Hannah watched the pruning with great joy and expectation...until she realized that they were hauling away and chipping the things that they were cutting off the trees. This seemed a complete waste to her -- perfectly good nature going into the chipper! However, she reasoned that perhaps they'd leave something behind by accident, so she secured a promise from me that she could go treasure hunting after they left. Okay, that's not too difficult to grant.
She was right, they had left a couple of things behind. Not much, but she found the overlooked holly branch and an overlooked green monkey pine branch. The only ones we usually get to handle are the dead brown ones, so this was a rare treat.
H: Mom, can I use the kitchen scissors?
Me: What for?
H: I want to cut some stuff off this branch. Oh...it's all sticky here where it's broken.
Me: Um, yes, that's the sap. Please take it back outside until it dries. I don't really want to use the kitchen scissors on that...
H: Okay. I'll let it dry and then put it in my nature box.
Naomi, who had pretty much ignored the treasure hunt, awakened to its possibilities when she saw the green berries on the holly branch. She picked a whole bunch of them. She's always been a very eager picker of things, although she rarely eats them. In this case, that's a very good thing. I made it a point to explain to both of them that they could not eat the holly berries. This didn't diminish their joy in the bounty at all.
The joy of the treasures of nature for the young.
This joy does not extend to moths, though. I had to get one out of the room where Hannah has Quiet Time. It was very small, but Hannah wasn't about to go back in there with it.
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