A True Radical Unschooling Moment

Something funny and interesting happened at Out of This World yesterday. I often get a coffee since they have this really cool coffee bar with do it yourself syrups and flavored creamers, but I decided not to this time. If I have paid for a coffee, I figure it is no big deal if Orion takes a few creamers, but I didn't feel right about taking several we weren't "due". So I went to the front and asked if I could give them a buck to cover some, and they were happy to. So I told him to go to town and was really curious to see what would happen.

Now I am totally on board with letting him monitor his food, but I still struggle sometimes with wondering what other people think. Even after paying for them, I wondered if the staff thought I was crazy as he scooped out a huge handful and carried them back to our table. Not to mention the weird looks I was getting from other parents. Not my unschooling friends that were there though! Orion proceeded to open one after another and down them like shots. I started wondering at some point if I should offer them more than $1.00! I pointed out what was going on to my friend Jessica, and she just gazed at him with the understanding way she has and said, "And look how happy he is." Yes, this is what it is all about.

So what was the consumption with me TOTALLY staying out of it? (OK, so I hauled the empties off to the trash a couple times to prevent the table looking entirely full of empty mini buckets). I think about 20 creamers. Not that much when you consider how small they are. At one point, he was putting a couple in his pocket to run around with LOL, then all of a sudden, he realized he had his fill. He took those out and even carried them back to the coffee bar along with the few full ones still on the table. All done. No struggles. Just joy.

Water Temperature Experiment

Orion has been wanting to do this one from the book for awhile, and I finally got the set up together!

Apprentice Chef

Did some impromptu cooking today - a recipe for a sweet bread using coconut flour I have been wanting to try (will get on my cooking blog some day!) Here is Orion practicing his egg breaking.
I was in the background practicing my deep breathing and my eggshell picking out skills LOL. It's all good unless you are getting a little pressed for time.

Stirring up the batter.
And here is the little chef, learning at the feet of the master haha!
Akasha was happy to stand here pretty much the whole time. She loves being anywhere near her brother.

Later on, we went to Trader Joe's, and the minute we walked in the store, Akasha started signing "more"! LOL, she already recognizes the food store!

Crawling Around

I finally got some good footage of Akasha crawling around and pulling to standing as a bonus.

Musings on My Mama

I have an appointment with somebody to scan some of my old pictures soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to put something on this post. The picture below is cropped from the little altar of things we set up right after my mom passed over. A little crooked, but better than nothing.
Today marks the 1 year anniversary of my mother's passing. It came as a complete shock to me the morning I got the call, and of course I am still processing what it means to have her "gone". Ron asked me today if I was feeling sad, and I said I was very sad thinking about the relationship we *didn't* have. My mom and I didn't have a bad relationship, but we weren't super close either. I am also sad when I think about how much she was looking forward to her new granddaughter that she never got to meet.

So I am spending some time thinking about her today, and remembering what a fierce mama bear she could be. There is one story that stands out for me I always remember fondly. My parents had gone away somewhere for a short trip and left me with my grandma when I was in Middle School. I got sick and stayed home for a day, and my grandma wrote my note, but it wasn't considered valid as she was not my legal guardian, and they marked it down as a truancy. Lord help those office people when they got home. My mom stormed in there and tore the staff up. She was a Scorpio. It was a bad idea to get her mad.

The thing that has been most surprising to me is how much of a void I do feel although I didn't see her much in recent years. My dad is still alive, but he is quite elderly himself, and I wonder how long he will choose to stay in that big house where he is so lonely. When I think of him not being there, I realize there will be no more ability to ever "go home". Of course, that is not my true home, and was not even the home I grew up in, so why do I feel that? Maybe it is because I have moved so much as an adult. Or maybe it is because I have gone to stay there for short periods when I needed to a couple times. It is really that sense of having family you know you can count on if times got really rough. I have other extended family, and I suppose I could turn to them if in a severe crisis, but it would seem awkward probably.

So that part is really more about me than her I guess. Well, I guess anything I have to say is really about me. She was a great lady in many ways. She had a very sad childhood that I always wanted to learn more about, but she was reluctant to talk about it. I am sure it shaped so much of who she was as an adult. She was a woman who cared deeply about her family, and I am glad I grew up so close to her mother, who was like a matriarch for our extended family when I was younger.

I have been going through old pictures, and I am so sad that I never got more information from my mom about most of them. I am going to get them scanned and maybe send them to some others in my family who might know. Many people say something along the lines of, make those connections with loved ones in the moment, because you never know when that opportunity will be taken away from you. So, so true. But most of us never really learn these lessons until life beats you over the head with them.

Akasha's Favorite Thing

Video's don't get date stamped apparently, but I am thinking this must have been the same day as the tulips as she is wearing the same outfit.

Tulip Festival

We made it to the tulip fields today. I really wasn't in the mood for going, but I am glad we did as there were a couple shots I wanted to get to have "matches" of ones from last year.

Here is my nutty boy in the parking lot.His skeleton suit just came in the mail. He has been talking about wanting one, so I ordered it from Amazon. Wonder how many days he will wear it LOL.

A boy and his shadow. Nice outfit, huh?
Yet another picture of Akasha in the Freehand.
Flying Boy!
Is it a bird, a plane, a flying skeleton?


Sliding Boy - he insisted Ron take lots of pictures of this.
Meanwhile, I sat on the grass with Akasha. She has been grouchy lately, so I barely got any smiles out of her today!
So serious!
She enjoyed the grass on her feet though!
Oh yeah, the tulips...
Cuteness!
But this is my favorite for being such a random, strange face!
OK, so here was the picture of last year that got me thinking I want to take one holding the baby in the fields kindof right in front of my belly.
Somehow, I didn't end up with the affect I wanted because I was being impatient, but still a pretty cute picture.
This one is also from last year:
Now there are three peekers!
Akasha going for a bonk maybe?
The Duck Races! A favorite from last year was also loved this year.
Oh, the concentration!
Mandatory wooden shoe shots...

This picture makes me laugh! She does this face every once in awhile. Not sure what it is all about, but it is always funny.
Likewise mandatory heads stuck in holes.
Akasha was having none of it though. If you looks closely, you can see her little hand on the edge in the photo above, keeping her head from actually going in the whole. Below, brother tries to lure her out, but she can see him fine from there.
Then it was on to the straw piles. Akasha is fascinated.



And the straw fights.

Notice Akasha just sitting there. That is what she did through all that throwing. Just totally entranced by straw!

I love this one as the lady seems to be looking on and thinking, "What a terrible example these parents are setting for the other children!" Phft.
Dad had enough, so I had to take some for awhile. Yes, we were finding straw in the bed and everywhere else for days!
Not sure what this was about, but it's cute!
And one last rather disturbing shot where Ron told Orion to make a scary face. It scares me!