Crescents

We weren't in the perfect place for viewing...which I gather was closer to Mt. Shasta...but last weekend we were treated to a rare annular eclipse. Since Smunch was at baseball practice (as always), I went and hung out with Mam. I brought an index card with a hole punched in it...because I'm high tech that way.

Mam was thrilled to be able to see the light coming through the hole turn into a little glowing crescent on the ground.

It still paled in comparison, however, to her mommy-aided discovery that now all the places where the sun shone through the trees appeared as crescents too.

A lot of things excite this little girl, especially anything to do with science or nature. I'm not sure I've ever seen her so excited as she was, running all over the school grounds screaming "Crescents! Look Mommy, crescents!"

Smunch was less than thrilled with the whole event by the time practice was over, but he'd gotten to see it too.

Some things you just shouldn't miss doing with your children, certain children in particular.

Total Eclipse

If you're out here on the West Coast of the United States, you may know there was a full lunar eclipse this morning at 3:37am. My mom was always fascinated by stuff like this and she often woke us up to see cool celestial events. I wasn't actually crazy enough to set my alarm for the wee hours of the morning. My husband already thinks I'm insane. I didn't need to wake him up at some ridiculous hour just to prove it...at least not by alarm clock.

Secretly, I told my brain to wake me up, just so I could see it. My brain isn't too bad at these things. I woke up at 3:40am. And I got up, waking husband in the process, to go take a peak at the moon. By that time, it was a faint brownish object in the sky. When I went to sleep, it had been lighting up in the entire yard, it was so bright.

I thought about waking Smunch up. You don't get to see these things all that often. I decided against it and got back in bed. But I got up again. I was too hot anyway and I wanted to see the part where the bright silver moon peaks itself out around the edge of the shadow again. That part is cool. I decided to see how easy it was to wake Smunch up. I bent down and said, "Smunchy, do you want to go see the moon?" He grunted. Sounds like 'yes' to me!

I woke him up a little more. He was game. I carried him out the front door into the driveway and pointed out the moon. "Oh, uh-huh." He talked a little, but I don't really remember what he said. I didn't realize until later that he hadn't stuttered once. I let him go in. He virtually ran back to his bed. "Goodnight, mom!"

Proof positive. Stuttering is all about the phase of the moon.