Rowan Update

Rowan and playmate, gardening

We are in the throes of summer here in Ohio and with it, Rowan is reliving parts of my childhood: running through sprinklers, catching and releasing lightening bugs, watching wildlife, and fighting sleep because it is still light outside at bedtime.

Today, we went with the neighbor family down to the parking lot of the abandoned school behind our house (and over the ravine's bridge) and the kids rode their bikes (Rowan rode his trike) around the parking lot. Rowan has a ridiculous helmet that he picked out- it has silicone attachments that look like a twee pony head. He picked it out himself, and looks "awesome" wearing it (his words). There we had an encounter with a kestrel who kept a close eye on us and dive-bombed us a couple of times, trying to drive us away. Rowan was enchanted and "flew" around the parking lot as well.

On the carousel at the zoo

Rowan has also started demanding to wear rain boots as his shoe of choice, over sandals and sneakers, even in hot weather. His hair is down to the middle of his back now, and despite hating to have it brushed, he still says he does not want us to cut it. So be it.

He swears like a sailor- have I mentioned that? While many people refrain from cursing in front of kids, we never did and neither did his paternal grandparents (who see him several days a month- and we lived with them for 5 months). As a result, he is now a demanding toddler who adds "dammit" for emphasis. "Where's my sandwich, dammit?" is a common lunchtime refrain.

Bouncing on his ball.

We are now working with him on appropriate language and manners- which is super fun as you can imagine at this age. Chewing with your mouth closed, not whining, not calling things "stupid", and not being physically rough when frustrated are at the top of the list right now. We have already mastered sharing, taking turns, and saying things like "please" and "thank you".

Additionally, we are teaching him magical lessons as well. Just today, he was whining about having to walk home from Dairy Queen (poor neglected child!) and his father was talking about how life means struggle and right now he is suffering, but you must suffer in order to learn and he needs to figure out what he is learning in that moment. We tend not to talk down to our son, and it seems to work for him- he is advanced for his age and understands much more than most give him credit for. We are teaching him to respect other creatures and be gentle and not abuse his size or other advantages with them. He learns quite quickly in that regard, probably because he loves animals so much.

We are giving him all the basics about the elements as you would imagine, plus more. He gets warnings about fire being hot and dangerous, but when we give him that information, we also tell him how concentrated well-tended fire is a tool and needs to be respected. we talk of building the fire within ourselves- the fire of Will to get stuff done.

He talks regularly of invisibles. Just this morning on the way to work, Rowan said, "There's a lady." "Where?", Daddy asked. "Right there", he said, pointing to the spot my maternal grandmother often used to sit and visit me. I haven't seen her in a while, so I am glad that she is now visiting Rowan.

What are your kids up to?