Creative explosion!

When Kathrynn was born, I favored natural fibers and materials.... I was not obsessed and I was not exclusive, but I did favor those wooden toys, which for me were very aesthetically pleasing as well as more sustainable then their plastic co-horts.

What was most sustainable was utilizing the various toys that came to us via relatives, friends and circumstance. When I was able, I traded various items we were done with to obtain the wooden pretty toys. But i kept the plastic toys.... sometimes the batteries were missing, and sometimes they weren't.....

As I read more and more about the "dangers" of plastic toys, and became aware of the Waldorf ideology, I continued our journey of trying to obtain more wooden toys..... But it just didn't feel right to remove all those various other toys, or "not allow" the relatives to give us the miscellaneous plastic items.... I was all for trying to limit the general number of toys (kathrynn was the sole grandchild for MANY years) and yet whenever I thought about trying to do away with the "plastic crap", I felt like i would be throwing away *possibility*........

I hear the arguments about parents saying that all these toys will impede on their creativity.... just trash their minds and make creative thought useless! I sometimes feel the judgments of other parents over all the "stuff" my child has.... And then i look at a picture like the one i took today.....


And I see how the availability to it all has brought about an *amazing* creativity that is above and beyond anything I could have possibly imagined. Kathrynn and her friend Zoe played their game for about 4 hours, adding different characters, changing story lines, role playing..... It was truly fascinating to be near to see the unfolding of their creative passions and Beings.



And I am SO grateful that for Kathrynn there was no "right" way to play, and no "right" toys that she had to have..... that i opted out of the "waldorf club" and instead followed my child's interests. I am grateful that I choose to work through those voices in my head telling me I "should" do x, y and z, and that I instead choose choose to follow and accept the authentic joys of Kathrynn and my husband (who also loves toys :P ).

A slice of life......

Evening walks/bike rides....

We've been going out in the evening for some lovely walks/bike rides....

Some random shots as the sun was going down, and a storm was considering coming in...

A day at the library.....

Oh how i love our library!!!!!
This past week we spent over 5 hours there- we went for our usual Tuesday story time, which led into play time, computer time, play time, reading time, playyyyyy time.......

The children's head librarian is so great with the kids. He uses wonderful puppets that they absolutely adore. He began this week's story time with juggling. :)


I got there a second too late as two of the kids had already gotten to the other side... but it was a fun site to see all our friends lined up as they had discovered a new game. :P



Kathrynn spent a LONG time putting these mats together to form a house for herself.....


Then she found different ways to interact w/ her new house. :)







One of the volunteers did crafts with her- kathrynn had such a great time coloring different pictures and making different things. :)

Yeah for our library!!!! :) <3

The small things that transport me into Now.

It never ceases to amaze me just how *wonderful* my child is to me. She is no "easy" child- i've talked about it before..... she's full of energy and passion, feels things LARGELY, at times can get "stuck," and is *always* amazing. :) Clearly NO bias here!

Sometimes it is the tiniest things that allow me to have Presence with her..... looking at her eye lashes, or how the day old dirt sits here and there on her face, seeing a new 'something' on her face somewhere..... I *study* this daughter of mine, because i am SO in love with her. It is as if my eyes just eat her up.

When I am feeling out of balance.... triggered.... I look into her eyes, i look at her face, ALL around her face..... and I find that suddenly i am transported into Now, and am Calm and Present.

This occurs with *listening* to her as well..... How DO our kids develop their accents and pronunciations? You got me on this one! Kathrynn was speaking with a New York City accent from age two. I couldn't quite get it.... I am not from there, and neither is Wes. Was she pulling through time and space to my grandparents, who lived in NY for a long time? Or even my father, who can fall into a NY accent on demand....

I was listening to her yesterday.... really listening as the words were coming out of that beautiful, sweet mouth (while watching, yes, i'm alway watching those cute lips)..... And yes, i was listening to the content.;) But i was also listening ot the pronounciation- S's that would give a speach therapist something to pounce on. R's that move this way and that way, depending on the word. The accent is a bit all over the place. And it amazes me. It amazes me that this little being that was once inside me, has grown up and is pontificating on this and that....

That voice, those words- not their content, but their Being- transport me into Now. The ouchie on her forehead, or the old scab on her chin.... BOOM, my eyes are Open and i'm Present.

I take it all in, and i am amazed that these things touch my heart in wonderment and glee. I am grateful that they have this affect on me..... That my eyes and ears can bring me back to unconditional Love, Being, and Present......

mmmm... its All good. :)

Our First Sleepover / Rhonda's bday :)

Kathrynn has been talking about when she'll be ready for a sleepover for awhile...... she wants to, but still has some reservations..... Ok, let's be honest, we both have some reservations about it...lol....maybe *me* more then her....
What if she wakes up, what if she has bad dreams, what if she's had a food reaction, what if she "locks" down even before it is sleep time..... Kathrynn's feelings of feeling safe and empowered can change so quickly, and it isn't necessarily because of the location or the people... Sometimes there are just those unpredictable factors.... Trying to balance the potential joy with the authenticity of our present is a difficult thing to balance.... to have awareness and not fear.... to be open to expansion and newness....

Anyway, when Rhonda told me that her husband would be out of town on the day of her 40th bday I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for Kathrynn to spend the night with Virginia, and I would be there too to spend the night celebrating with Rhonda!

So we packed up our bagS and head out into the wonderful country side of Greene County!
Lots of farm fun, dress up, and crab/champagne fun ensued!!!!!!








Out to the farm!








Enough farm stuff, lets get serious!!!
Crab cakes and crab meat with melted butter over a lovely salad, with a wonderful champagne. mmmmmm



Meanwhile, Kathrynn fell asleep while watching a movie. Awwww :)


The next day the fun continued!!! Kathrynn took many pictures of Popcorn, Virginia's dwarf hamster. :)

Climbing to the top of the cat tower is no small accomplishment!!!!

We had a GREAT time for our first sleepover, and had a great birthday celebration for Rhonda as well.
YEAH!!!!
:)

Grain free pancakes!

http://grainfreefoodie.blogspot.com/2009/02/pancakes.html

I like to pass along new and interesting recipes that come our way..... we are still figuring out what food items we are reacting to, so our gluten free and casein free quest continues.....

Kathrynn did not like these as much as her usual pancakes. i was making them for her, as a surprise, when she happened to ask for her usual pancakes. so i'm thinking her response might have been a bit skewed by that.

i devoured them! i put some butter on them, and some salt, as i love the salty-sweet combo. i think they'd be good w/ maple syrup or honey too.
and i'm sure all kinds of alterations could be made--- adding flax seeds, for example, came to my mind.

Enjoy your day! :)

My Sweet Grandmother :)

Mimi, 94 years young!!!! It was wonderful spending 3 and a half days with her. :)

We spent a lot of time playing cards. Mimi taught me how to play cards from a VERY young age. The minute I'd wake up we'd play cards, until I had to go to school. Then the minute I got home we'd resume. We played all sorts of games- war, spite and malice, rummy, 500, crazy 8s.......
I seemed to have a lucky streak, and she told me that when I turned 21 she would take me to Las Vegas, which she did. :)

We played cards every night before we went to bed, sometimes until we were both yawning and barely awake. :)




You might notice the pennies there...... We played a long time with out them. In fact, I went on a crazy winning streak and she remarked that if we were playing for money I'd be rich! Well, we went and got our pennies to introduce a little cash to the situation. ;)
I referred to each penny as a $100 bill, and we had lots of laughs over that. :)
At one point she only had 2 pennies from the original 10 pennies she'd started with, but by the end of the weekend, things evened out and we were each left with our original 10 pennies. What were the odds of that?!

Once morning came and we were all ready for the day, we resumed the card playing!!!! :)



Some beautiful roses I got on behalf of my Mom for Mimi. :)



We also played some Bingo, with neither of us winning. But we had a great time. :)



I also enjoyed "our" brief nap times, as I got some lovely reading in during those times. :)



Most of the pictures of the two of us were taken by me reaching my arm way out and hoping for a good angle. :P


Luckily I brought the camera to the communal dining room and was able to get some kind folks to take some wonderful shots for us. :)




I love you Mimi!!!! :)