Alison Hodgson

Expert on the etiquette of perilous times.

First Day of School

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Here we all are on the way to Lydia’s bus stop, which is at the neighbor’s.  Eden, Christopher and I were already outside documenting her first day, when Lydia came rushing out panicked that we were late.  Christopher shouted something annoying, then Lydia told him to shut up, which provoked him to shout even louder to me that Lydia had told him to shut up and then I shouted at him to shut up and get in the picture.  

Perfect we ain’t.  

Fortunately, we believe in asking for forgiveness and in extending grace, which we did as we walked to the bus stop where we took this next picture.

That’s better.
Do you see that Kindergartner?  Look at that sweet and eager face!  The first day she made friends with every kid in her class and specified Lydia, J.P., Ellie and Sydney.  The second day she was talking about Lydia and Dandy.
“You mean Sydney?”  I asked.
“Oh yeah.”
Today she came home with the sad news that she and Lydia had a fight.  We’re sorting out the details.  Apparently the teacher had to intervene, calling, “Girls, girls that’s not forgive.”
This is.

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On the 4th of July our little town has a parade and afterwards a fair.  In the past, we’ve made the mistake of going immediately after the parade with all the crowds.  This is fine if you like standing in long lines under a noon sun.  I do not and so we finally smartened up and this year, immediately after the parade we drove home.  The girls swam while David, Christopher and I went to a book sale at the local library.  Standing under a noon day sun perusing used books I can stand.  When we returned Torey, Paul and I loaded up the four bigger kids and took them over to the fair.

The place was almost deserted.  Paul split off with the big kids while Torey and I double teamed the Legumes.  We went over to the bounce place and, as you can see the Ren and Eden were the only kids in it.  Watching them jump around made us both wistful.  “I wish I could go in there.”  Torey said.  Before I could even say, “Me too!”  the teenage employee said, “Go ahead.”We both scrabbled up and in and started jumping like our little girls.  
It.Was.So.Much.Fun.
Torey bounced down on her bottom first and then I did.  Our jumping knocked the little girls off balance.  They were flailing around and falling and we were all laughing and laughing.  I don’t know how long it has been since I have jumped in one of those.  I remember when I was little getting knocked into corners, having my face jammed against the netting and trying so hard to get loose but any ground I would take I would lose to a bigger kid’s bounce.  When I was quite young this scared me, but as I got older it just made me laugh, which weakened me further.  One memory I have of jumping with my brothers and being down on all fours, trying to get up, but continually being knocked over and then laughing so hard I couldn’t stop.
Laughing like that feels so good.  I don’t laugh like that enough.  I want to start keeping track, not in a formal way, but just get into the habit of a little check in.  We need to laugh.  It’s like an emotional massage.  I don’t want to withhold that from myself anymore.  Tomorrow I am going to call a rental place to find out how much it costs to get one of these things for a day.  I know a lot of people who have need of a place where it’s safe to jump and fall.  I want others to laugh until they cry or to cry until they laugh.

https://alisonhodgson.com/2008/07/411/

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The other day Eden marched into the kitchen where Paul was standing and announced, “I’m hungry!”

“Well, what do you do when you’re hungry?”  Paul asked in a fatherly/this is a teachable moment/leading sort of way.
But this is the Bean. “I tell someone I’m hungry!” she said.
He hid a smile and helped her get her something to eat, but first he came and reported the exchange to me.
Wonderful Bean.
Excellent Daddy.

https://alisonhodgson.com/2008/07/422/

In Honor of Canada Day though slightly delayed

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This was taken over a month ago, the day before we left for Montana.  I was watching Ren and Willa for a couple of hours.  These pictures were taken in the fifteen minute period that I wasn’t holding Willa and walking around with her.  Since she was separated from her Mama and was already planning to refuse her bottle (after refusing her nap) and since she’s a smart girl, she probably knew she needed to make a plan for survival – a gorgeous bod like hers doesn’t just happen people, it’s made.  Lydia’s bowl of popcorn seemed a logical place to start.

She had observed that you grab the bowl and then move your hand towards your mouth.  Hmmm, maybe there was more to it than that.  She decided to get a closer look:

Here she lunged forward to try and maneuver closer, never removing that little hand grasping the bowl.

Let’s try that again.  Hand back to the mouth, but still nothing.  What’s missing?   
Here she lunged again and actually grazed the popcorn and we realized the two were going to need to be separated: Willa and the popcorn, that is.  Lydia, needing to choose, decided she couldn’t be separated from the popcorn and divested herself of Willa.