Hello friends,
Who would have thought that six months after my last post we’d still be in a pandemic? Still arguing over whether or not to mask, have playdates, or go to church? Still wondering if the end is in sight or if this pandemic world is just the world we have now. In the past six months, our family has been blessed with good health, increased family time, and lovely weather. Thank goodness the outdoors is still a safe bet.
I have learned to love being home, reading stories with my boys, lingering over these fleeting days of childhood. We have some big life changes happening (which explains my blogging hiatus), and we are excitedly marching into 2021 to greet them.
First and most life-altering: new baby! We are expecting boy #3 to arrive sometime in the next month and we could not imagine a better way to start off the New Year! He is a much-anticipated addition and I bought a minivan to commemorate my fully Boy Mom status.
Second, we’re moving! To a place very “wild + free” – Colorado! We are all so excited for the hikes, the mountains, the snow, the bears! We took our first trip since the pandemic started to house-hunt for 10 days in the shadow of Pike’s Peak. The weather was surprisingly nice for December in CO (peep photos below). We aren’t complete strangers to the area and met up with a photographer friend to capture some memories of the four of us before we become a family of FIVE!
I started teaching Comp 1 & 2 at our local University – which looks entirely different in a pandemic world (hello, Zoom classes). I will likely continue teaching once we move as long as the university continues to use remote learning.
I’m continuing to teach my own littles. My oldest has started reading Bob Books and my youngest is working on colors and his vocabulary has gone from “mama/dada/Ro/dogdog” to full and complex sentences. Even the second time around, the leap from baby talk to talk talking takes me by surprise.
I’m continuing to research early childhood education and write about it (though not blogging as much, evidently). My current in-progress bookshelf includes:
We are reading and learning together and still playing A LOT. The boys got Duplo Legos from just about everyone for Christmas and are loving creating huge messes – er, I mean masterpieces – all over the living room floor DAILY. We love Legos over here and I recently learned that Lego was the founding funder for the PEDAL (Psychology, Education and Learning Studies Research Group) centre for research on play in education, development and learning at my alma mater, the University of Cambridge’s Department of Education. Yay for Legos!
Life is crazy, chaotic, and GLORIOUS. Even in a pandemic, I wouldn’t change a minute of this journey. COVID doesn’t prevent love. COVID doesn’t prevent outdoor play and story-time adventures, new siblings, living room picnics, research or writing.
Welcome to 2021. I hope your year is wonderful. I know mine will be.
Wild & Free Childhood 