Old Man Winter

Make no sound, I am Old Man Winter!

Watch the moon shine on the new fallen snow.

Take heed of my darkness and sleep in the silence.

Take heed of my darkness and sleep long and slow.

We’re a bit slow in paying tribute to Old Man Winter.  In fact, today he seems to be taking a rest and letting Princess Spring strut her stuff.  Since we’re on a winter kick here, though, I thought this a good time to share how the boys digested the tale of Old Man Winter, one of the Enki nature stories that brings seasonal changes to life, in the form of a seasonal table.

The story and associated work/play is the core of  Enki science, which emphasizes a child’s natural connection to the living world and their place in it.  Story plays a central role in Enki, as children are “picture thinkers”, taking in the whole and feeling it with their bodies and their hearts in a manner that likely escapes most adults–we’d have to work to disengage our brain’s analytical tendancies.  The verse, at the opening of this post, is a tool to connect with the story and also a bridge to reading and writing skills, introduced in a manner that is meaningful and poetic.  More on that another time, but for those of you that worry whether Emmett is really learning in his homeschooling experience, rest assured, there is lots of rich learning happening, though don’t tell Emmett, I am hapy to report that he doesn’t grasp the notion that learning is just for “school”.  Learning and play are synonymous, as they should be.

Since Emmett is getting older, he is making his own contributions, other than building and arranging, to our seasonal table.  Old Man Winter is his work.

We also draw from other seasonal stories: The Snow Children and Ollie’s Ski Trip, which inspired the Snow Queen.  The boys were pretty insistent upon a companion for the old man in the blue cloak.  Do you see the little gnomes tucked away for a long winter sleep?  This was also very important to E-man.  I love how that mirrors a child’s desire to be tucked away and safe–the fort building instinct at work.

::::::::::

And last, because we have been remiss in sharing our little bundle with those of you that visit us from afar, here are a few looks at little Berg’s expressions these days.  Anyone else notice the fair skin, the light hair, the blue eyes?

winter enthusiasts

E-man was born in a snow storm, and he still loves him a good snow storm.  He will spend every moment outside, regardless of temperature, precipitation, or wind chill, and often those three elements work together to create some inhospitable conditions in these parts.  It is one of the things that I love most about him.

His brother, on the other hand, is a little more discerning.  He’s been wishy washy about his plans to ski this year, but his brother’s persuasive efforts, as all who know him are aware, are those of the salesman of the year variety, and so he agreed to join the weekend ski trip on a cold, cold, windy and snowy day, and…

He loved it!

The skiing and the hot cocoa.

Dave’s got himself some committed ski buddies.

Now, the question is, is there a trail runner amongst them?

borrowed words and a few photos

Some words from A Thousand Splendid Suns:

Boys, Laila came to see, treated friendship the way they treated the sun: its existence undisputed; its radiance best enjoyed, not beheld directly.

Ah, yes.  I see this everyday.  A boy’s love is about presence. Here.  Now.  It’s the same quality that allows them to love, then yell, cry and hit, and seconds later, to play and love again.   The dispute?  Vanished.  Not analyzed, aggrandized, pondered or sulked about.  I love that.  A mother can only hope that all of her mistakes are as easily forgotten as those of a boy’s playmates.

Boy love has been abundant around here: bear hugs, wrestling, secrets and giggling, plans for a joint venture in the construction industry, and two brothers sleeping in the same room (and whispering and NOT sleeping).  It seems that G-man has given up the family bed, spurred by the squeaks and squawks of his little brother and lured by the persuasive efforts of his older brother.  His doing, all together, but the timing is nice.  Four in a bed can get a bit snug.

I wish I had pictures of all this brotherly love.  I’ll work on that.  Right now remembering that there is a camera is about as far as I can get in our day to day operations, which are flowing quite smoothly for a new family of five.  I am still just watching it all unfold — new rhythm to our days, new relationships, new little person to love and wonder about — hoping that all of the little moments, joyous and exasperating, will stick somewhere,   so that maybe, one day, when I am old, watching a mother nurse her babe, while playing a game with a second child, and reading a book to a third, I will remember the way this time feels.

And here are some unrelated photos of what the three  boys are doing these days:

Riding up and racing down.

Watching for fires, safe from the stroller, which now has sirens.

Growing cheeks and ears.  And smiling lots, but I am too busy smiling back to get any photos.

these last weeks

We’re slow to get our holiday celebrations going here.  With a very important birthday in late November and another in early December, we like to let the holiday festivities wait a bit to give the birthday boys their time in the spotlight.  We make a twist on the 12 days of Christmas, beginning the season on the Solstice and celebrating through New Years Day.  We all love feeling like we’ve just gotten started when others are winding down.  One of the traditions we started a few years back and continue to revise is sharing things we are grateful for from the year past and things we are looking forward to in the year to come, one of each shared on each of the 12 days.  This year we are hanging our thoughts on the tree and it seems that so much has happened in these last few weeks that all our gratitude is wrapped up in December.

::new life::

Do you see that ring on my finger?  My love gave that to me on our ten year anniversary, also the day we found out that we  awaited the birth of another baby BOY.  We were awe stuck.  As we celebrated ten years in love, we envisioned life with three boys.   I love this photo that represents the  memory of that  conversation and the enactment of its visions all wrapped into one.  We’re all enjoying little Berg so much.  His grunts, squeaks,  smiles, winks, scrunches and stretches have us all watching his every move.  Hard to believe that he has been earthside a month already.

::health::

After three emergency rooms, each  in progressively bigger cities, we were so happy to see the return of our feisty G-man on Christmas Eve and feeling incredibly grateful for Western medicine. Even though it fails us in some situations, it has no substitute in others.  That we can access healing modalities from all places leaves me profoundly grateful.

::growing up::

Yahoo!  First tooth lost on Christmas day.  The big tooth is already in its place.

::family::

Visiting here and there and enjoying our new neighbors, Omi and Opa. It is so, so good to have them near and so, so right.

::extended family::

Missing our borrowed teenagers and looking forward to their return in the New Year.

And that’s only the last few weeks!  There is so much more.  This year has been life at its best.  Is it really possible to be this rich?

his and hers

methods for soothing little Berg:

6!

This boy is six!  And six is BIG.  So much bigger than 5.  And this boy has lived his six years with more passion and intensity than some people live their whole lives.  It is hard to keep up, but it is a joy to ride along.

He is ready for mountain biking and skiing.  Given that I am already reasoning with him about why he shouldn’t try to ride his bike down the stairs, I am curious to see how mountain biking evolves.  ( I wonder, am I being silly?  Perhaps little Berg will be riding down stairs when he is five, the son of a mama broken in to the lives of boys.)  This weekend he and his Dad are headed out for their first day on the hill, he with his first, official, paid for season pass.  He plans on skiing all the blue runs this year and I would bet  that it won’t be long before he is skiing much more difficult terrain.  Like I said, six is BIG!

And there is nothing like a birthday to get our new family of five functioning like normal.  Here I am concluding my first of many baking days in the kitchen with my three sons.  One, of course, is sleeping through the whole thing, but he was part of the experience nonetheless.  And with a good sling hold mastered we are ready for anything.  Anything except the wintry weather that is beautiful, but just a bit frigid for the taste of my toes–a high of 7 keeps me and my tiniest babe inside, enjoying the beautiful snowy scenery and chomping at the bit to get outside and breathe in the quiet and the cold…when it gets just a bit warmer.

looking back::being present

We’re still lost in the world of baby love.  We spent an evening, as a family, all heaped in bed, looking at photos of each the boys when he was only days old.  Each babe is distinctly unique.  Though, we are tempted to define little Berg’s features as E-man’s or G-man’s, it is clear that each boy is his own person.  A t the same time, they are all tied together by their brotherhood, which shows up in chins, brows and noses.

As all photo wandering  goes, we ended up meandering to  many different times.  We are so blessed with so much to love.  It is plain overwhelming.  And in these days of juggling many different needs, our little journey served as a beautiful reminder that the important moments are tied up in all the everyday struggles to get snow pants on, muddy boots off, bellies full and clothes clean.  Today, as I took out a mass of  clothes from the dryer, I sorted out belongings from each man in my life, littlest to biggest.  There is something quite magical about that mess of family that sits in a laundry basket and then gets sorted into individual people piles.  It’s kind-of like life, how we all emerge from a tangled mess of family to become our own unique person, only to get thrown back into a tangled mess of family to emerge again and again.  And as I sat alone with that heap of clothing, I recalled clear as yesterday, the first time I folded E-man’s impossibly tiny clothes. I was full of wonder.  Today I am feeling so grateful to be pulling impossibly tiny clothes from the heap once again.

undefined spaces

and when you were born
your birth multiplied
each child in our family reborn as your brother
daddy reborn as your father
i reborn as your mother

my joy lives outside of me
it is wrapped up in
each of my children
in my husband
in our family

the undefined space where boundaries of self and other don’t quite make sense
that is where love resides
that space is what matters
and i feel that so strongly
as i watch you
being kissed
on the nose
by your big brothers

days before earthside

a walk in the woods
soaking in the synergy of sun and snow
in between breaths i hear the occasional sound
of snow falling from trees
and i keep thinking there is something
following me

and maybe there is

i come home to the sounds of guitar strumming
and wild squeals of joy
daredevil antics
that your brothers will share with you
much too early for a mother’s liking
and there are screeches of frustration
when the needs of young boys are not met
by each other
by me
by circumstance

needs so great that it is impossible
for a young boy to move past them

and soon you will  give us the gift of your presence
and your needs  so great that it will be impossible
for anyone to move past them

and with that
we will all be so very present in each second of our day
we will stop and watch you just breathe
and we will all sigh
at the miracle
of
just
being
alive

i look forward to that
and i thank you also for giving me these last moments of sun and snow and silence
and the sounds of our family

Autumn?

A little tedium to make a point:

I organize our photos by season.   I give three months to each season.  That makes for even proportions, which appeals to my former math teacher self.   I realize this organizational strategy is a little optimistic in the assumptions it makes about how long certain seasons actually last up here in the high country.  The three months I relegate to autumn are September, October and November.    Calling November an autumn month is a stretch.  A long stretch.   Now, take a look at this assortment of photos, each taken from a separate outdoor adventure from this year’s autumn photo folder (and mind you we have not even reached the end of October).

Is the presence of snow remarkably evident to any one else?  Ah yes, it has been a wintery fall in these parts.  We’ve shoveled on the last day of summer, picked pumpkins from 6 inches of snow in 20 degree weather, and today we sledded in over a foot  of the white wet stuff as we watch the snow continue to fall.  Duchess Autumn is doing a miserable job keeping the Snow Queen at bay.  But we aren’t complaining, just reveling in the silence that is unique to a fresh snow fall, followed by the song of a sunny post-snow day.