Paeton Ben

Paet is almost six. He can find things to entertain himself with in the back yard for hours. Rocks, sticks, leaves, bugs . . . so many fascinating things to find!

There was a not just a bit of excitement when we found out that we had a wasp nest in one of our trees. For some reason the swinging action from the tire swing would bother them and they'd come out in numbers, ready to fight. Well, Papa who practically grew up in the wilderness, knew just how to get rid of them and we had peace.

On Monday Paet was playing outside when he saw me with my camera and asked if he could take pictures of a little friend . . . that looked to be quite co-operative.

He went all about the yard . . . placing him in different positions . . . in different places . . . looking into the viewfinder and clicking up close. There were more than 30 pictures in my camera . . . of the same yellowjacket wasp. . .

When I caught up with Paeton, even I let his friend settle into my palm!

Yesterday he came to get groceries with me, chatting up a storm that made passersby smile. He had a few dollars burning a hole in his pocket and was constantly on the lookout for how he could spend them. And what did he get? A package of plastic snakes, frogs and lizards . . . and even though they are just as dead as the wasp, I'm glad they do not look so real.