veg4camera

Illustration Friday "Spring"

In the last few weeks, as we sit down to eat we are treated to something my kids call "Dinner and a show". They use that term whenever something entertaining happens at dinner, even if they don't understand what they are watching. Like large amounts of birds copulating on the fence. Next to the fountain. At the edge of the pool. In the grass. Under the jasmine. Everywhere.

At times I've wanted to hurl my dinner fork at the birds and yell "Knock it off!"

But then I realize, if I can tolerate birdie sex for a little bit longer, there'll be lots of pretty eggs around before long.

Illustration Friday "Monster"

At bedtime my 4 year old daughter believes her bedroom is occupied by monsters, or more precisely in her own words "Goblins". Going to bed has become a procedure, instead of a daily event. A couple of times a week she will also wake up with nightmares about monsters under her bed.

I do my best to reassure her that monsters don't exist and to comfort her back to sleep. I'm not ready to partake in any of those ideas that parenting magazines put forth. I don't think spraying water around the room from a bottle labeled "Anti monster spray" is such a great idea. I can't prevent her mind from dreaming about these things, why lead her to believe I can stop it? I would feel like I mislead her if I did some big production dance before bedtime to ward off bad dreams, only for them to arrive in the middle of the night anyway.

As she goes to sleep each night I  reiterate that monsters are make believe and that there certainly isn't any room under her bed for them to take up residence.

"There are WAY too many toys under that bed! There's no way a monster is under there!"

And then I kiss her, smile at her, wish her a good night's sleep and walk out the door wondering

"What if her bed IS the monster?"

And then I have nightmares.

Illustration Friday "insect".

A vivid memory: Running among the flower beds at my grandmother's nursery as the sun went down, I was amazed to see fireflies appear as if from thin air. The last traces of daylight helped to expose their bodies just before they illuminated. As they lit up, I would reach out to grab one in my tiny hand, but they would float away, just out of reach and light up another corner of the garden.