A big day

There's something so funny about this picture Mom took of Agatha birthday-shopping the other day-- is it the contrast of blue vs all the pink? The orderly racks that fill the whole frame stacked with cheap but oh-so-desirable pink junk? The way Agatha seems to be signaling: "Buy me this Barbie lipgloss or else: don't let the floppy hair bow fool you-- I mean business"? I'm not sure, but it's a terrific picture, Mom.

But I digress. What I meant to say was: Happy 5th Birthday Agatha! Today was also the first day of kindergarten, the first day of second grade, and the first day of classes at Franklin & Marshall. So everyone was a little stressed, excited, and apprehensive today. 

Henry was probably the least nervous of all of us. He was trying to act cool, but he was so happy to be back at school with interesting things to do all day long. He loves to be home with open stretches of time to get lost in what he's doing, but after a summer of that, he was itching to get back to school. Yesterday he came with us to Aggie's orientation and hugged seemingly every teacher in the place-- this from my non-huggy boy. He's joined the running club, too, which is the first after-school sport he's now eligible for as a second-grader-- that will start next week.

For Agatha, it was a little more scary and uncertain. She has to learn new rules and procedures; like Henry when he went to K, she doesn't like that she can't just get down work off the shelves and do what she likes when she likes. I know from Henry's experience that she has the most wonderful teachers and I'm sure she'll come to love it there, but it will take time to get used to doing such "big work." I see in these pictures still a very little girl, slightly baffled by gingerbread-boy nametags and handwashing procedures and morning meetings. 

But she was happily chattering away when we picked her up; the first two days are half-days, so we took her out to lunch to celebrate at (her choice) an Indian restaurant.

I'm so proud of both of my brave, bright, eager learners, and so grateful we have a good school to send them to, full of dedicated people who are so happy to see them each day. Teachers! They are the best!!!!

The Queen of Pluto

For at least six months, Agatha has been telling us about the planet that she rules in her off-hours: Pluto. Not the regular Pluto that *we* know, but a tiny Pluto, Speck-Pluto, that is smaller than a speck of dust but contains a whole planet. It is freezing cold (like the real Pluto), which is good because Agatha needs cold and finds our planet, Earth, too hot. On Pluto, everything is made of ice. She is the queen of Pluto, but she also says that on Pluto, everyone is royal-- everyone bosses themselves around. And yet she remains first among equals.

For one thing, she has defeated her arch-nemesis, the Mysterious Bear. She routinely marshals her people to battle the bear; she is an archer and shoots golden arrows at the bear. Agatha flies to Pluto at night, while we are all sleeping, so we don't notice she has gone. While there, she visits her real mother, Mother Sun. Her father is Father Moon. She has two invisible brothers, Luke Skywalker and Harry Potter. They are often with her on Earth, as well as on Pluto, but we can't see them because they are invisible. They are nice brothers and always want to play with her. Through Mother Sun, Agatha has a special channel of communication to the weather and commands all living things to grow. One thing I wrote down in early May was: "Mom, you know who my REAL mother is, right? Mother Sun. It's really hard to play hide and seek with her, though. When she goes behind a cloud, I can't find her, and when she's out, she's everywhere!"( I wish I'd written down more gems over the last few months...)

Agatha talks about Pluto A LOT. It's her way to participate in any conversation. If you were to say, "I really need to vacuum," she might reply, "You know, on Pluto, houses vacuum themselves! They pick themselves up and shake themselves out and all the dirt comes out." I made a mental note back on May 24th when Agatha said slowly, "You know, Mom, all that stuff about Pluto? It's not all true..." I thought: there it is, the end of the imaginary world. But no, Pluto had a resurgence. All summer it was going strong. Pluto is a place of justice and control, bravery and generosity. Agatha is fully independent there, yet supported and sheltered by the other planets and her loving people (for example, her bed on Pluto is giant-sized-- and yet, of course, speck-tiny--and all the people of Pluto sleep in it together). She is a brave warrior, and a benevolent ruler: the queen of Pluto.

The last days of summer

I may have over-scheduled the kids this summer; they have been in summer camps every week since we got home from Ireland, six weeks in a row. I have certainly welcomed the quiet time and the work time, but it has made our days a little busy, trying to get to places on time just like during the school year. Note to self: yes to camps right after family vacation (for parental recovery purposes), but do leave a free week in there somewhere for the children to recharge a bit.

Henry's favorite camp this summer was Camp Shand, the YMCA camp up in Lebanon County where he spent all day in the woods. He's got what I fondly call "Uncle Tim Symdrome" (named after the way Uncle Tim would recount his adventures at Boy Scout camp): Henry will first tell you every negative thing about his experiences, recounting each fall, bump, injustice, mistake, and disappointment. Then, after awhile, the good things start coming out. "Mom! We got to take out a canoe by ourselves and paddle around the island twice! We got stuck in the shallows and had to get ourselves out!" The first day of Camp Shand his "Trading Post" money hadn't come through, so there were no Doritos at the end of the day: disaster. The second day a branch he was leaning on broke and he tumbled and bumped his head: also disaster. But I guess it improved after that, because he says it was his favorite. It's also one of the easiest for Mommy: I put him on a school bus at the local Y, about four blocks from our house, at 8 am, and he comes home at 5 pm, having been fed a hot lunch (generally of the chicken nugget variety, but still). Excellent! Maybe he'll be ready to sleep over there next summer.

Agatha's favorite camp was Farm Camp. Friends had raved about this place last year, but I thought, "how great can it be? they can pull weeds and plant seeds at home." Well, it is pretty great. Agatha loves taking care of the animals, which include pigs, goats, guinea pigs, rabbits, and donkeys. They spend the entire day outside; a garage has been converted to their "classroom" but it is open to the elements on one side. The farm is a quarter mile off the road, so the children can run freely barefoot all day long without having to be monitored or having to fear vehicles. There's a shallow creek to play in, a bamboo forest to hide in, and a slip-n-slide on a steep hill for the end of the day. The woman who runs it is a former Waldorf teacher, which means there is a lot of singing, observing nature, and allowing the children to do dangerous climbing. [The kids also did a week of camp at the Waldorf school (their favorite camp last year), which they fondly refer to as "the camp where they let you take off your shoes and climb trees."] Plus, the camp ladies cook the children a hot lunch from fresh, local food, often food they harvest and tend themselves-- and the children eat it! Potatoes, carrots, quinoa salad, homemade salsa... and melon, granola, and berries for snacks. Yesterday they came home with wooden bluebird houses they screwed together themselves. Agatha loves farm camp so much, she's having her birthday party there next weekend.

I had a frustrating summer of working on my interminable article on Emma Hamilton, the Bacchante, and Naples. I thought I'd finished it, decided it wasn't quite ready, completely reorganized it, and... it still isn't quite ready. I'm not sure if I've improved it or just made it different. It's also incredibly long, which means that the stakes are high and only a few places will take it, and... I've decided to take a break from it. Summer is ending, and I need to switch to a new project. I was unable to wrestle the bacchante into submission this summer, but I'm going to try to sneak up on her from behind in a couple of weeks. Wish me luck!

Speaking of which, in two weeks it will be a very big day: on August 28, Agatha turns five, and all of us have our first day of school, including Aggie's first day of kindergarten. I'm looking forward to having next week home with the kids to make the final preparations. Welcome, fall, and welcome to this new phase of our lives.