May 11

Chris typically leaves for work around 7 am, and I confess: sometimes most of the time, I am not yet out of bed when he leaves. He always wakes me before he goes, but unless I hear screaming, I like to take my time getting up. 

When I finally got out of bed this morning, I found this:

Three of my four children at the dining room table, happily coloring together. (Eli was at the kitchen table, standing on the banquette, scavenging food from the big kids' discarded breakfasts. Just keeping it real.) It makes me so happy that my kids are reaching ages where they can constructively entertain themselves without my help. This, my friends, is why I luxuriate in bed an extra 15-20 minutes each morning. It's all intentional. (Or maybe not, and this is just a happy side effect. Whatever.)

We played outside for most of the morning, and a wicked storm came through right around nap time. I have photos of the hail that fell around our house, but our internet is being weird tonight and I can't seem to upload them.

(Now the internet is working better, albeit slowly.)

This was one of the largest ones we saw, but friends who live 20-30 minutes west of us reported baseball and softball-sized hail! Luckily, we escaped with no damage. Even luckier, the hail missed Chris' workplace altogether, so his unprotected car was unharmed.

After the storm passed, it was so lovely outside that we decided to release our  butterflies. They all hatched the other day, and I was starting to get nervous about feeding them. What if I didn't give them enough and they died? So we released them instead.

(Caleb and Daisy both got haircuts last night. Don't say anything about them. I know.)

The kids were all so into the butterfly releasing, even Eli!

I'm pretty sure the butterflies blew his mind.

They opened the top, but none of the five butterflies seemed to want to leave. Daisy assessed the situation for a minute, then came up with a plan.

She used a leaf to gently encourage the butterflies to leave.

It worked! Do you see the thing near her forehead? It's a butterfly, flying away.

The next few photos chronicle the children's reaction to the butterfly flying away, and they are hilarious: 

Look at how thrilled she is that her plan actually worked!

All the kids watch the butterfly fly away, and Daisy is still overjoyed.

Daisy can't get over it, and Caleb takes off running after the butterfly to see where it goes. Fly away, little friend!

Daisy tried her trick again, but was only able to encourage one more butterfly to leave. We decided to try again with the other three tomorrow.

But look at how happy Eli is!

Hi there, handsome!

Eli is making the transition to one nap a day, but he is still learning that his one nap needs to be a long nap. Today he woke after 2 hours, but he wasn't ready to be awake yet. Caleb and Daisy were occupied, and Lily was asleep, so I was able to rock and hold him for quite a while longer. Finally, I had to give up and call him awake. He was just unhappy, though, so I wrapped him up on my back. That satisfied him, and when he was done snuggling he made it clear that he was ready to be put down. Once I set him down, he crawled off to play. I love how independent he's getting, and how clearly he can communicate most of his needs!

As soon as I put him down, Lily told me, "Want to be in yous ring sling!" I clarified that she actually wanted to be wrapped on my back, and up she went. She giggled the whole time I wrapped her, and once she was up she snuggled in and hummed happy noises.

My new wrap is perfect for wrapping a nearly-three-year-old. Also, it's beautiful. I wish I could afford a fancy handwoven wrap, but that's just not practical or possible for me right now. So for now, this is the perfect wrap for me, and I love it.

This is what I love about babywearing. This is why I wrap my children, even after they can walk on their own. I was first drawn to babywearing because it is so darn practical and convenient. But I now preach the gospel of babywearing to everyone I meet because of moments like this. Because my almost-three-year-old still loves to be worn and held. She is safe, close, and included, and happy. I love this.

(Fifteen minutes later, she was done. But those fifteen minutes were beautiful.)

And then, after Caleb's swim lessons that were cancelled early due to lightning, we stopped by someone's house to pick up a pair of secondhand soccer cleats for Daisy. She has already decided that she wants to play soccer in the fall, so when I spotted a pair of cleats in her size for a great price, I jumped on them. I handed them to her in the back seat as we drove home, and she couldn't stop smiling and caressing her new shoes. She put them on all by herself, and wore them around the house all evening.

This is one happy girl! I can't wait for her to start playing in the fall. I think she'll be a fierce competitor!