I love it when it rains on one side of the house and not the other. I love the rainbows this brings. I have seen more rainbows while living in Portland than during the whole rest of my life combined! This is such an amazing time of year in this area. Rainbows abound!

I finished a questionnaire on Facebook today about the top ten things I have learned as a parent. The list is by no means exhaustive and in no particular order. Several other moms wrote out their own top-tens and Lyla compiled them all for this amazing blog. Such a huge amount of wisdom on this process, this practice (there it is again) we call parenting... Check it out!

1. Maybe there isn't anything I *should* be doing...
2. Kids know when you are present and when you are thinking about something else.
3. Silence is frequently the best thing. You don't have to say something every time your child does or says something and frequently what they want, what anyone wants, is for someone to listen to them or be with them. It feels really quiet at first but I think we are addicted to commenting and you get used to it.
4. Just because your child doesn't want to do what you want them to do does not make them stubborn or headstrong or anything. Maybe they just don't like your idea. It was your idea after all and we all like our own ideas.
5. Support your kids in what they want to do. Don't tell them all the awful things we think are true like artists can't earn a living and only a few people get to do what they want.
6. There are so many limits put on us by ideas about gender and age that are cultural. It is OK for kids to do things that are not within those limits. I think of a small boy loving the color pink...
7. Kids do things when they are ready to do them. We all do.
8. allow allow allow
9. You aren't giving in, you are noticing how important something truly is to your child.
10. Kids are their own people and we can support and love them and show them the way as best we can *and* they have their own loves, their own personalities, their own passions and it isn't a good idea to try and mold them. Let them be who they are and love them for that.
11. It's how I feel about myself...
12. What I want for my kids is for them to be happy and have a life they love. That is up to them. What I can do for them is love them.

I'll say this- the thing for me about Barbie, to be honest, is the little shoes. For me they are pretty much the same as finding that certain Lego in a big pile of Legos, only this is a Barbie shoe in a big pile of shoes. Or clothes. Or in the couch? Good for keeping those visual and perceptive skills loose and in shape. They don't call me the keeper-of-small-parts for nothing.

Samuel has been dictating his stories onto the new digital recorder and I have quite a bit of transcription to do. The best part, aside from the fact that he is loving it, being able to record his story ideas and his enthusiasm, is that he offered to pay me for typing out his stories. So thoughtful and aware. I was impressed and appreciative and happy to tell him not to worry about it this time.