Weekend Off

Ah, well, I didn't quite stick to my challenges over the weekend.  Weekends are such a break in routine for me, not bad, actually quite good, just my 5-day week habits don't usually extend to Saturday and Sunday.  So I didn't meditate and I didn't write any letters.  Though, I did make up for the letter-writing today, putting two cards and a package in the mail.  And, while I did some short lovingkindness mediation this morning, I'll do my full practice later today.  As these challenges are meant to be fun and inspiring, I'm not that worked up about missing a few days, especially as I've picked right up again.

Off to a Good Start

It's the first of February, the beginning of my two challenges: to write a letter a day and to meditate daily.  I've done the both today by lunchtime.  And combined them, in a way.  I penned (really, typed and printed) a letter to my Aunt Sis in the rehab center recovering from a broken hip.  And then, listening to my lovingkindness meditation while holding the shawl I crocheted for her, I sent thoughts of health, happiness, safety, and ease to myself, my aunt, and all beings.  Done, I packaged the shawl up with the letter and sent it along.

Up to a Challenge

I know that January is usually the month of new beginnings, but I'm taking on a couple challenges for February, namely daily letter-writing and daily meditating.  I will write and mail something--a letter, a card, even a postcard--each day through snail mail.  That's 23 pieces of mail.  I was a wonderful pen pal as a child, sending hundreds of letters to my Greek pen pal Martha Bitsopoulou, in addition to correspondences with Lambeth, my Aunt Sis, my great grandmother, and other pen pals from camp, a Star Wars fan club, and such.  Nowadays, I send a ton of email and make some phone calls, but very few letters.  Though, I have sent my Aunt Sis approximately a letter a week since her illness.

And I'm also joining Sharon Salzberg's 28-day meditation challenge, which means meditation everyday.  I'll breathe in and out, do lovingkindness meditation, listen to some of my meditation CDs.  I'm really looking forward to the month to jump-start my practice, which had fallen behind with Mama's surgery and recovery and then the holidays and then even the flu, which kept me from the meditation workshop.

Lastly, though it's not specifically a February challenge, I've pledged on my Goodreads account to read a book a week and I'm making good progress.  It's time actually read all the books I own!

I'll keep you updated on these challenges--it'll be a busy if short month!

Proud Mommy

When I told our babysitter that DS had written his first letter, she believed I was a delusional proud mommy, as she recounted later. How is it that a 2 1/2 year old wrote the letter "T"? But I swear, he had. It had happened the night before. We were playing on our new wall-sized magnetic chalkboard (DP's weekend project was painting and painting and painting the 12 x 8' wall). DS said he needed the letters of his name and then he wrote a "t" and identified it as such (just so you know, his name doesn't actually start with a "t" though it has one). There it was, one vertical line with a tiny little lid. Definitely a "t," a capital one. Wow. So, I proudly told the babysitter the next day, when explaining the rules of the chalkboard (only chalk, only this wall), that DS had written a letter. And she didn't believe me.

Until he did it again for her, saying he was going to write a "t" and then doing it.

Now, to teach him the other letters in his name.

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We practice counting when we come across it. And usually we count one more than whatever item we're counting. DS even likes to jump from six to eleven, mainly, we think, because eleven rhymes with seven. And we haven't really stressed their ages to them. They don't understand time--not today, tomorrow, one week, a year. We'll get to these concepts when it's time (hee, hee). So, they don't really know how to wave their fingers in the sign of number "two" at anyone. Which is why I was floored at the library yesterday when DD managed to count not just "2" but one through five with her fingers!

I guess we should work on what it means.