A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Yesterday was one of those beautiful, slow, peaceful days. One of those days you can just enjoy the little moments. Where you have enough going on not to feel depressed, but not so much that you feel busy or frantic. I think the world needs more people to have more of those.

I went back to sleep for a little while after Mike left for seminary and awoke to the girls playing "Halloween." They had on their ballet tutus and mouse ears from last year, telling me they were Angelina and Alice and wanting me to draw whiskers.

We went to library story hour, which we always love, still with whiskers. Then after lunch, the girls played in the yard while Emily napped and I did dishes. The weather was perfect and when I was about to call them in for rest, I noticed they were just laying in the grass, enjoying the day. I gave them blankets to relax on, some books and coloring materials and let them take their "quiet time" outside. They thought that was incredibly romantic. They lay, each on their own blanket, paging through books, coloring and just resting in their space. I enjoyed just watching them and the time to catch up on kitchen chores in solitude. I love our yard. It's not much really, but our simple little swingset, our garden, a little grass and a couple trees is a wonderland for the girls. I also love the open space behind our yard where the girls love to venture. (These pictures of the girls enjoying the backyard are from the spring and summer.)

When they finally came in, we read some new library books (they are loving info books all of a sudden). Then we enjoyed a little afternoon Dinosaur Train together. As a special treat, I let us snack on popcorn while we watched. Shhh. It was fun. The girls were thrilled I sat down to watch the whole thing with them. It was nice to know my presence is appreciated. Too often, I am shoving in a load of laundry or starting dinner during at least part of their show-time.

Maggie, in particular, has fallen in love with Dinosaur Train the past couple months. She has developed a habit of starting dinner conversations with "Did you know that....?" and proceeding to share her latest dinosaur fact. It's funny to hear her spitting out big dinosaur names I've never heard of and she was more than a little dismayed when we found out that Pteranodons are actually prehistoric reptiles rather than dinosaurs. She and Kate are often singing Dino Train jingles. And a couple weeks ago, as we were talking before bed, she told me how she wished she were a Pteranadon so that she could fly. And didn't I wish I was one too? I could honestly say I'd never considered it. We checked out several dinosaur books when we were at the library and I plan to let the girls make some little dinosaur fact books of their own during our "preschool time" over the next week or two. It reminds me of how my then four-year-old niece Sarah was so into dinosaurs soon after I joined the family.

Bedtime staggering went smoothly yesterday and every one was sleeping a quarter after eight. I even got to do a little extra snuggle time with Kate, which I think helps her settle faster. She and I and "Little Belle" rocked while I told Kate her favorite type of story, one about herself. "Little Belle" is a treasure Kate and Mike picked out last weekend on their "special date," while I was taking Maggie to a birthday party. Now we can barely go anywhere without her and periodically I hear Kate call, "L'il Belle...where are you?" We've had to have a search party once or twice. Luckily, Kate's favorite show is Busytown Mysteries, so we are always good for a mystery around here.

In July and early August, the girls were always poking around the house labeling our mysteries: "It's the mystery of the missing shoe!" And after singing the theme song, Maggie would tell me, "I'm Sally," and Kate would pipe up, "And I'm Cuck-ckle" (Huckle).

While we are on the subject of children's programming, have you seen this? Love it!

I introduced Maggie and Kate to Mr. Rogers last week after I heard Maggie singing the theme song. I quizzed her about it, thinking she must have seen a Mister Rogers rerun on PBS, but she told me no it was from Benny Tiger's Neighborhood. Of course, I had to show her the show from my childhood that inspired Benny Tiger's spin-off. So we watched Mr. Rogers and later Benny on pbs.org. It was comforting to hear the theme music and see him take out his sweater and tie his shoes. I think I like Mister Rogers' Neighborhood even better now than I did when I was a kid. His soft-spoken way and the pace of the show speak to me and contrast with most other shows today, even the good ones. You can tell he genuinely respects kids as young equals, who need attention and respect and to be taught. I even did some Wiki research on Mr. Rogers, I was so excited about it that day, and was bubbling about it all to Mike when he got home. Apparently, Fred Rogers was trained as a minister, but went into television because he didn't like how the medium was being used, especially in the way it addressed children. He wanted to change some of that. Maggie and Kate loved the show too. Maggie said while we were watching, "I like that nice guy." And we've been singing "Won't you be my neighbor?" in our best deep voices all week.

Three Mr. Rogers tidbits I must share:

1. Fred Rogers believed in always playing himself and stated, "One of the greatest gifts you can give anybody is the gift of your honest self. I also believe that kids can spot a phony a mile away." The only time he ever went on television portraying someone other than himself was on a 1996 episode of Dr. Quinn, when he appeared as a preacher. (I vaguely recall seeing this episode I do believe.)

2. Mr. Rogers spoke up in court in behalf of the VCR when it first came out: "Some public stations, as well as commercial stations, program the "Neighborhood" at hours when some children cannot use it ... I have always felt that with the advent of all of this new technology that allows people to tape the "Neighborhood" off-the-air, and I'm speaking for the "Neighborhood" because that's what I produce, that they then become much more active in the programming of their family's television life. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My whole approach in broadcasting has always been "You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions." Maybe I'm going on too long, but I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important."

3. Mr. Rogers was an Emmy Award winner like non other. Tom Junod's coverage of Rogers' Lifetime Achievement Award in Esquire: "Mister Rogers went onstage to accept the award — and there, in front of all the soap opera stars and talk show sinceratrons, in front of all the jutting man-tanned jaws and jutting saltwater bosoms, he made his small bow and said into the microphone, "All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. Would you just take, along with me, ten seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are. Ten seconds of silence." And then he lifted his wrist, looked at the audience, looked at his watch, and said, "I'll watch the time." There was, at first, a small whoop from the crowd, a giddy, strangled hiccup of laughter, as people realized that he wasn't kidding, that Mister Rogers was not some convenient eunuch, but rather a man, an authority figure who actually expected them to do what he asked. And so they did. One second, two seconds, three seconds — and now the jaws clenched, and the bosoms heaved, and the mascara ran, and the tears fell upon the beglittered gathering like rain leaking down a crystal chandelier. And Mister Rogers finally looked up from his watch and said softly "May God be with you," to all his vanquished children."

Mike said he was glad that Mister Rogers had been out of the running long before we met. He would not want to compete with that.

And, yes, I do realize I have some major time to answer for. Summer is always a high activity, low blogging season for me. I'll think of a way to catch up sometime soon. Maybe I'll finish some of my barely-started entries. Or maybe I'll just do what I have the past couple summers and leave it a mystery.

Lastly, I thought my previous post was published earlier, so I just posted it as the original date I started it, so it still made sense.