for only a moment

I cannot believe how much time has already gone by this summer. Many days, it seems like we don’t do anything special… but I am enjoying being here for the everyday stuff too.

 

 I like watching the girls do everything together. I feel like I don’t spend much time actually *with* them, because I’m making lunch, doing laundry, doing dishes, getting someone dressed, changing a diaper, cleaning up this, sorting that..

 

I like being there to help them find the words to settle disagreements. I like being the one to explain to Hannah what Clara wants, or why something happened. I like being the one to give Hannah strategies she can use when she needs her own space. I like being the one to correct Clara because she gets so upset at disappointing me. I can be as gentle or as firm as she needs me to be in the moment.

 

 

 I like seeing Clara’s sense of discovery in simple things. She is talking more, putting two words together. I like being with her because I’m understanding almost everything she says. I’m seeing her intelligence and her comprehension of situations. Before, when I worked all the time, I didn’t understand as easily what she was saying.

 

 

 I like seeing Hannah’s consternation as when she truly focuses on something. Clint said he thinks Hannah’s getting smarter. I said, "That’s what happens when she’s home with me for 2 1/2 weeks." At first I was joking… but then I realized it’s true. Even though I’m doing all that other stuff, I’m talking to her the whole time. She’s thinking, talking back, playing, and developing her ideas about the world.

 

I get to be the one to calm her down when she’s upset. I like helping her connect her upset to other things that she has come through successfully. I like teaching her how to talk to other people in an appropriate way, rather than her demanding, irate, way. I get to witness her pride when she knows she’s said the magic word or used the respectful tone of voice.

 

 

I get to be the one to introduce new activities we’ve never done together before this summer. I get to broaden their horizons, and make them feel confident to go forward with new and different risks. They know I’m there, supporting them whether they fail or succeed.  It’s a special feeling, and a special time.

I started the day with a bit of backyard Olympics. Here’s Clara practicing her Javelin.

 

 

 Then we did some flower picking.

 

Then we checked our flowers in the backyard.

For lunch, we were meeting Clint’s mom at Panera. We decided to bike instead of drive, with the gas prices, you know.

 

"Are you ready, Clara," Hannah asked.

 

We arrived without incident, and had a lovely lunch. Clara partook of the vegetable soup because they didn’t have her standard Baked Potato. She was not a fan. Luckily, Hannah ate my sandwich and was willing to share her broccoli cheese soup. Then Nana bought them some muffins. Mmm, mmm! We finished eating and went outside to show Nana our new toy, the trailer. It was raining! Notice The water droplets on the windows.

 

The rain picked up as I crossed the busy intersection. I blinked to be able to see well. Then it slowed down. Lucky for me, I was already soaked.  By the time we saw the ducks below, it had all but stopped.

 

And Clara had fallen fast asleep.

To see all the pictures from the day or to see larger images of these ones, go to the gallery.

 The ones above are my mystery flowers. I do not know what they are called and they were not labeled when I bought them.

 

These were labeled, I’ll have to look in the shed for the tags.

 

 

And these are called verbena… but they are what I’ve always called "prairiepinks."

Gathering them from along the side of the dirt roads near where I grew up is what inspired the name for this website. Menards had them in many different shades… these are more of a lavender. 

And of course here are my flower watering helpers!

 

 

 

 We’ve been spending a lot of time outside.

 

 

  

 

The girls are enjoying being home for the summer. Today we took a long bike ride to the park because for Mother’s Day, Clint got me a bike trailer. It finally arrived last night. His brother Jason helped him put it together while we barbecued with Jason and San San. It was a fun night.

I really like the bike trailer more than I expected to. I thought it would be heavy and unwieldy, but on our quiet streets it’s easy to pull (I go slow anyway) and there’s not much traffic to avoid. The girls liked it. It gave me some quiet time and some exercise while I rode to the park. Most of the time, it was quiet enough for Hannah and I to converse. Next time, I’d take some little toys for them to play with or books to read while they ride along. I’ll have to take some pictures of it. Also I planted 8 or 10 pots of flowers last week with the girls. I have been wanting to photograph and post some of them too.