Train 'em young

Grammy was here today for a visit, which always opens up a few more possibilities for entertaining the young ones.  That extra pair of hands makes all the difference!

Today when N got up from his nap we all went outside to play with the bubble machine that Grammy brought.  This particular one is sort of a bubble-gun, with a trigger to pull, so it does require a hand to operate.  I spread a blanket down on the "lawn" (ha!) in the front yard for my nature-averse second son, plopped the boys down on it, and we went to town with some bubbles.  I sat next to them with the gun in my left hand and my camera in the right, and Grammy stood back and took some video of the three of us.  We had a good time with the bubbles...that gun puts out quite a few, quite quickly, and the blanket I put down actually allowed the bubbles to land without immediately popping.  That turned out to be more N's speed than the ones in the air!  It was a trifle windy.

After awhile Z got a little bored and N needed a diaper, so Grammy went and changed him while I found an inchworm to take pictures of.  Z was very interested in helping me with that...poking the inchworm, moving leaves out of the way, leaning on my shoulder to get a better view of what I was seeing, all sorts of "helpful" things.  After awhile he moved off, and while I was pretty focused (ha!) on the inchworm it registered that he'd gone inside the house.  Great, I'm thinking, now I can get some un-blurry shots!  A few minutes later he was coming out of the house as I was about to go back in, and I realize that he was coming down the front steps carrying the kid's camera he got from his Grandma for Christmas!  According to Grammy he had come in, gone straight to the toy box, and pulled things out left and right until he found it.  He brought it out, turned it on, and started taking pictures of the flowers the inchworm was on, the trees above him, the cars in the driveway, berries on a bush, and my favorite, Mommy taking a picture of him taking a picture of her!  I'm going to download his pictures and post some of them here as soon as I get a chance to figure out how to do it.



Now I just have to start explaining aperture and shutter speed and ISO...