How does Helen's mind work?

Is it being three, or is it being Helen? This is a story that really should have photo illustrations, but like all the best stories, they happen before a camera can be procured.

I had just gotten home from work and was ready to put on some "mommy" clothes. While stripping work clothes, I was keeping up a conversation with Helen. I usually do this, just so I can keep tabs on where she is and what she is up to.

"Helen, what do you think I should put on today?" [For the record, rhetorical questions are a terrible idea with a 3-year-old. Since I already knew what I wanted to wear, I was just asking for trouble.]

"Nothing," Helen replied, matter-of-factly but in a tone that tolerated no argument.

"Hmm...then how can I leave the house after lunch to go to the store and buy groceries?" I asked, thinking I had an airtight case. But Helen was not to be so easily cowed.

"Let me think..." she offered, playing for time.

Since I was getting cold, I wasn't sure how long I could wait on the whims of a 3-year-old. "Umm, I think I will just put my jeans on."

"No!" Helen shrieked, alarmed. "Let me think!" She sat down on the edge of my bed, head bowed and face covered by both hands. "Quiet, please..." she muttered at me in an irritated tone. I didn't realize it then, but she was still hard at work on my question - how to put nothing on, and yet get to the store to buy groceries.

After a pause long enough to leave me shivering, she looked up. "I've got it! Dad will make the house fly!"

Umm...huh? "Okay, how will he do that?"

"He can put feathers on it!" (Duh!)

While I spent the next few minutes figuring out that a flying house was her solution to get to the store without leaving the house, she started nagging..."When (oh when!) will Daddy get to the feather store?"

There is nothing quite like the literal mind of a 3-year-old. Or is it Helen?

Baby birds learn to fly

From outside the nest, it seems that a baby bird learns to fly almost all at once. There is just a helpless chick, then one day a chick stretching and flapping her wings, and then the next day the nest is empty. 

But now I know, a baby bird learns to fly in uncountable different steps, most happening so rapidly that we only discover them when we look backward. 

Some steps are tearful, 

Credits: imgarcade.com

some are jubilant, 

Credits: urbanpeek.com

some are barely perceptible. 

Credits: wallpaperhere.com

The only truly common denominator is that all are bittersweet. How is it that my own baby bird could be cruising down the sidewalk on her own 2-wheeled bike, faster than I can keep up walking, while I still have her toddler seat attached to my bike? Since I somehow missed the obvious time to remove it, I may just keep it, now. Bittersweet.

Writer's Block is a drag, but so is writer's overload

Could it really be almost 5 months since my last post? Such radio silence is usually reflects a complex situation...too busy to post, or not busy at all (meaning undisciplined with my time). Nothing to say, or too much to say (so I don't know where to start).

Whatever the case, it seems that the words pressure is building. In the past week, I have frequently found myself composing in my mind. The only cure for this is to start writing things down. And yes, I must cure it, because otherwise I become increasingly, and dangerously, internally focused. At some point, I have to quit writing stories in my head and start taking care of life again. So... my goal is to write a bunch over the next few weeks. I hope life cooperates with that.

Time to post again

Which is the prettiest flower in our yard?

Helen chooses all her own clothing these days. 9/10 days, that will be a dress.

Wow, it has been two months since my last post?!? That is a good sign, in this case, that we have been busy cramming lots of fun into our last weeks here in Massachusetts. We had visitors in April (first the Wunder family for a week, then Grandma Di, Grandpa Glen, and Grandpa Tom). We have done something every weekend in May, and the kids are starting to get busy at school, too, with end-of-year things.

I have lots of photos in the first few June posts of the older kids doing stuff for school, so I will first put a few photos of Helen in here, so that you don't forget about her!

Mostly, Helen is too busy to sleep these day. But even superheros need a break once in a while. While Grandpa Tom was here, he was happy to demonstrate for Helen.

Kids' Spring Activities

Although I have stuck to my guns and kept extra-curricular activities to a minimum this year, the kids have talked me into just a few things. In late winter (March and April), Jame and Meg each took on a science fair project. Jame elected to learn about solar cookers and build a hot-dog cooker. Meg joined a group learning about branchiopods, which hatch in vernal ponds. I think this was a very sneaky way to get a pet, at least for the short term, as we had a makeshift aquarium in Meg's room for a few months. Fortunately, branchiopods are easy to dump in a vernal pond outside when the project is done.

This spring, James played baseball with the middle school team. They had a very short season, made shorter by lots of rain-outs. He seemed to have a good time, but I didn't manage to get any photos of him playing, so you'll just have to take my word for it that he looked very handsome in his gray baseball pants, red shirt, and navy blue ball cap.

John decided to play soccer, and while he doesn't care much for following directions when it comes to drills, or even necessarily paying attention during a game, he makes up for a lot with his speed and ferocity. And his ball skills are actually improving, noticeably, so I will call that a win, all around.

Meg decided that she most wanted to participate in musical theater. She played the role of Ms. Stern, the not-very-kind woman who runs the orphanage in an adaptation of Oliver. She looked so stunningly grown-up to me after someone else piled her hair up on her head and gave her stage make-up. It is a bit hard to get a decent photo from the back of a dark theater, but hopefully you can get the idea.

Kids' Art Show

The first week of June, there was a school-wide art show. I am way behind in posting school work from the kids, so for my first new post, I am posting some photos of their art show pieces. Of course it is a bit difficult to photograph art on the wall, but it will give you the idea. I think they have done neat stuff this year.

James's art teacher explained to me that the kids, in groups of 4-5, had 90 minutes to design and create their rope sculptures in place. James's group elected to do something that incorporated a person into the project, so the mass of brown rope at the bottom is how she adapted it to hang on the wall after they had to extract the "living" component.

Meg's class also had a unit learning about the mythological characters of Greece. Part of that unit was for each 4th grader represent the characters whom she researched in a clay sculpture. Meg had Ceres.

April Fool's Day

This is certainly Grandpa Tom's signature holiday. Over the years, the kids have caught his love for the day. As the day approached this year, James and Meg were making plans as to what they could do to celebrate. James thought he would bake a batch of brownie,s spiked with paprika and red pepper flakes, to hand out to unsuspecting friends and teachers. I discouraged this idea, fearing lawsuits or unforgiveness. Some people (like me) take their brownies very seriously, but not everyone appreciates April Fool's Day. Meg learned this - she gained her teacher's permission to switch all the nameplates on the desks before school, leaving them to be confused when they opened their desk in a new location but didn't find their own things. However, a spoilsport classmate who was NOT amused announced the joke to everyone as they entered the classroom.

I am posting a video of the kids opening the "care package" Grandpa sent to the kids, arriving on April 1. I don't know if everyone will appreciate the video, but I know Grandpa will.