Evan Is a Rock Hound

When we go to the rock store I always let the children pick out a rock or two for their collections. It is interesting and surprising what they choose. Viva often helps Lincoln choose a rock, but it's impossible to get Evan to pick one out. He really enjoys visiting the rock store, but if you ask him to pick a favorite rock he won't do it. Or if he picks one out he immediately sets it down somewhere and loses it. He doesn't care. That's okay. He's only two years old!

I expected that it would take a couple of years before he caught rock fever. However, I was wrong. The other day when I took Evan and Lincoln to the playground I took a couple of rock books with me to read while they were playing. The older kids were at swimming which is right next door to the elementary school playground so we decided to go over there and surprise them when they came out of the swimming building. I thought swimming was done fifteen minutes before it actually was, so we ended up sitting in the car far longer than expected. I pulled out my rock books and offered them to the boys. The books are rock identification guides aimed at older children. Evan was thrilled with the book I gave him and now he won't give it back to me! He calls it his orange book and carries it around the house. I've stolen it back a few times, but eventually he asks for it again.

The photos in the book are really awesome which is what Evan likes about the book. The rock names however are killer, but since Evan doesn't read that is not a problem for him. Gneiss is pronounced nice and chalcedony has two different ways of saying it depending on who you ask. I don't totally understand crystal systems even though I've a college degree in chemical engineering. I know what the basic shapes are, but I cannot usually see them in actual crystals growing on or in rocks. (This might be because unless a mineral has perfect growing conditions it doesn't form in its preferred shape?) This rock stuff is tough, but it's fun to study something challenging! I'm scrambling to keep up with Bentley. When we get a new rock book he has it read front to back in a day. He doesn't remember every piece of info in the book--there's too much to take in at once--but he's building an impressive foundation of rock facts.