Alison Hodgson

Expert on the etiquette of perilous times.

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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/

38 is great!

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Last night, as I was tucking her into bed, Eden asked what kind of birthday I wanted.  

“What do you mean?”  
“Well, Rennie’s having a Princess birthday and I’m having a horse and Chihuahua birthday, what kind do you want.”
I knew it wouldn’t be any good to explain that adults don’t usually have themes.  “I want a flower birthday.”  I said.
“You always pick that.”  She said, without missing a beat.
It was  a good day.  Paul took it off but it was fairly low key.  We went out to lunch while the kids went to see Wall E with their cousin, Ren, and  her Grandpa and Grandm P., who she shares with my kids and who treated everyone.  Torey and Willa Z. came along for the ride.

After lunch Paul took the kids to a park and the library so that I could stay home and write.  When they returned Lydia and I did a little math, as she is doing some extra credit this summer.  
There weren’t any presents to unwrap or candles to blow out, but they all made me cards, even Paul.  We have had a couple of projects around the house done that we have counted towards several holidays.
I jokingly told Paul today, “Your presence is your gift.”
And it was.

Wizzledy Bizzledy Boo

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I type to the sound of warm water running over a small bag of frozen breast milk.  It is being thawed for our precious Willa.  I have the pleasure of her care for a couple of hours today.  She woke a little early and cried for a minute until we heard her.  Christopher and Lydia were in the kitchen when I brought her out blinking.  She stopped crying immediately as they crowded around her coohing, aaaawwing  and ooooohing.  She is much loved.

Lydia is holding her and a bowl of popcorn.  Willa is grabbing the bowl, trying to get her mitts on some kernels.  I took pictures and will post soon.  But now, the bottle is ready and the baby eagerly awaits.
I am grateful to care for this sweet girl.

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Last night I came home from an errand to find everyone in the living room watching a movie. Christopher was on the couch snuggled under several quilts holding a giant bowl of popcorn while Paul and the girls were in chairs around with more modest bowls.  They were all quietly watching “All Creatures Great and Small” from the BBC based on the James Herriot books.  I pushed my way under the covers at the opposite end of the couch and helped myself to some popcorn.  Eden ran and got me a bowl and then cuddled in beside me.  Being there I thought of “Little House in the Big Woods.”

Eden and I recently finished it and I had forgotten how it ended.  Not surprisingly, to readers of the series, it ends with Laura and Mary in bed listening to Pa play his fiddle and sing “Auld Lang Syne.”

When the fiddle had stopped singing Laura called out softly, “What are the days of auld lang syne, Pa?”

“They are the days of a long time ago, Laura,” Pa said.  “Go to sleep now.”

But Laura lay awake a little while, listening to Pa’s fiddle softly playing and to the lonely sound of the wind in the Big Woods.   She looked at Pa sitting on the bench by the hearth, the fire-light gleaming on his brown hair and beard and glistening on the honey-brown fiddle.   She looked at Ma, gently rocking and knitting.

She thought to herself, “This is now.”

She was glad that the cosy house, and  Pa and Ma and the fire-light and the music, were now.  They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now.  It can never be a long time ago.

Last night, smooshed against Eden and Christopher, I thought of that, how right now is so real and yet, before I know it, the kids are going to be grown and gone.   There is such a strange tension in the passage of time while raising children; the days can crawl and the years fly.
It is what it is.  This is now, and I know that amazingly soon it will be a long time ago.  
May we cherish the time.
  

https://alisonhodgson.com/2008/05/457/