Everyday Life for Four Seasons

These dolls are sitting at a table, eating pizza and markers. Of course. Who wouldn't want to eat markers for lunch?

edited to add: it is heavenly outside... almost spring-like.

Some days I can't find the balance between:

* having a cleaned up, orderly home and having fun-loving, creative children who jump from one activity to the next;

* allowing my children enough autonomy to experiment and make their own decisions and keeping them and my possessions safe;

* encouraging them to find their own inner voice to determine how quickly and how well they put away their things and how quickly I would like to see things cleaned up...

So on these days, I choose to ignore these questions that I can't find answers to and just look out the window instead, thinking that we should all go outside and play for a while.

I hear my inner chatter. I'm starting to feel overwhelmed with daily "to do" tasks. Best to take some time soon to get things done so I can feel better.

If your children or children you know love to play with silks, head on over to Frontier Dreams to enter Nicole's giveaway. You have until March 4. Good luck!

As you may know, I'm taking part in Hip Mountain Mama's One Small Change. The compost challenge that I undertook in January is still going strong - I bring out my buckets twice a week or so and put them on the pile in the woods. Our cloth handkerchief challenge from February is working out well too. So far I've made several hankies and I haven't replenished our paper tissue supply at all. Jeff and I have switched to the cloth full-time and the girls are using up the paper. When they're gone, they're gone! We just toss them in the laundry when we're done with them. I don't do a separate load. The only thing in our house that gets a separate load is 'H's diaper load. I switched her over to cloth diapers while we're at home, and she wears permanent plastic diapers while we go out.
Suzy (Hip Mountain Mama) posted that she is switching her girls from permanent plastic pull-ups at night to cloth, reusable pull-ups. I think I'll do the same for 'A'!

I wanted to choose water conservation for my one small change for March, but I've decided to save that for April and do something else instead this month. I need to get my bag situation under control. I have a few issues to address:

* I make my own bread and need a better loaf bag. I've been using old plastic bread bags but at this point they are months old and are getting a bit gross. I want something washable.

* We buy as much of our food in bulk to cut down on packaging (oatmeal, popcorn, nuts and grains). I need to have a better bulk bag storage selection that fits nicely into my reusable shopping bags.

* We buy greens at the farmer's market every week. They come packed in clear plastic bags with holes punched throughout for circulation. I can't reuse these for the cat litter or for garbage. What am I going to do with them? I have too many that are starting to pile up.

* We have a pellet stove and the pellets come packed in plastic bags. We haven't thrown any of the bags away, so now I have an enormous stack of big, thick plastic bags! Some I use under the cat box, some we can use for garbage, but what about the rest?

There you have it, my bag crisis. I need to address it! I need some order in my life.

Jeff, 'H' and I went to 'A's final dance class to watch her dance. It wasn't a formal recital, it was more of a chance for the parents to see what the children are doing in class. 'A' is a sweet girl. She picks out her outfits for each class and will only wear what she wants to wear. So, there she was, dressed in her pink leotard and her pink ballet shoes, following along with the dances. Before class started, she told us she was happy to be at dance class but not happy that people would be watching her dance. During the class, she had a moment that we weren't expecting, but at the same time, we weren't the least bit surprised that it happened. She melted down. At first, I whispered to Jeff that she looked really tired. Then he said that she looked starstruck. Before we knew it, she was running to my arms with tears streaming down her face. She sat on my lap for a bit and watched the other girls dance, and then decided to rejoin the group. After that point, she was fine.


When the class ended we gave her a single rose with a sprig of baby's breath and talked about feeling nervous and about how proud we were that she decided to go back on the stage and have fun dancing. She's looking forward to another 6 week session of dance, complete with another final class where the parents will come to watch. I'll tell you, if I had been in her shoes, I wouldn't have gotten out of my mother's lap and rejoin the group, and I wouldn't have wanted to sign up for another round of classes. I'm so proud of her!


This situation has brought up a topic of discussion for Jeff and me, something that comes up again and again. Parenting styles. How do we parent and help our children navigate these life situations in a way that works for both them and us? How much of the conventional wisdom do we listen to and how much of our inner voice do we listen to? What happens when they are in conflict? What about the times when things happen so fast, when we haven't had a chance to think things through, when we have to react quickly to reassure our children that they're OK, and at the same time help them find their way?

I guess this is where all of the other discussions that Jeff and I have come in handy. We talk (and I think) a lot about how to parent our girls. Most of all, I want them to feel comfortable with who they are. That's easy to say, but how do you get there? I keep that idea of wanting them to accept and be comfortable with themselves in my mind all the time. I try to honor it before I react, before I speak, before I ask them questions, as I answer questions, while I comfort them, and while I am encouraging them to try something new. A lot of times my actions and words will come from that place, and things will flow so well, both between us and within ourselves. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes my own childhood experiences cloud it up, or my mood that moment overrides it. Perhaps my own insecurities that I've cultivated over the years will make that place of love and acceptance just disappear. But it comes back pretty quickly, and I always make an effort to start things over when I'm feeling in tune again.


I think about these things as I watch her cry and run to me in the middle of a performance. And as I watch her experiment with cutting her tights with scissors and then strongly regret doing it when she finds out she can't wear them again. She did that tonight and was so upset that she covered her ears and yelled at me when I tried to talk with her about it. I made some space between us and found that place of love and acceptance, recognized that she is feeling so awful about it that even my neutral words sounded vicious, and decided to just sit and hug her in silence. That healed us.


The rest of these photos are from our trip to the winter farmer's market on Saturday. It's almost March, and pickings are getting slimmer, but we still have a lot of variety. We're still convinced that we can eat local produce all year long and love it.

We had Squasharoni for dinner tonight. My sister introduced us to it and Jeff and I love it. The girls have enjoyed it in the past but for whatever reason decided that they didn't like it tonight. Mmmmmm, it is yummy!
A few notes - I don't bake it, I think it dries out too much that way. I leave out the breadcrumbs and use toasted, crushed ramen noodles instead. Tonight I added 1/4 cup of silken tofu I had on hand and doubled the miso. I blend my squash/tahini/miso mixture in the food processor so it gets nice and smooth and bright orange, just like mac 'n cheese.

Ingredients
12 oz dried elbow macaroni pasta
2-1/2 tbsp olive oil
1-1/2 cups sliced onions
5 cups peeled cubed butternut or buttercup squash (approximately 1 large squash)
1/2 cup water
1 tsp salt, divided
1/3 cup tahini
1 tbsp white miso
1 tbsp umeboshi vinegar
1 tsp tamari
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tbsp dried oregano
3/4 cup dried whole-grain bread crumbs

In a large saucepan, cook the pasta in boiling water until tender but still firm. Drain, rinse, and set aside. In a large, deep ovenproof skillet, heat 1-1/2 tablespoons of the oil and saute the onions for 3 - 5 minutes or until translucent. Add the squash and water and bring to a boil. Add 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook for 15 - 20 minutes, or until the squash is soft.

Preheat oven to 375F. In a small bowl, stir together the tahini, miso, vinegar, tamari, and remaining salt. Add the tahini mixture to the squash and mix together until creamy. Add the reserved pasta, remaining oil, the walnuts, parsley, and oregano. Top with the bread crumbs and bake for 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Glimpses of today...


:: Tree Pose. 'A' is teaching her wooden model to do yoga. ::


:: Sweet Pea Seeds. The girls made these at the State Park Preschool Naturalists program yesterday. ::





:: These bulbs were a gift from my mother 8 weeks ago. They just emerged from their dark, cold home in our garage. Stay tuned for some spring growth! ::


:: Remnants of the scarf I started 8 years ago and finished this week are ready for little fingers to try some finger knitting. ::

And now two little princesses are waiting for me to apply their nailpolish...

I love that 'A' spends time looking at her sewing project before, during and after working on it. That's one way I know she's ready to undertake a project like this.

Snow! I'm so happy that Grandmother Winter has decided to stop here and spend some time with us.

We're getting ready to go out and play in all of this wonderful snow. It'll be a break from what we've been doing so far this morning: making snowflakes; making maple candy; and playing tag, hide and seek, and musical chairs.


I sent in my name and my check to Denison Farm, the farm we visit every Wednesday in the warmer months to pick up our week's worth of vegetables. The CSA sign ups are still going on. Signing up is a reminder to me that spring really is right around the corner!

Today:

Some play at home, followed by more play at our local children's museum, then a quick trip to the library, followed by more play at home. What a nice day!

Tonight and tomorrow:

Finally we're getting some of the snow I've been missing all winter! Thank you, DC area, for sending it up here where it belongs!

We've all been visiting - Jeff went to a mountain town with friends for the weekend and I went to see friends in a different mountain town.


Last week I took 'A' to a speech therapist to address her "chewing but not swallowing food" issue. What I learned was incredible. Essentially, she is chewing a few times and then for some reason, either because the food doesn't have enough texture or enough flavor, she unconsciously decides that the morsel in her mouth isn't worth finishing, so it gets left there. It's an oral hyposensitivity issue. As the therapist described it more, it was as if she held up a mirror to me. She was describing me. Suddenly, so much made sense. All those childhood years of not wanting to eat and not liking the food my parents fed me, followed by adult years of trying tastier, more exotic foods, and liking them, made sense. I was labeled a "picky eater" when I was little, and was thought to have had a personality change when I got older and started eating a variety of foods. But you know, in light of the fact that I am probably hyposensitive, I am willing to bet I needed a lot more texture and flavor when I was little. Since I didn't get it, I chose to not eat much instead.

I am so happy that I have a chance to parent someone who is like me! It certainly makes it easier to understand what kind of food she might like to eat.