A Non-Newtonian Fluid

We spent Friday morning busting out some more yard work since we knew we wouldn't be doing any today what with the rain and crazy wind from our friendly little Nor'easter. It could be worse. It could be snow.

For dinner Friday, we finally got to see our fantastic friends Erinn, Kevin, Morgan and Tristan! Erinn made us all a seafood feast including stuffed quahogs and melt-in-your-mouth fresh-from-the-bay scallops. Unfortunately for my children (and fortunately for Erinn and I, who snagged their quahogs), they were once again far too preoccupied to focus on dinner for long.

I never even got Michael Jr to the table. As soon as he heard the words "time for dinner," he started frantically shaking his head "no" and ran back into Tristan's room and planted himself next to a box of cars. To Michael, Tristan's room was like the Holy Land of Matchbox Cars, and nothing so slight as a few hunger pains was going to draw him away. Scallops are better fresh and hot; I opted out of that battle and left him to his cars.

After dinner, Erinn brought out a box of cornstarch and a bunch of bowls.

Dessert?

Nope... Goblin Goo.

Goblin Goo is a mixture of cornstarch and water (twice as much cornstarch as water) that has the properties of both a solid and a liquid (otherwise known as a non-Newtonian fluid). You can gather it up in a ball, and as long as you're moving it around, it will stay in a ball, but as soon as you stop agitating, the ball turns back to goo and slimes through your fingers. This is thanks to the molecules of cornstarch, which are like long ropes. You can read about it here: Kitchen Pantry Scientist: Goblin Goo.

This is clearly a very happy set of circumstances for a little boy, but the girls had a great time as well (I promise, Mary had more fun than she is letting on).

The girls had fun, but after half an hour or so they started breaking ranks at the bowls of goo and heading back into Morgan's room for dress-up clothes.

Where was Michael Jr this whole time? On the road.

Erinn and I cleaned up all the dinner dishes and chatted and what-not, until we finally admitted that it was about an hour past kiddo bed time and we should probably feign responsibility and get them headed that direction.

So a full two hours after Goblin Goo start time, we had to pull Tristan away.

Who, me?

Yes, Tristan, you with the goo.

Don't worry about the state of the table. Cornstarch + Water, when it dries, is basically just cornstarch. It cleaned up pretty easily. However, after Tristan washed his hands, they were grey and pruny, like he had been in the bath for two hours!

And of course, a full four hours after we first arrived, where is Michael Jr?

With the cars. Always with the cars.

I had geared myself up for a meltdown of epic duration and intensity when it was time to leave, but shockingly, when I told Michael it was time to go he just set his cars down and waved "BA!" to everyone. The reasons behind this docile surrender will likely remain one of the great mysteries of my parenting years.

Today Grandma took the kids for a Cuffy's shopping trip while I packed some more things up in the house, and the storm started mid-afternoon so we opted for dinner in and more cleaning and packing. Tomorrow we get to catch up with all our friends at church!