Dear Christian,
One of your favorite parts of the week these days is Earthroots day; every Wednesday we tail the Earthroots homeschool class for five hours in a different wilderness park in Orange County! And while you are too young to be officially enrolled in the class, no one would ever know – you participate and squeeze out every bit of fun to be had. In the photo up top, you’re with your buddy Anna at one such class, on the day we visited The Ecology Center and make homemade pizzas in the Cobb oven on the premises. There was fire-making involved and we were all very impressed when Jodi made a coal with her bow drill kit. You’ve had renewed interest in making fire since.
You’re really turning the corner with your development in language and motor skills. You like to impress folk by jumping from three steps up on our stone staircase (put the stick down, please) and we’ve started having much more detailed conversations. The other day:
you: What’s this? Can you open it? waving around a puffed lid from a cocoa tin container
me: It’s already open, that’s just the lid.
you: But does this come off? indicating the puffed part of the lid Can it collapse?
me: No, that part doesn’t come off. It doesn’t collapse either.
you: Is it glued? Did Dad glue it?
me: Yeah, it’s probably glued. But Dad didn’t do it. It came that way.
you: finally satisfied Oh, they glued it at the store.
You are also pretty excited that your cousins Noi naa and Leela are coming to visit you in June. Little do you know, but that will be just the start of your summertime adventures (cruise with my family up the NE coast to Canada! Working at Not-Back-To-School Camp in Oregon!)
We just need to stay on top of all your sword-swinging and light saber-whizzing, so that nobody gets too bruised up. Although, when you put your weapons down, you can be a good help in the kitchen. Cutting veggies and washing dishes is a favorite for you right now.
Your favorite book is Richard Scarry’s Peasant Pig (in which the brave pig outsmarts the rascally dragon and is consequently knighted in gratitude) and your favorite toy is a $.50 transformer toy from the gumball machine (beautiful wooden toys be damned, although you do make me a mean cup of tea every day in the kitchen that Grampy built – always with marshmellows). Your favorite person is your dad, with maybe Anna in a close second. Riley, our almost-four-year old neighbor is also the object of much adulation. Your favorite place is…OUTSIDE.
I love you Buddy. We are still having lots of fun.
Love,
Mama
P.S. In this photo, you are planting a broccoli start with Dawkins at our monthly gleaning at The Great Edible Park, where all the produce is grown to support the local soup kitchen. To be honest, that may have been the only sprout you planted that day. There was much too much fun to be had playing in the mud between rows.