A little late for spring cleaning, but I was cleaning out the extra room and getting a lot of odd household chores out of the way today. Every time I turned around I found toys and little boy clothes. I can’t tell you how many trips I made to the toy box to deposit odds and ends – Spiderman figures, little dinosaurs, Hot Wheels cars, wiffle balls. I have two boxes of little boys clothes now – most of them barely worn before they were outgrown. Amazing how much of his stuff has invaded our house.

We seem to go in cycles when it comes to snacks of choice. For a while we wanted corn dogs. Then it was Spaghetti-O’s. Then Pop Tarts. Mini-pizzas. Cold cereal with fruit. Fish sticks. Burritos. Chicken nuggets.

I try to buy a variety of different things to keep on hand. There are canned goods, frozen foods and boxed cereals and snacks.

The challenge is finding things that are fast and easy to fix.

There’s no substitute for the companionship and loyalty of a dog for little boys. The right pet can provide hours of active play and many nights of comfort.

It’s helpful for bonding if the dog is still young when introduced to the household, but not a good idea of the parents don’t have the time and patience to train a puppy.

Children should be taught to be respectful of animals and be cautious when approaching an unfamiliar dog on the street.

Having a pet in the house teaches responsibility and respect for animals. I wish every boy could have a dog – or a cat, if dogs aren’t practical for the living conditions.

We took our grandson to the Lake to introduce him to fishing. We had plenty of gear and went to K-Mart to buy a fishing license. In this state you don’t need a fishing license if you are 8 years old or younger. The license for adults is not very expensive, either, and the fees go toward wildlife preservation, so I don’t mind contributing.

Kids with ADD or ADHD probably don’t do well with sports like fishing. Our grandson had a hard time standing on shore with the pole in his hands. Thankfully he had nibbles from fishing quite often and caught 4 fish within an hour. So that kept his attention for the most part. But after that first hour he was ready to move on to other activities, like floating a little plastic boat in the shallow water and digging in the mud.

Let’s just jump right in – you can catch up as we go.

Our grandson spent the weekend with us again, which is fine most of the time. His mom works nights and if I keep him on Sunday then she can get some sleep. So he is here most weekends, and on special ocassions.

He spends enough time with us that he knows his boundaries – what he can fix himself to eat or drink, what stuff to stay out of, don’t let the dogs out without a leash, no outdoors play without an adult, etc.

I created a Windows user directory for him so that he doesn’t have access to my desktop and programs. He’s allowed to play game on the internet and we’ve found some great sites that will keep him busy for hours.

He has a toybox in the living room and is really good about keeping his toys picked up. He learned a long time ago that toys left on the floor will and do get eaten by the dogs and then thrown away. Dottie is especially found of plastic dinosaurs – she can behead one in a flash, and if left alone she will chew off each foot and the tail, too.