Cousins at the Cottage
Cottage Forecast
Yesterday when packing for the cottage with Jo, I suggested to him that we check the forecast. He was very excited at the prospect, so I queried, "Do you know what a forecast is?"
He had to admit he didn't. But then he added brightly, "But I know what it's made of!"
"Oh? What is it made of?" (You'd have asked, too.)
"Plastic!"
Jo said Dat
Quite often Jims or Jo wind up coming to me with some
complaint about each other - most commonly, "He hit me!" Lately,
though, Jims has been coming to tattle on Jo with this vague accusation:
"He said dat!"
When questioned as to what it was that Jo said that was
so offensive, he simply replies, "Jo says too much!"
School Days
There are days when the idyllic homeschool scenes melt
down in a big hurry.... like the other day, when I was reading cosily on the
couch with the kids, and Willie pulled a plant off the table and began playing
in the dirt right on my living room carpet. There was nothing for it but to
close the books, send the kids off to color some maps, nurse and put baby to
bed to get him 'out of the way', then hope for a moment's peace to grab the
vacuum cleaner and clean up the mess before it got tracked all over the house. As
I nursed baby, Anneke kept coming to me with her map to ask if she was coloring
it right, and Jim kept coming to me with pencil crayons and a bright smile to
say, "I'm 'painting', mom! Is this a good color?" Since 70% of the
time he's in a contrary mood, I like to savor these cheery moments. I approved
of his choice of crayon, and looked lingeringly after him with a fond smile as
he trotted back to the kitchen for the third time.
Well, you can guess the rest. Only the most naive would
believe that he was actually coloring a map that whole time, right? Yeah, I
guess that makes me among the most naive. At least I got to approve the new
color for the front of my fridge.
Well, all these things work for good. The fridge front
got an amazing cleaning that day. And the next day I scoured the floor (the
latest target for Jim’s artistry). And somewhere in between I even remembered
to vacuum the dirt on the living room floor (before Willie had a chance to eat
it, too!). So all is well, and we're still enjoying the school year!
Sometimes we have unexpected opportunities for
learning. This week I found a dead blue jay outside our window, so the kids all got a nice
close-up view of this marvel of God's creation. Anneke suggested we take a
picture of them with the bird before we buried it, so I did - though it wasn't
a great shot and seemed a little morbid. Soon after burying the bird, the kids
were thrown into a dither again by the discovery of cat poop in the grass.
Life is just full of wonderful discoveries! As I went off to get the shovel
again, Jim called after me excitedly, "Should we take a picture first,
mom?"
October 16, 2008
Heady Days
We're loving these beautiful, golden days. They say
money doesn't grow on trees, but gold sure does - and here in our humble neighbourhood we're growing richer by the day as gold whirls to the ground from
every tree along the boulevard.
God is so good to give us such a feast for the senses
with each new season!
Down the road is a lovely stand of trees near
the park. It is a wood of delight similar to the one at the grade school of our
youth, where year after year we played at recess. Many a fort was built
there... many a wedding procession glided down its forest paths... and many a
wild rose implanted its scent in our memories.
What will our children remember about their childhood
home and haunts?
Will they remember our walks to the park, and the
forest aflame with color? Will they remember seeing the lumps and bumps of the
forest paths and shouting to each other, "Look, mountains!"?
I always thought the country town environment that we
grew up in to be just the place for raising a family, but the zest our kids
have for the beautiful play places in our neighbourhood convinces me they'll
have no lack of pleasant memories from right here in the city.
At the park is nice clean, damp sand, and after digging
around in it we usually all wind up with some sand down our shoes and boots.
Jim, apparently finding this a tad uncomfortable, pulled his foot out of his
boot, reached a little hand in, and pulled out a fistful of sand. Having
disposed of one handful, he applied himself to the tedious job of getting his
boot back on. Alas, as he stepped down he found there was still sand in there!
Out came his foot, in went his hand, out came another handful of sand, and in
went his foot again...
Who needs Laurel and Hardy when you can just watch your
own two year old? :)
The sitting and watching is a bit of a splurge
though... eventually the boot must be turned upside down and we must get home
and back to work...
A Two-Year Old's Perspective on Life in the Womb
It started out as one of those goofy conversations we
mothers engage our little ones in during fits of nostalgia - you know, to fill
in the spaces between kisses and hugs and affectionate looks.
“Did you used to be in mommy’s tummy?”
“Yep!”
“Was it so cosy in mom’s tummy?”
“Yep!”
Yep and Nope are his standard responses to almost
everything, and he doles them out more or less randomly. But after the first
breezy answer he appeared to be mulling the question over at length; pondering
the mystery of living inside mommy.
When at last the brown study ended, and he observed
stoically, “Didn’t get killed in there, hey mom?”
Wha...?!!
He must have overheard one of my conversations with
Anna about abortion. It made me sad that this little one of ours had concluded
that “mommy’s tummy” was a place of vulnerability; instead of the safe haven
God designed it to be.
January 27, 2009
The Latest on the Kidlets (because "the news is always
changing...")
Jo delivered some shocking news to me the other day.
"Bob's not my favorite fertend guy anymore. Now
Buzz Lightyear is my favorite fertend guy."
What?! Is there no sense of loyalty these days? Well,
within a week Bob had climbed back to the top of the charts, but in the
meantime Jo had caught the travel bug. No, he isn't hankering to go to Infinity
and Beyond. (He doesn't even know that's Buzz's catchphrase). When he grows up
he just wants to go to Greenland and the moon.
Jim has changed his mind about what he wants to be when
he grows up. I don't think he ever really wanted to be a fireman - that was
Anneke's idea, and for all he knew firemen built fires rather than put them
out. But his latest ambition he thought up all by himself.
"Mommy, when I grow up I want to be a wise
man!"
Good choice, Jims. :) We should have named that boy
Solomon! (Though I think he was thinking more along the lines of becoming one
of the magi, as he likes to go around singing, "if I were a shepherd, I
would give a wise man" - his adaptation of the Christmas song.)
Anneke still wants to be a Mommy, as well as a cook
(for me, she says - since I clearly need help in that department), an artist,
and a missionary. However, the other day she did admit to definite changes in
her dietary preferences. Now, she said, her favorite food is no longer grapes -
it's raisins. :)
Not to be outdone, Jims had an admission of his own:
"Raisins aren't my favorite food anymore. No..."
shaking his head emphatically.
Suddenly he stopped with a look of surprise.
"Oh! Now raisins are my favorite food again!"
Fifth and Seventh Birthdays
At last Joseph’s birthday arrived. He requested turkey
casserole by candlelight for his special dinner.
We love the enthusiasm and wonder with which Joseph
greets even the merest trifles of excitement.
Many, many times, 'tis true, we've tried to make a
responsible little man of him, by attempting to instill serious attention to
mundane matters like getting dressed, making his bed, or taking the next
bite... But Jo's heads persists in floating to the clouds like Winnie the Pooh
adrift with his balloon in search of honey. How can one focus on eating one's
oatmeal when - gasp! - we've reached a new number - on a new square! - on the
calendar? Such profound news cannot be kept to one's self; it must be shared
with one's dearest friend and older sister, before the next bite is even to be
thought of.
Dear Jo, the wide-eyed dreamer - we do love that boy,
even if he ain't quite respectably responsible yet. :)
Three days later it was Anneke’s turn. We are so
thankful for this one daughter to add sugar and spice and everything nice to
our home. Anneke likes dressing up, doing crafts, making things for other people, playing with Jo and
Jim, and laughing at Willie.
She's partial to paper dolls, but gladly makes paper
trucks and cars to play with the boys, just cause she's that sort of sister.
