Mothering with Mindfulness

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Yarn Along

Two of my favourite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Joining Ginny for Yarn Along.

Last week a visit to the yarn shop had me bringing home this:

It was not my choice, but Reece’s. I was looking for a merino wool to start working on a hat for him and he came running up to me with it in his hands, yelling, “This one is perfect mama.” It was not at all what I was looking for, but what could I say, he was so excited and loved it so much. There is just something so special about my three year old excited about yarn and the project I am working on. I suggested it might be a better scarf, and he loved the idea. So, we left the yarn shop with two bundles of his favourite yarn in the shop. He was delighted.

So, on my needles this week is a scarf for Reece.; a very colourful fun scarf, which is now almost ready to be cast off.

And on another set of needles, just something quick and easy, a knitted hair band for Reece to give his favourite cousin on Valentine's Day.

This week I have three books on the go. The first, How Children Fail by John Holt. I have been reading a lot of his work lately as we continue along the path of life learning with Reece. His writings are so inspiring and challenge so many of the “school based” beliefs I have about learning. This life learning process is as much about unschooling me as it is about facilitating and guiding Reece’s learning.

I am also reading Soap Making The Natural Way. We are getting ready to start making our own soaps, and this book is full of wonderful recipes we will start making as soon as my shipment of melt and pour soap arrives.

And last, but not least, I am slowly making my way through The Chicken Whisper. Yup, we are getting chickens and ducks in the spring so I am soaking up us much information as I can right now.

What are you knitting and reading this week?

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

A Day Without Time

There has been a little bit of talk lately in some the blogs I follow about time. Time is something, as adults, we pay attention to a lot, or at least I know I do. I realized a long time ago though, that Reece has no idea what time means. For him, there is daytime and night time; that is it. During the daytime we play, eat, have fun, run some errands and so on and during night time we sleep, or least we try to. That is the limit of his understanding of time at this point in his life.

I often get caught up in his time, losing track of an afternoon while we play together. It feels so great not to be looking at the clock, to just let it go. This weekend, Justin and I decided to live an entire day without time, to really take Reece's lead and just go with flow.

On Saturday evening, once Reece was tucked in for the night, we went around the house covering all the digital clocks with a piece of paper and some tape, we hid the one table clock we have and went out to the car to cover that one too. We decided we would not listen to the radio, so we wouldn’t be told the time that way, and since Sunday is a screen free day, we would not be able to see the time on the TV or the computer.

When we got into bed on Saturday night we were both pretty excited to see what the day would hold.

So, we have no idea what time we got up and it was pretty cool to just get up and go about our day. We had pancakes for breakfast, we played for a bit, packed up some snacks and headed out for a drive. We wanted to hit the alpaca farm, but unfortunately they were closed for some reason, so it was onwards to the hiking trail, with birdseed in hand, to feed the birds and do a little hiking.

We were blessed with a wonderful day on Sunday, the sun was peeking through the clouds a bit and the temperatures were above normal again, much like most of our winter this year.

We had a great time feeding the birds, playing with the ducks and hiking before heading to the car, stopping for tea and then heading home. It was awesome to just go with the flow and not wonder what the time was.

At home, we played some more, used the setting sun to determine when dinner was to be served and enjoyed the rest of the evening relaxing. Reece did have a little melt down before bed and we think we might have been a little late with his usual evening schedule, it was hard to tell once the sun set, what time it might be. All in all it was a great day, and something we will do again.

It was magical to just go about the day with no worries about the time or a schedule.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Feeling Grateful

Right now I am grateful for lazy weekend mornings with my two men

Right now I am grateful for family walks with the dog

Right now I am grateful for pots of soup simmering on the stove

Right now I am grateful for the time to pursue my creative interests

Right now I am grateful for family dinners together by the light of the fire and candles

Right now I am grateful for middle of the night cuddles with my little man

Right now I am grateful to be a part of Reece’s journey

Right now I am grateful to be able to share my days with the people I love

Right now I am grateful to be living a life I am passionate about

Right now I am grateful to love and to be loved

Right now....I am grateful

Friday, February 3, 2012

{This Moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. Inspired by Soulemama.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

We Love Hearts

It’s February, which means Valentine’s Day and lots of hearts. Today, Reece and I decided to make hanging hearts for our dining room window, inspired by this, from The Knitty Gritty Homestead.

I gathered up some red, pink and white paper, scissors, glue, ribbon and heart shaped cookie cutters, then Reece and I got busy tracing and cutting hearts. I did take some time before hand to trace and cut most of the hearts.

Once the hearts were cut, we laid out the ribbon, added a dot of hot glue and secured hearts to one side of the ribbon. Then we turned it over and matched up the hearts on the other side, and using a dot of hot glue secured the hearts to the ribbon again. Hearts on both sides means you can see them from inside or outside our home.