Parents are, through the witness of their lives,

the first heralds of the gospel for their children.

Furthermore, by praying with their children, by reading the word of God with them

and by introducing them…into the Body of Christ—

both the eucharistic and the ecclesial body—

they become fully parents,

in that they are begetters not only of bodily life,

but also of the life, that through the Spirit’s renewal, flows from the cross

and resurrection of Christ.

–John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, #39

…early morning picture from the day of Nicolas’s baptism

the June books have been added to the Year in Books page.  mostly essays or things that i can pick up easily.  i have short snatches of reading time these days.  oh, and i subscribed to the Sunday Times, so i spend a fair amount of time in its pages.  what have you been reading?

father’s day 2009…lowest tide of the month at Haystack Rock…girl, papa, babe in sling…walking in the morning mist to investigate the intertidal zone

even in the kindest and most loving families two-year-olds must be reminded a hundred times a day, perhaps by the words and acts of their parents, perhaps by events, perhaps by Nature herself, that they are small, weak, clumsy, foolish, ignorant, untrustworthy, troublesome, destructive, dirty, smelly,even disgusting.  they don’t like it! neither would i.  neither would you.

John Holt in Teach Your Own

last week Mabel and i were on our way out of the library.  she wanted to go down the stairs “all by myself!”  so i went on ahead and waited for her at the bottom.  out the door of the library came some loud teenagers and a man in a hurry.  as they swept past Mabel, i got to see what must be her daily experience.  she was nearly stepped on, overwhelmed, in the way.  of course, she was just fine.   but i got to see just how big and fast this world is for her.

did you get to see the men’s final at Wimbledon on Sunday?  or were you at church?  (we couldn’t make it–our girl was sick.)  it was a fabulous, record breaking match.  we all watched the never ending final set and ate strawberries.  ah! breakfast at Wimbledon!

when we lived in the jungle we listened to the BBC on the shortwave.  each day during the tournament, they had an hour long show of highlights.  tennis on the radio!  in 2004 i heard Roddick interviewed.  he talked about watching Wimbledon as a boy in America.  his mom would make strawberries and cream just like they were serving on centre court.  i remember hearing that and thinking, yes!  we too ate strawberries and watched the finals.  it’s one of my fondest memories.  i bet any of my brothers (or Andy!) could imitate my dad saying, “Breakfast at Wimbledon! Strawberries and cream!”

thanks for the memories, dad!  we’re carrying on the tradition!

from Teach Your Own by John Holt:

Margaret Mead was talking to some Balinese, trying to learn about this strange and very different culture.  at some point she asked about their art.  the Balinese were puzzled by this question.  they didn’t know what she meant by art.  so she talked for a while about art and artists in western cultures.  the Balinese considered this for a while.  then one of them spoke.  “here in  Bali we have no art,” he said. “we do everything as well as we can.”

very little children are like the Balinese.  just about everything they do, they do as well as they can.

except when tired or hungry, or in the grip of passion, pain or fear, they are moved to act almost entirely by curiosity, desire for mastery or competence, and pride in work well done.

do you find this to be true?

it seems like my reading goes in cycles.  right now i am firmly in the grasp of 19th century intellectual history.  reading lots about Lincoln and the Civil war.  and a fair amount about Darwin. Angels and Ages by Adam Gopnik even combines the two!

i just finished Charles and Emma: the Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman.  it’s history written for the young adult audience.  (and that’s maybe the biggest problem with the book–she chooses to explain some things and not others.  presumably because her readers wouldn’t understand.  but i’m not too sure of her choices.)  but i just love the premise of the book, that Emma and Charles took a leap of faith when they married.  they knew that Charles didn’t share Emma’s faith.  but they were also partners in a deep and lasting conversation that lasted their entire long marriage. Emma was Charles’s first and best reader.  she was also devoted to his scientific work, waking early to help document the work of earthworms at Down House.

that idea–that a woman and a man might be interested in the world and each other, might have good work to do in common, might love each each other–just makes me so excited.  it’s a pattern i’d like to follow.

Larksong is talking about just the sort of progression that i was talking about the other day with Mabel…all of the different things that she likes now, and what Nico will like.  i wonder what’s on the horizon for us?

on another note entirely, at lunch–tuna  and pasta over salad greens from the garden with boiled eggs–Mabel started singing this ditty:

peas, peas!  the magical fruit!

the more you toot, the more you feel!

so eat peas at every meal!

(we went to the grocery…this day’s learning activity!)

at the library today, the librarian commented on Nico’s feet peeking out of the black sling.  and then on the little dance that i had to do to keep him quiet.  she smiled and said that she remembered those movements.  the slow back and forth, the little bouncing up and down.  she said she’s never forgotten how to move like that.  how to bring comfort with her body to her little one.  her child is thirty now.

and i told her about the conversation M and i had yesterday.  just trying to imagine the child he will be at three.  can you imagine the man he will be at thirty?

9:45 pm on the first day of the month.  this is not an auspicious beginning to the month of daily posts i had planned.  but here i am in the dark and quiet and almost still house.  Nico just didn’t want to sleep this evening.  he wasn’t especially fussy, he just wasn’t sleeping until well after 9.  that’s me and him up there by the way.  in yesterday’s late afternoon shine.

one thing i want to do this month is keep track of our days, what it is we’re doing on any given day.  kids who attend traditional schools go something like 180 days a year.  so i was curious to see how many days we do something that could be construed as educational.  today’s list: gardening, water play, play dough.  i was really just aiming for one thing 3 or 4 times a week.  i could have stretched out our fun over the whole week!  her days are full even though we live a quiet life rooted close to home.

this afternoon M and i were talking about Nicolas.  about the boy he is becoming.  i wondered what it is that will catch his attention.  for Mabel it’s the olden days and Laura and Mary and dancing and maps and volcanos and being fancy.  what will Nico’s list look like?

we also walked over to Safeway together to purchase some “M for Mabel Candy.”  (maybe you call them M & M’s at your house.)  she got 5 today for keeping her underpants dry the whole day.  good job, sweet girl.