Tricycling at Evie's birthday party
Dear Lexina,
It's June, it's hot, it's humid, it's raining and you're not snoozing as you should be but counting to seven over and over. I'm trying hard to pretend you are asleep - it won't be long until you drop your afternoon sleep. Not yet, please! :-D
I love the above picture so much, because it reminds me that this was the first time you went to a party in a 'party dress' - in fact Georgie's favourite party dress for some time. She was gutted when she saw you wearing it, even though I bought her two lovely new ones that she adores.
When I put it on you, you stood up, smoothed it down, took a good look and then gentle swished your skirts back and forth. A delighted smile spread slowly across your face and you looked up at me coquettishly and you breathed 'Preeettty!' To say my heart melted would be a total understatement, but melt it did, bless you.
She was happy to sit there...
until it started moving!
You don't seem to like fairground rides much. You were pretty solemn at the funfair at Willows Farm, and once the machines really got going, you let your displeasure be known via great wailing and gnashing of teeth!At the moment you much prefer the playround, where you swing, dig and sail to your hearts content.
Your hair is now finally long enough to put up, although you often pull it straight out the bands and clips that I painstakingly place for you. Hopefully you'll learn to tolerate them, because I think you look especially lovely with pigtails!
Your talking is coming on very well, we're evening getting some three word sentences - for example I asked you where your lolly was and you said "Lolly over there!". Despite this progress you seem unable or unwilling to say Georgie's name, but what you call her is very sweet, you call her either "Ju-Ju" or "Ju-Jee". Georgie was very excited when she realised you were trying to say her name. You have also been trying to say your own name - "Acks-eee" seems to be your best shot at the moment, but give it time! And you seem to call the dog, Seska, Axa. It's odd, the things kids can and can't say at this age, because you can say 'chocolate' pretty well, and yet Georgie called it "Cocklelick" until she was nearly three, but could say her own name pretty easily.
You can definitely say Emily, and you luuurve Emily. You hold you arms out to her whenever you see her, shouting "Duddle!!!" (Cuddle).
You have adopted Georgie's love of drawing, and can often be found dancing around underneath the craft cupboard shrieking "Paaaaaaaaper! PAAAaaaaaaPERRRRRRRRRRRR!! PAAAAAPEEEEERRRR!", a performance that can only be arrested with the immediate production of paper and pencils. Furious scribbling then ensues, with triumphal bursts of "Ta-DAAAAH!" every few squiggles, which all are called upon to admire. Sometimes you even get a few marks on the paper. (Thank goodness the table cloth is vinyl). If you didn't tear up your artwork and eat it almost immediately after it was produced, I would have photographed some and posted it here. I'll try to be faster, and if I manage it, I'll get some of your work up here.
I decided to start posting a poem at the end of every post - assuming I can continue to find poetry that I love - the details behind my inspiration for doing so can be found here.
So let's start with this one, a poem which I have loved for a long time:
Wild Geese
by Mary OLIVER
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
---
You are a delight, an imp, a cheeky chops, a little madam and we love you so very much!
Love from your Mama xxx
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