He'll have to marry someone who is bald.

I always thought I'd put my biology degree to good use when I had kids. I took bug classes, bird classes, plant classes, and even studied some marine life. I dissected a number of animals too - and for the most part wasn't too grossed out. So it shouldn't surprise me that my boys LOVE the dirt and any kind of creepy crawly they might find while excavating the back yard.

"Look mommy - it's a WORM, isn't he HUGE?"

"Look mommy - slugs!"

"Look mommy, it's supposed to be freaking summer and I am wearing a polar fleece outside!" (Ok, I made that one up - but hell, it is raining outside, it is June 18th, and I am beginning to think that the tourism industry should brand Vancouver as a place that has the best natural sunblock on earth - and you don't have to pay a dime). I digress....

"Look mommy, a cute ladybug!"

CRABS!!! And yes, Nicholas did pick it up.

It does come as a bit of a shock to me that the most innocuous things freak Nicholas out. Like cheerios. On the floor. If he is sitting at the table, he will not get down if there is a cheerio on the floor near his chair. There have been many a day I have seriously contemplated placing a ring of cereal around his chair to keep him still for more than five seconds.

Oh, and spiders. He loves them. He picks them up and counts their legs. Remember Fred?

Fred lived in our old house. His relatives (the bigger version) live in our new house. In the bathroom downstairs where we have to bathe the kids because the main bathroom in the house is out of commission (long story that involves an toilet, a useless wax ring, and the previous owner of this place who probably wanted to save a dime and had the bathroom done on the cheap).

Nicholas got out of the tub last night, and as I was drying him off he started screaming. I thought his whole body was going to erupt into flames. But no. He had a stray strand of my hair ON HIS FOOT. If any strands of hair touch his body that aren't his, he freaks out. The spiders - those are his friends. My hair - the enemy that must be destroyed.