repotting mandrakes

In February, it was warm enough to plant some spring flowers in the yard. Justin's mom asked Juma to help her with the planting, thinking she could have some nice grandma-grandson bonding time. Juma, however, was reluctant to do anything that looked like work (hey, he is five), so I tried to get him excited.

Juma had recently read and watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, so I suggested he pretend like the flowers are mandrakes, from the Harry Potter world.





He immediately jumped up, excited, and grabbed a couple winter caps to cover his and Grandma's ears--to protect them from the mandrake's fatal cries. (There weren't any ear muffs.) They planted several flowers in the front yard, always wearing their caps.





Juma even provided the sound effects, screaming shrilling when each plant was out of the flower pot until it was firmly planted in the ground and covered with dirt.