Gratitude

Things I Want To Remember

:: making funny faces at his Daddy. Except he has just the one face that he does repeatedly.

:: saying “we’ll do that later” about anything he doesn’t want to do.  Me: “We need to trim your fingernails.”  Him: “We’ll do that later.”

:: sitting in the grass, in the rain, eating a cheese sandwich.  Because Daddy did.

:: getting into the Olympic spirit by practicing the long jump on the sofa.

:: adding wheels to all of his LEGO creations.  Might be a house, might be a tree, but it’s got wheels.  Usually three wheels.

:: snuggling in bed in the morning and reading stories.

:: failing to wander with me into any of the darker hallways at a castle we recently toured.  In the gift shop, he saw a book with a picture of a dragon on the front and said “that’s what I was afraid of, dragons.”  So we talked about how dragons are make believe and then drew a picture of a friendly dragon.

:: devouring a cup of hot chocolate, tipping the cup up so far it practically swallowed his face.  It was that good.

:: asking me in the car the other day, “Are you happy?”

September 3, 2012
Inspiration

Where Tolkien Found Inspiration

Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien reportedly spent much of his time beneath this tree at the University of Oxford Botanic Garden.  With its size and branches like big arms stretched out and ready to grab you at any moment, it lets you peek ever so slightly into the mind of a great writer and his creative process.  How he took inspiration from the world around him, from this great monster of a tree, and turned it into characters, the Ents, in one of our great works of literature, The Lord of the Rings.

August 27, 2012
Everyday Adventures

Sharing Shoes and a Shake

It’s almost back to school time for my little man and while we’re not yet at that stage where we have LOADS of back to school shopping to do, the little man did need some new shoes.  That’s the thing with little people feet, they grow a lot.

So off we went into town on a shoe shopping mission.  And this was quite possibly our most enjoyable shoe shopping mission yet.  First, I changed tactic and went to a different shop that is not in the middle of a bigger shop loaded with toys.  Thus avoiding completely the negotiation around what we will or won’t buy.

Second, he totally participated in the process.  He was excited about getting new shoes.  He picked out some styles and colors.  He no longer feared the sales woman and listened as she asked him to stand up, wriggle his toes, walk over to the mirror, and walk back.  It was like he was so excited by this new little adventure, this new treat of picking out something he’d wear.  And when he looked in the mirror at himself, I wonder what he was thinking, checking himself and his new shoes out.

So after we left, I treated us to something besides shoes that we share a passion for.  Strawberry milkshakes.  Yum.

August 23, 2012