Why I have neglected blogging (lol)

Too much life kept happening to me every time I went to turn on the computer.It just goes really fast - too fast to check messages or upload pictures. Too fast to remember what I'm doing half of the time. Too fast to think about going *out* somewhere with them, because just being at home keeps us so busy!

Things are still sort of slower though. Our new rhythms, and slowing down how we transition from play to rest and back again, and me spending less time fighting how they seem to work best, all of that means each day seems to go by slowly. Each moment is endless while it's here - and then it's friday again and the week went... where?
Morgan had new shoes.I trimmed her long fringe so she can actually see again, and she spent a lot of time in the garden with the worms and slugs and such things. One day this week they made a slug garden with bits of vegetables from their snack and assorted leaves, to see which foods the slugs would like best. Morgan brought one of their "pets" to me to inspect, and I very calmly sent her back outside with it, calling after her, "Hold it GENTLY - I see squeezing, I don't think the slug likes it!!"

The easel is our friend. Jenna and Morgan independantly came up with a way to both use it at once - colouring in a huge sheet with crayon patterns and swirls. That way Morgan doesn't get cross with Jenna bossing and taking over, and Jenna doesn't get cross with Morgan "messing up my picture"!
Hot weather, too sticky for this little mite, gave way to thunder storms. Morgan loved the lightening.
And we are loving the outdoors.
Jenna is sticking with the new rule-breaking. I love and hate that she can now say to me, "I heard your rule, but I decided..." It is frustrating and amazing, and I'm struggling with when to decide that the limit matters and when to protect this new sense of her personal judgement.

They have played with the map book a lot. I know they are learning from it but I often don't know what they learned. I understand now what I read about one mother in Unschooling Handbook who knew only as much of what her children learnt as they chose to share with her. I didn't see how that could be, but it's true for us right now. I overhear, look Morgan, this is England, where we live. We grow crops here and have sheep. And factories. But then another time they might say nothing, and I might assume that they are not understanding the map at all... Or they will say something that I believe to be nonsense, and I might have to fight my urge to correct. But something is being taken in, something important is gained, and the only concrete involvement I have is in helping them answer their own questions when they share them with me.Of course, maps are also good for playing pirates. They built a boat - oh how I love seeing them invent games like this TOGETHER nowadays. Jenna drew her own treasure map, and even added compass points.
Morgan is still a spirited child who is feeling Very Two (on the criteria the book gives she registers at the top of the scale on everything except resistance to change, having the alternate characteristic of irregularity lol). Reading the Spirited Child book was VERY encouraging, not just because it finally allowed me to feel justified in feeling in having totally different challenges to some of the parents I meet regularly, but because it confirmed that all the things I'm doing are the right things for their temperaments. *phew* It was, however, scary. Because I've always thought of Morgan as being that child, and not Jenna. Yet Jenna registers only slightly lower - only the ways in which she exhibits her traits are ways which gel with my own character! Um, and Rowan shows every sign of carrying those traits too, so all sympathy for Martin!!

Part of my day at the moment has been making gorgeous Tassajara loaves. So much for the bread machine, I'm hand making every day! The children helped me colour and illustrate this recipe card for the wall so I can make a half-size loaf without the book. They like to come and help make our bread too, which I am finding is really restful and grounding for all of us.Naps are still working wonderfully. Watching them sleep is a motherly activity in itself.And the day Jenna slept longer than anyone else, Morgan and I had alone time we haven't had in AGES! We built this. How very much pleasure she takes in simple things. :)
The Health Visitor came again, and told me how beautiful and pleasant and smart my children are, which is nice (lol). She also tickled Rowan's feet and told her that she has a lovely mummy who looks after her properly, and isn't she a lucky baby. And after she went, I had a little cry - not just because sometimes I have those fragile moments when I feel like I'm getting everything wrong, but mostly in fact because I find it unbelievably sad that anyone would think a baby lucky for having the basic love and care required for survival. :(

Last night I cut my own hair in a fit of fed-up-with-it-craziness. It is now short and uneven lol. :)
All week Jenna has been really focussed for some reason - doing a lot of things that I would class as "learning activities". She is really determined to Read Properly. She is often getting out her books, and things like sorting cards, the letter tray, or the mandala puzzle, and working on them with an intently studious expression.And that's this week, I guess. Books and laughter and time and toys. Nursing and loving and crying and craziness. Too many moments to mention, and just that little bit of sadness that I can't record everything sufficiently to keep hold of it. I guess that's it though - I can't keep this moment. Only live in the one I have *right now*.