update

September 28, 2020

update

that little box in the corner of my screen asks if i want to update. "remind me tomorrow." my phone pops up with urgent instructions to update, which i promptly ignore. worst of all... i get little spiritual nudges to update my blog but i swipe those away as well. but here i am so that's a small miracle!

ossi is a (cough cough) persistent person. one of his favorite phrases right now goes something like this, "i'm just looking for one little word from you, just three letters and all your troubles will be over." from far away that's pretty funny but up close it's... not that much funny. in this PCM thing i've been looking into lately i'd say he's a rebel/promoter/persister mix. i can't quite figure him out other than the basics. he's mostly after playful connection, sometimes motivated by action (aka stirring the pot), and often has strong convictions about, um, everything. ossi prefers debate over discuss, laughter over lecture, and space over supervision. i'm still learning how to communicate with him. especially when i need to say "no" and he won't let go. so far i've experienced success with the "throw a blanket over my head, crawl on all fours and chase him around the house trying to gobble him up into the blanket blob" strategy. it's revolutionary.

gwen is much bigger today than she is in these old photos. she can roll over both ways (sometimes) and grab lips and hair with a hulk-grip. i'm not entirely sure but i think she's got big opinions. the other day she poked herself in the eye on accident while matt was holding her and she looked at him like he was an eye-gouging monster. her little brows furrow up with new experiences- i can't decide if it's concentration or judgement showing. when something tickles her fancy she laughs and laughs and when she laughs she gets the hiccups. she'll lay down fully awake and just kick a while until she falls asleep, unless she's overtired and then she wants to nurse a bit first. we've just started the "don't put me downs" so we'll see how that goes!

evy is evy is evy. everloving eveleen. when she was deciding on pictures for her computer wallpaper she was back and forth about cakes and kittens. little harmonizer girl. i see her like a happy hopping sparrow. as i try to write another line i feel all redundant, like i'm saying everything again, like i'm repeating myself. what else can i say except that evy is every flower i want in my garden. if i could plant acres of her and it might very well heal the whole world.

i was out of town last week with the youngers. liam stayed with dad. from what i gather they loved their time. they watched PG-13 movies that i would have wanted to screen first and they ate lots of food that i would have passed up in the store. matt's commentary after i returned... "liam asks first about everything. he seriously asked me if he could have a drink of milk. we must be really strict parents. so i think it was nice for him to cut loose a little." we really are so uptight about some things- we have our reasons. but that could be totally different with just liam, you know? update; he's a teenager. this morning i shouted "finish up" through the bathroom door while he showered and he responded, "i was" in a sassy voice. his brand of sassy is 100%"harry potter."

just before the above photo was taken liam told finn that eating too much deer clover would give him diarrhea. finn shrugged and stuffed another handful into his mouth. later he wandered off-trail and came back talking about good leaves to use for toilet paper. nature boy. he's also a natural singer and i'd love to get him involved in a choir when that becomes an option again. he might like it or he might not, but he's got so much song in him. speaking of songs unsung my dad told me a story about his joining the navy- he said that his high school teacher found he'd joined and said, "good! maybe somebody can tap that untapped potential!" finn is like that about school, about lots of things- brilliant, glowing energy without a switch.