my tightrope walkers

a sunny day for a walk to the grocery... 

but before that happened, this did.  henry took the credit for bringing the snail in, but he says he did not put her there.  he put her on top of the window ledge and she climbed down.  

he takes her back outside at my request...

and practices his tightrope act...

it's later in the morning when we go out to the grocery store and walk back and see the cows out grazing...

again... i say walk, and this is what i mean...

later we do some chemistry with citric acid...

and even later we make pizza dough for tomorrow's dinner...

we have the luxury of a long afternoon because william was getting himself home from school (or rather, after-school) today.  nearly as soon as he got home he asked if there was anything we needed at the farm store.  "no," i say, disappointed i've crossed everything off my grocery list and am therefore unable to give him a reason to get back out there and try something else on his own (i suggest he could buy something with his own money, but he's not too keen on this idea... he's saving up for a house).  but as soon as he realizes we're having pizza tomorrow, he asks if we have any pineapple (his favorite pizza topping).  "we don't!"  i doubt the farm store will have pineapple, but it's worth a try.  he bikes over there and quickly comes back empty-handed.  "william... do you think you'd feel good about going to the (real) grocery store on your own?"  "yes!" he says.  before i have time to talk myself out of it, i do a quick run through on "how to buy a pineapple at the grocery store" with him and send him on his way.  there is no question that i am nearly immediately second-guessing my decision, but i figure the only thing that worries me is knowing that in the united states i could probably get in trouble for doing this.  i'm not worried about his capabilities.  i'm not worried that he'll be abducted by a stranger or robbed of the pineapple.  still... when he doesn't come home after around 40 minutes, henry and i go on a mission to find him.  we get all the way to the grocery store-- me walking, henry, barefoot on his scoot bike-- only to not find him.  i make greg cut work short by about 15 minutes to ride home while we make the trek back on foot, and, of course, at some point (probably within minutes of us leaving) william's made his way safely home (sans pineapple... they were out), fixed himself a sandwich, and gone out to play.  i don't mention to him that we'd gone out looking for him (he doesn't even seem to wonder why we weren't home when he arrived) because i don't want him second guessing his self-confidence.  after all, he did everything right.  i simply know that next time i'll be certain to know which route he's taking, ahead of time, in case, as he explains it in a slightly annoyed tone: "i spent like an hour there!  first i spent a half-hour looking for pineapples and then i spent a half-hour asking if they had any and i was standing in line but then someone came and put their stuff on the belt in front of me..."  (and perhaps i won't send him looking for some never-in-season exotic fruit next time either.)  in any event, it's cool he did it and cool we live where we do, so a seven-year-old who really is capable of doing these things, can do these things.