boy, it seems harder and harder to to keep this blog up to date. I hate having it slip behind, but it really doesn’t matter I know. I have plenty of adventures to add, just need a little time to add them.

The whole issue of secrets is on my mind. We had a fascinating parent night last week with Lukes teachers and the topic of keeping kids safe in the outside world came up. One idea I found intriguing was having no secrets. What one might call a secret, you can call a surprise. “Lets make a surprise cake for Dad’s birthday…it will be our surprise”.

But actual secrets are not to be encouraged because they might ultimately be hiding something that needs to be expressed. Secrets can breed complicated behavior and don’t necessarily have a healthy outcome. This notion come from the truth that when someone abuses a child, the abuser almost always asks the child to keep it a “secret”.

But, that was not what I wanted to write about, what I find interesting is this, what is in that secret little mind of my kids?

I mentioned Lily tossing her beloved stuffed toys into the seemingly barren scape of our side yard the other day and today I turned the corner of the house and Luke was using the hose to wet down Lily’s Giraffe, (Jeez, Giraffe has had a hard week for sure). I caught Luke off guard and as I said “What are you doing?” (not in a harsh tone, I was honestly interested), his reaction was straight out of a Warner Brothers Cartoon, all in one motion he looked up, threw giraffe quickly to the side and said

“Nothing”

I asked again,

“Nothing”

It looked like you were watering Giraffe “No, I wasn’t”

I didn’t make anything more of it, but it reminded me of a great book called,

Where Did you go? Out. What did you do? Nothing by Robert Paul Smith. It is a book that successfully captures the internal meanderings of a small boy, and perhaps shares a little bit of those secrets therein.

So, my thought was this. I fully embrace having no secrets in my household, I love that trust and honor that it implies, surprise are fine by me. As the same time I want to take this moment to celebrate Luke and Lily Cline’s secret world, the world in their heads, a world I will never know first hand, but one that I have a cherished and great seat for as it plays out.

Extra Mommy time due to a  holiday had a push me pull you kinda deal going. It was a MLK weekend, Mommy had Monday off, but was called to work, which meant less time overall. Oh well, it still felt like a wonderful respite.

On MLK day we went to the beach. I had forgotten just how much these kids love the ocean, it is so freeing, so much fun to watch. They just love being there.

Afterwards we had pizza and ice cream with some friends. Lily was so incredibly zonked when we got home, late well past her nap time. She went right out though. It was a very nice day, though we all missed moms energy, probably me the most!

So, a few times Lily has taken her most favored stuffed animals, Giraffe and Puppy, and a pretty much discarded them in the least hospitable part of our property. The sad side of the garage. She does it with intent and it would be so interesting to know what in the world she is thinking at that moment. These are her most cherished fluffies, is she showing them this exciting area of our property because she is thrilled by it?

Lily has started not wanting to set foot in the bath, this comes after weeks or months of daily baths where she stands at the edge of the tub and gets VERY excited as the water fills and her clothes come off. The new behavior happened overnight. Mom remembered the exact same thing, around the exact same age with Luke. So interesting, what must be going on in that small, yet so large, brain of hers?

Then last night she was up many many times, but it seemed nothing was wrong not really hungry, just some crying and needing company? I was thinking this morning that it is related to the bath thing, just a general increased awareness and some fears of the big world setting in? All fascinating and all good.

Today I put some music on at home and picked her up and danced, she loved it, I put her down and she continued to bop around to the beat, I love it!

Fast facts

We go through 1 gallon of whole milk each day. Thats 128 fluid ounces, which is 64 fluid ounces per kid. (Jess and I drink 2% at a moderately slower rate)

Hot again in LA.

Luke didn’t eat his lunch

Whats the solution?

Blue Roof!

PS, reminder to self, no more surprise cauliflower soups in Luke’s lunchbox