CHARACTER:
Harper really likes the Olivia books by Ian Falconer. For the uninitiated, Olivia is a pig who acts and dresses very much like a precocious 6 year old girl. There is also a television show based on the books, but we watch it rarely. Mostly I don't mind Olivia (the books are clever, even if Olivia can be a touch impertinent), but when Harper started referring to Hudson as "her little bother, and when I noticed that she was spending a fair amount of time teetering and sashaying around rather imperiously on her toes/cloven hooves, and to rather porcine effect, I decided that perhaps it was time to scale back a bit.
PLOT:
That's Hudson doing some karate on the deck. His other favorite thing to do these days is drum. A couple of days ago while I was brushing my teeth, he sat down at the drums (which are in our bedroom because I can close the door and go to the opposite side of the house and it helps my nerves) and began to do a little something that sounded kind of like a Beat poetry reading. It went like this:
Hudson: (in a hushed,rhythmic voice) Once upon a time dere was an ARMY MAN!
cymbal: tsh, tsh, tsh
bass drum: BOOM.
Hudson: And a HUNTER!
bass drum: BOOM. Boom.
snare: tatta, tatta, tatta.
Hudson: And they had their GUNS! (which is pronounced "DUNS")
(BOOM, BOOM, tatta TATTA, TATTA, tsh tsh tsh, TSH!)
Hudson: And the army man said, "I will put my PISTOL (BOOM, BOOM). In my POTTET! betuz I will SNEAT UP on a MONSTER! (BOOM!)
And then the HUNTER (tsh, tsh, tsh) said, "Yet's RUN to the ROTTET SHIP!"
bass drum: BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
cymbal: CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
And that was the end. Apparently, the HUNTER is not as Sure About Monsters as the ARMY MAN.
Also, Harper has been asking for a while to have her fingernails painted. So, on Saturday, I complied:
They are very pale pink, which she found slightly disappointing.
SETTING:
Well, it is Houston in August. So, a touch WARM. But dry, which means the mosquitoes are mostly too hot to come out and play, which is something to be thankful for.
CONFLICT:
We ventured out for a little bike ride this morning at 9:30, to avoid the Siren Song of the Television, and it was going fine until Harper got hot after about 6 minutes and began to have some issues with her bike. "My bike is TOO HARD!! And this helmet is VERY HOT! And something is NOT RIGHT with my PEDALS!! AND URGHARGH I CAN'T GET IT TO GO FASTER THE PEDALS ARE STICKING AND THE BRAKES AREN'T RIGHT AND DADDY NEEDS TO FIX THESE BRAKES!! THIS BIKE IS....TRASH!" It was a very impressive display. I told her to stop yelling and that we were going to have a talk about her attitude as soon as we got home. I've just started reading a book that advocates delaying formal education (it's titled Better Late Than Early) and keeping your kids home in order to spend the majority of your time with them building their character through household work, unstructured play, lots of reading aloud, and community service. It seems pretty intuitive to me, but it is the reality of the actual doing of it that is hard. I get exhausted being as counter-cultural as we are as a family (hey, everyone--here come the vegan homeschoolers whose kids don't go to Sunday school!!) that taking on one more thing, even if it seems like the best thing, is a little daunting. I've been waffling about whether or not to "start kindergarten" with Harper this fall, and have decided (I think) to do so. Mostly because it seems foolish not to take advantage of the two hours she and I get to ourselves when the other two are napping in the afternoon. I'm trying to commit to a curriculum.
THEME:
Joy, mostly. With some irritation and fatigue at intervals far more frequent than I'd like.
7 comments:
The water I was drinking just came out my nose when I got to Hudson's beatnik drum composition and could not control my laughter. You replicated it so well in word that I can hear it in my mind. So hilarious!
Oh me, oh my. I just love how you write. And you know, I was just thinking today, "Isn't it about time for Patti to write something again?" You must have read my mind.
I hardly know what to comment about because it's all so good. Here goes...
Hudson is hilarious. I only wish you had included a video of him.
I've heard good things about the book Better Late than Early, although I haven't read it myself. From what I know of it, I agree with the premise; but I found myself having a hard time refusing my four year-old's repeated requests to teach him how to read. I finally gave in, and he picked it up MUCH more easily than I would have guessed. So much for being "late" with formal education. But of course, our education is fairly laid-back anyway.
Your kids don't go to Sunday school? Tell me more! I could write a whole post about this, but I'll just say that the topic of Sunday school has been brought up around here a lot recently. What do I do with my eight-year-old who doesn't want to go to Sunday school because of the bad behavior of the other boys? We don't make him go, of course; and we are FINE with him staying with us. But how do I help his heart to not be self-righteous? Anyway, I would be so grateful to hear your thoughts about all of this! You know, whenever you've got the time to think and formulate and write thoughts down... ;)
Staci-there was definitely toothpaste all over the mirror because I was giggling like crazy.
Davene-I suppose the short answer is that we want to worship as a family and that we want to be the ones in charge of teaching our kids about the Bible. The long answer is much more complicated, of course, and I had not even considered the fact that it might lead to feelings of self righteousness in the kids themselves at some point, but it makes sense. Sigh. My brain is full of conundrums these days, yes it is.
Thanks, Patti, for your additional comment. Can I ask one more question? :) Does Helena stay with you, too? If so, how do you keep her happy and quiet?
In my family, we could easily pull off having Josiah and David with us in the service. And with some work, even Tobin could get used to it. But Shav is hitting the "I want to be free to roam" stage, and that would be challenging.
We still aren't clear about what church we're going to plug into...this wandering-in-the-wilderness stage is vexing my patience. And then I think about the 40 YEARS, and I realize I'm a wimp.
But no matter what church we're a part of, we want to be intentional about our children's spiritual training.
My husband generally ends up out in the foyer (or courtyard, depending on the church) walking around with at least one of the kids when the sermon starts. Helena was pretty content to sit in my lap until about 4 months ago. And yes, now she definitely needs to roam. The church we used to attend very strongly advocates the nursery (the service is more hushed and liturgical) and I got gently reminded of that fact when I was walking around with her in a vestibule trying to listen to the sermon. The church we currently attend does have a nursery and Sunday school for kids, BUT the pastor always makes a point of encouraging those of us who keep our kids with us that he embraces their sounds and activity, even while he's teaching. He even held his own little son during an entire sermon one Sunday. It's made us, as a family, really grapple with the idea of what corporate worship is really supposed to look like--I often wonder what the kids and babies were doing when Jesus taught to huge crowds. Somehow, I doubt there was a nursery :) Again, I don't claim we've got it right, but we really, really want to!
That's great that he held his son while he preached a sermon. I've been around A LOT of churches, but I've never seen that. Wow, that definitely makes a point about valuing our children.
You are so right about no nursery when Jesus spoke.
Many thanks for taking the time to answer my questions!
What I love most about this post is the concluding sentence. It could simply overlay every day, couldn't it? Might jot it in my journal as the ideal description of days with small children.
Really also enjoyed the discussion you and Davene have had about Sunday School and church. Lots to chew on there, even though we're solidly going the Sunday School route. Having been involved in the program, I'm confident of the attention given to Biblical teaching at a level the kids can grasp. We usually follow up with a discussion at home about what they learned.
Recently painted the girls' toenails for the first time with a very pale pink polish, too. They complained they could barely see it. (That's the idea!)
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