Iveyrock

All of the chores for the day are done

Packages…

Quiet time with my babe

80 degrees = finally cool enough to play outside

peanut butter and chocolate

Slowly but surely, making progress

waking up to muffins and coffee

watching the kids play outside in their pajamas

A new shirt – with sparkles!

One of the things that is highly entertaining and occasionally frustrating about raising my kids is; they do not use anything for its intended purpose.

Toys that are extremely limited in their use get turned into all kinds of things. One of Chava’s favorite ‘babies’ is a broom. Ian often makes “contraptions”, which can be made of pretty much anything, for pretty much anything. Their art projects go the same way; whatever I thought they were doing, it very quickly turns into something else. And then something else again.

The success of the project, or game, or day really hinges on whether I stick to my idea of what should be happening, or let the kids go and do their own thing. When we tried to make macaroni necklaces, I was irritated that they didn’t want to actually string the macaroni. Why? Because I wanted them to experience a different craft than we had done before, have some fun, use their creativity. But I wanted them to do it the right way. The way that ends in necklaces, not the way that ends in noodles buried in the sandbox.

Why does it matter? They didn’t care about the necklaces. They had fun digging up the noodles. They got to play outside, they were entertained.

At this point, when we get a new toy or start a new project, I expect it to turn out completely differently than intended. The funny thing is, no matter how much I know this, I still can’t predict what it is they will actually do. Life is continually interesting in this house.

We do a lot of art around here, but for the last couple of months that has been a bit on the back burner, as we’ve been spending as much time as we can outside. Now that it’s getting too hot to play (the high today was 105), the kids are suddenly asking for “projects” again.

It’s been really neat to watch them the last week or so. Both of them are suddenly doing more with their creativity than they were before.

Ian hasn’t really been into drawing ‘things’ at all; he likes to just put colors on the paper. I’ve been struggling with whether I should introduce the idea of drawings that actually represent something, or just let him come up with it on his own. We’ve talked about drawing shapes and people before, but it’s just not something he’s been interested in. But this past week, he sat down and drew a really neat picture.

Ian’s ‘Superman’

Chava’s ‘Lizard’

It was especially fun to listen to him talk to himself about what he was doing. He put in “Superman”, and then decided that he needed Night and Day. He mumbled to himself about needing a black crayon and a blue crayon for that. Then he added a circle around the whole thing, and some “bad guys”, and some “things to fight the bad guys”. (Which leaves me a little confused, because to the best of my knowledge, he’s never seen Superman in his life. Maybe it’s genetic.)

Both of my kids are really into art that is more three dimensional. Which might be why Ian ripped up his really cool picture that I had planned to save forever, as part of the project. Luckily, I had taken pictures.

There’s been a change in their three dimensional art, as well. They are much more deliberate about what they are doing. Ian especially is trying to recreate something he sees in his mind, rather than just put things together and see what happens. He’s also been much more specific about what he wants. Instead of asking to paint, he’ll ask if he can make a mouse, and cut it out, and glue it to a Popsicle stick, and make it into a puppet.

The funny thing about their projects is the way they turn into so many other things along the way. Ian’s mouse became a frog on a lily pad, and then some smaller frogs, and then a bunch of itty bitty pieces of paper. Because really, it is still very much about the process for them. I don’t consider myself to be artistic at all, so I haven’t given much thought to how art works. But it makes sense to me that there is so much ‘process’ behind the finished product. I would think any artist puts that much thought into their work, and that their work goes through just as many stages and metamorphoses before they are satisfied. I would guess there are many times with the end result is no where near what they originally envisioned.

I am still adjusting a little bit to this new way of doing things. Before they would ask for paint, and I’d hand them paint. Now Ian wants to make something that is real to him. So I ask “what do you need for that?” His answers surprise me, and I am so intrigued by the way his mind puts things together. It’s also fun to watch them with more materials. They come up with things I wouldn’t have dreamed of putting together. My job is to give them what they ask for, and stay out of the way.

Ian is suddenly fascinated with making hand-prints on the wall after he has washed his hands. I told him I didn’t want him doing that, but that I would find another way for him to make handprints. He asked if we would do paint, so I pulled out the finger paints and got them all set up.

Literally five minutes later, Ian was all done; and wandering through the house with finger-painty hands. I was not pleased. I went to all this trouble to get him set up with paints, to facilitate him with his hand-print obsession, and here he was wandering around while I was trying to nurse the baby.

So, I told him to go sit back down. I got a tray of water for him, and gave him some black paper. And suddenly he was completely absorbed in making hand-prints. He was thrilled that he could make them on paper, just like on the wall. He wanted me to take pictures, and watch him do it again. Then he spent a good amount of time dipping his paper in the water. This progressed to making “sponges” out of the paper. The whole thing ended in washing everything out in the sink.

In the end, it was a good time all around. Ian got to make handprints, Chava got to make a mess, and they both got to play with water – incidentally doing a good part of the cleaning up work while playing. Beautiful.

After a couple of weird weeks, and even weirder weekends, we spent the day settling back into our normal routine. The basic idea is to have lots of free time, with bits of work thrown in. We have some ebb and flow with where and how we play, and we usually do some sort of project everyday.

I was pleased by how easily we went back into the normal swing of things. Our morning has a flow of a story to pull us all together, and then the big chore for the day. The kids help with the chore, and it rotates based on the day and week. I wasn’t sure how it would go after two weeks off, especially since we haven’t been using this schedule all that long.

But the kids both jumped right in. We read a book today; other days I tell them a made-up story. Then we swept. (Mondays are sweeping days because I have a time every day that toys get picked up. Sometimes this doesn’t work as well on the weekends, if we’re out and about. Monday sweeping means that all floors must be cleared Monday morning, and we start the week fresh.) We got everything swept, and moved on to playing. Once again, I am really pleased with how this routine is working for our family.

You are one of the most self-less people I know. Happy Father’s Day.

The big project for the last two days had been making pie and thank-you notes. The original plan was to make pie and a note, and take it over to the neighbors. However, I am very good at complicating cooking projects. Very few of the things I make actually turn out as intended, especially when I am using a new recipe.

My pie dough recipe I have actually used before, and really like. It’s tricky to make a good whole wheat crust, and I am really happy with this one. This time, though, there was a bit of a problem. I am pretty sure that the issue was the temperature in my kitchen/the melting point of coconut oil. But whatever the cause, I wound up with something more like flour soup. In the end I added two more cups of flour to get the right consistency. (You may notice that the recipe is called “foolproof…” not sure I want to ponder that too closely.)

Then, on to cutting apples. This went as smoothly as cutting up a bag-full of apples can go. The recipe makes enough crust for two pies, so the plan was to cut enough apples for two pies. This seems really straight-forward, but again – I am very, very good at making things complicated.

We didn’t have quite enough green apples. No problem, throw in a couple of red apples. Mix it all up, then remember to double the recipe. Wildly throw in a little more of everything, mix some more. The kids really got into this part. At this point it was Quiet Time, which turned into a whole fiasco all of it’s own. I decided to put everything in the fridge, and wait until morning.

So, we start in on it this morning. We’re at the end of two weeks of swimming lessons, so everyone is very tired, and getting back into the swing of being home is throwing everyone off. But I am determined that the pie will be made today, so we forge ahead. The pie dough rolls just fine, but it crumbles when I try to put it in the pan. Because of the extra flour, no doubt. No problem; I use wax paper. Then I realized that overnight, the apples have lost a lot of their juice. Now we only have enough apples for one pie.

I pulled out my cookbook, and the kids and I decided to make Pecan pie. I was especially pleased with this choice, because it only has one crust. Much easier, when dealing with crust that won’t stay together. But that means I have enough crust for three pies. A normal person would probably freeze some dough, but now I am in major pie making mode. And once you’re making two, why not just go with three?

We don’t have enough corn syrup for two pies. Which is just fine, because I really try to avoid corn syrup. After some research, I went with honey and molasses as a substitute for corn syrup.

The pecan pie was surprisingly easy to mix up. At the last minute, we add some chocolate chips to the mix. Cause you know, pecan pie just isn’t sweet enough by itself.

We put them in the oven to bake. At this point, my plan was to take the least odd looking one over to the neighbors, and bank on the idea that, “it’s the thought that counts….”.

They came out of the oven looking pretty good, but smelling more like molasses than I think a pecan pie should. We trotted one over to the neighbors, along with Chava’s thank you card. I’m a little nervous about what they’ll think, but mostly I hope they know that we appreciate their help. And that I am not trying to poison them.

Now we have an apple pie, and a pecan/shoo-fly/chocolate thing. I would take a pie over to another neighbor’s, but we don’t know anyone here well enough for this sort of gift. Although it would probably be an excellent way for them to get to know me…

And at the end of this long, crazy day; which comes at the end of two long, crazy weeks, my husband came home with chocolate covered cherries for me. I haven’t had them in two years, since my nurslings are allergic to dairy. (He called around to find a place that has dairy-free ones). I don’t even have words for that.

My day was not so great. I am feeling sniffly and scratchy-throated. Two of my three children are teething, and understandably not happy. Swimming lessons are throwing our normal down time all out of whack, and the kids (and mommy) are getting tired. I felt like chores were piling up, and could feel myself slipping right back into frantic, discouraged mode.

I found myself outside with my kids, feeling like I really should be back inside, being productive. I had to keep reminding myself – this time is allocated for down time. There is nothing I am supposed to be doing except sitting right here.

And of course, as I sat in the breeze and watched my kids play, I realized that it had been over a week since I’d been able to do this. The time has been filled with good things; but not the things that nurture who I am as a woman and as a mother. In trying to facilitate relaxed, easy time with my kids, I’ve been missing the actual moments. I’ve been concentrating on the logistics. Again.

Concentrating on packing the swimming bag the night before, so I’m not rushed in the morning; building a swing set so my kids can play. Things that are well intentioned, but have gotten out of balance.

So I sat outside with my kids. I watched my oldest “test the roof of the swing set, to see if it’s dense.” Using a stick with an empty bubble jar, as his “dense tester.” (And he reports back that yes, it is dense.) Breathing in my baby’s sweet milk breathe. Watching my little girl water herself, instead of the strawberries.

It is hard to see this time as important. But it is crucial to me, and I need to make sure I am making it a priority, not an afterthought.