What I Learned This Week - Backyard Edition

Actually, it's what I learned today, but I'll call it a week since that's in keeping with the series I'm linking to at Musings of a Housewife.  

So here goes.  I learned:

• That the weeds in my garden and flower beds are pervasive and hardy, and often overshadow the flowers and vegetables, even engulf them.  My takeaway: I've got to battle the bad stuff and cultivate the good stuff.  Literally and figuratively.

• That there are modern day miracles in my backyard.  To be specific, my mint plant survived a Maine winter. I interpret this as a sign from above that it's time to start making Mojitos.

• That the day has finally come when two are indeed easier than one. Back when my toddler and newborn conspired against me with perfectly opposed sleeping patterns, I wrote this day off as myth. But two years later, I see beyond the sleep deprivation to a whole new world of independent play.  While I weeded today, they rode the "roller coaster" (aka the bronco swing), squealing in feigned fright and genuine glee. They followed with a game of sending dump trucks and soccer balls down the slide. Then came time for the "hot mission" in which they dug their mittens out of the farthest reaches of the mud room, and donned them so they could touch the "pretend hot things like grass and sand."  (So yes, we use our beach toys to play in the snow and our mittens to play in the sand.  Forgive us.  Maine just has us a bit seasonally confused, that's all.  Six months of winter can do that to a person.) 

• That I rambled in that last paragraph.  The idea was to tell you that Caed and Dani played beautifully together today, and it made me quite happy to see.  Just in case that point got lost somewhere among the mittens in the mud room...

• That I'm enjoying being home with my kids more than I ever imagined I would.  This is a fun stage, and this was a great day.

And now, I leave you with nine seconds of squealing and yelling.  It seemed a lot cuter earlier.  Now it just seems like two kids screaming on a swing.  Oh well.  I learned that even two kids screaming on a swing can melt my heart and make me smile, especially when they are doing it without my help!