Among the Trees

When I am among the trees,

especially the willows and the honey locust, 

equally the beech, the oaks,

and the pines,

they give off such hints of gladness.

I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,

in which I have goodness, and discernment,

and never hurry through the world

but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves

and call out, “Stay awhile.”

The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,

“and you too have come 

into the world to do this,

to go easy, to be filled

with light, and to shine.”

by Mary Oliver

 Reuben and Miri enjoy taking everything one step farther. 

True Story

Problem solved. Kind of...

19 months

This is the point where we stop counting months and just say Miri is a year and a half.  I don't know if I should cheer or cry. I don't have a baby anymore. This child is ready to reign.

A Secret

Isn't it cold and miserable outside? That means, it is seriously the BEST time of the year to be in DC. This is THE time to go to the Smithsonian. The school groups are gone. The tourists are gone. The steamy 90* humidity is gone. 

The museums are warm and empty and overly staffed with eager and helpful volunteers bored out of their minds. Go anywhere on a weekday or early on a weekend and you can probably score a personal tour. This past week the kids and I were escorted through the reptile house at the National Zoo.

The friendly volunteer walked us through, providing insider knowledge on the personalities of most of the animals on exhibit.  He also pulled out different snake skins and let my kids handle them, then let us go back into the resource room to get a look at preserved reptile skeletons, eggs, and teeth as well as the giant salamander breeding tanks. 

My kids showed their keen appreciation for natural history by asking well thought out and pertinent questions and carefully observing the different animals. NOPE. Make that, swinging on the bars by the crocodile exhibit for ten minutes. 

The volunteer to Reuben, Do you know why snakes stick out their tongues?

Reuben: They like to lick. What do you like to lick? 

After the reptile house Reuben begged to go to the Amazon house. Here we are at the ray tank.

Feb 16, 2012

Feb 5, 2011

Back at the ranch Reuben drew his first person. According to Reuben, the circle with two small circles is Miriam. She is wearing a hat and mittens. It is snowing.

Here is Miriam, as Cosette, trying to sweep all the leaves off our street. 

Good book: Saying Goodbye To Lulu

Reuben has become very interested in the concept of death. He talks about things dying, asks why things die, asks when I, his mother, will die, asks when Miri will die, asks when Battle will die... you get the idea.

I told him everything dies. Our bodies wear out and get tired. But he's eager for more details.

So on our latest library trip, I was grateful to find the book "Saying Goodbye to Lulu" by Corrine Demas.
The book tells the story of a little girl whose dog begins to weaken and die. As the dog looses her ability to move and sense the world around her, the little girl is loyal if a bit angry to loose her good friend.
I really appreciated how the book communicates that old age is a lot like infancy. When we are young and old we have trouble doing many things on our own, and we rely on those around us who love us.

The kids love the book and we've read it over and over and over. If you have a morbid child like Reuben or are simply looking for a beautiful and profound explanation of dying, look it up.

18 months

Miri girl turned 18 months last week. She's so grown up.

18 months is THE age when kids are old enough to start going to the church nursery. Miri being her precocious self has been in nursery the last couple months already. Since I'm a nursery leader, she's my buddy so her birthday passed without much change at church.

It's strange to think of Reuben at 18 months. I remember being so concerned putting him into nursery. Reuben is a little more anxious a personality than Miriam. I really worried if he was going to suffer some sort of toddler mental break down being abandoned by his loving parents to the lord of the flies nursery and end up permanently scarred. I was so pregnant with Miri that I felt like I had no choice but to turn him over and hope for the best.

At the time I told myself I was over reacting and being too clingy but now I think I was totally right. Reuben went to nursery and ended up with some pretty odd attitudes (dislike) towards church, class settings, and his peer group. He would wake up in the night screaming that he did not want to go back to nursery. PTSD, for real. He seems to still carry a grudge against them all. Ah, nursery... 

But he's no longer in nursery. He's moved up to primary and says he likes it a lot better. Phew. 

Anyway, it's also hard to believe that when Reuben was Miri's age, baby Miri came along.

At 18 months Miri decided she wanted to be potty trained so she took care of that herself. I really did not encourage her in any way. (I know it was wrong, but I kind of half heartedly discouraged her. Miri can't we try this later when it is warm outside? Nope.) She pushed us all into it and is enjoying the experience.

 Don't mess with her when she's eating. She protects what is hers.

Miri thinks the magnifying glass is hilarious and I agree. I love this little girl. 

Cowboy

Reuben asked me what sort of hat this was. I told him it was a cowboy hat. He asked what a cowboy was so I said it was a person that was good at chasing cows. Then I pulled up youtube and showed him some roping, bull riding, and calf wrestling. It reminded me how violent cowboys are but Reuben was impressed and has been wearing the hat around ever since.

When the real cowboy hat was misplaced, he was using a shoe box as a stand in. I say was because the other night I was looking for some kindling for a fire and tossed the shoe box in. Both kids erupted in to shrieks of despair and horror.  I tried to pull the box out but it went up in flames before our eyes. I have not been forgiven.

Miriam got a red balloon at a friend's birthday party last week. She keeps walking through the house chanting "A balloon! A balloon!" It makes me feel like I'm stuck in that french red balloon show.

 It's been very cold here. Snow came. Then ice. Then freezing fog. Ugly cold weather. We suited up and tried to go play in it but realized it was really just ice and there was no fun to be had. I have no pictures outside because my phone powered down right before we stepped out the door. I guess it doesn't like the cold weather either.

Here's R in his snow clothes.

 And Miri.

Another funny story. Reuben has grown tall again and I am amazed that all traces of his babyhood are fast disappearing. We were sitting at the table and I couldn't help but say aloud "Reuben, look at you! You've changed so much. You are such a big boy now!"

Reuben looked over with a concerned confused look and asked very somberly "Did I used to be a girl?"

We assured him he was born a boy and the only changing he's done is change from a baby to a child. I'm not sure if we are totally believed. He knows a lot of baby sisters and a lot of older brothers, since all of his cousins on his Dad's side have a boy then girl order. I think he may be expecting Miri to change into a boy any day now.