OK, this was not a setup, I swear.
and then of course this happened, again, I had nothing to do with it, I just hold the camera.
Day Two Fourteen
Man am I out of date, and this is the like the third time I have opened and read this post. Time has halted and speeded up simultaneously in a whirlwind of summer, sickness, heat, and many other things.
Vacation led to some work for Da which led to the whole family getting sick which led to the whole cycle starting over again. (work/sick) Lily was the first to get sick weeks ago and as I sit at my workplace exchanging texts with Ma, Lily is shivering in bed, flushed, 102 temperature. It just feels like a lifetime since things have been “stable”
But I will make this promise: This blog is not dead, or even sick, it is just taking a well needed rest and there is so much more to be told in…
The Continuing Adventures of Luke and Lily
Day Two Thirteen
I am contradicting myself. Apropos of the very last post.
I spend a lot of time thinking and talking about what the mind of a five year old can and cannot comprehend and their ability to navigate between good/evil, good/bad, good guys/bad guys.
I see in practice that Luke cannot yet comprehend the difference between a good guy and a bad guy, so why do I constantly use that as a point of discussion?
Why would I try to explain that it is not safe to be out in front of the house unless I know about it, that there are bad guys in the world and it might be unsafe to be out there alone?
I guess it is always important to keep the dialog going because it is all preparation for his life, his understanding, but sometimes I feel awfully silly espousing a belief system that he cannot be aware of.
And yet…
The other night we were reading Pinocchio, from a collection of the least 2010 appropriate book we own. A collection of condensed Disney tales. He had not picked Pinocchio, and I certainly had forgotten how EXTREMELY dark it is. Just to review, the puppet is given life and a cricket as a conscience. He proceeds to wander into a very bad group of boys all destined to a life of servitude as malformed donkey slaves. Meanwhile his father is inside a monstrous whale at the bottom of the ocean, how jeez.
We did not finish the book, Luke closed the cover and said can we please read something else, to which I gladly said yes.
It’s all sinking in I guess, perhaps it makes more sense today than it did a few weeks ago.
Day Two Twelve
I know I have spoken before about the fact that a human’s brain is not fully developed until age seven and before that time the left and right halves of the brain are separated (the corpus callosum is not fully developed) and because of this, very fundamental understanding of right and wrong, good and bad are not altogether there.
I am afraid to admit that I get most of this kind of info from my trusted, well read, RIE teacher. She says for a fuller understanding of this concept you should read:
and
The Developing Person Through The Life Span
We have lived and believed this for a long time, but it was not until the other day did Luke show us in his own words how true it is and why I am so happy we do not have any excessive media in our household and the school he is starting next year has a no media policy, here is what happened.
While on vacation Luke watched Fantastic Mr Fox. He watched a little bit before supper and was then telling us how his eyes were glued to it and he could not take his eyeballs away from the screen. We allowed him to finish watching it after supper.
Then the next night he last told us before bedtime about how he was a bit scared to go to sleep because the version of Mr Fox in his dreams was scarier than the version he saw on the TV. That he was ok watching the version of TV, but watching the version in his dreams was upsetting to him too much.
It was a relatively safe, good wake up call for Mom and Dad, and secretly I have been wanting to watch Mr Fox for a long time, no bad dreams for me though!
Day Two Eleven
Pho will come and Pho will go and I know that we will be eating and enjoying our Pho for many years to come.
Check out this shot of the ground beneath Lily’s chair.
One day that floor will be clean! She’s come a long way!