What They REALLY Think About All Day At School

We are deep into the sheltering arms of summer here at Casa Alatorre.


Today, my nine year old has spent the entire day building an amazing tee-pee fort in the back garden. There is a darn good reason we have kept a large pile of branches in one corner of our yard, and this is it. Today's tee-pee is an improvement on previous models: it's spacious, with room "for seven people, if they're kids" on the inside, and the branches selected don't have offshoots that might poke you in the eye if you stand up in the middle of the tee-pee, a significant upgrade from yesterday's version. Fort Cenzo features a sink with running water (a toy bin set beneath a hose), an archery area (a round garbage bin lid propped up on one side), and a soccer field (pug goals on either end). Four American flags, happy to be pressed into service since being abandoned after the England v. USA world cup match, adorn the top. And best of all, my involvement has been at an all time minimum. Score!

I just told my husband about it on the phone, and he asked me if I had documented it yet. Sadly, I have not. I'm too afraid to go in the back yard because my presence has a way of reminding them of the 67 demands they want to make of me. So, no pictures today. I'm enjoying their independence far too much to ruin it for posterity.

* * *

These days, the kids have been eating lunch outside, running around barefoot, and generally living the life I wish for them.

As the school year fades into the background, they've piped up every now and then with little gems from their year. Here are two I found especially enlightening:

Nine year old: "I used to spend most of every afternoon hoping that you would come and pick me up early; you actually did a few times, so I thought if I kept wishing for it, it might happen again. Even if you were there just 5 minutes early, it was so cool."

Five year old: "Mom, we got through the entire school year without a fire! The school didn't burn down once! I used to wonder every day if we would have a fire drill that wasn't a fire drill but was real because there was a real fire. But guess what? We didn't have a single fire the entire, whole year!" (Related with wide-eyed and joy-filled excitement.)

I think they might be learning more from the fort-building endeavors going on these days.

* * *