Saturday Fun with Isaac

Todd's finally home after a week away, and we are all so glad to see him! He came home on the red-eye from California, so he's tired. Isaac has been waiting patiently for him to wake up from his nap on the couch. (He's snoring under all those pillows, couch cushions and blankets. You can see his toes if you look closely.)

I thought it might be time for Isaac and me to go outside. I managed to sprout two avocado pits, and they've been ready to put in the dirt for quite some time now. We've been meaning to plant them, but the job kept getting delayed. Today was the day!

The plants have been growing in glasses in the kitchen. Here is a link to the instructions I used. (I just went over them again, and learned that these are going to grow into trees. I thought they were going to be vines. Oops.) Half of each pit came off when I pulled out the toothpicks before planting them. I could see how the plant sprouted out of the seed - very cool!

First, we put some pieces of broken terra cotta pots in the bottom of our big pot. These serve to cover the holes enough to keep the dirt in, but let out any excess water. That's a handy trick I learned from my grandmother. Then, we filled the pot about 2/3 with potting soil, and arranged the little plants and their roots before covering them all the way. I hope they do well. They've been hanging out in only water for a long time, and sometimes water roots don't translate into dirt roots as well as I'd like.

I took the potted plants up to my bathroom, which gets lots of bright light and is practically a tropical environment in the summer time. If they get too big, I will have to separate them; I read that the trees can get from 20-40 feet tall! If they do grow into trees, I will have to keep them in the house in the winter, so I hope I can keep them smaller than that. Wouldn't it be fun to be able to grow avocados?

Isaac is wearing quite an odd expression in that picture. I tried to get him to smile by saying, "I love you, Mom!" That's what he gave me. Oh, well. 

After we finished with the plants, Isaac proceeded to make a giant mess on the driveway with potting soil and water. What better way could a small boy spend the morning? Then we took Charlie the Bucket Beagle on a walk, and everyone was happy. Hopefully Daddy got enough of a rest that he will be able to play with his boy this afternoon.

Note: A "bucket beagle" is out crazy dog, Charlie - he's the only one. :-) He's a hound-colored terrier mix. My sister calls him Charlie Bucket, and the nickname has evolved into calling him Charlie the Bucket Beagle. His full name is Charles Xavier Sarsaparilla.