June 2

Well, let's see.
Trevelyn had his first friend Birthday Party today. It was also Junie's first friend birthday party, so it was a big deal for her. She is one of our homeschool friends, and she turned five. I am sure Trev had a grand time, he came home full of cake and icecream, candy, and with a bag of loot (what's loop?), which is, of course, gone now.
Yesterday Eric and I took the children to the park after dinner, and Maddie was quite adventurous. The child is not walking yet, but she climbed up that slide like she had been doing it for years. Then she played on the rest of the playground equipment like she was three years old, instead of almost a year. I don't have any pictures of it for you, but I will surely take the camera next time. I could see that she was exceedingly proud of herself for climbing up that slide, and told her so.
After hearing certain things a thousand times "Do you hear me?" my son is starting to remember and implement my phrases into his dialogue, to ensure that I pay attention, and repond to him as I ask him to respond to me. Some people would see these sorts of things as being impertinent, or sassy, but I quite like it (well, usually). To me, it speaks of his autonomy, and how he expects to be treated with respect, because it is his due. His life.
I am sure I have mentioned that the one rule in our house is that "Everyone has the right to feel safe, happy, and free." To this Trevelyn says "Yeah.... not tied up!" lol.
One other funny, so I don't forget it, we have this scenario fixer, we call it "Taking it back" or "a re-do." If he shouts at me when it's not necessary, or something, or is rude, I might say (with one eye-brow raised) "would you like to take that back?" And he'll say "Yes!" then he raises on arm, and slashes in down really fast, and makes a pccchhheow (gun sort) of noise. Then he procedes to say something more appropriate. It's hilarious, though. I guess if you need to take something back, you had better have a grand sharp noise in there to make it more magical. : )

Baby's crying, next time.