Dear Kids,
I have fallen behind in writing posts to you. Even enjoyable tasks can pile up and be difficult to manage. That is what has happened.
I know how to deal with this problem, though, and I will share the secret with you. The secret is to get started and keep going. Tackle the tasks one at a time, to the best of your ability, starting right now. I will demonstrate by writing this note to you and posting it today.
Here goes.
Early summer brought some beautiful days. A few times we went outside to sit on beach towels and soak up the sun. Well, I was there for the sun and the vitamin D it produces. You were there to keep me company and burn off some excess energy.
On one day Livia and I worked on something she called “Nature Book.” In it, she and I wrote observations about bugs and animals. Livia’s knowledge of spelling hasn’t quite caught up with her capacity for expressing herself. For example, she wrote “blood” as “blud,” which is how it ought to be spelled, don’t you think? But, for ease of reading, I have corrected the spelling in her observations here.
Nature Book
Livia: Bees have hives, and they have lots of bees in hives, and they have queens in their hives.
Livia: Cats like mats, and they like cat food and getting petted.
Mommy: Squirrels live in trees, and they like acorns and running on the driveway.
Livia: Crickets like to sing and fling themselves in the air.
Livia: Flies don’t live in hives, but they fly.
Livia: I hate mosquitoes because they take your blood and use it to make new mosquitoes.
Mommy: Ants are surprisingly friendly. They will crawl all over you if you let them.
Mommy: Little girls are the wildest creatures of all.
On another day I wrote in my journal while you played.
We’re staying outside even though the rain and the mosquitoes are threatening. We are enjoying our Saturday together. I love the way the kids make up their own rules about everything. Here we are sitting on beach towels outside and they have decided that the green parts are land and the blue parts are water, so of course Marshall gets on the blue part and says, “I’m sinking!” Then I told them that the towels were the safe zone and that if they left they’d only have 20 seconds before they died. OMG. They love it. They’re running back and forth, dispelling all that extra energy. Good thinking, mom! And I told them to dance like crickets. That was the best performance I’ve ever seen. Ever.
I don’t have any pictures of you dancing like crickets. Somehow I forgot my camera that day. So I will try to remember to ask you dance like crickets again soon. I know it won’t be exactly the same dance, because interpretive dances change over time, but it will still be wonderful. It will be wonderful because you’re wonderful.
Love,
Mom