Lessons from a Little Girl

None of the photos in this blog have been edited or used filters.

Today was family day! Unfortunately, that meant that My Sailor's schedule and mine didn't quite align. My original plan was to take Beanie girl to the last day of the Washington State Fair. But she had other plans.

I was reminded of the unique passage of time called "Toddler Speed" though. In truth, it's kind of a wonderful thing, because it forces me and my kinetic nature to slow down, think a bit more deeply, and engage in a different way. It's not a bad thing at all (though markedly inconvienent when I have plans, of course).

The morning started off with cuddling in bed (so I could steal an extra bit of sleep), and then playing in her room with her horses. I was in a hurry to get her dressed, but she wasn't interested in it at all. She wanted to run her horse toys and plush unicorns around a castle poster as if we were racing them outside, up and down the castle spires. Our toy beasts even seemed to struggle to make it to the top (but the effort was rewarded by making it to the top every time, of course).

Then my horse lead the way as it trotted from her room into the kitchen. I figured getting her dressed might be easier with a full belly. But she had no appetite for breakfast at all. Instead, she wanted to paint (a favorite pass time). I put down a piece of paper and got her all set up to paint for a few minutes, figuring if she got paint on her shirt it would be an easy excuse to get her on board with changing it.

To help expedite the process, I encouraged her by setting up my toy horse in front of her and saying, "Let's paint the horse! What color is he? Brown?" I foolishly assumed it she would paint a picture of the horse on the paper in front of her. Instead, she literally proceeded to paint the horse. I tried to direct her efforts to the paper, but it was too late; I had already put the idea in her head. And honestly, I didn't have a problem with her painting her toy. (In fact, it reminded me that she may enjoy painting ceramics sometime.)

Instead of a fully belly and changed clothes, it turned into a lesson in fun, art, and bathing.

By the time we were finally ready to leave the house, we'd have very little time at the fair. She fell asleep in the car quickly so I decided to take a little drive.  I remembered that Port Gamble had a Farmer's Market on Sunday that I always wanted to try, and a large playground that should be dry enough to enjoy. So that's where we stopped.

And the day couldn't have been more stunning. A slightly breeze 60 degrees was perfect enough to see the leaves change. I was reminded why I love it so much here. Beanie Girl met a new milestone on the play ground - swinging in her first big kid swing!

We got to go to the local Farmer's Market. It turns out this was their 2nd to last weekend, and there were only 4 vendors, but it was still worth the trip. After a good hour on the playground, the cold, locally sourced, couldn't-get-any-fresher hand squeezed and shaken lemonade was just what the doctor ordered.  We also picked up a basket of fresh, local cherry and grape tomatoes. $10 for the Lemonade and the tomatoes. Not cheap, but so completely worth it. Both were devoured in a little make shift picnic before we would go home.

I let her lead the way on our tour of the town. We walked over grassy knolls and beside busy streets.  She discovered the fun of kicking and shuffling at mounds of fallen leaves. (This is sure to be a fun season at Forest Preschool I bet!)  Beanie Girl even picked up a Not A Stick (click here to check out what that means - it's something fun they learned in school that we love at home)

Fall is the BEST time!

We eventually made our way around to the main strip and the shops. We stopped in and got 2 hard boiled eggs and a kids cup of whatever-flavor-was-pink ice cream. (I think it was cotton candy?) I told her we were going to find a place to sit down and eat, and that she could pick the table. Not a bad view for a picnic. That ran about $6.

Busy peeling an egg

view from our table.

We finished up our trip by playing hide and seek around a large tree in a park for about half an hour.

We came home and I pushed her in the hammock in the back yard for a while. We had fun pulling up the ivy that has been taking over our lawn little by little, as it tries to every year.

And we topped off the evening by having a picnic on the floor of reheated left overs for dinner, and spending about an hour working on potty training skills before bed. 

To my surprise, she was out by 8pm. (Of course, she's been up 3 times since then due to bad dreams and sleep walking, but I'm hopeful that she's finally actually out for the night now.

Setting aside family time is fun and incredibly enlightening. I was the one that found myself quietly impatient while she was on the swing for what felt like forever. Or when she was playing in her room in the morning. Or when we were playing hide and seek and she was begging for just 1 more game.

I realized quickly that life so deeply ingrains that 'hustle' in us that sometimes we forget to slow down and take the time for the important things - like playing Not A Stick, paint the horse, or hide and seek. My plan to go to the fair would have involved much more money, time in the car, and hustle from thing to thing. Today meandered. Sometimes I forget the kind of valuable discovers you can make when life isn't planned out to the minute.

Thanks for reminding me, little girl.

Into the Woods - For Preschool

We hunted for a long time for child care out here on the Penninsula. Honestly, it's like everywhere else in the world. It's incredibly expensive (and the waiting list for military is years long). And honestly, it should be expensive. These folks are teaching the next generation - arguably one of the most important jobs in any society. And, hell, I'm exhausted after a day with my daughter. I couldn't imagine being in a class room with a gaggle of even more youthful energy as well!

Last summer, we tried out a local Forest Preschool as an affordable option. It covers care from 9am-1pm, giving me a good chunk of the day to do some adulting stuff, so we're continuing it 5 days a week now.

So, what is Forest School?
It's a preschool-K that is run completely outdoors. With no building to keep up, there is a little less overhead, making it a cost effective option for parents, and with a 6 kids to 1 adult ratio, there is a close eye being kept on everyone.

My favorite part about it is that it's more child led learning.
Think about it this way - When a kid picks something up and asks "What's this?" They will likely listen and understand the answer. If the kid isn't interested in something, you can pick it up and wave the same object at them all day and they likely won't give a rip about whatever you're trying to tell them.  Yes, of course some concepts need to be introduced, but kids are really good about exploring. We just have to be there when they are ready.

So, they just play outside all day?
Mostly, yes. There are some structured activities (beach time, story time, music time, lunch time), but playing is a vital - and all too often LOST life lesson to learn. No, kids aren't born knowing how to play. It's a skill! In fact, kids are so over scheduled now-a-days, that play often gets missed. Gone are the "play until the street lights come on" days, sadly. More play is a good thing.  Kids learn BIG lessons while playing. Solve problems (learning cooperation, resourcefulness, basic engineering, and language). We've seen The Impossible Girl's learning grow by leaps and bounds. (And no nap time means that she comes home tired, and sleeps through the night!)

Story time at summer camp

Finding crabs during beach time!

Making Clay creations.

Making Friends.

So what about the weather?
Yeah, in Washington it gets cold, and rainy, and occasionally snowy and icy. But the kids are usually outfitted in brightly colored rain suits like these. It makes them easy to spot and keeps the weather trouble to a minimum.  (The photos above were taken during the summer camp program, where they wore brightly colored smocks instead.) The kids do have a place they can duck into if they need to get away from the weather, or just have some quiet time. The Impossible Girl doesn't like crowds. She drags us out of crowded areas fairly often in everyday life, so I imagine she would prefer this to a classroom of 15+ kids to 1 teacher.

As you may recall, The Impossible Girl also was sick just about every other week during her first year and a half of life. Funny - since she's been going to Forest school (4 weeks in the summer and half way through a full week now), she hasn't really been sick. Now, it may be that she got all those germs when she was tiny, but I can definitely see how this feels "cleaner". During cold and flu season, they aren't all coughing on the same stick and passing it around, ya know? Fresh air is so good for us - I suspect it's easy to feel too protective of little ones and forget that.

So we invested in good rain boots and we're giving it a go full time. So far, she's loving it. In fact, my kid who rarely talks to adults, decided to chatter off the ear of a teacher yesterday! I'd say that's progress!