Learning

We're deep into our fall routine, with the daylight hours decreasing every day. I find myself getting mentally prepared for winter, when we will spend so much of our time indoors. We've had a lovely fall with lots of time outside--walks in the woods, fires, and soccer games in the yard. But lately Layla deems any hat I put on her head "itchy" and throws it to the ground. That's not going to fly in January, I want to tell her. I want to somehow not only survive winter, but embrace it. I don't want it to become a series of long, claustrophobic afternoons of squabbling and epic battles about donning snow clothes. This will require no small amount of fortitude on my part, I know. I feel like I should be doing mental calisthenics in preparation for what is to come. Meanwhile, I'll focus on the present and appreciate what is happening now. Mazin is learning to read in earnest and is excited about his increasing ability to recognize sight words and sound out simple ones. He loves books and stories, but I think his favorite activity right now is drawing. He comes home from school and immediately sits down with colored pencils... until his sister pesters him into paying attention to her. He also taught himself to play Twinkle Little Star on the keyboard and seems ready for lessons. I'm hoping to find a teacher with a gift for teaching music to children. Layla is about to turn three and is loving to pretend. She especially likes to "read" to us, turning pages and making up a story. It is quite amusing. The stories sometimes involve her little sister named Peanut Butter who lives in a cage in the living room. Mazin never really said those crazy kid things that you post on facebook for your friends to laugh at, so I'm glad I'm getting my fill this time around. Layla also LOVES to dance more than anything, and is always the life of the party whenever we go somewhere with live music. The other night we went to a contra dance, and she ended up in the middle of the circle most of the night, spinning around in her "party dress," which is a too-big but flowing and brightly colored little number I picked up at a tag sale. I knew she would love it. Both kids are addicted to the Elle song "X's and O's," which is one thing I'll definitely want to remember and remind them of when they are teenagers. Oh, and second favorites are the AC/DC songs "Dirty Deeds" and "TNT." Nothing funnier than two kids belting out those rock anthems and playing air guitar!