february three

Drawing started our day today. And the relief cards.
I'm telling you, Maddie loves those things.

It's apparent that Spring is tap-tap-tapping into our thoughts, for Mama is thinking Color! (I'm working on some bright, pretty things to hang in our windows) and Madeleine is thinking Butterflies.
So we (she, really) began her butterfly today that we've talked about many times. She chose the colors, I think they're beautiful.



Madeleine.
This is pretty much how Maddie spends her days when she's not making art. Locking things. Fashioning mechanisms. Building - but not in an obvious sort of way, more like engineering things.
It's always interesting for me to see it happen.
Like this bridge she was building. She wanted to make a bridge with the two puppies' strings. Then she had to make it so that people could cross, so she added Bingo cards. I just watch, and nod, and admire her work - I never tell her to try something else, or show her, of course.


What would be the point of that? We're talking about creativity and ingenuity here, not "let's do it this way because it's more efficient." So I smile, and admire her impressive innovation.


It's a beautiful thing to see.

Mazes - the software. (Both of them.)

Imaginative Play. (Trevelyn)

"Whatcha wanna do, Bud?"
"You mean like play a game?"
"Whatever you'd like... what do you want to do?"
"I'd like to do something like.... go for a nature walk. Or play 'Steps from Home'..."
"Wanna go ride your bike?"
"Well, then you couldn't come...."
Thinking.... "Let me check on something...."
So I was off to the garage to check on my bike tires, and on what sort of shape the trailer tires were in, and to se if I could remove the hitch from Daddy's bike and put it on mine....
Aaah. We're in business.


And let me just say,
oh, what a beautiful afternoon we had.
We had peeks of sunshine,
and it was warm enough,
and
sigh,
it really was a perfect afternoon.
We had all the Magic we needed to sustain us while Out for several hours,



and we laughed and ran and played
(the spiral was mine)





and made musical instruments


and raced down the hill
and investigated machinery


and other things


and climbed

and slid

and basked

and discovered that plinking bark against spokes makes lovely music, too


and laid on the grass...
and I even tripped while getting off my bike and fell and scraped my knee...
and that was perfect, too.
Because it's quite an alright thing to skin your knee when you're outside and you're warm enough and the sun is on your face.


When we had had all of our fun - and promised ourselves that we would be doing this at least a couple of times a week - we got on our bikes and rode to our neighborhood library.
Oh, yes.


And that was perfect, too.
We're loaded with books and music and books and videos and books and software and books.

Next door to the library is our favorite local pizza place, and we decided that our beautiful day should probably include a big pie and cheesy bread. So we did that, too, and read library books while we waited.

Finally it started growing dark, so we started home with just one more Slurpee stop along the way.

And we're home and Daddy is home and we've been filled all the way to the top.

So that will do.
See you tomorrow.