Monthly Archives: April 2023

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Bad dreams

It was the Winter Solstice. June was almost asleep, but she looked up at me and said, “Daddy. I been having bad dreams about people getting dead.”

I tried to stay calm. I said sorry, and tried to comfort her, but I was shook. I asked her what people, and she said, “Everybody. Even you.”

Again, I tried to comfort her and stay calm. Then she said quietly and very seriously, “ Did you know that your grave is beside mine?”

I said no, and tried to continue to comfort her.

I remembered that early the day before, she had said something about having a really bad dream. She didn’t say what. I didn’t ask. She’s an old soul whose awareness penetrates the veil in both directions. She remembers past lives and sees our future.

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The Family, Fall 2022

[Continuing as chronological, tho already blogged much of this as current… hope this not too confusing.]

July 23, 2022

Oh lord! June’s pretending to talk on a phone (one of her dominoes), and she tells me that her pretend brother called and wants to go on a date. I tell her she can’t, because she’s too young, plus no dates with her brother! She calls him back and says, quite emphatically, “I’m not going!” Then she tells me that he’s not happy and is threatening to have her arrested! Oh lord. She’s four.

Aug. 2022

The kids are in school now. Things are going well so far, though the run up was hard! Getting ready and being emotionally prepared has been stressful for us both. June was doing “pretend school” tonight, and came out of her room in a skirt and wearing her backpack. She struck a pose and asked, “Don’t I look cute!!?”

June has been sick and missed a few days this month … we’ve all been sick off and on. I guess stuff they’re picking up at school. I got a negative on a COVID test, so I guess it’s not that. June is loving school and Marvin’s hating it. Everyone else seems to be doing okay, though I don’t hear much from the other kids. Lucy went on a tour out west with a circus group, had a great time.

Sept. 2022

June continues to amaze us with her learning — and drive us crazy with her stubborn willfulness. She loves playing with scrabble letters and dominoes and is learning letters and numbers. She also has the concept of adding! She loves trying to write her name, and other letters and numbers. She uses very advanced words and phrases such as “a gust of wind” and “illness.” And she’s forever asking “Why?” or “What does that mean?”

October 2022

June and Marvin loved our Eden family gathering at Gene’s. Baby Hugo was the cutest thing, and June and Sophia loved playing with him together. Eight kids in their generation there.

November 2022

We were playing with the TicTacTony toy, which has red and blue discs. June arranged them as a flower and said, “It’s called the red and blue flower, written by James Carolina!”

A weird comment from the girl: “ All those boys are so stoopid! They don’t like their wives!” Shrugs her shoulders. (As part of some fantasy play with a pretend meeting- June on her “phone”!)

She’s learned the concept “equal.” And, amazingly, she read correctly all the numbers in the table of contents in one of our books! I had to help her a bit with 109, but she got the other hundreds correct.

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The Children, Spring 2022

[Continuing the chronological blog here, tho some of this I’ve already blogged as current journaling. ]

One of June’s favorite comments lately is, “Now here’s the plan!” We hang out a lot. Today, Marvin and mommie are off on a field trip, so we’re doing mud pies, scooter rides and playing on the clay hill today. She’s really fun to hang with. Her amazing skills and saying continue to get better. She recognizes several letters and numbers, writes some of them, and can count her fingers. She can go through the Poppy’s Feelings book with almost word-for-word accuracy, and she knows most of Groovycorns by heart. She regularly corrects me if I read a word wrong in any of our regular story books. And she’s making progress on going to sleep on her own!

Today (April 17), she tells me, after a lecture on listening to me and doing what I ask her to do, that I need to listen to her. So I said, you need to listen to me! She replied, quite sweetly, “We need to listen to each other!” Her newest saying, with great gusto, “Oh Baby!”

I’ve been wondering if anxiety and stress can cause dissociation…

We met up with some of Taylor’s family this week, Jerry and Karen one day, then Walt came to visit, and then we met Jerry’s sister in the park. The kids loved seeing “Poppy” and the Easter basket he brought!

June had me playing with stuffies for about an hour today—so much imagination! She creates these complex story lines punctuated with songs and interpretative dance. Her songs really catch up the emotional tone of what she’s singing about in amazing ways! One was “I’m so happy!” and another was a sweet, high melody about being sad…

Marvin’s 7th birthday (April 28) was great fun for all, with surprises galore. Though it wasn’t a party per se, Marvin’s friend Xavier came over with Michelle, his mom. Also Granny, Kay, Leslie and kids, and Mrs. Dot all were there, so was fun. Taylor made a truly wonderful chocolate cake, and we got the kids a Nintendo Switch with a TV screen, so Marvin was very happy!

June and I are hanging again, as Mom is off to town. Bike and scooter rides already, plus playing, a little TV, and some drawing. She’s always engaging.

May began with sweetness and love, cuddles and conversation, lots of happy moments and opening up to each other. We’ve all been pretty healthy, tho the allergies are bad with all the pollen. We also had a great teacher conference with Marvin’s teachers and speech therapist. They were all very complimentary about Marvin’s work in kindergarten. And good news – June gets to be in Screven Pre-K next year! She needs the connections and outlet. She’s always grabbing me, “Play with me!” – so I’m down on the floor listening to her stuffy stories. She’s a wonder, but she’s very challenging.

She’s so happy that she’s going to school next year! She asked me the other night if she was going to school tomorrow! It may be a long summer! She’s a big on the ADHD side for sure, and focus is sometimes a problem. She told me today (May 14) that she can watch TV and play at the same time… guess she gets that from me. She’s often distracted by something, anything, in the midst of some task or mission. Yesterday she set up a little store in the living room with her toy cash register and lots of toys to sell! I hope the Pre-K is ready for her!

Marvin is doing so well in Kindergarten, so it seems likely June will be fine in Pre-K. We’ve noticed that Marvin actually seems to have calmed down a lot since being in Kindergarten this year. And it seems that playing video games helps him calm down as well. Engaged! Most of his problem behaviors — meltdowns, crying and screaming, such things — are all much better!

We’re looking forward to a family gathering with my siblings and families in October. A good conversation with Liana recently, she is positive about coming, tho Lucy is probably going to be too busy. It’s been more than 2 years since we got together, and a year since Bob’s memorial. We need to get together.

The kids are sick this week (June 1) since a swim last Saturday. We’re both tired but healthy. June said today that when its her birthday she thinks there will be an avalanche. I asked her if she knows what an avalanche is and she said, “I know what an avalanche is! It’s when a rock falls down from a cliff, and it kills you!” Another day she tipped my hat back and said, “Now you look like a bro!” She’s full of cute comments!

We had to cancel June’s birthday party (June 9) on account of a COVID case at VBS First Baptist. We had cake and gifts with just us. Sad.

Stressful month so far, as we’ve been anticipating Marvin’s heart procedure at the end of June. But it’s done now (June 24) and we’re home and he’s fine! It was a two-day ordeal, tho the medical part was less than an hour, and remarkably, he’s not had a lot of impact from it, and he’s improving rapidly. We’re so relieved!

A great conversation with Liana yesterday (July 9) and she’s still positive about the family gathering. I’ve begun the blog and I’m hoping everyone will read it, even Marvin and June, one day!

We went for a fun trip to St. Simons (mid-July) and Taylor and Marvin climbed the lighthouse while June and I sat below and waved. She didn’t like the ghost stories that preceded the climb! She has been WILD lately, going through this defiance thing. Trying to talk to her, ended up giving her a spank, but that doesn’t seem to help. I need a new approach!

Mom’s off to a workshop today so me and the kids… hanging out. June’s in her bedroom pretend reading to herself, one of her favorite things to do. She ‘reads’ off and on when I’m reading bedtime stories to her… amazing how she remembers the words to the stories, even over weeks later… And the complexity of her play with little characters and stuffed toys is narrative driven.

An amazing comment from her the other night. I told her I loved her, and she said, “I love you too! Usually, I love the whole world!”

I think she does!