Quandary Bloom

I must confess that I don't remember a lot of what I learned in grade school about certain things, such as photosynthesis and other plant-related matters. But I do remember learning that there are three basic things a plant needs in order to grow: sunlight, soil, and water.

So I'm hoping someone with a little more knowledge than me can explain the phenomenon happening in my laundry room.

A little background...

A couple of months ago, I was given some amaryllis bulbs in a Target bag. Seeing as how it was still winter and I didn't intend to plant them for awhile, I hung the bag on a door knob in the laundry room with the intention of taking them to the garage at a later time to await planting season. Long story short, they never made it to the garage, and so they hung on the door in the laundry room.

About a week and a half ago, I was all loaded up, as I often am, with bags and boys (hence the reason the bulbs never made it to the garage), and headed to the van. I reached for the door knob to go out to the garage, and, startled, withdrew my hand and let out a slight gasp. Peaking out of the bag was a thick green stalk with an unopened flower head at the top.

Now, let me just take a moment to say how startling it was to find something living coming out of a bag in a place where I never would have expected to find something living. Maybe it's just me, but somehow it was so creepy, that for a split second, it could have been anything coming out of that bag, a human hand, for example, and my reaction would have been the same.

When I gathered my composure and realized it wasn't the boogie man coming to get me, I stood for a moment, puzzled. "What on earth?" I thought. How is it possible that one of the bulbs has sprouted in a plastic bag with no soil, no sunlight, and no water? Not having time to examine it then, we went out to the van and on our way. Later though, I came back to look again and took a picture.


Amazed, I decided to leave it there and see if it would bloom. Sure enough, here's how it looks today...


And in the bag, there are several more coming up.


Now, will someone please enlighten me on how this is possible? No water, no sunlight, no soil. Weird. I'm going to plant them in my garden soon. I just hope they like the outdoors as much as they like my laundry room!

1st Day of School

I know this is a strange time of year to title a post that way, but nevertheless, so it is. Last Thursday, February 5, was Cole's first day of preschool!

He was so excited in the days leading up to it. He kept asking if it was Thursday yet, and when I dropped him off in his class that morning, he just walked right in and made himself comfortable. After talking to the teachers for a few minutes, I went over to say "goodbye". That's when I was caught off guard by the large lump in my throat. My baby is growing up! Somehow, I managed to swallow the lump and make my exit without too much of a scene. If a two-day-a-week preschool chokes me up, what on earth will I do when he starts kindergarten? Yikes!

It was so strange not having Cole at home for a large part of the day, but it was great to have some time with just Max. We haven't had much of that, for obvious reasons. Max enjoyed it too, although he did ask for his big brother a couple of times.

"Dole?" he would say, and point to Cole's room.
"Cole's at school, sweetie," I would reply.

He seemed ok with that, but he was very excited when we went to go pick him up. Incidentally, I think it's sweet that Max looks up to his big brother so much already. I hope it continues.

Finally the time came to pick up Cole. When we got to his class, his teachers said he had a great day. He even came home with a "Super Student" certificate for being a good friend. I'm so proud!

Our school boy...

...and his certificate.