Right Now

Sharing a weekend walk

This was, by in large, a quiet week. Everyone has been shaking off the last vestiges of our respective colds, and finally (finally!) starting to settle into a bit of a stable-feeling routine.  With nothing in particular to report, then, I have decided to devote this post to the right now. The ins and outs of our days, and the particular idiosyncrasies that seem so very normal now, but will one day no doubt be remembered with fondness (or, in some cases, relief that it was only a stage!) 

One of about a thousand such mirror shots.  We need to take one every time we go by.

Aside from Mondays (which is a mama-Linden day), our weekdays typically involve a morning packed with all the busy-ness involved in getting everyone out the door in a timely fashion: packing a lunch for Juniper and maybe Clark; breakfast-ing and getting dressed; and then making it to the bus stop for shortly after 8:30am to wave Juniper off for her day at Kindergarten.  Often in the meantime I have taken off for a bit of a jog or a walk, so Clark hustles Linden into the car, and drops him off at the child center, then meets me wherever I have ended up, and we head to our respective work days (Clark at his office; me at home working on my thesis). Sometimes, if I've made it all the way to the Village, we have a bit of a coffee date first (or water as the case may be), which is actually really lovely.

Tractors and dirt. Anything better?

Linden is back home at noon, for lunch and nap. If he hasn't woken up by 3:30, then I wake him, in order for us to get out to the bus stop for when Juniper arrives home.  Sometimes this is really fun - Linden is still sleepy enough to be happy to snuggle in my lap and have a snack and maybe read a book while we wait. During these times he will often say things like "can I hug you? You are my special mama", or "I love you sooooo much!"  

Other times (more often than I'd like), he does NOT respond well to the wake-up. And let me tell you, he is one kid who can turn on the belligerent crankiness like no one I've ever met. Depending on how out-of-sorts he is feeling, he can range anywhere from acting sullen and stormy, to full-on off-his-rocker tantrum. Rather than sweetly crooning sweet nothings, he screams such gems as "get away from me - don't look at me!" A never-ending roller coaster, this kid.

"Construction site"

As long as it isn't down-pouring, after Juniper has gotten off the bus and had a snack (she is ALWAYS starving after school), both kids enter the "construction site".  This is a corner of our "garden" (a very sad excuse for a garden this year), which is now completely cleared of vegetation, and is home to any number of shovels, buckets and trucks for ongoing "construction" projects. Needless to say, both kids get completely and ridiculously filthy, but they have way too much fun for me to deny them the pleasure.

Random close-up selfie for Erin, who complained I'm never in any pictures. This, of course, is due to the fact that I'm always the one behind the camera. Because of the fixed focal-length lens that was on the camera for this shot, however, this was as far away as I could get, and it appears as though I'm gnawing at the edge. Nom nom nom.

Then it is supper, followed by a bit of play, and finally shower/bath and general getting-ready-for-bed time. If Clark and I are both here, we divide and conquer, each taking a kid after the pjs are on and the teeth are brushed. The lucky one gets Juniper. It used to be that Linden was a dream to put to bed - a story, a quick snuggle, and then we'd leave him, awake but quiet and content, and he would put himself to bed. Those blissful days are long gone. He is now a wild man. If we stay in his room, there is a whole lot of "reminding" him to lie still and GO TO SLEEP.  If we don't stay in his room, or if we leave before he is sufficiently asleep, then we will hear the inevitable "thump-thump-thump", and go up to find his light on, with him sitting in bed, surrounded by books. Then the process begins anew.  Juniper, on the other hand, will get a chapter of her book (currently Trumpet of the Swan), followed by a few little bedtime rituals, and then she is out like a light. 

Sunset at the Knob

They both get a song or two as part of the pre-sleep snuggle period. The current shared favourites are as follows:

"Everything's Alright" (Jesus Christ Superstar Soundtrack)

"Suzanne" (Leonard Cohen)

"Hallelujah" (Leonard Cohen)

"Let it Be" (Beatles)

"Blackbird" (Beatles)

They also each have their own requests - for Juniper, it is usually "Twinkle, Twinkle Northern Lights", and for Linden it is this crazy song we made up where he gets to choose how to fill in the blanks as follows:

No _____ walking on the tightrope (repeat 3 times)

Or else the _________ will get you.

So, for example:

No butterflies walking on the tightrope (repeat 3 times)

Or else the spider will get you.  

That is how it started out, but lately Linden has been expanding his horizons and choosing things like "trucks" and "tow truck". 

Sticks are always an important part of a walk

Weekends vary widely depending on what is going on.  Saturday mornings, however, always involve Juniper's soccer practice, and it is my time to escape to the pottery studio for a few hours. I love Saturday mornings!

Ben and Liz in a crazy post-soccer game of some sort

I was also going to include some of the funny/interesting things that Juniper and Linden currently say and do, but that is honestly all I can manage for the time being, so perhaps I shall aim to continue this next week.  Here are a few more random pictures from the week.  See you next Monday!

Trekking to watch the sun set over the Knob

The view as we were retreating

Someone got the best view!