Archive for the ‘moments to savor’ Category
A morning offering ~ John O’Donohue
To set the ghosts of longing free
Into the flow and figure of dream
That went to harvest from the dark
Bread for the hunger no one sees.
Welcome the wonder of this day,
The field of brightness it creates
Offering time for each thing
To arise and illuminate.
The quiet loyalty of breath,
The tent of thought where I shelter,
Wave of desire I am shore to
And all beauty drawn to the eye.
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed.
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.
My adorable fire breathing dragon!
Yes, that’s right! As I write this my beautiful daughter pictured here at a friend’s birthday, is in the next room transformed into a fire breathing dragon by fatigue, the terrible 3s, and plain old stubbornness! She has been yelling through her tears for about a half an hour that she doesn’t want to go to sleep and she wants to get out of bed. I can’t tell you how overjoyed I am that she doesn’t realize she could get up and run around the house now if she wanted to!
How did we get to this place, this bedtime stand off? Well, it might have something to do with going away for a long weekend, where for four nights not only did Mommy sleep in the same bed with her but she didn’t go to bed until almost 10pm (her usual is 7:30pm)! So I am laying here in the next room taking full responsibility and in about five minutes I am going to quietly go in, pick her up, get her to stop breathing fire(hyperventilating) and start again!
UPDATE: The fire breathing stopped shortly after I picked her up. I put her in her bed, tucked her in and the conversation went something like this:
realmom: (In a whisper) There’s no reason to stay up because there is nothing to do. The neighbor kids are all in bed and it’s dark outside. It’s time to go to sleep. It’s boring at night time.
realgirl: Then why are you up?
realmom:(thinking quickly) I’m just waiting for you to go to sleep and then I am off to bed!(partially true)
realgirl: Can I have something to drink?
By the time I return with a glass of milk she is asleep and it’s only 9pm!
My three year old can spell her name!
Well she will be 4 in July but I still think it’s pretty great! The best part is she is so proud of herself! I think I’m a little relieved too. Not that I had any concerns about how smart she is but she does go to daycare 5 days a week and I sometimes worry she’s bored there. I mean unless you hang out the whole day you never really know what their up too. And we’ve had a little issue recently with her not wanting to go! Most mornings she wakes up and says “what day is it?” As soon as she figures out it’s a school day she starts to cry!
Well, as she proudly told me today that she could spell her name and proceeded to do so(all 8 letters and that’s just her first name!) I just felt this sense of relief. She is gonna do just fine! Do you send your kids to daycare and how do you deal with those guilty momma moments?
A 3yo visits the art museum and….
She made me proud! On the drive in to the RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) Museum I pointed out a very large pile of iron shaped like orange slices piled on top of each other. “Look”, I said very enthusiastically, “that’s called a S C U L P T U R E!” She looked at it thoughtfully and said “Oh.”
We parked the car and made our way in and when we entered the glass doors, she ran over to a 6 foot tall piece of glass looking a little like a headless woman and said “Look, Mommy, a sculpture!!!” We proceeded to have a very interesting conversation about the large bottle/headless woman while I beamed and smiled proudly at all the patrons passing by.
Look, Mama, a dance floor!
Her amazement and enthusiasm only lasted for about 10 minutes but it was fascinating to see which pieces would catch her attention and which she would just pass by. I think she was mostly impressed with the size of the paintings and very disappointed when I almost tackled her informed her she couldn’t touch them! But those moments when she seemed to enjoy and even appreciate the pieces I just felt, well, joy! And I’m not even really a huge fan of art.
I have a few of the expected coffee table books. Monet. Vangough. I get to the museum about once every couple of years and, honestly, I think what I enjoy the most is roaming the vast rooms in silence. Once I went to a Monet show at the MFA in Boston and, while the paintings were amazing, the crowd left me feeling like a cow being led into the milking barn!
So why was I so moved by my kid liking the art? I think it just made me really realize that I am teaching her about life(and art) and I’m doing a pretty good job! Of course we ended in a throw down in the “exploration” room where those dumb** art people put permanent markers out for the kids to draw with! **Just kidding about the dumb part for all you art people. We really had a wonderful time and truly thank you for working for way too little so we can have a little joy!!!
real mom real life 