Getting comfortable with failure

Phew, it's been a busy week! The weather this week was a beautiful prelude for spring's approaching arrival, though it still feels a bit out of place since we haven't seemed to have had a normal winter yet. Still, I sure love these days with temps in the 70s, the feel of wearing my flip flops again, and going outside with a short-sleeved shirt. With weather like that we've been spending more time soaking up that organic vitamin D.

We spent a few mornings out in the backyard, the boys playing in their sand and water table (minus the water for now) while I dug my hands into the dirt to pull up some weeds, listening to the soundtrack of my happy, giggling boys in the background. I was so pleasantly surprised to discover how much better Ben and Hugh play together outside than they do inside. It was peaceful and warm and I got my hands dirty. I really, really love getting my hands in dirt. There must be someone else out there who completely gets what I mean by that without any further explanation. Yes?

And, since I'm the mother of two young boys I was super excited to find a worm in my digging. (Otherwise I would have been semi-grossed out.) I called for Ben and Hugh to come look. You should have seen the ways their eyes lit up and their hands trembled to get their turn to touch the slimy, wiggly little guy. Ben had his sand pail with him, so I put some dirt in his bucket and then put the worm in there for him. The expression on his face made it clear that he thought that was just about the coolest thing ever. (And, doesn't that follow that I would then be considered the coolest mom ever?! haha!)

And, just when I was starting to think things couldn't be going any better I found a caterpillar. And then two more after that. I grabbed an old 10# wheat can that I had just emptied out the week before and thought I'd better hang on to it for something exactly like this. I had the boys help me put in a good layer of soil at the bottom, then we put in some leaves and welcomed our three caterpillars into their new home. They seemed pretty excited about what we were doing, even though I'm pretty sure they weren't thinking quite as far ahead as I was.

I was having visions of watching these three caterpillars go through their process to becoming something miraculous and beautiful and teaching my very young toddlers all about it along the way. I'd finally redeem myself from all those years of struggling through every science class I ever took. I'd make it fun and exciting and learn new things myself.

So, while the boys were down for naps I transferred the caterpillars to a glass fish bowl, all set up properly (according to my search results on Google). I almost took pictures to show off the start of Science Project #1, with plans to document the entire process with photos. Imagine my visions of beautiful pupas, watching the butterflies emerge in all their glory, setting them free with the boys by my side. Our first science experiment together!

With all of these grand visions dancing through my head, you can only imagine my great disappointment when the next day I checked on our little caterpillars only to find that all three had died. So much for redemption. At least the boys are still too young to know what a terrible failure I am at anything remotely related to science. Maybe I still have some time!

But, you know, there was something about this experience that made me start to feel more comfortable with failure. Although, not just failure ('cause I'm already a pro at that), but more specifically feeling comfortable with my boys seeing me fail. It's part of life and I know it'll be healthy for them to see me in situations of falling short. My hope is that I'm also able to show them how to get back up and try again, how to greet failure without losing the excitement of attempting new things and still hungry to learn.

As a bit of a side note, you know what's funny? For Valentine's Day I made homemade fortune cookies, complete with fortunes I found with Google's help. And, one of them actually goes perfectly with this little story:

"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."

Saturday in the Park

... you'd think it was the fourth of July...

Well, it was the third.

And we went to sort of celebrate the fourth a day early, so it works, right? (I love that Chicago song!)

Yesterday, all four of us ventured out together to the City Park. This was only the second time we've all gone out together. The first being the cemetery on Memorial day. Well, not counting our frequent walks in our neighborhood with the stroller.

Benjamin tried out an outdoor swing for the first time. He has been very interested in watching shadows lately, so at first we couldn't get him to look up from staring at his moving shadow on the ground. He seemed to like swinging outside, even though he appeared a little confused about where we were and what we were doing there.

We didn't stay in the sun for too long. Instead we found a nice shady spot under a large redwood and away from the crowds, where we enjoyed the cool of the moment.

Marc and I had a mid-morning snack of cold, fresh pineapple and peanut M&Ms. 

Ben army-crawled to the grass and had a nice sensory experience. Proof lies in the dirt now under his fingernails.

And, Hugh took a nap.

The first of many trips to the park with these two boys. 

Even though we were there for less than an hour before both boys started getting fussy and ready to head home, it was a successful little outing! Funny to think that before long our trips to the park will end with fussiness because of them NOT wanting to go home.

Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights

I'm sure everyone has heard of No Child Left Behind... but, have you ever heard the phrase No Child Left Inside? Well, there are organizations out there working together to get children to reconnect with nature. With computers, video games, TV, iPods, busy schedules, fear of predators, etc. there are less children experiencing the outdoors like past generations have.

I came across this other website, whose mission is: To encourage California’s children to participate in outdoor recreational activities and discover their heritage. They even have a Children Outdoor Bill of Rights, which is a list of outdoor activities that each child should have the opportunity to experience by the time they turn 14.

Every child should have the opportunity to:

1. Discover California's Past
2. Splash in the water
3. Play in a safe place
4. Camp under the stars
5. Explore nature
6. Learn to swim
7. Play on a team
8. Follow a trail
9. Catch a fish
10. Celebrate their heritage

As I went down the list, so many fond childhood memories came to mind. I remember long summer days when we'd play outside all day, until the street lights started to come on, and even then we'd have to be coerced back inside. I remember playing baseball games in the middle of the street and playing "capture the flag" late into the night. I remember making mud pies with the petals from the "snowball" flowers in the backyard. I remember helping my Dad plant the garden, and kneeling next to my Mom weeding the flower bed. Kite-flying and making sand candles at the beach are among my favorite memories. There were some things I was "forced" to do for some school project, like rock identification and bird watching... but, now even those things are meaningful.

I know the world is a lot different than it was when I grew up, but I've decided to make a conscious choice to make sure our children have these same experiences in their childhood. I want to be outside with them exploring the world - following the trail of ants to their hive or watching a bee pollinate a flower, or sucking the "honey" out of the honeysuckles, or laying under the stars in mid-August searching for falling stars, or jumping in piles of leaves, or catching snow flakes on our tongues. Such wonder and beauty.

I've been thinking I'd like to add more to the list of Outdoor Bill of Rights. What other things would you add?

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. ~John Muir

Sweet Green Peas

I've been planting vegetable gardens since my college days at BYU. In those days, usually because of procrastination, I wouldn't plant my garden until mid-June. Which basically meant that if I wanted any "fruits" from my labors before the cold weather came again, I had to buy plants already started.

Well, for the first time ever, a little over two months ago, we planted our garden with seeds! Since we planted them in late March, I figured I would have plenty of time to still buy plants if we couldn't get the seeds started on our own. But, miraculously, we have been very successful with our garden this year! Hooray!!



Last night I went out to water the garden and just sat and admired the beautiful peas that are growing in abundance. I had to steal a couple off the vines right then. They are crisp and sweet, I can almost feel the healthiness seeping out of them. They are so yummy, and I might add healthy, too!

In the past, I had never grown peas because the green pea plants were always sold out by the time I got around to going to the local nurseries. So, since I started from seeds this year, I just had to plant peas. Mainly for two reasons:

1. Because I love peas. They are my favorite snack food. I love them in stir-fry and in fresh salads. But, I mostly like them unadulturated, raw and fresh, just off the vine.

2. Because peas remind me of memories with my Grandpa. One of my favorite childhood memories is trips to Grandpa's house in Utah - he'd take us out to his little garden and show us his plants. He'd let us feast on whatever vegetables we could find. My favorites were his green peas. I loved time in the garden with Grandpa. I never would have thought a memory like that would mean so much to me today.

Here's a photo of our triangular garden boxes. Other than peas, we've also planted tomatoes, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, and carrots.



Oh, and here is a cute photo I snapped of Einstein investigating the peas.



- Megan