I recently read about how writing a narrative of your day is a great way to get a bird's eye view of how things are going in life; for your children's education, your home atmosphere, etc. The goal is to randomly pick a day and not just a good one! I hope to write one each month in 2020 - it will be interesting and revealing when I look back in 2021. I am specifically thinking about what the little Meadors are learning as they live in our home, so that's my focus.
Saturday, January 11th, 2020
Dale crawled into bed at 2:30 a.m. this morning after a full week of working travel so it was quiet snuggles and coffee starting as late as possible (8 a.m) for Samantha, Rex, Bradley, Dale and I. After chatting and telling about the week's happenings - including the sudden death of our cat, Debbie - we went downstairs and made breakfast. While that was frying we showed Dale our new record player and played some Glen Miller Big Band music and a Bagpipe record. Both Samantha and Rex danced, played "guitar" (tennis rackets), and sang along loudly. Rex in particular can produce a volume quite remarkable.
After breakfast I went for a run, Dale enjoyed his recliner after a long week, and the children drew pictures and typed on an old laptop whose keyboard makes satisfying clicking sounds. They wrestled with Dad and probably begged him to watch videos of tractors and combines on Youtube. (I am only guessing on this but it's a safe bet.)
When I was back we took a walk in the slushy, snowy sunshine . We talked about the distant hills, the coming snowstorm, the train speeding by within earshot, and caught up with our neighbor, Joel. We also imagined when Bradley would be walking with us and all he would learn from Sammi and Rex. (How to not be scared by a dog and not get a hit by a car were lessons offered by Samantha, age four.)
Before lunch we gathered around the piano and I played favorites while Samantha and Rex once again strummed their tennis rackets and sang along, with Bradley lying on the sheepskin rug nearby. "Jesus Loves Me", "Twinkle, Twinkle", Aretha's "You Send Me", "Jingle Bells", "Come Thou Fount"- we decided we need to make a list of songs to better practice since Mom can never remember what we know.
After lunch Dale put Rex down for a nap and Sammi had quiet time where she listened to an American Girl story about colonial girl, Felicity. Two hours went by and then I read aloud to her from a book I'm enjoying that she was intrigued with, too. It's titled "An Episode of Sparrows" by Rumor Godden and the cover is lovely. She was a rapt listener even though I picked up in the middle where I'd left off. In that section a character makes the sign of the cross so we practiced this ancient display of faith and wondered aloud about it together.
Time for Rex to get up! After a snack of apples, carrots and hot cocoa, I set up an obstacle course throughout the downstairs. This was a new thing - I got the idea at my book club earlier this week and it was a hit. Lots of jumping, rocking in rocking chairs, jumping jacks, etc. as we tried to get faster and faster.
This morphed into a dancing concert to Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto in Bb and further impromptu obstacle building by the little people as Dale and I played with Bradley, chatted and read. It felt so good to have my man home again. And... I am loving the music. Need to get more records. And might need to hide the bagpipe one.
Baths for the children while Dale and I drank glasses of wine and relaxed, then dinner, then an early bedtime for a big day tomorrow. Overall a peaceful, restful day.