Warning: Boasting ahead...

I might as well admit it, since it is likely going to come across that way.  So, we boys are smack in the middle of a 15-day desert of Mommy.  She is in Panama leading a group of undergrad and grad students exploring and collecting bird data.  Last year was the first of these trips, this year the second, longer, and the longest time we have been apart as a family.

But at least we are not wandering aimlessly, suffering in that desert, etc.  Don't get me wrong, it is not exactly comfortable, but I must proclaim that we are hanging in.  And I owe much of that to the boys. Hence this post.

Yes, thank you friends and family for all your offers to help, and thank you Mom for sending some cooked food to help in a pinch.  That has come in handy.  But by and large, the greatest source of this success is two fantastic little men.

At four and a half and two and a half they are helping.  Both of them.  They dress themselves, go to the bathroom alone,  (Heath is even wiping himself now, Mommy, and doing a fine job!), dress themselves for school and bed, feed Tsuga, help gather kindling and bring wood up for fires, clean up after themselves, set the table, clear the table, rinse dishes and put in sink/dishwasher, put few scraps in compost, get their own water to drink.  I let them mix things, cut things (with dull knives) to prep dinners and lunches.  It is amazing what little ones are capable of.  They, as tiny humans, want to be independent, want to do it themselves.  A parent just has to let them try. Each task starts with a few messes, which they can also clean up if given the materials, and pretty quickly they can master it.  

In the mornings, Heath is in a routine of smart balance and nutritional yeast on bread and a small bowl of yogurt with honey stirred in.  Then fruit or cashews if he is still hungry.  And, he tells me everyday, as if I don't know, "Daddy, me want butter, soymilk in a cup, shrishoo yeese, vread, yogurt and honey and a spoon."  Each morning, he lists them in a different order, however the pile of want rolls off his tongue.  Then, "And me hope you, Daddy!" He gets everything out of the fridge, utensils out, pulls his stool up the counter and goes to it.  I help with some things, but he is way into the assembly.  And then the breakdown, right down to wiping his face, hands and the table.  He'll sweep his floor crumbs up too, but I don't always ask for that.

Likewise, Alder is into "layers and layers and layers in a glass" which means cereal flakes, yogurt, honey, almonds, granola and cinnamon squares laid in distinct levels in a drinking glass.  He assembles all this, takes to table, eats, cleans up, etc.

And here is the plug for Montessori.  We are so fortunate to be able to have them in a Montessori program while we work days, to learn these practical life skills.  Then we can further that at home.  But the beauty is that one needn't a Montessori school to do this, but just the awareness that they are very able at a young age if allowed.  And the greatest, most invaluable payoff is the self worth and acheivement they feel through all these tiny tasks, as part of a functioning family and household.  

But these days its allowing me to hold down the fort, cook whole food, and have fun with them, all while still keeping things in some functioning order.

There, had to share.  I am so proud and amazed.

And for those of you that read this far, your reward: