Sun - August 13, 2006

Bicycles, Butterflies and Books....




Dana became the last existing six year old in the state of Wisconsin to give up training wheels on her bicycle this weekend. What she lost in haste, she made up for in finesse. Doug took off the training wheels....and 15 minutes later, she was completely riding around the block all on her own. No hesitation, no falls, no nothing. I guess she knew when she was ready!




And of course, we did the annual trek to the local botanical gardens to see the butterfly exhibit. I'm sure every city has one of these, but it never ceases to amaze. If you look closely, you will see butterflies in the background of these two pictures and see our children trying desperately to be still.....

Dana and I finished Caddie Woodlawn tonight. Oh, the sobbing I did at the end. This time, Dana didn't get it. She understood why I cried in "A Wrinkle in Time," what with the tesseracting and missing fathers and all.... She understood the tears with Charlotte's Web, spiders dying, etc. She got the tears in Little House on the Prairie, in fact she cried harder than I did when Jack the dog returned to the wagon after the dangerous river crossing.

But when the Woodlawn family was casting their "stay" or "go" votes about returning to England, the waterworks started and Dana looked at me like I was from another planet. And when Harriet (Mama Woodlawn) turned to her husband and said, (even though she'd been talking about returning east for the ENTIRE book:) "I can't leave Wisconsin - home is where you are, my darling husband" (or something like that) and then she burst into tears right in their parlor.....Oh my. I couldn't contain it. And of course, they stay. They stay in Wisconsin! Happy endings for Woodlawns (.....and Nelsons, perhaps?)

Someday, she'll understand. As for me, I am enjoying this part of parenthood so much that it has become one of the guilty pleasures of my life: Re-reading my favorite childhood books with my daughter. Honestly, I don't think it gets much better than this. Sobbing and all.

Do you think she's too young for Jane Eyre?

Posted at 08:54 PM    

Tue - June 27, 2006

Summer


I don't know if it is because winter is 6 months long here or what....but it seems like every single person in Madison, Wisconsin gets a bit manic in the summer. We all spend every possible moment outside.

Granted, my universe is a bit small and might not totally reflect the general population. (I think that in my entire group of friends here, there are only a few people who have not run a marathon in the last 3 years.) We get the kids in tow and meet at the park or the beach or the pool. All day. Every sunny day. Sometimes, we trade kids so we can go for long, peaceful runs by the lake. There is even a neighborhood "camp" that goes on a few afternoons a week (completely outside) with teenage counselors, so the moms (and dads) can have a break.

On the days I work, the kids are at a great summer program. How do I know it is great? They are spending most of their days outside. They read their books outside and often eat their lunch outside. They've had field trips to the zoo and to the Arboretum. When I pick them up, they are invariably outside on the playground.

The windows are open. The air can finally come in. I refuse to turn on the air conditioning until it is in the 90s outside. (So far, no air conditioning at all this year....heaven.)

The sun is bright until way past 9 pm. The kids don't ever want to go to bed in the summer. They beg to go back outside. We've been slowly inching bedtime up from the normal 7:30 to 8:00 and still, they want to go out and play.

Summer days in Wisconsin - perfect and sunny and in the 70s with a nice breeze - it seems like winter will never come.

Davis really wants to go see the movie "Cars," but we just haven't found time. Spending 3 hours inside seems, well, wrong.

Dana has already forgotten her sadness of school's ending. Tonight, as we walked back from the neighborhood pool (OK, it's a Country Club...and it's around the corner....but we don't belong! Really, we don't! On Tuesdays and Sundays, they let the whole neighborhood go...so in my mind it becomes a "neighborhood pool" - not a Country Club. We are not Country Club people. Really, we're not.) Anyway, tonight, as we were walking home, she turned to me and said, "Mama, I don't want this summer to end. It's so perfect and summery."

If only I could bottle today and take it out in February!


Posted at 09:51 PM    

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