The Cupboard Stage

Last year when my pint-sized niece was visiting she was in the middle of a mad love for cupboards. They seemed like little houses I expect with tiny doors just her size. She went in and out and in and out... I was so charmed. How could you not be? Look at those curls.

She was right around a year old then...just about the age of her cousin, Nib at the moment. And just recently he discovered the cupboards himself. One year old must be the cupboard stage. I guess I could baby-latch them but for the moment I don't mind re-folding the washcloths he knocks out a few times a day, it's rewardingly cute to watch him "playing house," and every time I see his smiling face pop out of the door I think of my niece, halfway across the world.

Babyproofing NOW!

Our little baby, who is the only still being in this picture, is solidly cruising and crawling and about to join his brothers on hyper speed. Time to babyproof. I realize that some incredibly organized mothers keep baby proofing touches current through the life of their family (i.e. whenever there are babies or might be babies) but I am just not that cautious.

I can't stand all the plastic covers and little latches and fumbly hindrances, the high-up, put-away, sanitized look of it all. I think it really is just ugly and I try to get away with as little of the whole business as I can and rely instead on a few key aids (I will for instance baby latch the cupboard under the sink since he sits at my feet there while I do dishes and prep dinner) but plants will stay down where they always are and all breakable items will not be whisked away into Deep Space. I tend to go for the hard-headed and slow method of teaching my children painstakingly "Be gentle to the plant. No pulling." and continuing to enjoy my greenery and my pretty little touches, without the plastic safety garnishes. The toilet stays unlatched, doorknobs don't get little plastic cages and there aren't little caps on the corners of all our end tables. I care too much about beauty, and feel too strongly about spending my time on useful instruction rather than working to create a carefully constructed world of babyproofed sanity. Will I pay for it sometimes by screaming at A when he comes home "How do I keep the house together????" Oh yes. Yes I will but, maybe I'm just too much of a glutton for punishment to have that make me change my ways.

That said...that Christmas tree has got to go pronto. Am off to whiz all those breakable ornaments into boxes...immediately.

Beach Trust

On my mind today are trust, safety and neighborliness. Most strangers are normal human beings...they're you and me and our friends and relatives. Most people who talk to us or approach us aren't dangerous and are perfectly trustworthy. There are of course the random few who are devious, unreliable or even terrifying. This is reality. That said, it is my opinion that those people are:

A.) very rare
B.) usually very spottable

I'm of the old mindset that says you should smile at strangers, wave to people if they let you cut in traffic and make friendly small talk with the other people in line at the bank. I don't teach my children that they aren't to talk to strangers, I teach them that when the nice grandpa ahead of us in line at the check-out says that he "Likes those red shoes young man!" you should dimple a grin and tell him politely, "Thank you very much! I like your tie!" I think if we just trust the people around us we'll buy goodwill for ourselves, show the love of Christ (He did say that love would be the magic mark of His followers) have more fun waiting in lines and sometimes other people will help us when we need it most.

Reid meets the sea 

 

I still teach my sons of course that they shouldn't take candy apples from strange women with warts on their noses, they shouldn't get into cars with random men with green skin and there is to be no signing up for a lifetime supply of iPod just because a really fast talking young fellow with a big grin suggested such when we were down in Times Square. Don't worry. But, I'm trying to avoid the philosophy of stranger danger and instead preach love for fellow man and that we should know and understand our neighbors...even if they're just our neighbors for an hour in the next booth at a restaurant.

Mostly, this sort of courtesy is warmly received by the public but almost never do I hear similar ideas proposed by other mothers. Moms today...yea people in general are terrified of everyone in the world that they do not know. I think this is such a crying shame. But, I do have to share that I have noticed two things that have given me hope.

1. This woman....and the parenting movement she spawned.
2. Beach Trust

Everybody locks their houses up like crazy and people lock their cars, password their computers and have secret codes for everything under the sun but the one place where people still trust each other? The beach. Have you ever noticed that at the beach people leave all of their belongings sitting there in bags and run off like silly kids to splash in the water?

 Unattended beach goods at the Rhode Island shore this past weekend

They drop their towels on the beach blanket, leave behind the sunglasses they love, glinting on the top of their beach tote and go off for a half hour stroll down the shore, far out of sight of their goods. This is a fabulous thing that always makes me tremendously happy to encounter.

 Our own unattended beach goods!

I've never witnessed a beach robbery although I'm sure once in a blue moon it happens but I have seen perfect strangers haul a strolling families worldly goods up out of the range of the encroaching high tide or seen a woman chasing an absent swimmer's hat down the beach after it blew away. I love to see that. I love to be part of it. I love that something about the beach has allowed us to let go in some real, deep way and love and rely on the people around us.

Not just when the beach population is like this:

But even when it looks like this:

More love man, more love.

Filmography Beauty

Two videos to share today that have nothing in common except a link to tragedy (floods and car accidents) but a focus on beauty. Both are sort of dreamy and poignant.

The first film is a flooded May field in Austria which, I stumbled on and was just kind of open-mouthed over. It looks like this European footage was taken during flooding last year in the spring. Because we're having floods here at the moment and lots and lots of rain this spring (I heard it was a record for wettest spring in New York) I have floods on the mind. Mostly floods are scary or at least debilitating but this flood is so pretty. Hope you enjoy. Love the apple tree in bloom and the dandelion, stinging nettles and other meadow plants at the end.



And then this next film is one of the most poignant and beautiful commercials I've ever seen. Regardless of what you think of seatbelts you have to admit there is beauty here and genius of the artistic and yet low budget kind. Love the emotion and symbolism.