By and large, I've had a terrific time this summer. It's been a huge contrast from last year, where I was teaching nearly every Sunday, twice a week at a camp, and did a lot of traveling as well. Last year I started September completely exhausted, hardly ready to gear up for anything new. It was a relief to only have 4 weekly commitments, which is kindof sad.This summer is the first in about 9 years that I have not taught anything much (3 lessons of sorts all summer), and though my artistic production has been negligible, I have been able to organize so much and clean the house so that when the school year starts, I'm not facing a huge mess with the accompanying guilt--plus the feeling I have wasted my summer
yet again. It's funny that I have probably spent the equivalent of a part time job just playing with legos, and yet I feel like a lot was accomplished. (But you should have seen what I made! They're great!) (below: La Chiesa dell' Lego)
Part of the reason for this relaxed attitude has got to be that A is in an awesome stage, where everything is so exciting and new, and his imagination is overflowing and hilarious (even now, he's making D be the 'dominal snowman, who invades a plastic igloo to eat the polar bear family inside). He's more independent as well, which helps tremendously when I'm doing the cleaning/organizing jobs. He goes outside to dig dirt, squirt water all over the place and play in the deck box, which always looks like he is Dracula emerging from a coffin. He makes up crazy adventures with his toys, and still makes incredibly detailed sculptures out of clay. His drawings have turned a corner as well, and he is learning to spell words--I'll write a word he wants to do, and he'll copy it on his drawings. I am a little bit sad that he skipped a whole stage of drawing--the tadpole stage, where figures are big circles with two sticks coming off for legs. I guess tadpoles just didn't cut the mustard for him, since he saw me teaching kids how to make people using shapes. You can't put a batman costume on a tadpole.
We've also watched a boatload of Looney Tunes DVD's since my birthday (D got me two huge sets of the best ones). I feel it is my duty as an American to expose A to as many Looney Tunes as possible. They were my first introduction to opera, ridiculous puns, surrealism (Porky in Wackyland...very bizarre), fake French, Acme products, and comic brilliance that only gets better over time. One of my favorite autobiographies is
Chuck Amuck by Chuck Jones, who directed some of the most famous of the Tunes. Check out "One Froggy Evening" and "Dripalong Daffy" on youtube for two of the best cartoons ever made, both directed by Jones. A loves Bugs Bunny, and (thank God for cartoons!) he actually eats carrots now, to emulate his hero. Of course, people do get shot in the face, exploded, and mutilated every 10 seconds, but I grew up with these cartoons and I'm ok...mostly.
A lot of A's friends have come over or invited him to come play as well, which has been a lifesaver. The one shining point in all the dreary summer camp business was A's friend L, who he thankfully doesn't want to marry anymore. He is just content to spend hours playing with his pal, who totally "gets" him. I haven't had to break up arguments or coax A into sharing or direct them into fun things to do; they just go and play and make up games together. It's terrific.
Last week was a little bit stressful for me, since we had a lot of men in the house most of the week. We finally had electrical work done for the outside of the house, and the electrician is a friend of my husband's family. He's a great guy, a real professional and super nice to A, but it also meant that my father-in-law was over a lot to...help...and talk...and use noxious automotive body putty to fill a hole that plaster would have sufficed to fill...but they all did a terrific job, and it's unbelievable how much more cozy and civilized the yard looks now. There are little lights all inside the deck, a Mission-style porch lamp, a motion-sensing light near the trash area, lights on the shed and in the shed, and--amazingly--plugs! outside! One on each side of the house, so I could plug in Christmas lights for the first time ever, play a radio or use my space heater on the porch at halloween, or whatever. It's incredible. Now D can recharge all of our lawn equipment without having to lug it up the basement steps every time he wants to cut the grass, and I can see the spiders before they rain down on my head when I'm looking for my pruning shears. Oh, and we could grill burgers and see how black they're getting, instead of training a weak flashlight over the smoky gridiron. Amazing.
So there were a lot of guys around last week, coming for dinner, playing with A, sweating in weird corners with loud drills going straight through the brick, and entertaining us with endless sarcastic stories. It was a relief to go to my best friend's house for some tea in a china cup, and conversation about friends and kids and feelings instead of cars and wires and drill bits. Sigh.I found a perfect rug for the dining room as well, at a little boutique in Hampden. When I saw it I thought for sure it would be too expensive, and then I looked closer at it. It's made of recycled plastic, woven in a completely reversible pattern that looks like an Oriental rug. The way the primary colored plastic is woven, though, the colors blend to make the exact shades of orange and blue in the dining room. It is made for outdoor use, on decks and so forth, and can be cleaned by hosing it off in the back yard. And it was 80 bucks. I couldn't believe it. I don't have to worry about A ruining it with spilled oodles of noodles or bits of scrambled eggs.
All this activity has given A some incentive to take a nap once in a while, and I am happy to join in. Usually though, the nap is an impromptu thing, where he sleeps wherever he's sitting; a pile of legos, scratchy rugs, or a chair in the living room. His neck looked all wonky so I stuffed his bear under his head for a pillow. Ain't he adorable?
Last week some friends and their kiddos came over for an excellent afternoon of slip-n-slide, iced tea, popsicles and legos. I can't remember having that much fun with folks in a long time, and A definitely agreed. He enjoyed himself so much that when everyone left, he was heartbroken. I heard the sound of chalk on the front porch, along with disconsolate sniffing, and when I looked out, he had made drawings of L, D, and K, in the outfits they were wearing that day. He'd stop drawing for a second to sob, and then keep going.
What struck me, besides the grieving-through-drawing experience, was how different his drawings were from just a few weeks ago. I think I will start to take a more active role in teaching him, since he clearly enjoys it and I actually know what to do. He's drawing at a much higher level than most kids his age can do, and I am interested to see how he does with a little more instruction.
