Last Days of 2023
Dec. 31st, 2023 06:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spryngSince getting home from Georgia, we've mostly been homebodies. It's been an interesting experiment of Just Us, instead of the usual running around and setting up playdates and other activities. Cabin Girl seems old enough to handle that just fine and Toddler, too, which has been fun to see. They play together, they play separately, they play with us, and - yes - occasionally they just sit and watch stuff for a bit, but we need the calm, too.
CG has also expressed an interest in learning how to cook, so she got a kid-safe knife for Christmas (well, as safe as one can get when it's still sharp enough to cut) and I've been giving her Tasks. She peeled and cut a cucumber almost entirely on her own, then helped me with processing a pumpkin to make pie. She also got a kid-friendly baking book and we made the banana bread recipe together. She's still stoked after all that, so today I'll have her help chop veggies for pumpkin stew and then make the pumpkin pie.
I love cooking and I've been looking forward to sharing these skills with her for a while; I hope her interest sticks around long enough to show her a few recipes. At this age, I'll just be happy to have her at my side, watching and occasionally copying what I do. As her reading improves, I'm hoping she can use the baking book to learn, as well, as it's set up with recipes of increasing difficulty and includes some really basic skills, like how to measure liquids and solids etc. I was hoping to find a book for basic cooking like that, too, but haven't found one yet (recs welcome, btw).
We've also been sorting through toys and old clothes and giving things away. Already cleared out quite a bit of the toy area in my office. Today I'm hoping to go through some of CG's things in her room, but the main priority is to clean up in general. I love having everything clean and tidy and refreshed for New Year's, a way to symbolically and materially start fresh. It doesn't have to be perfect, but if I can wipe down some spots that don't typically get love and run the vacuum, I'll probably be happy.
The last two days have been gorgeous, so we've also spent a lot of it outside. I'm working my way around the yard, weeding and cleaning up dead plants. Wife got me a native bee kit for Christmas (I got her bee flashcards; we might bee a little obsessed), which included these adorable bee cups that catch dew and rain for pollinators to safely drink out of. The kids excitedly helped me put them out around the cleaned up coreopsis in the front. In the back, I'm trying to clean up the pollinator garden that kinda got taken over by weeds over the summer and finally finish the sides of it. We'll see how far I get today, since I also have work inside to do.
CG and Toddler chased each other around outside and went down the cheap plastic slide that's been a staple of our driveway for over a year now (thanks random neighbor). Then yesterday, I realized it was cold + sunny and that meant the gators would be out, sunning themselves, so I proposed we go on an adventure to the prairie. We did in fact see many gators -- at first just a few here and there, and CG excitedly counted them. Then we rounded the corner and there were heaps of gators and her excitement waned slightly. But she persevered with counting and proudly told me there were 214 gators and also she needed water because she was tired of counting. 😂
We'd brought the scooters and there was a paved trail nearby, so we had to at least scoot for a bit. It was so refreshing being on a trail and safely away from any cars -- both the kids zoomed off and wife and I just got to walk together for a bit. Too bad by then we'd worn ourselves out, too. 😅
While I'm starting to look forward to Tuesday and having daycare and dayjob again, I have to admit these last days have been really nice. I wish I could have one day to recuperate and then jump back into it, because I love hanging out with this family. And I think that's really all I want out of 2024: more of this. More laughter, more cuddles, more chases, more playing outside, more sharing what I know. And also these quiet mornings, when I can write it all down. Now that Toddler reliably sleeps, everything is so much easier. And I can almost start to dream of juggling It All again...
But that will all come soon enough. For today, for this last day of 2023, I just want to play and laugh and cook and dance.
CG has also expressed an interest in learning how to cook, so she got a kid-safe knife for Christmas (well, as safe as one can get when it's still sharp enough to cut) and I've been giving her Tasks. She peeled and cut a cucumber almost entirely on her own, then helped me with processing a pumpkin to make pie. She also got a kid-friendly baking book and we made the banana bread recipe together. She's still stoked after all that, so today I'll have her help chop veggies for pumpkin stew and then make the pumpkin pie.
I love cooking and I've been looking forward to sharing these skills with her for a while; I hope her interest sticks around long enough to show her a few recipes. At this age, I'll just be happy to have her at my side, watching and occasionally copying what I do. As her reading improves, I'm hoping she can use the baking book to learn, as well, as it's set up with recipes of increasing difficulty and includes some really basic skills, like how to measure liquids and solids etc. I was hoping to find a book for basic cooking like that, too, but haven't found one yet (recs welcome, btw).
We've also been sorting through toys and old clothes and giving things away. Already cleared out quite a bit of the toy area in my office. Today I'm hoping to go through some of CG's things in her room, but the main priority is to clean up in general. I love having everything clean and tidy and refreshed for New Year's, a way to symbolically and materially start fresh. It doesn't have to be perfect, but if I can wipe down some spots that don't typically get love and run the vacuum, I'll probably be happy.
The last two days have been gorgeous, so we've also spent a lot of it outside. I'm working my way around the yard, weeding and cleaning up dead plants. Wife got me a native bee kit for Christmas (I got her bee flashcards; we might bee a little obsessed), which included these adorable bee cups that catch dew and rain for pollinators to safely drink out of. The kids excitedly helped me put them out around the cleaned up coreopsis in the front. In the back, I'm trying to clean up the pollinator garden that kinda got taken over by weeds over the summer and finally finish the sides of it. We'll see how far I get today, since I also have work inside to do.
CG and Toddler chased each other around outside and went down the cheap plastic slide that's been a staple of our driveway for over a year now (thanks random neighbor). Then yesterday, I realized it was cold + sunny and that meant the gators would be out, sunning themselves, so I proposed we go on an adventure to the prairie. We did in fact see many gators -- at first just a few here and there, and CG excitedly counted them. Then we rounded the corner and there were heaps of gators and her excitement waned slightly. But she persevered with counting and proudly told me there were 214 gators and also she needed water because she was tired of counting. 😂
We'd brought the scooters and there was a paved trail nearby, so we had to at least scoot for a bit. It was so refreshing being on a trail and safely away from any cars -- both the kids zoomed off and wife and I just got to walk together for a bit. Too bad by then we'd worn ourselves out, too. 😅
While I'm starting to look forward to Tuesday and having daycare and dayjob again, I have to admit these last days have been really nice. I wish I could have one day to recuperate and then jump back into it, because I love hanging out with this family. And I think that's really all I want out of 2024: more of this. More laughter, more cuddles, more chases, more playing outside, more sharing what I know. And also these quiet mornings, when I can write it all down. Now that Toddler reliably sleeps, everything is so much easier. And I can almost start to dream of juggling It All again...
But that will all come soon enough. For today, for this last day of 2023, I just want to play and laugh and cook and dance.
