Overall, it was a good first week at work, but I had some major moments of transition-related stress.  It’s been especially hard feeling like D is getting hit with a lot at once – coming home from vacation, Daddy going back to work, Mommy starting a new job (even if it’s just part-time)…  She’s been looking tired most of the time, and has been very clingy.  As I was leaving yesterday morning, she started crying, and for the first time as I was leaving her with her amazing sitter, I started bawling, too!  Not helpful in calming her down!

So today has been wonderful, an “off” day from work, except for a few quick emails and a little brainstorming while D was watching a half-hour of TV.  We’ve cuddled, read, had a picnic and playtime at the park, and will be heading back to the pool shortly…

And I want to record for posterity one other sweet moment from the week.  D woke up in a very upset, crabby mood one morning, and I was trying to ease her out of it.  So I took her back to bed to try getting up on “the happy side” – she wasn’t interested.  She just wanted to lie there and cry while  I held her.  ’Ua offering her a piggyback ride to kitchen didn’t work either.  But the offer of breakfast in bed – wow!  I brought her her normal trail mix on a tray, and after a happy 10 minutes of eating, I saw her peek her head out her room.  ”Mommy – I got up on the happy side!”

Posting has been sparse this summer, not only because we were busy-busy with fun, but also because so many of the things on my mind were not mine to share or just weren’t appropriate to share.  (I try to have good filters!)  Now one of those things is out in the open, though – I have a new job!  I’ll be working part-time at our church as Missional Life Director, which basically means helping us as a church move toward those outside our church with friendship and helping hands – community impact, missions, etc.  I get all shivery just thinking about a church that’s known in its community for its zeal to be a good neighbor, “seeking the welfare of the city”!

Technically I started last week, but it was VBS (vacation bible school) week AND several key people were out of the office.  So this week feels more like my first week.  In a semi-fortuitous accident, today is also ‘Ua’s first day back at school, AND my birthday!  Then in just a few weeks, D will start preschool two mornings a week (right on our church campus, how awesome is that?) so she can make some new friends while I get some work time!  She’s excited about meeting some other three-year-olds  So many little transitions, I’m a little stressed, but mainly – very excited.

It’s so trippy to have to re-do your own childhood dramas through your kid.  Since D is only 3, the dramas are relatively small as of yet, but I’m already beginning to think: “This is why I was nervous about having a girl.”

We live in a cluster of duplexes crowded around a long common driveway, so the kids all gather to play with scooters, bikes, chalk, bubbles, jump ropes – you name it! – in the driveway, garages, and other little concrete common spaces.  It’s a pretty cool sense of community, and my little girl Read Post »

Moving our salad table and tomato baskets has helped – hooray!  We need to re-distribute some plants and thin some out…  Our composting worm bin is thriving, too, though getting a little too wet  (as evidenced by the bountiful fruit flies – yuck!).  As I type, ‘Ua and D are shredding some paper to add to the bin and hopefully fix the problem…  D is very motherly toward her worms: “Don’t worry, little worms – here’s some food for you – and we’re going to make you a much drier bed!”

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D is still loving Sunday School, and while she’s having fun in her classroom, I’m facilitating a discussion in a “class” for adults on a book by Gary Thomas called Sacred Pathways.  The basic idea is that while connecting with God is often presented as a rather cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all activity – something like “spend 20 minutes reading your Bible and 10 minutes praying, repeat daily” – there are actually many different paths to intimacy with God.  So far we’ve looked at the Naturalist, Traditionalist, Sensate, and Ascetic types together; next week, we’re onto the Caregiver and Activist types.  It’s a fun group and interesting topic!

Some of my favorite resources for the class so far…  There’s the discussion guide from the author’s website; I borrow a question or idea or two from it each week.  I wanted my group to look at each pathway on its own, including taking the little quiz at the end of each chapter to Read Post »

Cabrillo Tide Pools and Aquarium

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When we  first made and planted our salad table this spring, a neighbor who shares the little space we put the table in pointed out her ailing pepper plant – really, it looked horrible – and claimed that there was a gas leak in the area stunting its growth.  I didn’t want to show my skepticism, but honestly, it sounded like an overly convenient excuse.  We watched with optimism as our little seeds began to sprout, week by week, making it to a grand height of about 1.5 inches before totally fizzling out.  Meanwhile, our neighbor moved her pepper plant 10 feet away, and it was suddenly thriving.  Hmmm – that gas leak story has more appeal now. Read Post »

A thread in an online community I frequent linked to this interesting article about declining levels of creativity in American children and sparked an energetic discussion of how parents can spark creativity in kids.   One key point everyone agreed on: creativity may look very different for each child and each family with its unique “culture.”  Some of the ideas thrown out there that I’ve loved so far…

* Keeping plenty of raw materials on hand for spontaneous art and contraption building, like:

• Legos, building blocks, plus a good stock of odds and ends like empty  tissue boxes and egg cartons, pipe cleaners and rubber bands.
• Ephemeral outdoor art, like this.
• Basic art supplies. (Around here, the child is all about cutting, pasting, stamping, and coloring incredible art collages.)
• Food art. (Inspired by one poster’s suggestion, D created, then ate an apple art monster for lunch today!)

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In our current culture, doesn’t that sound quaint?  Maybe it’s old-fashioned of us, but “Sunday school” has been big excitement around our house the last few days.  Just about 6 months ago now, D finally became ready to enjoy our church nursery during Sunday services, allowing ‘Ua and I to come out of the windowed “family room” where we’d been sitting with her each Sunday and to join the rest of the congregation again.  That was such a lovely change!  But a few weeks ago, D turned 3 – too old for the nursery, but eligible for the 3 & 4 year old Sunday school classroom.

It felt so soon to make another change to her Sunday morning routine that I worried…  But another wise mother pointed out that she might actually enjoy all the things they do, like songs, crafts, and stories, and as soon as she said that, I realized how true it was.  All I had to say were the words “school” and “like library storytime, but about Jesus,” and D was sold!  There was a 2-week summer break before she could start, and she talked about Sunday school incessantly to family, friends, and random strangers on the street.  She really seemed to take it as a rite of passage, an initiation into “big girlhood.” Read Post »

I’ve been too busy living summer to post!  July is our free month, with just a little”work” to do – mainly our goal is to putter around lazily in the mornings, plan daytime outings (some totally simple, some more extravagant), cook just for the fun of it (this week’s dinner theme: home-cooked “junk food” like pizza and burgers), and go to the library at least twice a week for refills on fluffy summer reads.

And the grungy little cooler D’s hugging on here?  It’s a funny family heirloom, one I remember taking along on many family outings and road trips when I was little; it came with me the summer after I graduated from college and drove out from Oklahoma to California for my first adult job. Read Post »