A Monday Morning Walk

"You wanna go out?"

"No," the girls chorused from their room.

They're too engrossed in crocheting dolls since a few days ago. I still am amazed at S's ability to read the crochet instructions, when I myself find them rather...hyroglyphicsish. When we entered the library last weekend, as usual, my gaze would fall upon the display shelf on the right, and quickly, I would scan it, looking for interesting non fiction books. Summers ago I used to indulge in reading fictions, but I can't even finish reading the non fiction books I have now, so the fiction will just have to sit in the back burner (if I ever get to them that is). I spotted the book Toys to Crochet, and pointed it out to the kids. The girls took it, and really took to it right away. Before long, S had her crochet needles out, and was crocheting away.

Yesterday, she showed me the doll she is making. Let's just say,

"This girl has some talent!"

Mashaallah!


Only H wanted to go out, so after heating a small bowl of nasi goreng for myself, and fishing for an abaya, hijab, and socks, we went outside, H on his bike, me walking pushing Baby Z in his stroller. H was about to take me to the creek, the talked-about creek where they saw beavers, frogs and tadpoles. On the way, as H biked in front of me, I said to him,

"Hmm, maybe we can go to Big Lots. But Oh, I didn't bring my money."

In all honesty, I was just looking for some exercise. I have been cooped up in the house, in front of the computer so much, that it's just ridiculous. I know I have to exercise and at least have some fresh air, but the books and writing are too compelling to leave behind. What with struggling finding time to write, I couldn't leave the house willingly. This morning, I made sure I did.

Walking all the way to Big Lots sounded appealing to me, because of the potential calories I would burn, and the possible muscle building that might occur. So, we decided to go, even without money. As we neared the traffic lights, H remarked,

"Where would I put my bike?"

This is what happens when you do something on impulse. I'm not a naturally impulsive person, I love planning. So what happened next, was a result of a lack of planning on my part.

"I can go home and get my bike lock."

I let him go, and waited with Baby Z under the cool shade of the a tree. Baby Z adores being out, and in his silent manner, he observed everything around him, pointing every now and then. It reminded me of the times when I used to take the three kids out in the mornings when they were respectively 3, 2, and almost 1 year old.


After a few minutes, I saw H approaching on his bike.

"S's coming!"

I groaned inside. My impulsive plan did not include lugging all four kids to the store. That's just work.

"How about N? Is she coming?"

"No."

"No, she's not leaving N at home by herself. Go back and tell her she's not coming," I said to H, feeling irritation creeping up my neck.

"If N comes can she go?" asked H. He probably feels bad for his sister.

"No, tell her, if she wants to go, we can go later with the van."

H rushed back, and came back to me with

"She still wants to go. And N's coming too."

I feel the irritation growing. What was supposed to be simple mother with two children has turned into mother with four children to watch and mind while crossing the road.

Well, we ended up just that: a mother with four children around her skirt.

On the way back home, I asked them to show me the creek. Boy, was I surprised to find out that the creek was actually more of a sewer.

"That's not a creek! It's a sewer!"

It was also fenced, and as I followed S through brambles and bushes, I found myself standing outside the compounds of Buckeye Village. It was a child's heaven, though I also found myself being rather scared. As S dodged branches, and crawled under bushes, I hesitated. I was holding the camcorder, but my hesitation was due to an irrational fear of snakes and unexpected animals pouncing on me. Seriously, being an adult is not fun. When I was S's age, I used to romp around my father's orchard, chasing the geese, chickens, dodging ninjas between the tapioca trees and chicken hut, running around the man made fish pond where biawaks (type of lizard) have been spotted eating the fish, and pretending I was in the jungle. But now, I'm scared to even crawl through some harmless bushes to see the 'rooms' the kids had found.

I was disappointed with myself. I could't seem to get over the fear. Maybe I've been reading too much. However, I did do one thing that I haven't done for quite some time; ride a bike. Personally I hate riding bikes, for reason I don't wish to disclose here, but boy was I tempted to this morning, in the heat of the moment. Actually I just wanted to see if I could get on it without looking too ridiculous. As soon as I got on it, it felt fearfully high, and I asked S how she managed.

She proceeded to push me, but I screamed, and begged her to stop. She then proceeded to show me how, and indignantly I responded,

"I know how to ride a bike!"

Well, let's just say, I got on it, pedaled, and pedaled all the way home, taking a route where the least number of people could see me. I did pass by the child care center where the children were paying outside on the way. As I pedaled, I began to think,

"Hmm...this is quite fun. It's good exercise too."

Since my rollerblades are now gone, maybe...maybe...

Powerpoint Craze!

Well it seems like everyone is doing his/her Powerpoint presentation today. I woke up to find the kids on the computer, working on their 'current interest'; H - monkeys, N - cats, S -horses.

My urge to use the computer had to be suppressed because I didn't want to shoo them off while they're doing something rather 'beneficial' (at least to my schooled mindset). H and N had started on their Powerpoint files yesterday, and S, seeing both of them glued to the computer, followed suit, and shooed N off the computer upstairs, claiming that N had used the computer all day yesterday to work on PPT. Fancy that! Usually you shoo your sibling off the computer because you want to play a computer game!

I looked at N's PPT, and it turned out that she had merely googled the different breed of cats, copied and pasted the information about them in her PPT slides. So we talked about plagiarism, (again). The next time I looked at it, she had changed some things, but S said,

"No, she only changed a few words."

We talked about plagiarism again.

"But I don't know what to write," lamented N.

"See here, the graph. Maybe you can write, oh, this cat is very gentle, from looking at the docility level from the graph," I said.

After that I think she got the idea.

As for H, he's on a roll with his monkey business!

"Ummi, do you know the difference between ape and monkeys?"

"No."

"Apes don't have tails!"

"Oh!" Now, I really didn't know that. That was news to me. Pretty interesting!

I found dictionary.com opened as tabs on the browser. Apparently, they were looking up words they don't understand from what they were reading on their subject matter.

"Ummi, what's mutilated?"

"Oh, it means when you cut off limbs, and pieces of your body. Hamzah Abdul Mutallib was mutilated because Hind ripped his liver out."

He looked at me, glasses sliding down his nose, giving him that old professor look, and nodded.

"Colobus is Greek for mutilated."

Ahh...I received another interesting piece of information.

Were I to write down all that they're doing now, educationalesed of course, it would probably look like this:

S:

Science: Hands on experience observing wildlife in a nearby creek. Learned to distinguish a groundhog from a beaver. Observed a beaver/groundhog hole. Looked up information about beavers/groundhogs in books and the internet. Used the dictionary to look up words she doesn't know.

Math: Measured out ingredients for making pizza. Used the timer. Counted her savings, and updated it on her online ledger, subtracting and adding new amounts.

Technology: used Microsoft Powerpoint. Looked up information on the internet. Used the online dictionary. Found images on the internet, related to her research, and manipulated them in her Powerpoint slides.

and so on...except I didn't really keep track of all the resources they used. I can see how this might work already.

But for now it seems that we're having Powerpoint Mania. Good thing I didn't let them play outside yesterday, and they're already sick and tired of the computer games.

Ribbit! Ribbit!

We now have several tadpoles in custody.

I was cooking dinner last evening. We had made a deal: they help me peel carrots, potatoes, mince onions before they could play outside. So, while they were outside, I was still cooking. Alhamdulillah they also took Baby Z with them, so I didn't have to worry about a crawling baby on the loose. We still hadn't child proofed the apartment, expecting to move out anytime soon, which is turning out to take longer than expected.

"Ummi! We got tadpoles!" H exclaimed excitedly from the back porch.

Immediately my mind conjured up images of slimy green frogs with slimy white bellies leaping everywhere, into food, into the washer, dryer, and I replied,

"Please, no frogs anywhere near the house!"

First it was an opossum, and now frogs. I think we have to live near the zoo.

"But, when they grow up we'll take them away," H persuaded.

I was still busy at the kitchen sink, and all I could think of was leaping frogs, so I persisted and said no.

Later on, I saw that they had the tadpoles in a milk bottle, and they had covered the top with plastic.

"Where'd you get the tadpoles from?"

"From Nt."

"Where'd he get them from?"

"From the place where we found the beaver!"

I never knew there was a small stream in Buckeye Village before. Nt was one of the boys in the neighborhood, and just like any Americans, possess a love of animals.

"Okay, you can keep them, but make sure you take them as far away as possible from the house once they turn into frogs," I relented.

I didn't want to curb their curiosity and interest too much. Not at all, really, but there are some limits. So, what next? Oh boy, this will be a long summer!

Sam the Opossum died

I was just telling the kids,

"You know, since they haven't emailed us yet about the opossum, maybe that means he's not dead yet."

But today, I received this email from the Ohio Wildlife Center.

Hi J. I am reporting back to you, per your request, regarding the Virginia opossum that you brought to our hospital on 4/11/08. Unfortunately, we simply did not get the opossum in time to successfully treat it and it died. Thank you for your efforts in bringing him in to us.

This phrase 'get the opossum in time' is going to haunt me now. Subhanallah, animals are living things just like us. We, the humans, who are endowed with minds to think should care for them when we are able to. In the beginning, I was apathetic about the opossum, that is, until the kids brought it home in that box. Allah had sent down 99 parts of His mercy, and we are responsible for spreading that mercy on earth.

We didn't have the van that Thursday. I emailed hubby about it. He said he couldn't and to just inform the Buckeye Village staff about it. He emailed them. Then at 12 pm he had to take S to her class. They came home at around 3 p.m. Surely we could have done something about Sam?

Friday morning we didn't have the van either. Not until after my doctor's appointment, which was when we headed out to the Wildlife Center. It was apparently too late.

Qadr Allah. Inna lillaahi wa inna ilaihi raaji'oon. May Allah forgive us for any neglect on our part. Ameen.

Sam the Opossum

I wished we had brought it to the Ohio Wildlife Center earlier. Last Friday, around 4:30 p.m. the kids, Rh, Sam the Opossum, and I drove to the Ohio Wildlife Center for Rehabilitation. The kids found it on Wednesday evening. Thursday morningm they placed it in a box and put it near the boiler room where it was the warmest. Googling results told us not to feed it, so the kids didn't feed it. It was still alive, alhamdulillah, when they checked on it countless times. It did move in and out of the box though, but it apparently couldn't move far. The kids said it kept opening its mouth as if munching on air.

When we got there, another family, a mother and two kids were there. The mom was filling out some paperwork. There was a window through which we could see the wildlife staff working with injured or orphaned animals. When they took our opossum in, we couldn't see what they did with it. It was only when the staff later came out to give me some paperwork that I found out he was in critical condition.

"You can live without food for days, but not without water."

I was crestfallen. We hadn't fed it. We only tried to keep it warm. We didn't bring it in earlier. That Thursday I had emailed hubby telling him we needed to bring it in even though the wildlife people didn't return our call telling us what to do with it. But Thursdays were S's STEP class, and hubby had to bring her and stay there for 3 hours. So he had emailed the Buckeye Village people telling them there was an injured opossum that needed taking care of. When we checked Thursday evening, the opossum was still there, unmoved. Friday, the wildlife people returned my call and told us to bring it in. Since I had a doctor's appointment after Jumuah prayer, we could only go later in the afternoon just before the wildlife center closed.

"He was run over," said the staff, nodding grimly.

"So does it have broken bones?" I asked.

"We don't know yet. Right now, we're just trying to keep it alive."

Subhanallah, I couldn't believe how sad and guilty I felt right there and then. When I gestured for S to come so we could leave, she was hesitant. She stood by the window looking in to the room where they were treating the animals.

"Can we see it?" she asked.

"No."

"Can we see it again?"

"I don't think so. They'll email us about how he's doing."

I have never had a pet. I don't really like animals, at least not as much as my kids do. However, I really felt attached to this opossum that my kids had 'rescued'. It was then that I understood the grieving of a pet owner at his pet's death. It's just like grieving over a person. Subhanallah!

Another thing that made me wistful was when S asked if they could see it. It was like dejavu for me. We had lost our fourth child, J, when I was 24 weeks pregnant. Since he was older than 120 days, he went through the janazah prayer and burial. At the hospital, the kids had wanted to see it, but I was advised by a dear sister that it might not be such a good idea considering J was not like a fully formed baby, though he was fully formed, at least externally. She was concerned about the traumatic effects seeing it might have on the kids. So we buried J without the kids taking even a peek at his face or body before the shrouding. The kids had brought it up several times over the years, about how they didn't get to see Baby J. Thinking back, I don't think they would be traumatized, and that is one of my regrets regarding the incident. Allahu 'aalim. So when S asked me if they could see Sam the Opossum, it was like an arrow shot me in the chest. It was a very glum moment for me.

N had written about Sam on her blog. Here is the post:

~S and I found this kind of possum under a bush. It was dirty and it looked dead, but it bared its teeth. And its tail was a dry, bloody stub. It was shaved at the back, so we saw striped fur. We put it in a box. The next day we showed H and then U. She told us to cover it with a blanket. So we covered it with a sweater. H gave it a piece of felt and cotton. We checked on it every minute. Then H said 'twas gone! Then I said,"Maybe it's under the stairs." So H tried to look without going at the bottom of the stairs to peek down. It was ('twas) under there, lying down playing dead(I think). We named him Possam(antha) or just plain Sam(or Samantha) for short.~

Here is Sam the Opossum, covered by S's sweater. When we took this picture, it was the first time I had seen it up close. To be honest, the tail shocked me as it very much looked like a rat's tail (so I wasn't that wrong about it being rattish), and so did its teeth. But, the state it was in tore my heart apart. S had picked it up like a baby with gloved hands to put it in the box. I couldn't believe I had a wild animal riding in the back, but to find out that it was in critical condition was just heart breaking. I really hope it is able to recover and be returned to the wild inshaallah. I have yet to receive that email with update on its conditions though. Meanwhile, we're all wondering about Sam the Opossum.