Transitions

Well the three days (well half hours on each day) are over and it will now be in September until swimming starts again. It's gone colder and the leaves are starting to tint. I need to remember that when clouds "look like rocks and towers, then you can be sure of heavy showers" because I left some washing out and when we got back it was wetter than when I hung it up to dry.

Springy didn't have enough of a physical day to day and near bedtime was getting very bouncy. We had a slow morning without doing much and an afternoon spent in the car getting bits and pieces and none of that suited Springy at all. She really needed a good climb in the playground. I think so many children are labelled "naughty" when in fact they are just sending messages that their needs have not been met. Yesterday we had a child who did beanbag games, had stories, went to the playground and was eating some fresh picked cherry tomatoes - bedtime was easy. Today we didn't do those things and bedtime was not so easy (it would have been worse if I hadn't recognised that it was not "naughtiness").

I'm in a state of transition at the moment and so is Springy. My daughter has stopped breastfeeding in the last few weeks (we got to 5 years and 7 months) and I can see lots of changes from the infant/toddler and 4-year old kindergarten aged child to the now almost 6 years, just at the end of kindergarten. The breastmilk has pretty much dried up - I'm not sad or happy about that, it just is, but I'm glad that it was something that worked for both of us and that it stopped without any trauma. We've now got 1 wobbly tooth and I am aware that arm length is reaching over the head to the ear. When we were swimming the other day I could see the difference between her and the 3-year old that was there, in terms of physical features of the face, limb length etc. I'm still unable to ascertain how she is walking on the feet (I get it in theory but the visual isn't being processed properly). We've got a reader and writer on our hands and it's so tempting to go academic on it but I see other signs of her not being there (as opposed to ready - it's more of a there and then, a place and time).

I've learned so much from holistic understandings of childhood such as Waldorf, Enki and all the parents who are ahead of me on the learning curve. I feel such a deep sense of awareness (although there is still a lot to learn and sometimes I am baffled or end up reading something over and again without it being absorbed) for my child.

Anyway, going back to autumn, there seem to be apple trees everywhere. I keep noticing roadside apple trees, branches overhanging paths etc and they're not ripe yet. I can't wait to go apple picking ... and that goes back to education. You can see the apples, you know where the trees are, but if you pick those apples early they just won't be ready, even though part of you is raring to go. You might be able to stew them but they just won't work as well as how they would be if you just wait that little bit longer. This last bit of kindergarten requires a lot of patience - you've not got one thing or another but you can't go back (well you can if they decide to have a tantrum and then you get your toddler back) and you can't go forward because you're not the apple on the tree.