science

Yesterday, while looking after the kiddos, we'd had two science lessons before 9.15am.

The first was biology. We came down the steps of the flat and found a dead mouse lying on the bottom but one step. Little Flower wasn't particularly bothered by it, she glanced at it, and then moved on. Little One, however, was transfixed. First of all he thought it was sleeping. He poked it with his foot, and rigor mortis had obviously set in, because the whole thing moved. Once he realised it was dead, he got quite upset. I had to make him move away from the mouse and walk up the road towards nursery.

We talked about why it was lying there, and how it might have died. I said that it was most likely that one of the cats that live nearby had caught it and left it there. When he heard that he was most indignant. "We need some big dogs to kill the big cats that killed the poor little mouse" was his response. I think it was one of his first real experiences with death, and I'm sure it won't be his last. By the time we came home from nursery the mouse was gone. I think a cat must have moved it, as I certainly hadn't, nor had the downstairs neighbour. Little One seemed to have forgotten about it by the time he got home, so hopefully I handled it ok, and haven't scarred him for life!

The second science lesson of the day was physics. After leaving Little One at nursery, Little Flower and I walked back down the hill. All of a sudden she got really excited and shouted "BIN LORRY". Now you must understand, seeing the bin lorry is a highlight of her day! We couldn't see the lorry, but we could certainly hear it. "Debbie! BIN LORRY!" she said a few times, but then suddenly started crying. "Bin Lorry gone. GONE!" she said, and she was right. The sound was getting quieter - I could tell that the big lorry was going up into the estate, and that we wouldn't see it, but I was impressed that she could tell that too. So there you have it, the science of sounds, and how they change depending on their difference in location, relative to the listener.

(You may be happy to know that later on the bin lorry came back to our side of the estate and Little Flower was able to shout BIN LORRY! to her hearts content, and to wave at it through the window)