Happy last week of May! It's the last week that Silly Bean can say, "Happy May!" to passing neighbors, but he has been looking forward to turning the page on our calendar since the beginning of May anyway! The weather here has been a lot warmer this week, and we've been enjoying writing new chalk messages, going to the park with appropriate social distancing, and playing in Silly Bean's new tent (new to him--a Christmas present that we stowed away for such a time as this!)!
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| our newest chalk message for our neighbors |
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| Silly Bean's version of "sunny days ahead" to the neighbors |
This morning, Silly Bean and I looked at our "garden" on our deck and said good morning to each plant, as we do every morning. We water them, say hello and talk to them, ask them how their morning is going, because apparently if you talk to your plants, they grow better ;) We wanted to show you how they are shaping up!
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| from left to right: carrots, lettuce, string beans |
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| tomato plant #1 |
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| tomato plant #2 |
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| tomato plant #3 |
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| lettuce #2 |
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| tomato plant #4 |
Recently I feel like I can now relate when people use the term "the daily grind." For us in toddler world, our lives generally follow the same routine every day, which is really important for young children to feel secure and thrive within familiarity. Lately, I have self-doubted about whether Silly Bean is doing all right. It's hard being a young only child in quarantine, and I wonder how this will affect his development, particularly socially, in the long run. How is this entire generation of under 5 being affected socially by the quarantine? Will he lack the social skills that any other child would develop in normal circumstances? Will kids in this generation not know how to interact with their friends, think all interaction happens 6-10 feet apart, or via screens?
When we were talking to our plants this morning, I was reminded of that Raffi song "Everything Grows" (this might be for another post, but we LOOOVE Raffi around here!) and what our pediatrician always says about Silly Bean's development: "You can't stop progress." Everything and everyone is continuing to grow, despite quarantine, despite doing the same things day in and day out... development and progress are happening even if we don't see it, just like how the plants are growing. I was also reminded that our words have power and what we have the power to speak things into being (for good or for bad). I or others might say this entire generation will be the COVID generation--that they will be the socially distant, hyper-sentsitive to germs, etc., but instead I want to speak into being that this COVID generation will be the cultivating generation--the generation that knows how to sow good seeds, nurture them, and find thriving and life. The generation that will learn perseverance in the mundane, who will continue to do good and reap the harvest in the proper time.
What things do you want to claim and speak into being for your child, yourself, this generation?
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