Skating on the rainbow

February 27

We found the roller skates! Yes, they have been lost in the house for months. I remember carefully putting them away. Well, turns out I was too careful. My mother used to do this. She would get books she wanted to give for Christmas, put them on the shelf, and we'd discover them years later. It turned into kind of a game. But the roller skates have been sorely missed.

My older daughter as the informal title of "good finder" in our household. She found my camera under a dresser last month (I'd been missing it for over a year) and she knows that the third plastic window for her Lincoln Logs is on the floor in the basement. The skates did prove a challenge, she has been hunting now for quite a while. But finally today, they appeared: behind the grass seed in the basement. Thank heavens.

"See," she said triumphantly, "Grandma is right 'The house hides, but it doesn't steal.' "
And now we can get out in the driveway and skate, skate, skate.


My little one and I made a mural while we were waiting for the bus: our faces under a rainbow. She was very particular that I label us with our names and that I get the hair and eye colors right. She loves when I talk about how she has my hair and her daddy's eyes.  "Who's mouth do I have? Who's ears do I have?" she asks. We play this game, going over her part by part. "Oh, yes you have Daddy's knee, I can see!"

Nothing special

February 26

Today flew by. Did we go outside? Yes, a little. Some fresh air, some bird watching, some running and trike riding. But the nice thing about going out every day is that it is just what we do. We don't have to have a plan or make it into something exceptional. This is our norm, nothing special. And because I've given myself permission to only be out for 15 minutes, some days that's it, 15 minutes and we are done. Back to whatever we were up to inside.

It was cold today and after a bit of driveway play we came inside, better off for having been out. Tomorrow is another day. Maybe something exceptional will happen or maybe it will just be another day of nothing special, I'll take it!

I used to experience a lot of guilt about not being outside enough. A beautiful day would come and I'd feel so terrible that we were not on a nature walk as soon as breakfast was over, playing at the park until lunch, and biking to the river in the afternoon. The beautiful day would unfold and I would feel like no matter how much of we enjoyed it was never enough. Short of camping out in the back yard, I always felt like I was wasting some of the day. But now I know that beautiful or dreary, we will be outside again tomorrow. We can be out for hours or for minutes. It is OK to take it in small chunks. The habit is important to me now, not the duration. The expectation that my kids have that we are going to play outside has changed the feeling of our days.

Magic

February 25

This is a dollar store magic wand but it might as well be Merlin's own because when my daughter wields it magic is afoot. She is three and magical thinking comes naturally to her. She slips from one persona to another throughout the day. Her desired hairstyle is usually the key to remembering who she is at any given moment. Pigtails for Pippi, loose for Ariel, braid for Cinderella and the list goes on. 

Today as we play on the swings she "poofs" me with her wand. Over and over, "Poof you are a frog!" I act accordingly, "Poof you are a tiger!" I growl. "Poof you are a mermaid!" and finally "Poof you are a Mommy." She always brings me back with a satisfied smile. Home base. Mommy is Mommy again. I think about all the characters we adults inhabit during our days. This is pretty good training for being out in the world little one. I'm happy to play along.

Clay

February 24

It was a gorgeous spring day today. After the cold and the rain rain rain, today was just glorious. We opened all the windows, turned on the fans and let the house breath while we spent the afternoon outside. After plenty of swinging and chasing we headed up to the deck and I brought out a brand new tub of air dry clay. Yes, just good old clay. It's about five dollars for 2.5 lbs, packaged by Crayola, sold at Target and all over. Just a tub of mushy gushy clay. The idea here is all process and no product. We just want to get our hands into it, mix it with water, roll it, spread it, mush it, and gush it. We are outside, it is clay, no worries about the mess, it will wash way (I promise). I get each girl a bowl of water, a plastic plate and a plastic fork. They don't even need that much. Just squeezing the clay between their fingers is the main event. As they have done in the past they decide after a time to rub the clay/water mix on their arms, which leads to a clay beard, a hand print on a tummy, clay covered feet . . . you get the idea.

We roll and squish for over an hour. I join in and love the leisurely feeling of slick clay on my hands and the sun on my arms. We chat about this and that, we turn to check out the birds busily tasting our newly filled feeder, and we just enjoy the immensely satisfying tactile experience in front of us.

New Growth

February 23

Spring is an amazing time. It is my favorite season. Today we are playing in the driveway with our now habitual trike, bike and chasing games when I notice this bright green cluster of leaves. It looks like a firework of newness. The color alone takes my breath away. But here's the thing about spring, this new growth has appeared and it is still cold, rainy and quite wintry feeling.

It is the promise that I love, the starting over, the pushing and swelling. The restarting of the life cycle all around us. I see tiny buds on the blueberry bushes. Little bumps on another tree that will soon enough burst into little leaves. And around the corner there are three trees that have burst into bright pink blooms already. It is coming, even on this cold dreary day we can see that spring is on the way.

New Chalk

February 22

Oh this beautiful new chalk! We have a brand new 24 pack of sidewalk chalk and we are very excited. Me more or as much as my girls. Even the package is beautiful, tidy groups of four wrapped tightly. I look at the array of colors and see a nice math problem. "How many groups of four? It's multiplication!" My first grader is used to this. "Look, we can turn it this way and it's in groups of six, still 24?" She counts and agrees. I continue dividing the chalk in new ways. Two groups of 12 and then twelve groups of two. She looks at me with her "can we play now?" expression and I know I'm overstaying my "teachable moment."

We head outside to the wet cold deck. First we line up all the chalk in rainbow order talking about where white, brown, black and grey fit. Then the coloring begins. They decorate a small chair and the plastic water table. After a night of rain the colors will be all but washed away. But for now they are vibrant and beautiful. The chalk gets dropped into the water and we discover that some colors float and others sink! That's an exciting discovery. My little one helps fish them out with her magic wand. I think her ear infection is on the way out, but she has a nice snugly hat and boots anyway. We are heading in for a nice warm bath after this.

Ah, parenthood

February 21

Today was one of those days that only a parent really understands. My little one spent the night crying on and off while holding her ear. We headed to the pediatrician as soon as they opened and yep, ear infection. Poor baby. She seemed to perk up a bit after the lollipop and so I decided to just make one stop on the way home. . . you know what's coming.

We stepped into the lunch place and I glanced down. There was the cough/hiccup that means imminent disaster. I scooped her up and backed out of the restaurant. Poor diners, didn't really need explosive vomiting near their lovely lunches. We made it to the sidewalk and my poor darling lost her cookies, well lollipop, well everything, mostly on me and some on the street.

So our outside time today? Half naked in the parking lot, wondering if it is safe to get in the car. Where's that change of clothes? Oh, yes, here it is for her, but who carries a head to toe change for themselves. . .