Did you catch that sky last night? After the rain, my little corner of the world was ablaze with the sunset spilling over every wet surface it could find.
And someone I know just had to splash about in the lava.
Beauty sometimes washes over even my suburban, sidewalk-lacking street. All you have to do is notice.
I meant to post this weeks ago but it slipped my mind. Lucas made all these cutie pies with modeling clay. Modeling clay is really fun when you’re stuck indoors!
I forget what the critter at the back right is, but the others are a turtle and a bluebird. In the front are a swan, a dolphin, a duck, and a penguin. But you knew that.
Later this month we’ll be attending Love Auction #9 at the Sacramento Waldorf School, the annual fundraiser auction. I’m finishing my handcrafted items to donate by Friday. Here’s a peek:
A birthday bunting (or playroom/bedroom decoration) made from three recycled, thrifted, 100% cotton shirts that my friend, Anne, found and gave to me. I love the variegated fabric; it lends a definite Waldorf, watercolory feel to the bunting. The bunting is three yards long. (I’ve never cut up a garment before to salvage the fabric for another purpose. It felt very strange, but oddly satisfying.)
A birthday crown (or dress-up crown) for a boy or a girl (or a king or queen or wizard or astronomer) made from 70% wool felt and sewed by hand. I started this on the plane to New Jersey a week ago. The nifty thread-cutting pendant my mom let me borrow was very useful! Sewing on the plane was a soothing way to pass some time. I still have to put the elastic on the back of the crown to finish it off.
Last year, my donation was needle-felted gnomes and a fairy and a book of Tiptoes Lightly stories. No idea how to assign a value to these items for the school to use as a starting bid. Suggestions?
The day started with blueberry smoothies
and Lego construction of video game hardware
Like Wii and DS
That’s all he needs, really—little Lego devices on which he can pin his imaginary games
The boys left to play at our friends’ house and indulge in a little real Wii Sports
Then for me, some light reading: a fundamentals of nursing textbook
I was lured outside for some photography
Gotta catch these plum blossoms before they’re gone
See the little star?
An unexpected visit from Mom and a cup of coffee
More nursing reading on topics of theories of caring, cultural sensitivity, and the ADPIE nursing process
I jogged through the sunshiny neighborhood to pick up the kids from their play date—oh boy, am I out of shape!
Walking/running home with one son in fast, new white trainers and the other wearing the jumpiest pair of firefighter galoshes you’ve ever seen
Second lunch of meat for Baby Asher Dragon
Lunch of leftover vegetable soup for me
A little planting of primroses, which will probably do fine where we put them until it gets too warm
Finding a worm
Watering plants lead to spraying children who cavorted with great glee and got soaking wet
In February!
High of 65° F
Ahhh!
We met a garden foefriend
Who couldn’t find his way off this plate
Dry clothes for everyone
Then a cuddle and some stories; the children are into playing Monkey and Dragon these days, so we read books with, what else?
Monkeys and dragons
Hug (Thanks, Auntie NoNo and Uncle Mars!)
and—what the hay—a Japanese fairy tale called “Kuzma and the Fox”
Sweet afternoon slumber for the wee one
Lucas and I headed back outdoors for some Winter Olympic Games
Like speed skating, long track
Figure skating
and ice hockey
On the lawn with bare feet!
More work reading
A few moments of “DragonFly TV” and “Fetch with Ruff Ruffman” on PBS Kids for Lucas
Asher wandered out, crawled into my lap and slept on
So sweet
Cuddling sleeping boys is just about the best thing in the world (unless you have to pee)
“Wake up, Asher, or you’ll never sleep tonight!”
A shower for me
Pretend video games for Lucas
Daddy’s home!
Lucas reading Jamberry to Asher!
Just a tad of stream-of-consciousness blogging
Sounds of some kind of Dragon and Monkey game with lots of sound effects and shouting
Soon, dinner and bedtime
Then project prep
More work reading, like the Roy Adaptation Model
G’night
Sleep tight.
Isn’t life amazing? Yesterday I held a kind of vigil for some loved ones, quietly and patiently waiting for news about health issues. My two candles burned all the time I was home and until I closed my eyes to sleep. It’s good work—holding people in your heart all day, breathing small prayers past your lips and into your everyday actions. Wash a dish, say a prayer. Take a walk, say a prayer. Fold the laundry, say a prayer.
Today, we’re still waiting for important news from one loved one. So the vigil continues.
Ian and the boys are robust, lovely, and soldiering on. We have daily conflicts and challenges, things to learn, and things to work on. And yet we march forward each day to face them, process them, learn from them, and to make the world a better place through sharing our love. And we are happy.
The world keeps turning. Projects end, begin, and continue. Homework comes due (yikes!). Dinners are cooked. Metaphorical and imaginary fires (especially if you’re Baby Asher Firefighter) must be put out. What is needed? How can we help? We pick up our tools and go to work.
Some of us fake it until we can make it. Some play-act through our fear and confusion. “You need surgery, Mom. Go to sleep. I have to cut you open and take out this lump. Oh no! Here is another one. Better get that one, too, before it spreads. OK. Now you’ll be all better. Does it hurt? Here is some medicine. I’ve saved you!” Processing … My heart seems to break a little more every day … for all the good and all the bad in life.
And speaking of hearts, celebrations for Valentine’s Day are in the works. I get to make and then serve a Valentine’s snack for 27 hungry children on Friday (mmm … strawberry muffins with honey-sweetened cream-cheese topping). Tokens of friendship and love are being made by small hands everywhere. Can you hear the click of their pens, the slicing of their safety scissors in paper, the sprinkling of glitter over white glue? I can. I can hear the painstaking scratching of No. 2 pencils signing names 26 times.
We humans are a study in the paradox of steadfastness and flexibility. We turn to one another—some offering, some asking for help. We carry fears and frustrations, crippling pains, loves, and our joie de vivre through all the buffeting storms.
Isn’t life amazing? Isn’t it grand?
Edit: The news we were waiting for is Happy News!
Lucas recently painted his first canvas. A local craft and fabric store is having a sale on artists’ canvases. We bought a 12 by 12 in canvas for Lucas for something like $2.87. He used my craft acrylics—nothing very fancy. It was such an exciting treat to paint on a new surface! Alien art is cute.
This was a good reminder that I had lots of plans to paint. Hmmm … must get to that sometime soon.
An elfin warrior and a good soldier koala man fight the evil emperor, who threatens the kingdom of cuddly Oo Ah Ee creatures!
No toys in this house are played with as much as these colorful silk scarves, except perhaps for Legos. Lucas never tires of inventing stories and now that Asher is almost 3-years-old, he has plenty to add to the games. Their play is far more imaginative, interactive, and involves more role-playing than it was just six months ago. This is a beautiful thing because the more they play imagination games, the more they are cooperating instead of competing for resources. Fortunately, we have plenty of play silks.
My mud monster with eyes like the sea. Lucas spent this day sliding in the mud at school. Because on a muddy December play yard at a Waldorf school, nobody is going to stop you from doing it. I’m grateful for that. And then at home, after this photo was taken, Lucas learned how to put a load of laundry into the washer. I’m grateful for that, too.
We got to spend some time alone together Thursday night and it was so good. Lucas and I attended the Las Posadas celebration at his school, saw some friends, ate a churro, and he got to hit the piñata. At first, it was a little stilted; we were in our own two worlds with our own distractions. But some satsumas and a candy from the piñata, and then some salad, yummy pizza, and conversation helped. We played a few games of Connect Four at the pizza parlor, and then we puzzled our way through a face-guessing game without any instructions. It was fun and got us all warmed up and connected. At home, still just the two of us, we got Lucas ready for bed and read some Christmas stories. We even sang the “Twelve Days of Christmas” with gusto along with the picture book. And we snuggled.
I’m struck by how much my relationship to this boy has changed since his brother arrived. There was a time when Lucas and I were completely inseparable. I love him completely and am reminded that there needs to be time for just us.
