This was written a week into August, but only published now because I haven’t had time to type this all out from my notebook :-)
“I hope you’re writing these things down,” she said. I had to confess I wasn’t. Life has been full and time has been short and writing has fallen to the wayside.
But it’s been a rough first couple weeks of school and I need to be reminded of the rainbows amidst our stormy fortnight.
Shiloh walked into the kitchen, placed her hand on my arm, and waited until she had my attention to speak. She’d just been playing with a hand mirror and now she had something to share.
“Mama. I think that a reflection is like an echo. One of them is light bouncing off a surface and one of them is sound bouncing off a surface.”
Pretty good for her first week of kindergarten.
I was seated on the couch, Moriah (25 months) was messing around on my lap, and Beth-Ellen was narrating her history reading.
“So Burr shot Hamilton and he died.”
Moriah’s head snapped up and she looked at me in horror. “He killed him! That is NOT okay!”
I don’t know who came up with the game, but lately the bigs have been swinging Moriah. One big holds her arms and another her legs as they sing, to the tune of “Blessed Assurance:”
"Sack of potatoes, you are so sweet.
So I decided to pickle your feet."
And then they toss her gently onto the couch or a bed.
A mama cardinal has made a nest in the stinky sumac (Rhus aromatica) at the corner of our house. Frank is fascinated – and eager to help. He’s been carrying a stepstool out to the smokebush out front, handpicking the gregarious caterpillars off it – and toting them over to the nest and tossing them in. (Mama bird, had, of course, vacated the nest when Frank approached.)
I am happy to announce that despite Frank’s helpfulness and the other children’s frequent checking keeping mama bird away often, baby bird emerged from his/her egg and has taken flight.