A Post for DH

Just the other day DH surprised me by commenting on the long stretches of time I've been leaving between blog posts. I looked at him and raised one eyebrow. Really? I thought. My husband is complaining about how little I've been blogging lately? Harumph. I guess I'd better get to it.

Life is just passing by lately in a whirlwind of activity. I am horrified to admit that I still have not completed Megan's memory book - I still need to print out pictures from birth to 2 years old and put them into her little scrapbook. She'll be 7 years old in May. Ugh. I have also not written in the girls' journals in several months. As happy as I've been being busy, I am looking forward to summer and long days at home with them. I imagine us sitting outside in the shade with cold glasses of lemonade and good books...but the reality will be that we'll probably end up hibernating through most of the evil-hot weather we get every summer. We can read inside. Maybe we can all write in our own journals.

Speaking of journals, I left the blog up on the computer last week, and Anna just happened to read my latest post about the girls. Little Miss I-Can't-Tell-A-Lie ratted herself out and I was left with the awkward decision of how to address the fact that I write about them for the whole world to see. Oops. I ended up taking the bull by the horns (one of my favorite practices, really) and asked her if she remembered how hard it was to communicate - to talk with us, to have us understand her, to understand us. She did, very vaguely. I asked her if she remembered how her body used to feel - how she jumped and stomped and spun in circles, how she was afraid of noises and somebody touching her lightly. She remembered more of that. I said it's not like that anymore for her - she can talk with us. Her body doesn't feel high-strung and tense like it did. I was remembering how it used to be, I said. But it's not like that anymore. Remembering is good sometimes. It helps you feel grateful for the things you have now. She smiled and agreed with me, and then she ran off to play. Phew! I'm going to have to be careful now - no more leaving the blog up for curious 8-year old eyes to devour!

(Megan's "Bird House" -a feat not easily achieved with sticks, Kleenex and tape.)

Although Megan reads very well, she is not stealth-reading everything she lays her eyes on (yet). She'd rather be doing something with her hands, and she has a particular affinity for art. I really think we need to get her some art lessons pronto. One of the things she chose to do with her time over Spring Break was to make a bird house on a whim. She spent at least an hour crafting this bird house out of sticks, Kleenex and tape. I refrained from involving myself (I didn't think the tape would work or that the Kleenex was a good idea or that this bird house would become a reality) because she had a strong idea and she won't learn if she doesn't try things for herself. At the end of an hour she came in and showed me her handiwork and I could have fallen on the floor. It was a bird house. She told me how a bird can sit inside of it and how it would gently swivel in the wind because it has flexible joints. And that's exactly what it does. I'm so impressed that I'm going to bring it to her art teacher. I'm also going to bring in one of Megan's drawings of a cat that is looking askance at something off the page. It's completely realistic. The facial proportions are all correct. I can't even do that. I think this girl has a gift. This realization is slightly scary and slightly thrilling at the same time, which is an odd way to feel. I've been wondering what that means.

(I can't draw a cat as good as this, and I'm three decades older than my daughter!)

I also have to mention Megan's zeal for Snap Circuits. I took a huge gamble getting that for her for Christmas. She's such a girly-girl, I thought she'd hate the electronics as a "boy thing". Well she LOVES them. She gets her hands right in there, does everything herself, and understands the concepts. DH does these projects with her and he'll review what they've learned about electricity. She's not being snarky when she sighs and says "yes, Dad, I know". DH says we need to get her the next step up in the series for her birthday. Again - slightly scary and slightly thrilling. I think Megan is smarter than DH and I combined, but you might never guess it they way she hides behind that demure smile. Maybe that's the scary part!

Well now, here I've been all tangential when initially I was going to post a recipe. That's what you get, DH, when you complain that I have not written lately. But I did previously promise a recipe for Navajo Tacos. I will get to that before the week is out - pinky promise!