Stomp Rockets, Pet Cicadas, and Other Weekend Activities

We went to the library on Saturday to get another science kit. Most of the kits were already checked out so we ended up selecting one that had a math game. Kai was looking forward to bringing it home until he saw another child holding a kit that contained a stomp rocket. Suddenly, the math game didn’t seem so attractive.

“That’s not fair!”

I explained that of course it was fair; the other child had gotten to the library before us and had selected this kit.

“They should be allowed to have the kit for only one week!”

Well, you got to keep yours for two weeks.

“I’m telling the librarian!”

And so he did.

To no avail. She explained to him as I did, that kids are given two weeks to do all the things in the kits.

He remained angry until, on the way home, I remembered that we actually had a stomp rocket at home. One that Kai never plays with. When I reminded him about it, his mood brightened and he couldn’t wait to find it.

And he had a great time playing with it.

The math game was also pretty good, by the way. It was a math version of Scrabble where you use tiles to make equations. Integers and simple operations like addition are worth fewer points; fractions and operations like division are worth more.

* * * * *
Kai’s boxing class resumed on Saturday after a summer respite. Even though it was just a three-month break, I noticed a difference in some of the other kids.

One boy in particular, a boy two years older than Kai, especially stuck out is a good way.

He looked taller. But it was more than his physical growth that caught my attention.

He came over to me, struck up a conversation, and even took out his hand to shake. Considering he had not spoken more than a few words to me before, I was really impressed with how social and mature he was. I can only hope that Kai is like that in two years.

Apparently Kai has changed in his own way, too. Another parent remarked to me how good he looked; that it appeared like he lost a lot of weight. You know, he does look better than he did last spring; it’s just harder to notice when you see him every day.

Kai’s boxing instructor also smiled at how Kai actively participated this week. He wasn’t shy with his sparring and he worked up a sweat, something he didn’t always do last year.

Maybe it’s not so unrealistic that he can mature into a nice twelve year old like that other boy.

* * * * *
We went out to play with the stomp rocket again on Sunday when Kai found a cicada.

He said it was a male cicada. I asked him how he could tell, and he said he looked at its private parts. Do cicadas have private parts?

He wanted to take it into the house to show Mom. I told him that Mom would not want it in the house, and besides, she’s not so crazy about bugs anyway.

As Kai was preoccupied with the cicada and no longer interested in the stomp rocket, I cleaned up a few things in the yard. When I saw him again he was coming back outside. I asked him what he did with the cicada. He said that he let it go.

When I came in the house, I noticed that he wasn’t hanging around in the kitchen as usual; he was in his bedroom. I went up to his room to investigate, and he showed me the cicada. He had brought it inside the house and was now among his Lego sets. He had also brought a leaf inside. It was lunch for the cicada.

I could have ordered him to take it outside, but I didn’t. I kind of liked that he took interest in it, and that he wanted to take care of the critter.

He told me that it would be a secret from Mom. He said he would keep the door to his room closed when he went out for his afternoon exercise group.

When he returned home, he rushed to his room. After a while he called for me.

“Dad, I can’t find the cicada.”

We looked around but could not find it. His room has a lot of stuff so it could be hidden among any number of items. I told him that it would probably turn up sooner or later (or be found dead by his mother, I thought).

He finally gave up trying to find it, and went downstairs to ask Mom if she saw it. My wife was shocked that he had brought it into the house, and not happy that it was on the loose.

Oh well, what can you do?

Though a nagging thought is bothering me. Kai said something about wanting to find a female cicada so that he could breed more of them.