Today was the kind of day I love to have with my daughter. She was happy and bubbly from the moment she woke up and just so excited to be alive. Even though her "awakening" happened at 5:00 am, she was full of vigor. So we sat in the kitchen together and chatted about what the day would hold, what we might learn at church today, what to eat for breakfast and how Dad was sleeping in for a change. We put on some dress up clothes and had an early morning tea with our cereal and scrambled eggs and then headed out to pick what blackberries we could find. The path to the blackberries is long for an almost 3 year old!.. We walked across the yard through one of the flower beds and examined the first Cactus Dahlia blooming, smelled one of the roses and saw a beautiful Swallowtail butterfly. All the while, giggling and touching and just enjoying the beauty of God's creation together (and Dad was peeking out of the window from the bedroom as he stayed snuggled in even though he doesn't know I saw him). We ran down the driveway to the culvert and stood on top throwing rocks so that they bounced off the corrogated pipe and kerplunked into the water. A little further along and we stopped to examine the different footprints in the mud. There were Killdeer tracks, Deer tracks, Coon tracks and Hannah tracks. She squatted down real low to the ground, like small children do, and contemplated the different tracks and then looked up with her clear blue eyes and curls dancing around her face and giggled as she pointed her little finger into the palm of the raccoon track. Along the road we went until we cut across the dewy grass toward the cemetery and stopped briefly to pick some clover flowers and taste the sweetness at the ends of the petals. She bounced along the edge of the cemetery while I picked some berries and then as I got further along she ran up and suggested that she could " hold the bucket for me so it wouldn't be so hard for me", (As her little hand grabbed up the berries as fast as I put them in the bucket). We picked berries and picked berries. She did a wonderful job of selecting the ripe berries from the bushes on the edge that she could reach and waited so patiently for me when I climbed into the stickers to get the berries in the back. Then we walked down the edge of the soybean field looking for more berries and we found three feathers...a Turkey, a Dove, and a Red Tail Hawk. There were more berries along the way and finally we headed back toward the house. At her prodding, we followed our dog into the coolness of the woods to do some more exploring. We found some pine cones that had been stripped clean and beds of needles all over the pinewoods floor. I had the bright idea we should take a "short cut" down the hillside to the almost dried up creek and though it had rained 2 days prior, I did not consider that the slope would be damp at all. The hillside descends steeply to the creek and the deer trails all go sideways down the slope rather than straight down. She followed closely behind me, hanging onto my sweatpants and we slid our way down the hillside less than gracefully. At the bottom we explored the rocks in creek bottom and found some interesting rocks that were hollowed out and one that looked like it had been split in half with the perfect shape of a square left in the middle. We decided to put those in my sweatpant pockets to show Dad. We navigated our way up the bank and along an ATV trail where there was promise of more berries and she climbed up on an old tree that was lying in the field and she and the dog explored the crevices until they found what looked like a mouse nest lined with milkweed seeds. Lastly, as we wandered back to the house with our handful of blackberries for Dad, she decided we should pick some Queen Ann's Lace so Dad could have some flowers. She was a sight with her blackberry ring around her mouth, her little curls all ascew and little briars stuck in her hair, but her smile was priceless and it is a day I will not soon forget.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Today was the kind of day I love to have with my daughter. She was happy and bubbly from the moment she woke up and just so excited to be alive. Even though her "awakening" happened at 5:00 am, she was full of vigor. So we sat in the kitchen together and chatted about what the day would hold, what we might learn at church today, what to eat for breakfast and how Dad was sleeping in for a change. We put on some dress up clothes and had an early morning tea with our cereal and scrambled eggs and then headed out to pick what blackberries we could find. The path to the blackberries is long for an almost 3 year old!.. We walked across the yard through one of the flower beds and examined the first Cactus Dahlia blooming, smelled one of the roses and saw a beautiful Swallowtail butterfly. All the while, giggling and touching and just enjoying the beauty of God's creation together (and Dad was peeking out of the window from the bedroom as he stayed snuggled in even though he doesn't know I saw him). We ran down the driveway to the culvert and stood on top throwing rocks so that they bounced off the corrogated pipe and kerplunked into the water. A little further along and we stopped to examine the different footprints in the mud. There were Killdeer tracks, Deer tracks, Coon tracks and Hannah tracks. She squatted down real low to the ground, like small children do, and contemplated the different tracks and then looked up with her clear blue eyes and curls dancing around her face and giggled as she pointed her little finger into the palm of the raccoon track. Along the road we went until we cut across the dewy grass toward the cemetery and stopped briefly to pick some clover flowers and taste the sweetness at the ends of the petals. She bounced along the edge of the cemetery while I picked some berries and then as I got further along she ran up and suggested that she could " hold the bucket for me so it wouldn't be so hard for me", (As her little hand grabbed up the berries as fast as I put them in the bucket). We picked berries and picked berries. She did a wonderful job of selecting the ripe berries from the bushes on the edge that she could reach and waited so patiently for me when I climbed into the stickers to get the berries in the back. Then we walked down the edge of the soybean field looking for more berries and we found three feathers...a Turkey, a Dove, and a Red Tail Hawk. There were more berries along the way and finally we headed back toward the house. At her prodding, we followed our dog into the coolness of the woods to do some more exploring. We found some pine cones that had been stripped clean and beds of needles all over the pinewoods floor. I had the bright idea we should take a "short cut" down the hillside to the almost dried up creek and though it had rained 2 days prior, I did not consider that the slope would be damp at all. The hillside descends steeply to the creek and the deer trails all go sideways down the slope rather than straight down. She followed closely behind me, hanging onto my sweatpants and we slid our way down the hillside less than gracefully. At the bottom we explored the rocks in creek bottom and found some interesting rocks that were hollowed out and one that looked like it had been split in half with the perfect shape of a square left in the middle. We decided to put those in my sweatpant pockets to show Dad. We navigated our way up the bank and along an ATV trail where there was promise of more berries and she climbed up on an old tree that was lying in the field and she and the dog explored the crevices until they found what looked like a mouse nest lined with milkweed seeds. Lastly, as we wandered back to the house with our handful of blackberries for Dad, she decided we should pick some Queen Ann's Lace so Dad could have some flowers. She was a sight with her blackberry ring around her mouth, her little curls all ascew and little briars stuck in her hair, but her smile was priceless and it is a day I will not soon forget.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Staying Young at Heart
I'm not sure now how long it has been, but she has been climbing out of her crib now for several weeks. She never fell out of the crib but was very agile in her descent. As a matter of fact, I watched her one night as she began the ascent into bed and noticed she lifted her whole body up and swung her legs sideways to the corner of the bed like a gymanist. She climbs out of bed now, changes her clothes, comes downstairs and proceeds to start her day if no one is immediately present. Her pronunciation is superb and she is just gobbling up all kinds of information. She can say "Rumplestiltzkin", "Stegasauraus", Tyrannosaurus Rex, and many more words. She gets excited about school each day and loves to makes crafts. She is a joy in the classroom and makes the other kids and teachers laugh. I love to be a kid with her and poke at worms, chase spiders, be amazed at a lightning bug and how it tickles my hand, run through sprinklers and look up at the clouds in the sky. We sing "Dancing in the Rain" with our umbrellas and splash in the puddles and I love that she wears patten leather shoes with her denim shorts and shovels mulch at the same time. There is never a day or occaision that doesn't warrant patten leather shoes! She looks in the mirror when I do her hair and says, "Look Mom...I look like you!", which I am sure will turn to disdain eventually but at the moment it warms my heart that this precious and beautiful little one thinks we look alike. Some things she says just make me laugh like "Mom are you brushing the walnuts (knots) out of my hair?" and "Guys!, Hey guys! Come over here and tickle me!" She asks to wear a "twirly" skirt at all occaisions and loves to shake her pony tales in the mirror. She is really great at brushing her teeth, she planted seeds for Kale, Bok Choy, carrots and sun flowers all over the place because she got a little carried away and Mom was busy with other stuff.... Oh! and I almost forgot that we planted a peanut plant in the garden and if we ever get any rain, we might just get some peanuts! Every day she went down and asked if there were peanuts yet and now she has decided to just look at the plant and watch it grow.
She loves to fish (so long as she catches something) and loves to do crafts. We spent the day down at Hocking Hills twice and she loves the waterfalls. For two weeks after, we were exploring waterfalls in our living room and climbing on "slipitty rocks". I pray that she will find God's best for her life and that she will keep alive the joy and sense of both wonder and adventure that she has been graced with. I have a little hole in my heart that she is growing so fast and I think the whole going to school thing has forced that because she had to figure out who she is on her own without us. I hope someday she will read these posts and get to know how much I have loved her from the beginning. She is so patient with us and our drive to get things done. One night she was so tired she could barely stay awake but we hadnpt eaten dinner so I took her upstairs and brought up a picnic dinner to have in her room while we read a story and she just settled right down and chatted about her day and what she wanted to do tomorrow like we have dinner in her room every day! After I brushed off the crumbs, she curled right up in her bed and went peacefully to sleep. I don't want her life to be a power struggle and I pray that God will let her teach me how to teach her so that she grows up strong and is the woman God wants her to be. 
Our neighbor has lost her husband to his battle with dimensia and we went to the funeral home for the viewing. Hannah looked at Jim in the casket and looked at me and said "Mom-mom, Jim isn't sleeping." and I said, "No, he isn't sleeping. Jim is in heaven with Jesus now." She said, "Is Jim walking around now?" and I answered, "Yes. He is probably running and dancing with the angels in heaven." She looked at his body and smiled and said, "That's good." His wife smiled and gave Hannah a big hug. She is a wonderful Christian woman and found great pleasure in Hannah's inate understanding of the situation. I have been told by some that children have no concept of death and heaven and Jesus but I believe, from watching my daughter, that God has given her a gift of both discernment and wisdom. Wisdom does not come from being a long time on this earth but from embracing the lives of those around us.We are undergoing some changes in our lives that are affecting our "normalcy" and I was saying prayers with Hannah one evening and pouring out my heart to God to the point that a few tears rolled down my face. She reached out her tiny finger and touched one of the tears and said, "Mommy, you have tears rolling down your face." I explained that sometimes even Mommies have tears. The next night as we had our special time together and were again preparing to pray, she put a hand on either side of my face and said, "Tonight, don't let tears roll down your pretty face, okay Mom?" I am amazed at how in tune she is. What a blessing.
She starts asking on Tuesday if today is church day and just loves to go to church and see the kids and learn about God. Her little childrens Bible is loosing pages already as we have read it so much and she has the stories almost all memorized. We took her to the lake a few times around the fourth of July and she went down a 200 foot water slide, played in the bouncy castle, and swam swam swam. We also went to a street fair and went on the Merry-Go-Round, the Wiggly Worm and the Fun Slide. She is so very adventurous...just like her dad!
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