Things went higgledy piggeldy last night and I had to cut my post short to chase children to bed. Now, I'm trying to remember what I was going to say. I have to put myself back in mind of when I was a child and how magical a fountain could be.
It's a strange thing to think about as an adult. I mean sure, I'm impressed by the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas, but then again if you're not impressed by those fountains, then you've got thrill issues--because those fountains are a wonder to behold.
So I'm a child and there's a fountain. It's usually concrete and there is water and it's flowing or spouting or moving around in some way. And it's magic. It's hard to remember because most fountains are mundane to me now. I know how they work, it's just water and I don't really want to get wet. But when I was a child things were different.
I remember there was a fountain in front of the administration building where my mother worked at the college I would later attend. The amount of time I spent around that fountain was staggering. Mom would come in on the weekend to get caught up on work and I would play around the building. There were trees to climb and sticks to find and acorns to collect, yet I seemed to gravitate all my activities around that fountain.
Why is water so exciting to children? My children love water. My daughter spent thirty minutes with a spray bottle in the back yard yesterday just spraying dots on the picnic table. Both children will go and play in dirty, messy water at their water table Nana and Papa got them and be happy for long periods of time. (And yes, we dump and refill the water as soon as we notice they're interested in the rain-filled table, but kids move fast!)
One of my best memories is my mother giving me pennies to put into the fountain. I tried that yesterday with my daughter. For some reason I had visions of her throwing the penny into the middle and watching it flutter down in the water, intent on it's every turn and rotation. But no, she just dumped it in and asked for, "moi mommy". Was it fun for her though? Absolutely.
The Big Boy Update: Waiting out the cranky. He is having troubles lately that have involved cranky, hungry, irritable and difficult. We're doing our best to be consistent, even in times of loud behavior at restaurants (where we remove him until he is calm) but it's a challenge. I have spoken to other moms and they've said it's a tough time but that if we continue to let him know our expectations and hold to them, it will pay off in the future.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Alternative way to eat an ice cream cone. My daughter doesn't want to eat the ice cream down to the cone and then eat around in a circle, making the cone and ice cream shorter from the top. She wants to push her finger into the side of the cone, usually several times, and then fish out the ice cream on her finger and eat it that way.
Fitness Update: Fourteen miles and we've hit my neighbor's running edge. She had a tough run some time ago because she didn't eat enough the night before and hadn't had breakfast when we started our run. Today, she did fine. I've run up to eighteen miles, but I was the one who didn't eat enough last night. It was a fine run, but I don't think I would have been tired at all towards the end, had I eaten enough last night.
Someone Once Said: He was all that I admire in a man—loyal, honest, intelligent, gentle and brave.
No comments:
Post a Comment