Always walk through the Gardens

Do you ever get tired of my endless stream of "oh, how I love where I live" posts?  No?  Good.  Cause here's another.

(disclaimer:  you know I have to wax poetical about my love for the Heights just to combat the uncomfortable discontent that can rise up when I think about my property taxes...  no worries, its not all wine and roses.  Or it is, but just really really expensive wine and roses...)

On Wednesday evenings Wade Oval stays open late.  Summer festivals have gone, leaving the Oval a calm expanse of green, with museums beckoning on all sides.   We've been having a spate of warm-fall weather and the sunny evening begged a trip down  Murray Hill for the kids and I.  We loaded bikes and helmets and dog and made the trip.

You know, the 7 minute trip.  Because I love where I live.

Jack rode at least 8 circuits, beaming, riding one-handed, proud, almost disappearing on the far side of the Oval (imagine how free he must feel??) as Ivy and I slowly made our way around.  The girl is pedaling her trike like a champ but it's hard to make much progress when you are stopping every five feet or so to imagine yourself at a restaurant, or to carefully stow your imaginary pink, purple, silver and gold bike locks in the back basket.  "I have SEVERAL locks, momma.  Good I have so many locks!"

The sun flitted down through the leaves, shining golden halos through my children's hair.  Walkers and runners circled around, with smiles and waves and hardly any perturbance when the littles got in their way.  We admired chalk art and drank from every drinking fountain. Corydon sniffed everything in sight and we soaked up the light.

Then, we locked our bikes to a big yellow flower and headed into the Gardens for dinner.

The Gardens!  The sense of calm and well-being I get just from walking in the door.  The well-lit, perfectly proportioned space, the oxygen-rich, heady air, the opulence of green all about.   We sat outside to enjoy the pumpkins and haybales decorating the patio for fall, eating grilled cheese and making up a collaborative story about a Princess and a wise, break-dancing monster and an old dragon named Sookaroo and their quest to bring the dragon-riders back to the kingdom.

You need to know that I hardly ever think of dinner with my children as something to be savored.  The endless negotiations, the wheedling, the whining, the reprimands.  Dinner is rather something to be endured, most nights.

But not at the Gardens.

At the Gardens, we soak up dinner together.  We revel in each other and their eyes shine and we have all the time and ease in the world.  Dinner could have gone on all night.

But-- there was a children's garden to explore!  Scarecrows to discover, herbs to smell, plants to water.  We never even made it to the pond and treehouse because some nights you just want to be where you are, a little bit longer.  Especially when you have popsicles.

We couldn't leave without a trip to the glasshouses.  Glowing and magical and just a little eerie with the light fading behind the high glass walls, the glasshouses were places for wishing. We found little purple flowers on the paths and wished them all into the streams.

 Birds were arcing above us and crickets were chirring with all their might and the butterflies!  They were alive and alight with the excitement of the evening.  The big ones, with the fake eyes on their wings, swooping and diving and looking rather like bats, as Jack pointed out.  They traveled in pairs and threes and danced in the air with no fear, landing on our arms, in our hair.  We laugh-shrieked and ran along the path, seeking refuge behind the waterfall to recover.

A tiny butterfly alighting gently on your shoulder in the sunshine?  Fairy magic.  Giant butterflies dive bombing your head?  A little scary.  Having each other to hold and hug and laugh through it?

Priceless, actually.

We didn't get home til 8:30 but that was totally OK.

Because I love where I live.

Feeling happy and lucky tonight in Cleveland.  A busy weekend of memory making to come.  Tune in again soon, loves.

Picture Post

September's been a good month so far, by the looks of these photos. I am glad we took them, as I feel like I've hardly noticed this month going by....

This weekend, at least, seemed to slow down a little.  The kids had an overnight with Gram and some nice one-on-one time with various members of the family, and the time apart/together seems to have done us all good.  The cool September air and sunshine hasn't hurt either.  Last night, Nat and I had a great date at Tree Country Bistro, one of our favorite Coventry destinations, then stayed up late finishing Ivy's new room and reorganizing Jack's.  Today, the kids and I had a peaceful visit to Rocky River Beach, complete with a picnic, bike riding, and many Japanese beetles to catch and build sandhomes for.   Tomorrow, back to the busyness of the week, with Ivy off to her first "full" day of preschool and another 5 day week for the rest of us.  We are settling in.  Fall is coming along nicely. Pictures are a good thing.

My apologies for repeats of previous posts.  Eleven-pm-brain has a hard time keeping track.

Labor Day Weekend:  Last days at the outdoor pool.  Our girl can touch! She's a swimmer all of a sudden...

 

First loose tooth!  That faraway wiggling face.   Refusing to eat crunchy food.  He lost the tooth at school on Friday.  It was kind of nerve wracking to play tooth fairy-- imagine if he woke up to find me the one reaching under his pillow!

Bike riding!  and more bike riding!  I even went out and bought a bike today so I can join in on the fun.

Sometimes, we catch him smiling.

 

First day of first grade...

I think we've been out for ice cream more often these past two weeks than all three months before.  It is kind of like a talisman against the end of summer.

First day of threes at St Paul's!

A spontaneous trip to Kalahari to use the tickets Jack won last year.  It was a really great day, actually, surprisingly fun for all of us.

 Love me some Rocky River Park.

Jack, enjoying his new fishing rod at Penitentiary Glen park.  Thanks, Grandpa Jon!

A wonderful picnic at Horseshoe Lake.  Time with M and W and the girls, as well as an unexpected meet up with neighbors and preschool friends.  And ducks to feed!

I'd like for you to notice how high these little girls are climbing.  They are fearless and wonderful.

Ivy and I had a nice Sunday in Lakewood last week, joining Gram for church and playtime at Madison Park.

 

The boy has been a fundraising fiend, selling candy bars at every opportunity.  We've taken several walks through Coventry and he just goes up to everyone who passes, so confident and polite, asking them if they want a dollar candy bar.  A motivated young man, our Jack.

While I am at work, Nat takes Ivy to picturesque locations.

this giant nest is outside the Cleveland public library.  love my city!

What's that about Rocky River Park?

ladybugs!!

Ivy's room!  She is asleep in her new big bed for the first time, as of this writing.  (we shall see how the rest of the night goes!) She is so excited about her new space.  We had a lovely bit of time carefully putting her doll's clothes into the tiny dresser and feeding her at the little table and my heart just swelled with joy and pride that she has this place to feed her imagination and dreams.

Sweet dreams to all of you, too...

September sunshine

Can you tell I am back to work??  Blog posting seems an insurmountable task at the close of these past few weekdays.  And weekends, actually.  We've gone into a bit of survival mode around here as we all adjust our norms from the high of a vacation-full summer to the intensity of the school year.  It's not always been pretty.  In fact, its been so not-pretty (when it comes to my relationship with my eldest child) that I've been unable to complete  a planned post in honor of his 6th birthday.  I've saved that one in draft mode til I am in a better frame of mind about the child.  Or until he (just after I've given up hope) finally swings into equilibrium about this change of routine, and morphs back into a person I can spend time with again.  Sigh.

In the meantime....

Today, I am loving the September sunshine.  We had weather in the nineties two days ago (!) but thankfully it's settled back to a seasonal 70, with just a hint of chill in the breeze. The trees are tipped with red, reminding me to stop and breathe and savor this, the fastest of the seasons, and all its yellow-hued glory.

Just breathe.

Ivy and I walked Corydon around the block tonight, while boy and dad went off to Martial Arts.  I am thankful that my children take turns with their phases.  It seems that when one of them wanders into shadow, the other will be pure light.  Ivy's taking her turn in the light right now and it was good for the soul to walk, unhurried, through the hazy-glow sun of evening, while my girl pattered on about her imaginary babies in their "carriagers" and took us on trips to the park, the store, the movies... all in the space of a block.  The neighborhood was quiet and I had nothing to attend to but her and it reminded me that I need to do this more often.  Just be, with just one child.  Just soak them in and pay attention to who they are, right now, without trying to do the dishes at the same time.

To stop and savor this season of their lives.  This fast, fast season.

As my daughter reminds me, she's not a baby anymore.  We have her imaginary babies for that, tiny ones, and she assures me that they will stay babies. She is crazy about babies these days.  She asks, "Who will be my baby and children when I am a mama?"  and pantomimes careful care of at least one little one, almost all the time.   If she hands them off to one of us, we must hold them just so, and woe to the adult who does not remember where that imaginary baby is, and what they were supposed to do with it.  This girl is nurturing and sweet and intensely demanding.

 She is also delightfully literal and her speech patterns are so perfect right now. She says things like, "Be careful to don't touch my eyes, mama,  they're too sharp.  Good I have sharp eyes!"  or "Oh!  I pregot! (forgot)"   It is pretty much impossible not to smile when she is around.

This funny little girl, and the September sunshine.... and everything is right with the world again.

Also, tomorrow is Friday.  Which helps a lot.

Picture post this weekend!

And an apologetic post to my wonderful son.  Soon.  When we're not both so tired.

Milestone not-quite-Monday

Note:  This post was actually written this past Sunday.  Hence making the title make a lot more sense. 

That's apparently a thing in blogland, Milestone Monday. Cute, eh?

I have this sinking feeling that Monday might be too busy for a blog post, so I'm doing it today.

Today, incidentally, has been a lovely, lovely day.

Perfect summer.  Sun.  Warm-but-not-too-hot.  A morning spent at the pool.  Happy meals and ice cream.  Me and my kids, soaking up one last day together before the mad rush begins.

And, some milestones!

Jack:  He's got his first loose tooth, as I may have mentioned. Today, it got LOOSE.  Really, fully, wiggle-it-around-with-your-tongue-nostop loose.  The boy has sworn off of all but "really really soft food" and now gets a faraway look in his eye every so often as he pushes at his tooth.  The ice cream?  It was for his tooth.  He's very excited about the possibility of getting money for this tooth, as you can imagine.  He's also really scared it will fall out at school.  It's one of the few hints that he's a little worried about the start of a new school year.  And that's another milestone, actually.  Thinking about this time last year, our little boy who couldn't eat or sleep for the anxiety.  This confident young man, ready for school to start... who would've thought?  I'm Ok with it!

Ivy:  Our giant three-year-old is now tall enough to touch in the shallow section of the JCC pool.  Once she realized this, it was like a whole new world opened up to her.  The look on her face!  Pride, excitement, thrill, adventure.  Her eyes alight, she just started paddling, splashing, dunking under.  Plenty of sputtering but always a smile-- and little bits of actual swimming!  Terrifically exciting.  And to add to the list, she opened her straw and put it in the juice pouch on her own today.   Once she can open granola bars too, she'll be ready for college.

Love to all!

Update:  Before I got a chance to post this, Jack added to his list.  On Monday, he decided he was ready to ride his bike without training wheels. And so he did it.   Like, as soon as Nat got him moving, off he went.  He's kind of unstoppable now.  On Tuesday we went to Wade Oval to let him ride the circle and he went around 6 times.  5 of which were in the rain that started shortly after we arrived.  I am not sure why I am surprised by the sudden nature of his learning.  He's done this before.  For just about every milestone, actually.  I must be a goldfish (its a surprise every time...)

Here's some photo evidence:

that faraway look...

Back in the saddle

A few random thoughts after finishing the first week back to school.

1.  Whew.
2. 5:30 am is really early.
3. My son started first grade on Thursday.
4. He had two friends walk home with him for a playdate today.
5. To see his hamster.
6. My son has a hamster.
7. Whew.
8. The leaves are starting to change color.  The pools close on Monday. I feel like I didn't even notice August going by.
9. Ivy met her preschool teacher on Thursday.
10. And came home with a pile of paperwork.
11. Which we put next to Jack's pile of school paperwork.
12.  I guess I need one of those mom-offices with different paper-bins for each child.
13. And another hour in the day for packing all these lunches.
14. Whew.
15.  Oh yeah. Jack turned 6 on Wednesday.  I've had some thoughts about that.  When I've had enough time to think them.
16. I like bedtime better when there are two parents home.
17. I feel pretty good about the fact that we don't have  sink full of dirty dishes right now.
18. Going back to school is not for the faint of heart.


All is going as it should be.  Jack is happy to be back at school and a grumpy, tired, new-hamster-obsessed mess in the evenings.  He reports that "lunch is fun". Nat is back to teaching.  I am back to teaching.  Four days in to that and it kind of feels like summer was just a dream.  My students are sweet and my day is nonstop busy.  Ivy is moody and jealous of her brother and adorable.  Life is busy and breathless and, when I stop to breathe and notice, very very good.

Reflections on my six year old and what its like to be his mom right now: on the way soon.

For now, a deep breath, and some sleep.

Whew.