Jakob Milestones

Jakob has been volunteering at the Audubon as a care taker of animals for the last 4-6 weeks.    His neighborhood friend has been volunteering for a while now and after his mom mentioned it in conversation I thought it a fabulous opportunity for J. to have some responsibility and interaction with animals as well.

  So....I went in the day after sign ups were due and turned in an application with the hope to get on schedule the same day as his friend C. With some luck, J. was able to get the last spot working with the Cockatiels and on the same day as C. Hooray!  

It has been arranged for the boys to get picked up after school by C's mom and then head over to the Audubon to work; I swing by after Molly's dance to pick him up.  J was hesitant on the very first day.  He wouldn't go near the birds, or even touch any of the bowls of food/water.   The employee overseeing Jakob seemed a bit frustrated by his hesitancy, but was careful to help him get the hang of it.  After a few weeks J was on his own, getting food and water, changing the paper, taking out the garbage, etc....  He is now at record speed clocking in and out in 8 minutes.  If you watch him at work  you will notice how much pride he has in the work he takes on. He is careful and considerate of the animals and extremely responsible with recycling old newspaper from the bottom of the cage.  I've only been able to see him work once because now that he is so efficient he's done before I even have a chance to pick him up.  Sophia loves our weekly visits and especially talking to Sammie--their talking parrot--as well as feeding the bunny rabbits and playing with puppets on stage.  She mostly enjoys running around with Jakob and C. and feeling like a big kid.    

Some of the animals on site are recovering from injury or some other ailment, while others are there for personal viewing.  They currently have a hawk that is soon to be released back into the wild.  They also provide stations for monarch butterfly migration and other butterflies.  The Audubon is a quaint little place, perfect for a second grader learning about animals.  

This free collage personalized with Smilebox

Jakob and I went to the new Star Wars movie together a few weeks ago.  Danny and I discussed back and forth whether or not it was appropriate for a 7 year old, but decided to let him see it anyway.  Jakob was glad that we did.  He loved it and can hardly wait for the next movie to come out.  I on the other hand, have officially joined the Star Wars bandwagon and am current on all movies.  I didn't grow up watching the movies like my brothers had, so this is all kind of new to me. Danny is proud to share in its awesomeness.  

Happy times!