Dinosaurs and Philosophy

It's not been easy to write much recently with a teething baby and a restless four year old who just can't get to sleep. For the four year old, it was this dinosaur exhibition that did it.

Every evening she's been asking, why did the dinosaurs all die mummy? She's really sad they all died and wishes they'd come back. Based on a film that's part of the exhibition she's decided all the dinosaurs went in a ball which got stood on and then they sailed in a ship to another planet. She wishes they would come back, well only the vegetarians. But from that beginning my little girl has been thinking a lot about death. 'I'd be sad if I died' she says, 'would you?' or 'would you be sad if you died mummy?' And also a lot of discussions about time and things existing before us and after us and change. It's heavy stuff for me let alone for her. I'd love to hear what anyone else thinks about these topics and how to talk about them with your little ones. Any great books?

On a lighter note we've been enjoying the last days of summer in the sun with friends. It's not as warm as a few weeks ago but it is sunny.

Walnut Shell Boats

little walnut shell boats

Back at the beginning of the year I read something about boats made out of walnut shells and I was really taken with the idea. My parents-in-law have a walnut tree and so we eat a lot of walnuts; sprinkled in salads with blue cheese and apple or teamed up with chocolate and raisins. I'd been keeping the shells for a while for Maya to use in her kitchen but really wanted to try this out too. 

One rainy day in August while Noah was sleeping we finally got our opportunity. We had a blast with this project. We cut the sails out of little bits of paper from her scraps basket then fixed them to the walnut shells using tiny balls of non-toxic play dough (you could use blue-tac or even glue). Our masts are cocktail sticks which we (mostly I) threaded the sails onto. 

I took the first two pictures but the last one is Maya's. She used a book from the library to set up the background for her shot and then placed the boats and their 'water' in front of it. 

First post

First post. I have thought about this for a long time. About why I want to write a blog and what I want to write about. I have waited and hesitated and not started so many times. And then. Then I decided to say yes. To say yes to beginning and yes to sharing and yes to reaching out in the hope of making connections. I have been a reader for such a long time and enjoyed the blogging community so much and now I would like to share too, a little of our daily life, a little bit about being a mama and creating with my children. I hope it will be a way of turning a lens onto all the things i have to be grateful for each and every day and also a way to connect with other people who understand why I get so excited about a particular colour of wool or an exhibition about buttons or making walnut shell boats with my 4 year old! These are just a few of the things I hope to post about soon.