A Typical Morning

All of the children's names have been changed, of course.

Nellie arrives first, still half asleep and in her sleepers. Her mom tells me she was up late last night so is probably tired. I sit with her for a minute and Nellie says, "I so tired." I tell her we'll have an early nap today.

Cody arrives as I sit Nellie in the big overstuffed chair. Nellie says, "I want my Cody." Cody's mom tells her to say hello so Cody says in her baby voice, "hello der."

We go to the kitchen where I start pancakes. Nellie sits at the table and sings a song she knows only one line to: "...and shine down on me." Cody sings something less intelligible. I sing, "I didn't know the gun was loaded, and I'm so sorry my friend...." They giggle. Just as I put the first pancake on the stove, Kenna arrives. Her mom tells me Kenna didn't go to sleep until after midnight. Great, I think. Two out of three. By Friday they're all tired anyway.

Kenna says she doesn't want to eat anything. I make a plate for her anyway but leave it on the counter. The other two dig in. They barely start eating when they demand, "I want milk!" I pour milk for them and by that time Cody is asking for more pancake. She hasn't touched her egg. I give her half of one. Kenna wanders into the kitchen and says she wants her pancake and egg. I hand her her plate.

Cody starts crying because her hands are sticky from the maple syrup so I wash her and she heads for the back door, ready to go outside I ask her to wait so I can clean up. So they get scissors and color pens out and sit at the table coloring. Kenna is using a stencil to make me a frog like the one she saw that my grand daughter made.

Dishes done, I peel Nellie out of her sleepers and find her a pair of shorts and a shirt to put on. We go outside. They all three jump in the trampoline, a fully enclosed eight footer, while I make the rounds, picking up dog poop so somebody doesn't step in it. Once that chore is finished I bring out the ten foot long roller coaster, four colorful little lawn chairs and set them up around the low round table. Then I bring out two large purple containers full of foam tubes and connectors for them to build with. Just then here come Evie and Cari and Evie begins directing the foam construction. She's a bossy four year old. Evie yells, "get out of here!" Nellie runs crying to me. I remind Evie to talk more gently to her friends. She continues to direct the play but less bossy now.

It's so sunny and warm already. They build for fifteen or twenty minutes then crawl inside the construction they've built. Evie makes the rule that only three girls can go inside so Cody and Nellie start crying. I tell her she is number four so if she wants to go inside then four can go in. Cody cries when Evie tells her again that she can't go in. I sigh and give Evie the "LOOK." She comes to where I sit and tells me about their construction, "this is a quakalo ginalo."

Cari sits next to me on the picnic table bench and she has pulled her arms out of her shirt so it is down around her waist. Now Evie and Kenna have taken their shirts off. Cody asks for help but Evie beats me to it. She pulls so hard that she lifts Cody off her feet and she falls, crying again. I think more than two of them are tired today. I intervene and help Cody, Evie apologizes and says it was an accident. She hugs Cody and Cody hugs her back.

Cari stinks. I have to change her.

When Cari and I come back outside the girls have taken all their clothes off (spread around the yard) and are busy ripping out the Naked Lady Lily plant leaves. They know better and all holler, "Evie did it." Evie acts like she's on another planet, not looking at me and busily picking grass to put in a cup she carries. She stands and runs, grabbing onto the Maple tree branch that is not even an inch thick yet. She likes to swing on them and I scold her every day about this. If she breaks that branch off I'll be mad. I planted the tree two years ago and eighteen others over the last ten years for more shade. I read somewhere that if every person in Sacramento planted three trees the temperature in that city would drop ten degrees. So I'm doing my part ninety miles north of there.

Cody and Cari run to the basketball hoop and throw a ball at it. The hoop is only inches higher than Cody's head. She makes a basket. Since I've brought my camera outside, I try to get a picture. I ask her to do it again so I can get a better picture. She picks up the ball and my dog, Maggie, makes a run for it so Cody drops the ball. I chase Maggie away and tell Cody, "it's all right, Maggie won't bother you." So she picks up the ball again and drops it when she sees Maggie come toward her again. Maggie obsesses over balls so the girls can't play unless they play ball with her or if I send her inside. Sad.

As I pour the water I've brought outside into pink cups, Evie brings a watering can and asks me to fill it. I know what this entails...that I fill it over and over and over as well as those the other girls bring once they see me fill it. Evie and I make a deal so I pour water into her container. Kenna sees me do this and cries that she wants one. I knew it. But it's okay, that's what I'm here for.

I bring out a table cloth to cover the table...napkins, graham crackers, cheese and apples, cut into narrow sections, as well as a pitcher so they can pour their own water this time. We can't have juice outside because it attracts the meat bees. Kenna and Evie pour perfectly but Nellie and Cody don't have the concept of 'conservation' yet so overfill theirs so their legs get wet. We only have four of the little lawn chairs so Kenna sits on one of the purple containers since she was the last one to the table after watering her plant. I join them in my big chair.

A man arrives just then to give me an estimate on weed-eating my place. His daughter laughs at all the naked little girls and says she thinks she recognizes Nellie. While I show the man what the weed-eating job entails, Evie hands out more crackers so each girl has half a dozen in her hands. I can't turn my back on that girl. If it weren't for her bossiness, she could ably run my program.

The man leaves and I bring the tray inside. Only inside for ten seconds and when I come out there are two buckets of sand dumped on the table. So much for making it pretty for them.

The four older girls are all back in the trampoline with all the big hopping balls that have handles. Maggie wants in, so circles the trampoline, barking. Kenna unzips the enclosure and brings her inside but her barking drives me nuts so I take the big balls (no toys allowed in there) and Maggie back out and throw a ball for her. Maggie is an active Chihuahua/Jack Russell mix, a perfect dog to keep up with the girls all day. Kenna plays with her the most.

Cari is trying to ride the teeter totter that is pulled next to the fence since the last rain. I pull it out on the lawn for her and as she gets on her shoe falls off and she tries to put it back on. I snap a picture then pull her other shoe off and put both of them on the porch.

The older girls are in the sandbox now. I'm tempted to give them the hose but would rather water the garden first. So we go out to the garden we've planted. A friend built new garden boxes this spring and the new soil is so rich that the plants grew FAST! New seedlings of bush beans, zucchini, Marigolds and Zinnias were up within three days of planting. We're already picking eggplant, green peppers and tomatoes after only three weeks. The girls love coming out here. They climb on the huge circle of boulders at the edge of the garden, the shady side, pick plums and eat them from the tree the rocks support. My old dog is buried under smaller boulders on the east side but the girls don't notice. Only Kenna and Nellie remember my dog, Sophie, who died two years ago.

Once everything is watered and Kenna has built "rivers" in the sandbox with the hose, and they've all splashed in it, I see that it's time for lunch. Lunch, stories, then, yay, nap!