Summer
It's summer. Both girls have finished school. We've finished all the end-of-year activities, and all the extra stuff--swimming, CCD, gymnastics--is over too. Tomorrow we have a blank calendar day. No obligations. No schedules. Although of course this means I get no writing done, it feels good to take a breath and just...do summer.
Last summer I posted daily about how Lucia, Greta, and I filled our days, and I'm going to do that this year too. Bits of things or full anecdotes. Conversations. Books read, crafts attempted. A record of this time I give them without camp, without activities, without anything but the ability to be at home, playing. A GIFT THEY BETTER WELL APPRECIATE.
Today was Lucia's last day of first grade, a half day. We went out for ice cream after school. I gave the girls end-of-year presents: tiny toy hamsters that scurry around the floor. Then they played outside for the rest of the day. They set up a "camp" in the middle of the yard with towels and beach chairs. They ran around with a friend from next door (he chased them, they screamed and giggled, etc.). They got a ton of mosquito bites. They ate freezer pops in their "camp."
Recent conversations to remember:
[in dress-up clothes, playing princesses:]
Greta: Do we have princes?
Lucia: We don't want princes. Just a huge castle.
[after bedtime, Andrew and I hear elephant-like stomping from upstairs, so I go investigate:]
Me: Greta, why are you stomping around like an elephant?
Greta: Mommy, I'm NOT stomping like an elephant. I had to jump on one foot into my room because I put on so much itch cream.
[tonight, one final conversation:]
Greta: Mommy, when we were babies, you couldn't braid anyone's hair. And now you can braid our hair.
Me: (one foot out the bedroom door) Yes. Goodnight.
Greta: It's so much better. All babies do is eat mush. I hate watching babies eat mush!!
Last summer I posted daily about how Lucia, Greta, and I filled our days, and I'm going to do that this year too. Bits of things or full anecdotes. Conversations. Books read, crafts attempted. A record of this time I give them without camp, without activities, without anything but the ability to be at home, playing. A GIFT THEY BETTER WELL APPRECIATE.
Today was Lucia's last day of first grade, a half day. We went out for ice cream after school. I gave the girls end-of-year presents: tiny toy hamsters that scurry around the floor. Then they played outside for the rest of the day. They set up a "camp" in the middle of the yard with towels and beach chairs. They ran around with a friend from next door (he chased them, they screamed and giggled, etc.). They got a ton of mosquito bites. They ate freezer pops in their "camp."
Recent conversations to remember:
[in dress-up clothes, playing princesses:]
Greta: Do we have princes?
Lucia: We don't want princes. Just a huge castle.
[after bedtime, Andrew and I hear elephant-like stomping from upstairs, so I go investigate:]
Me: Greta, why are you stomping around like an elephant?
Greta: Mommy, I'm NOT stomping like an elephant. I had to jump on one foot into my room because I put on so much itch cream.
[tonight, one final conversation:]
Greta: Mommy, when we were babies, you couldn't braid anyone's hair. And now you can braid our hair.
Me: (one foot out the bedroom door) Yes. Goodnight.
Greta: It's so much better. All babies do is eat mush. I hate watching babies eat mush!!
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