When we began the Great Stuffed Animal Sort of 2021, Sarah wasn’t interested because she wanted to play basketball. Carl had been talking about maybe getting a basketball hoop and she was stuck on that idea. So, Carl propped our hula hoop over Sarah’s radiator and the girls tossed their stuffed animals through the hoop to help them decide which to keep and which to give away. If an animal was designated as a donation they threw it into a large bag I was holding. They filled the bag!
In past years whenever we would attempt to reduce the number of books in the house, it was nearly impossible. Sarah always wanted to keep everything. This year it seems like something has really shifted for her, both with stuffed animals and books. She actually evaluates items and then decides. She opted to donate half of our books. To manage the sorting process she brought up a kid’s play tent from the basement and all the books that she wanted to give to other kids went in the tent. Then Amy, Carl, and I would sort through the piles to rescue any books we wanted to keep. I honestly have no idea how all of the books we are donating actually fit on our shelves, but that is why we needed to do the Great Book Sort of 2021. Next up: the Great Toy/Game Sort of 2021.
Sarah opted to donate her copy of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? but that didn’t stop her from creating a game during a family zoom that melds Brown Bear and Goodnight Moon. She loves it when everyone has a Goodnight Moon background. She started saying, “Young mouse, young mouse, what do you see?” And then we took turns naming what was seen and asking what the new thing saw, such as “I see a pair of mittens looking at me. Pair of mittens, pair of mittens, what do you see? I see a bowl of mush looking at me.” It reminded me of Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar as we named what person would name an item next.
For St. Patrick’s day, with Anna’s help, the kids drew a large sidewalk chalk rainbow leading to Amy’s upside down cauldron leprechaun trap. They never caught anyone but there were some coins there after the trap had been sprung. Amy also had fun running around as a sneaky leprechaun.
Amy and I had a wonderful birthday. She got up early so she could finish her school work right away and have most of the day to play with Anna. I left the house for 6 quiet hours to myself. It was lovely. Then we made a chocolate cake with strawberry frosting. Amy is ever more skilled in the kitchen, measuring the dry ingredients all by herself including doubling the recipe amounts. She opted for tacos for dinner so we were all stuffed to the brim with guacamole and cake by the time bedtime rolled around.
Amy had a birthday Google Meet with some friends yesterday and it went beautifully. We made cupcakes first thing in the morning and then I drove around dropping off kits for everyone. The kits included cupcakes, blank wooden wands and cats, and coloring pages of witches, wizards, and cats drawn by Amy. For the party itself, Amy asked questions pertaining to being a witch or wizard and I called on kids to answer, making sure that everyone got a turn for each question. Their answers were so fun and creative. Sarah participated on a separate computer in her room and dismissed Carl from his support role rather immediately. We were floored by how flawlessly Sarah participated. She muted herself when it wasn’t her turn, unmuted to answer the questions when I called on her, and answered every question promptly, clearly, and appropriately. What amazing skills all of these kiddos now have in the realm of virtual meetings.
Sarah’s eagerly anticipated musical note pants and backup musical note shorts made by Grandma arrived on Friday. Perhaps the abundance of notes made it possible to finally consider other clothing choices because yesterday she kept changing into different pajama bottoms every hour or so for no apparent reason. It’s nice to see that not everything without notes is obsolete. When Carl took the girls to the park yesterday Sarah wore her new pants and her musical note backpack. Amy wore cat ears and fairy wings. Of course. I love their individuality and clarity about their passions.
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