good morning

~some halloween pictures, belatedly~

S. was Russell from the movie Up

Sometimes people around here are fragile. And grumpy. And we might jump up and down and yell and make unreasonable demands (not unlike Rumpelstiltskin). And we want to stay in bed all morning because we are so cozy, but it's a school day. One of us in particular tends towards fragility in the mornings (he takes after his mother who has always enjoyed leisurely, relaxed lie-ins): needing dad or mom (usually it's the one who's not available), or needing more cuddles to jolly him into the day. For awhile there, I couldn't get out of bed until we had had our morning snuggle because that would be a short circuit to the Rumpelstiltskin effect.

Russell is a Wilderness Explorer

To prevent this we have found a couple of things that work.

mama was the pirate Jack Sparrow,

from the Pirates of the Caribbean

Getting enough sleep to begin with is key.

on our enchanted forest walk

Sneaking up to crawl into bed with him for a snuggle helps.

the fairies were plentiful

Once snuggled, the magical conversation topic that brings immediate smiles and joy and happy demeanor, is about our favorite small (but not really so small, actually) person, Little T. We might speak about how he is learning to play football, and can say HIKE, and recall a recent video in which he was practicing some moves while wearing a nightie. Or the way his golden curls form a sort of halo around his head. Or how when he kisses (and we re-enact this for the full effect), he puts his lips on you, draws away and THEN the smack-kiss-noise comes, a bit of a delayed reaction. We love this. And just thinking of this boy must stimulate our love endorphins and is a terrific and joyful way to start our morning.

i love these people with leaves in their hair!

However, if we have missed the window somehow, and can't begin the day as above, then we have to do damage control to turn our Rumpelstiltskin back into our lovely boy before he heads off to school. Usually I go back to the wisdom of kindergarten at these moments: taking care to form the space around my boy with love while tending to his physical needs.

This morning that meant pulling up a small chair next to the woodstove so he could sniffle and eat his toast and oatmeal in a cozy place. It meant picking his clothes out (3 longsleeve shirt options, for my picky dresser) and warming them up near the woodstove. Some days it means brushing his hair for him or making a lavender footbath. It helped that I wasn't trying to get out the door to work.

So, just a few ideas for those fragile folks you may encounter in your life... They just need a little more "holding" whether it's physically or psychologically or just in the folds of your mind.