Fishermen

My dad LOVES to fish.  He lives on a lake home in Wisconsin where he can fish on a daily basis.   The past year and half our boys have been old enough to fully enjoy the experience, but we hadn't made it up to the lake home during fishing season yet.  When my dad has come to Florida in the past 2 years, we never got around to fishing. 

Almost 3 weeks ago, my parents began their first "snow bird" stay in Florida.  They are renting a beach home that has a beautiful backyard ending right into the Intercoastal waters.  The property includes a pier.  My Dad has been spending the past few weeks preparing for the first fishing trip with the boys.  He went to a tackle shop and "talked shop", desiring to provide a very successful fishing experience for the boys.  

Yesterday, was the big day.  The boys were so excited, packing their backpacks full of "fishing gear" and snacks to munch on. They left for the beach home to fish off the pier at 1:00 p.m. and returned at 6:00 p.m.

It was a very successful experience: 20 fish.  They used live shrimp and the fish were biting immediately once the cast their line.  The boys gave the day a 10!

Today they are filleting the fish.  So far they have said today is a 9. 

 

 

In Tune with Thyself

I have often been amazed at how emotionally aware Eli is with his feelings.  Even in my 30's I have many feelings which usually present themselves as anger.  I struggle name the actual emotion to what I am feeling.  Not Eli, since he has been able to talk well, probably about 2 years old, he has been able to express his actual feelings in words within minutes of acting out or even without action out prior. 

Today Eli says:  "I am feeling selfish Mom." 

(How cool is that, he can name the actual emotion instead of just saying I am mad.  He was happily playing when he said this and there was no assistance from me to name his emotion.) 

Why?:  "Because I don't want to share my new bouncy ball tomorrow with our friends." 

His final thought could use some training.  He decided he better just find a way to not let his friends play with the ball.  He mentioned hiding it or playing with it in their presence and flat out telling them they can't use his ball.