but nothing like this. This was something else entirely.

I knew could discount the possibility that these jeans had shrunk in the last wash, because his younger brother has a pair too, and we know from experience that they are good quality clothing. In fact, we should probably have bought them two pairs each, because Jeremiah’s pair went missing yesterday.  As clothes do around here, you know. Anything from socks to jumpers can go missing or get mislaid. They have even been known to get put on the wrong hanger from time to time.

Well, the strangest thing happened this morning when we got ready to go to Church – Benjamin’s jeans fit him again! Amazing. Astounding, in a Shrinking of Treehorn sort of a way.

Oh, and another piece of good news – we found Jeremiah’s jeans this morning. But, there was a bit of a mystery there, too.  Although he hasn’t worn them since they were last worn, they really looked like they might have been worn by someone...

The mysteries of life, hey? It keeps things interesting :)

Last hurrah at Borders

When I was a little boy we would sometimes meet my father in the CBD after work, and he would take us to Haddons Bookshop which specialised in children’s books. A couple of years ago we started our own family tradition which was very similar: every now and then on a Saturday morning we would head into town, go to Borders for a coffee and then a wander around. Each child would be allowed to choose a book.

Last Saturday was the last hurrah for this family tradition, which will (hopefully) be remembered by at least some of the older children. Borders is closing down. Yes, even the big bookstores in Australia are now closing. The  trend which was depicted in this terrible movie has now come to an end, as a decline in reading and the shift to e-books seems to be taking a toll.

By way of consolation, we had Yum Cha after visiting Borders for the last time, and then managed to find a few absolute bargains in the State Library’s bookstore:

• “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” – Barbara Robinson
• “The Icebound Land” – John Flanagan
• “The Capricorn Bracelet” – Rosemary Sutcliffe
• “In the Reign of Terror” – G.A. Henty
• “Manhunt” – James L. Swanson

The kids books are all 50c at this bookstore and a lot of them are in almost mint condition, apart from the library stickers, etc.

Steve

Definition of a pay phone

A 9 year old’s definition of a pay phone:

“One of those places where you call numbers”

Time dilation and late night feeds

Strange things can happen during late night feeds.

Patrice says that she put an episode of My Three Sons on at the start of last night’s  late feed, but she only remembers the first few minutes before then seeing the credits roll at the end of the episode. 30 minutes had elapsed in what seemed like only 5 minutes. 

She put the episode back on from the start, and once again all  she remembers is the opening scene or two and then – BOOM! – the end credits. Again, 30 minutes had elapsed in what seemed like only 5 minutes.  This couldn’t be a glitch in the dvd player, could it?

Well, third time lucky.

This time, she settled herself down after changing a nappy and swapping sides. She distinctly remembers hitting fast forward, to get past the opening scenes which she had already seen (twice!), but then ended up straight back at the credits -  in what seemed like even less time than before.

What is going on, and how can we explain this strange phenomenon?

Steve

8 year old dismantles PC

When our computer died recently, my husband brought it home from the repair shop for our eight-year old son to dismantle. Tonight was THE night, so with a towel spread out to protect the dining table and  Dad’s screwdrivers in hand, he set to work.

An hour later,  just before bedtime, I went over to check on his progress. There were bits and pieces, everywhere. And his commentary went something like this: 

“I think it would have better if you had been over here.

Actually…probably not, ‘cause I had to get on top of the (dining) table a few times to get at some of it” .