We huddled together under the umbrella as we navigated the parking lot and staircase and she alternately avoided AND attacked puddles with her flip flops. She noticed and commented on indentations in the stonework in the stairs that she'd never seen before......they were capturing 'pools' this time.
The focus for this month was Greece, an ancient civilization where women stored perfume in ornate pottery, and where coins were 'minted' with the images of important people, events, and crops. We passed on the 'toga station' where she could have been dressed (for a photo op only) in the attire of the period (woulda been cute, dontcha think?) and went instead for something more to her liking: writing her name in Greek characters on a gold (paper) cuff bracelet. She noticed how much like our alphabet these letters were.
Then we ventured to a new studio area (one that they don't usually use for Second Saturday-the pottery studio) to try our hands and 'minting' coins. She deftly 'drew' (with a sharp stick) her creation into a piece of thick tin, flipped it over and affixed it to foam board. She enjoyed this most of all, I think, as she even wanted to do a second one......for Silas. She asked me his favorite colors: blue and green, of course! And then, "What does he like?" I hesitated because the answer would be 'Ninjas' and concern was rising up in me that this would be a 'too tall' order for this 'budding artist.' But my concerns were unfounded, to be sure, as she proceeded to draw and color a Ninja likeness on the foam-board frame of Silas's newly-minted coin that really impressed Silas and Ally when I gave it to him later in the day! So Kady's noticing of even that kind of detail is paying off in a 'heart' kind of way.
Kady's favorite parts of the Philbrook experience continue to be 1)the fact that she knows her way around 2)the blue 'velvet' staircase (brings out the 'princess' in her, I think and 3)anything outside. And so, it was such a blessing that the rain stopped in time for us put back on our jackets and venture out on the veranda and down the stairs to notice the amazing displays of pink and white tulips and happy-faced pansies of almost-every-color-imaginable. The rain had made the stairs and criss-cross stone path (she thinks of it as a 'maze') so beautiful and shiny, we just couldn't resist a trek down to the floor of the gardens, the koi ponds, the metal bison sculpture, the gazebo. Along the way, she began noticing some of the spots where we'd located small, hidden animal sculptures on past scavenger hunts. Because the sculptures weren't there, we surmised that they must just put them out for the hunts and we had a couple of good chats about how they could get them into those awkward, hard-to-reach, hidden places.
And this girl must have a thing about petunias, about which I knew not! She kept asking, "Where are the petunias?" Well, there aren't any.....at least not yet. We named all the other flowers, but came up empty on the one she wanted to see. So I told her to ask Dad and Mom if it would be okay if we planted some around their front yard tree......and, so we'll see. I'll be over there with gloves, trowels and a batch 'o petunias if we get the go-ahead on that project.
So....yeah....such a good time with Kady Grace today.....noticing the things she's learning to 'tune in' to. We want our 'grands' to be noticers....... ultimately noticing the 'hearts' and needs and cries of people by really deeply hearing what they're saying. Life can move us so fast and press us from every side to the point that we are driven by the URGENT, rather than the IMPORTANT. But tuning in to the IMPORTANT takes training (in noticing) and intentionality..... it takes 'slowing down'.......a tall order, indeed.
But that's why times like these are rich beyond description......and that I was there to walk that rain-washed 'sparkly' (her words) path with her makes me blessed beyond belief.
