Camp Papanan: Skeleton Day

Mom sometimes refers to their home up here as "Camp Papanan" in the summer. With the fishing, hiking, boating, berry picking, gardening, woodworking, baking, marshmallow roasting, crafting, and general fun to be had, it certainly does feel like camp! This morning Nannan announced that it was skeleton day at Camp Papanan. Among other things, we learned about bones, enjoyed a book about animal skeletons, told the Old Testament story of Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones, and sang "Dem Bones" a few times for good measure.

The highlight of the day for Josiah was making a life size skeleton of himself out of white poster board. I should add that William, who managed to be wide awake between 12:30 and 4:00 a.m. overnight, was an utter disaster today. He spent most of his time destroying things, being violent, and generally getting into significant amounts trouble. Sadly, he didn't make his own skeleton because he only wanted to rip up the poster board, throw hard objects (e.g., scissors, large toys) at people's heads, or "wreck things" (his words). As you might imagine, I spent the vast majority of the day being Camp Papanan's enforcer-slash-cuddler, staying one-on-one with Mr. Strong Will...trying to get him to nap (unsuccessful)...keeping him redirected...and attempting to dole out the right balance of love, attention, and punishment as various situations occurred. Yeesh.

Anyway, here's the skinny on Skelly:

To make the skeleton perfectly Josiah-sized, Nannan traced around Josiah's body as a starting point for most of the bones. 

 

They referred to some pictures of skeletons for a little guidance on the particulars. Nannan did most of the initial drawing and cutting, and Josiah used a black marker to go over Nannan's pencil lines showing the small bones of the hands, feet, and skull. 

Meanwhile, trying to capitalize on yesterday's PlayDoh success, William and I together made a fish skeleton (after looking at a picture of one in a book). It didn't last long. Our specimen was snatched literally half a second after I took the photo; William wadded it up in inexplicable anger, ran off, and hid it (we found it hours later in the dirty laundry pile). 

Josiah was super pleased with his skelly in the end! The eye sockets are flaps that Josiah can peek through (as in the top photo), and the major joints are hinged with little brass hinging brads. Skelly has already had a full hip replacement, since William tore it a few hours later, but I'm pleased to report that he came through the procedure well.  :)  

By the way...Will turned a bit of a corner later in the afternoon and pulled himself together (after some very serious consequences, some legitimate contrition on his part, a long rest/cuddle with Mommy, and plenty of prayer). He was sound asleep by 7 p.m., and we're all hopeful for a better night and day for everyone!