Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: Published

• "I don't want to miss anything" of the usual hairwashing drama: Bud and Sis HATE having their hairwashed. Hate it. Big time. So much so that Mama and I have been known to rope innocent grandparents into doing the dirty deed . . . or to skip it far too long. There is always such screaming and crying and protesting that I'm convinced someone is going to hear it through the open windows and report us. Well, the other night, Bud began to object vociferously, mid-wash, meaning there was shampoo all over his head and he was trying to climb out of the tub. Unable to talk to this irrational being, I dumped a huge cup of water on his head, hoping to get all the soap out of his short hair in one swoop. And what was Sis doing, who had similarly protested her own hairwashing? Begging to get into the bathroom, "I don't want to miss anything!"
• Spring cleaning the garage, or what our kids taught us about purging: On Saturday, between the new bed delivery (see below) and the aborted old couch removal (the kid forget he was supposed to come get it), Mama cleaned out the garage while the kids and I helped and played. The garage held several things the kids have outgrown in recent seasons, from their old baby swings to their little picnic table, plus several hand-me-down big wheels and various and sundry other things. And so, we started hauling things to the curb, where we posted a "FREE" sign. I thought the kids would be resistant at first, as Mama and I had been to offloading some of this detritus of childhood. But they weren't---"We don't fit. Let's give it away!"--and they helped haul things to the curb. And then watched all afternoon as people stopped to look at the offerings and took things away. The kiddos were so thrilled when someone took something, knowing it would be enjoyed by someone else. The garage became less cluttered. And we all learned a big lesson in spring cleaning.
• We have a new bed!! Yep, the new bed is here. And wonderful. And truly--and no, I'm not getting paid for this endorsement (especially because I'm obviously not naming brands)--I can feel an enormous difference in how my body feels when I wake up in the morning. Sure, my problems are musco-skeletal and not cured by a bed, but it sure does help.
• Make hay while the sun shines--campfire dinner outside, new scooters, the frog in the underworld game. We ate outside twice this weekend, hot dogs and fixin's both times, the first actually on our outdoor firepit (thanks again, Cousin S!). The kids loved eating hot dogs, banana boats, s'mores, plus baked beans and salad for Mama and me. As I mentioned above, we'd been outside working in the garage, but also playing with the kids' new scooters, or kickboards, which Mama found on her favorite website, woot.com. These are three-wheel things that steer by tipping the handlebar. And the kids love them (and the required knee and elbow pads and helmets!). They even waited all weekend to show them to the older kids down the block. Oops. I forgot to explain the frog in the underworld and the hay reference. They were playing in the yard with their water toys, unable to use water because it was just a bit chilly, using grass instead. They called the various collanders and spinning toys and such, the "haymaker," and would chop grass with it. And then they pretended to chop one of their rubber frog toys, making "froggy tidbits." (Collective "ewwhhh.") The frog died and went to heaven, which was on the deck. But then two dinosaurs rescued the frog from heaven. I remarked to Mama that Christian stories don't usually involve rescues from heaven; that seemed more like Greek myths of the underworld. Sis overhead me and asked what I was talking about. So, I explained various stories of Hades, namely Orpheus/Eurydice and Persephone/Demeter over dinner, as well as the journey of Odysseus though I can't recall his story to the underworld (or Hercules for that matter; it's been a long time). And so after dinner, while we were cleaning up, the kids played frog in the underworld. And then begged to hear all the stories again today. I'm going to have to find my Edith Hamilton!
• Death and dying in my RE class--what does death look like, Badger's Parting Gift, burning origami, talking about our friend Miss M in Chicago, and butterflies for Holocaust remembrance day (for 1.5 million children killed). Yeah, Sundays have been chipper around here with my class's unit on death and dying. For the first unit, we walked around outside and found natural objects that reminded us of death. Coincidentally, most of the items were actually seeds, which allowed us to talk about the life cycle and the future growing out of the past. Then this Sunday we read a touching book about the death of a character named Badger, who has been an integral part of his community, which remembers all of the great things he taught them after he "goes down the Long Tunnel." I liked the book's description of death as "falling out of his body." The kids then wrote on a piece of origami paper how they wanted to be remembered and then folded it into a shape of their choosing. We burned them (or not) outside. Meanwhile, our kiddos made butterflies as part of Holocaust Remembrance Day--the Holocaust Museum in Houston is collecting 1.5 million of them, one for each of the children who died. Now, we didn't quite explain that to the kiddos, just saying it was about remembering the past. They cut out some great butterflies. We have, however, been talking about our friend from Chicago, Miss M, who died two years back. They ask about her, specifically about her death (though we've never explained breast cancer to them), and so this time we talked about what we liked about her, what she liked, how she was. Because, really, her death is just one event in a long, long life, with much better things to remember about her. Just like Badger.
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie: The new one, with Johnny Depp, which was psychologically more revealing of Willy Wonka's past. It was kinda the grown-up version of the story, darker, more 21st century. Though, really, who doesn't like Gene Wilder singing about spring? Mama even liked it too (because who can resist Helena Bonham Carter, even as a poor housewife?).
• Go Van Gogh!, or my day teaching art at preschool--this probably deserves its own post and so I'll just say that I spent Friday discussing Starry Night with four-year olds, without mentioning Van Gogh's depression, ear-mangling, or suicide. Which makes him just another dead white guy who painted.
• Advanced thinking--three bucket trick, pregnant turtles, and airplane itineraries. Sis is our analytical thinker. Charged with removing some toys from the deck, she stacked the three buckets inside one another so she only had to make one trip. Then, while watching "Franklin and the Green Knight," Sis observed that Franklin's mom (they're all turtles) was pregnant despite the fact that turtles lay eggs. "It must be because she can stand up and walk." Lastly, observing several planes fly overhead during our outdoor dinners, she said that all the people in several planes must be going to the same place because they are headed in the same direction. Smartest brain, indeed.
• Artsy side--dinosaur marionettes and dragon kites--and just as Bud noted, he is our creative thinker. He's been obsessed with making 3-D dinosaur marionettes out of paper with strings. He has even made a posterboard backdrop with a volcano in front of which he can make his pterodactyl fly and stegosaurus dance and bow. Also, he's been drawing pictures of dragons, this time not as dancers, but as kites on strings. One of these days I will write a long post about his newfound love of drawing, encouraged by our own artist Mama. He really learns and explores through drawing, making him a visual/kinesthetic learner, I suppose. When he was interested in knights, he drew jousters and castles; for China, it was the Great Wall, temples, and dragon and lion dancers; for space, it was a moonscape with planets, rockets, and satellites; there have also been Vikings, Native Americans, trains, cars on racetracks, dragons, works of art, what we've done during the day, etc etc etc. I'm really going to have to scan and post some of these.
• thinking of Wilma Mankiller and Dixie Carter. Two strong women. Rest in Peace.