Getting a little help

Iris has been with us for three wonderful weeks now and we have loved every minute. They've been productive weeks, too: She no longer surfs the counters for food and willingly (or at least obediently) stays in the family room while we sit in the kitchen and eat, she no longer yanks and pulls at the leash when we're out for walks, and for the most part she goes straight to her own bed at night without even trying to jump in with us. She has most certainly made life interesting as of late.

We love Moose and Ollie, too, of course. The difference being that Moose and Ollie are both twelve years old and are perfectly happy to sleep all day and hardly notice that we are here. Iris, on the other hand, is active and playful. She wants to be right in the middle of whatever it is you are doing. She especially loves to try and get in my lap while I'm playing the piano, and crowds into Calvin's space whenever he is on the floor researching, coloring, or reading. She likes to eat your ears. She likes to make you retrieve the ball after she chases it. She's exactly what we needed around here, especially on these dreary late winter days.

Plus, because she needs so much exercise, we've been spending way more time outside than we used to at this time of year, which is great for everyone. And because Dalmatians were originally coach dogs (bred to run alongside a coach for long distances), I've started to train her to run with me. So, as much as I hate the cold, I'm actually back outside running a little, which is great because the treadmill just isn't motivating.

Mary Poppins

In Calvin's words.

Monday

Monday for us is a waking up slowly day, and a book day, and an art day. Sometimes it's a store day, or a vacuuming day, or a hike day. It's sort of a catch-up day and a do-whatever-you-feel-like day. After the excitement of yesterday, our today was enjoyably a very slow and lazy day.

The Enormous Egg

We started with books. Actually we spent a couple of hours on books before we graduated to some journal writing. At some point I got on the treadmill while Calvin researched Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. I did manage three loads of laundry, and we made it to the library to do some work in the sorting room before taking a brisk walk with Iris out in the rather frigid wind.

Tea and piano and more books, and then Calvin disappeared into his office, and as with all good creators I know better than to disturb him when he shuts himself in. We even delayed dinner, he was so busy, but I did get invited in to see the book he was working on—a book about Pooh and his friends. He plans to finish it tomorrow.

So even a lazy, quiet day can produce items of great beauty and significance.

We're linked up at OLM.

Off Broadway

The Off Broadway production of Mary Poppins made a stop in Grand Rapids this weekend, and we met it there. Months ago our friends asked us if we wanted to get tickets and we've been counting the days since then. We have great friends in that city that we don't get to see very often, so we got tickets, and made plans to stay with them one night while we were in town. Seeing them alone was worth the trip.

Then...I had forgotten the wonder and magic of a Broadway musical—or perhaps I'd attended so many children's plays with Calvin prior that my expectations had become skewed. The voices, the dancing, and ooooh the set. The set was like a fantastical pop-up book.

Calvin loved very minute of it, and my joy was enhanced by his as he tapped out the rhythms and laughed at the comedy and gasped at the magic, sitting on my lap to better be able to see.

A stop for dinner at the local brewery (a big favorite of ours)—one more chance to see good friends—and we were headed back home with good memories in tow. We'd bought a CD of the live production so we listened to it all the way home, the timing so perfect that we were just finishing the curtain call as we pulled into the driveway, shortly after a usual bedtime. And that was a perfect day.

Journal to follow shortly.

If you need us we'll be in Mesopotamia

Neanderthals, Cro-Magnon, human migration to the continents. The stone age, the Fertile Crescent, the first farmers, the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Nile and Egypt. Calvin can't seem to get enough of any of it. Nearly every book he picks up, every picture he draws, and every chance he gets "can we have tea and read some more about history?"

It's a beautiful thing.

So what are we doing? We're loosely following Intellego's World History volume I unit study, and The Story of the World, and have found Archaeology for Kids to be a good go-with. We've watched and re-watched all of the Legacy videos. A favorite new story book around here is Mik's Mammoth, with its rhyming language and beautiful watercolor illustrations (love), and the Middle East and Asia Geo Puzzles have come in rather handy. I knew I'd love those things.