There was just something about today that made me smile. Nothing extraordinary. Not that other days do not make me smile… The other morning we brought Papa breakfast in bed and put a little vase on his tray with two daisies in it. Alexander likes to ‘pack us lunches’ to take on our hikes when we play camping, and now- often- they include a little ‘vase’ with a flower or two. Today after my shower, he brought me another such pretend ‘breakfast tray’ with a ‘flower’ and then tonight for supper he created this whole little arrangement of ‘flowers’ in his little ‘vases.’ They were so cute but just kindof pretty on our table I had to take a picture of them.
Boys did an early nap today because Aidan was awake at 5:30 am. Alexander didn’t sleep, but after his hour and a half quiet time we headed down to the basement and did some play-doh. Muma made beautiful cakes, and Alexander served up the ice cream by flavor per request, of course. When I commented that the little frosting squeezer didn’t work very well he said so matter-of-factly, “That’s just the way life is, Muma. Some things are like that. Some things you can fix, and some things you can’t.” I just stopped and stared at him, who continued working away on his magnificent little doughy creation. He must at least be listening to us sometimes….
When Aidan woke up he joined us in play-doh for about 5 minutes then brought down his puzzles to work on. After p-d was picked up, Muma started neatening the classroom and asked if we should take down the space stuff we’d been working on (but never really finished the unit). Alex said he wanted to finish some of the little project sheets, so of course I brought them out. He did constellation dot-to-dots, and cutting & pasting about star & planet patterns, coloring, counting, and practice drawing circles (he had some near perfect ones at the end!
Aidan worked happily on his puzzle on the rug with some help from muma when he would permit me. “Do self” he would often say if I tried to lend a piece… But he would show me when he completed each of the vehicles on the ‘tricky’ puzzle. “Muma look!” “Camper, Done! Yay!” … clapping and smiles… He and Alex put the last couple pieces in together followed by self-applause and cheers. Two little boys happily working on their little projects with muma in the middle to help each one. It was just kindof nice.
Boys ate good suppers, and having passed up treats earlier in the day for something at McDo we headed off to meet friends for playtime (did I mention we had snow today??) and milkshakes. Aidan was having a blast on the tyke side of the playground going up the steps, down the slide a hundred times smiling, sometimes even laughing to himself or the little boy who followed him around everywhere. Sometimes when he’d venture to the big kids’ part, Alexander was such a good helper giving him (or friend, Jonathan) little boosts up the big steps they couldn’t climb on their own.
Other pieces… A2 playing airplane/spaceship… orbiting around the ‘loop’ and landing on the blanket, airport. Aidan didn’t even want muma to ‘chase’ He wanted Ayay to chase. Watching boys and their gymnastics tricks on the mat/blanket– Aidan’s fantastic somersaults, Alexander’s almost-a-headstand, amidst others., the duplo campsite built on the new playtable… the zoo animals are currently staying in the hotel– that’s where they belong, don’t you know? NOT the bathroom where Aidan put them last time (so Alex says). Aidan has started saying “Alek” much more often, and even sometimes “Ander” or “broer” but we still hear a lot of “Ayay.” My favorite is when they help each other out or hear Aidan say “Kank-oo Ayay!”
So anyway… there was just something about today that made me smile, though I suppose I do a lot of smiling pretty much everyday. Today I just had a minute to write it down.