Offspring

Daughter 2 came home for a week and we variously: walked by the beach;

helped her to design hotel rooms;

stood in front of a huge rhododendron at the Botanics;

made our favourite joke about a waterfall ("Waterfall! Ouch!");

admired lots more spring blossom;

and slid down a slide with our little sister - not actually strangling her.

We've been telling Grandson about spring. Daughter 2 advised him not to walk on the bit of lawn which has been reseeded - because the seeds would grow into nice new grass. We watched a moorhen on the pond at the Botanics as it sat on a nest, and discussed how this would lead to lots of baby moorhens. I told him how things grow out of the ground, where they've been invisible all winter, and burst into bloom.

Later, we read a book about ducks in Boston who're trying to find a good place to nest. At last they find somewhere and the mummy duck lays her eggs. "And what'll come out of the eggs?" I asked.

He thought for a bit. Then  he said triumphantly, "Flowers!"

(It's a principle of teaching that I should know by now: test that the student has understood one concept before moving on to the next.)