A Mindful Life

Below is the New Yorker cover for June 29, 2009. Claire looked at it tonight, and this is what she said (note: she is still confused on gender pronouns):
“Man scared. Man can’t see, looking. He klunked. Yes, he’s looking, he klunked.” Klunked is Claire’s term for falling over. I can only guess that the look [...]

This is how I spent my “me time” today — at the library, drawing the books I selected to read. (I’ve already begun Northanger Abbey.) It felt really good to draw. It’s prosaic subject matter, but this is my life.

I’m so happy to have my little girl healthy again. Husband took the video below this evening. He introduced her to Dave Brubeck, because she really like the jazz songs on her Music Together CDs. If the video doesn’t play, click this link to see the movie.

For my birthday, I’m getting a sewing machine! Does anybody have recommendations of books for beginners? My last encounter with machine sewing was in 7th grade, when I managed to sew through my thumb with the machine and couldn’t figure out patterns. I think I failed that unit; I certainly came out of the experience [...]

OMG, I haven’t got my child enrolled for preschool this fall! Nearly every other mother I know whose child is about to turn two has taken care of this. I haven’t since I thought we’d be moving and wanted to see where we’d be before I pursued this.
Oh no. My child won’t be ready [...]

She spins in circles and says, “I’m getting busy!!” and laughs when she falls down.
She adds plural ending to words that are already plural: gloveses, shoeses, kidses.
She adds “ed” to verbs in current tense to make them past-tense: “It breaked,” “I eated.”
She sits in her wading pool, looks up at the trees blowing in the [...]

Claire is beginning to show interest in dress-up and playing pretend. I wear headbands, and she calls them crowns. She has a little satin purple headband that she calls her crown. I have a large basket waiting for dress-up items. I bought her a tutu today (there is no way I have the skill or [...]

Although we live in an urban area, Claire and I find many natural treasures. We bring them home and put them in a shoe box to explore later. There are duck feathers, crow feathers, seed pods, bark, pine cones, and stones to examine. Claire has lost interest in playing on slides and swings. She prefers [...]

Today Claire is 21 months old. She sparkles more by the day.
Claire has a fuzzy sheep toy she was given at Christmas. Until recently he was benignly ignored, but he has become popular enough to be requested in bed. The other morning when I went to get her from the crib, she hugged him and [...]

So many tidbits to share about Claire, who is such a marvelous and interesting little person. Without further ado:

She’s becoming more aware of feeling and articulation and is building a narrative. One say she fell down hard on her back at Little Gym after stepping on a ball. She was uninjured but scared. The next [...]