Woolly Aphid Nature study

This week, I was once again reminded that I should spend more time looking at things through the eyes of an inquisitive child.

Piwi Dad called the kids out to see something on the patio on Sunday. What he had spotted was what looked like a tiny bit of dryer fluff 'walking' along the patio toward the garden. Miss K theorized it was an ant carrying some fuzz. I carefully picked it up and discovered that under the fuzz was definitely not an ant but an odd little grayish white bug with lots of legs. The Piwis were convinced it needed to be looked at closely so it was put into an old huggies wipes container with some leaves.

The new species guess was that it was like an insect version of the Decorator crab Miss K recalled from the Aquarium earlier this year. Off to google we went and a quick search of 'fluffy insects' made us realize that we were harboring the crop destroying Woolly Aphid or Mealy bug. This of course did not deter the Piwis who insisted on bringing it more leaves. I could see the irony...for the years I had heard my green thumbed Grandad talk about how bad aphids were on roses etc and now we were looking after their furry cousins. A quick search of the garden turned up an Orange tree covered in Mealy bugs and other pests...The Landlord has probably got a insect battle on their hands. We, on the other hand, had a mini ecosystem (literally) on our doorstep to spend the day observing.


The eggs on this leaf have yet to be determined. It is not likely a Mealy bug as it is not fluffy 

The observation turned into a Mealy bug research report....and a mini Lapbook

The Front cover of the Lapbook and Mini Piwi's little book she made about ladybugs.

I'm not sure how clear this is, but here Miss K has written some of what she learnt about Mealy Bugs...including 'Farmers and Gardeners think they are pests, I think they are cute and fuzzy. Ladybugs eat them'.

Math on the go

Miss K has been doing really well with Place value, addition with regrouping and subtraction with regrouping!

She is so proud of herself and wants to keep practicing... Today we were out for an early Mommy & Miss K dinner (Daddy was with a very late napping Mini Piwi). While we were waiting for our order of Pho and Bun (it was an awesome Vietnamese restaurant) Miss K wanted me to quiz her with some "big' number questions. Using what we had, the chopsticks became the base 10 blocks, and the sugar were the 'ones'. That's what we call kiwi ingenuity lol!

my tofu 'bun'

Miss K's fav Pho

Big sister reads...Calm down Boris!

While I made grilled cheese I saw Mini Piwi give her (current) favorite book to her big sister. What happened next made me quickly and quietly grab my phone to record the moment. Miss K got the little chairs and gave Mini Piwi and her 'baby' an impromptu story time.
The book she is reading is Calm down Boris! by Sam Lloyd. New Zealand Grandma and Grandpa sent it over a couple of years ago for Miss K. We rotate our small library of kids books to keep them more interesting. Mini Piwi took a shine to it after seeing it when it came out a storage box. She thinks the star of the book, a little monster puppet (Boris) is hilarious. The story is very cute and all about a monster who loves to give tickley kisses and nibble fingers. Unfortunately everyone thinks he needs to calm down, that is until one day Boris can save the day with his energy.

working at the car wash...

'Blue Car' was in desperate need of a clean. I swear the Texas dust and pollens were about an inch thick. Miss K has always loved going through the car wash machine, Mini Piwi is not so keen. Since it was just Miss K and I shopping today, we called into our usual drive thru wash and. We even spent the extra $2 to get a seal coat (whatever that it). On a whim we decided to give the free vacuums a go. I was surprised at how much fun we had using the VERY high powered vacuums to get the backseat cleaner than it has been in years! The highlight for Miss K was a mat cleaning machine. You feed a dirty old car mat into it, there is a lot of shaking and whirring, and the machine spits out your nearly new looking mat.

Once again I was reminded that even what I might consider a routine 'chore' may be something the kids will have fun helping with and might even learn a thing or two!

It took a car wash to remind me to see things through my Piwis' eyes!