Rain, rain, Yay yay yay!

I woke up this morning to heavy rain outside.  This has been the rainiest day yet, since I moved to Oregon, almost three weeks ago.  I lifted the blinds in delight, and held my camera up to the glass of my bedroom window, to capture a rather blurry rendition of the water cascading off of the roof gutter of a neighboring duplex.  Feeling watery and cozy, I decided to put off our usual immediate breakfast-upon-rising habit, and took a family shower/bath.  My sister gave us a big, baby tub.  She calls it a euro-tub.  It is designed to accommodate a growing baby into toddlerhood, with room for laying or sitting.  The first time I used it I was ready to chuck it, finding it to be too big to stand next to comfortably, and scarily deep for my little bambino.  I am in the habit of showering with the baby in the little plastic tub at my feet, within the shower tub, freeing up my mama hands to wash, while introducing baby to minimal shower spraying.  I find that they have almost no fear of water or spray, after bathing this way with me during infancy.  It is possible to begin this at about 2 1/2 months of age, when the neck  strength is enough to stabilize the baby in a slightly upright, but still reclined position.  My ex-partner would rarely hold Reya to give me time to bathe, when she was tiny, two years ago.   I came up with this method by pure necessity.

Magically, this morning's shower was wonderful.  The children were able to sit in the tub together and play.  I figured out how to adjust the drainage feature on it, so it didn't fill to deep for baby, and I managed better than I thought I could, in the approximately ten inches of space between the euro-tub and shower wall, under the shower head.  There is something to be said for a second try, a new day, and a patient attitude.

Lately, Reya has been enamored with looking at herself in the mirror.  She is quite dramatic, and admires herself openly. 

Coming from the standpoint of being a Waldorf Early Childhood teacher, this concerns me a little.  In Waldorf Kindergartens and Nurseries, mirrors are covered with cloths, to prevent the children from an early development of this ego.  They are better off with a slower "incarnation" into this type of consciousness.  Better to be less aware of the physical and of appearances, to stay innocent and dreamy.  Here is where theory and values butt up against convenience and function.  The mirrors function as doors to the closet, and cloths would get in the way.  Also, the mirrored doors help my tiny space feel larger.  They have a coldness about them, though.  I am leaning toward a smaller but warmer feeling space.  I might take down the doors and store them, and hang some curtains on a rod, instead.  It was kind of humorous to watch her doing her mirror play.  Then she got rambunctious and began running an crashing into the mirror with her dress pulled up, shouting at the top of her lungs, "Belly ButtonYay!".  If I took them down, I sure wouldn't miss the sound of those doors being continually rattled and messed with.  The question:  Where can they be stored?

Yesterday we went on an explore, and found a hole in a fence.  We were able to squeeze through, even wearing Galen on my chest in the Moby wrap.  We found ourselves in a pasture, with a grove of Weeping Willows!  What a lovely place to play, right next to home.  I'm loving to explore this wet, wild, green world.

This evening, Galen napped some more in the Moby wrap.  That thing has been my saving grace, and a literal pain in the body, all at the same time.  I am convinced that this sort of wrap is more comfortable than almost any other way to wear a baby, it keeps him safe from his mischevious, rival and zealous, toddler sister (except for dangling fingers and toes that sometimes get bit), and he sleeps very comfortably in it.  On the other hand, he is going on five months old, and getting heavier.  Ouch, wearing him almost full time is starting to wear on me.
Anyway, I wore him while he slept this evening, and Reya and I had fun baking.  This is the first baking project from scratch in our new home.  (Not to knock the yummy cake from a mix with Jenn last week, but it was from a MIX.)  Tonight we made muffins and sweet bread from butternut squash puree, sweetened with honey, and lumpy with the goodness of chopped pecans and chocolate chips.  I ate mine with cream cheese.  Delish.

Holiday Waldorf Festivites

I have been very, very busy. Ever since the Lilac Moon Play-School re-opened in my home in September, I have stayed up nights cleaning, prepping, baking, etc. It is amazing what it takes to run a Waldorf program in my home two mornings a week. I know I work well over forty hours a week. I am learning that in some ways it is easier to be on a faculty at a large school. I used to share all of the planning and duties for festivals and special events with several other teachers and we had a large parent body to pull from for volunteer help. I am now trying to do all of this myself. I would still rather have my own school and be my own boss any day, but my goodness, it's a lot of work. We had our lantern walk for Martinmas two weeks ago. It went well, but I learned that I did not ask for nearly enough parent help, until two days before the event, when I was about to panic. A few people came through to help, but set-up had no early helpers, and it was SO hard. I worked my 13 year old boy like a slave. He had such a great attitude about the whole thing. He really is a wonderful kid. I am ever so continually thankful for him. He helped me with his bike and bike cart, going back and forth several times, putting over 40 luminaries throughout the Poudre river path in the woods. It was exceptionally windy that afternoon, so lighting the candles in them proved to be a tricky venture, but after so much effort, we had an incredible walk through a magically lit woods, singing under a full moon. The children loved it. I may have loved it even more.
Now we are one week from an even bigger event- the Advent Spiral, which I am combining with St. Nikolas Day. My friend Alisa was over last night until midnight, helping me felt wool story characters. I am also creating a little cottage for St. Nik, out of sticks and a glue gun. It is cute so far, and I am thoroughly enjoying the creation of it. She will help me go up Wrist Canyon next Friday to collect many Evergreen Boughs for the spiral. There is a dizzying amount of work to be done, but I think it will be beautiful!
Back to work I go!
Oh- we finally got a bit (a light dusting very teeny bit) of snow last night. I was wondering if Winter was ever coming to Colorado this year?