look at them learning...

Actually, this is a particularly schoolish photo, don't you think? The owlets decided to sit down and work on a page or two of some maths problems while we were waiting for the pasta to cook on Saturday. And it's possibly the only photo I have of them looking like they are doing anything related to "learning" in the traditional sense, even though they are all learning so much...

On this particular occasion, Big Owlet learnt to add numbers with double digits, which she later said was "kind of fun", despite her general feeling that "maths is boring". Big Owlet is going through a patch of not reading much at all. She reads to her sisters lots, and very well, but she's paused the novel reading for a little while for some reason... She's all about cooking. Today she baked her first solo cake. Thanks to baking, she now understands measurement, time and temperature so much better, as well as a bit of chemistry, watching solids and liquids mix, which she's backed up with a bit of playing with gloop...



She's learning the fine art of checkers and thinking strategically. Actually, we've been playing lots of games, learning much along the way.



Little Owlet, who doesn't like games all that much, is learning the basics. Self care is an important one for her. I'm modeling it as best I can and showing her by nurturing her LOTS. She forgets to eat, she's so wrapped up in play. Forgets so many things... She's branching out lots on her own, finding independence, wanting to spend all day with friends...



Little Owlet is also asking for lots of time with me, in that tug-of-war that goes on until that independence is upon them... I'm making time to read to her at the end of each day. It's important to her. Unlike her sisters, she never much cared for books, as a toddler. But we're making up for it now. She's reading some words. And listening to so much that I'm saying to her, showing her. She's a little sponge right now. A happy, social little sponge and it's so exciting to watch.



Tiny Owlet is a sponge too. She's observing everything and learning by osmosis. She's all about mothering.



She carries her baby everywhere. She breastfeeds, co-sleeps... actually we all breastfeed her baby, but that's a story for another day... She calls most of us "mama" when she needs something or wants to be heard...



She is working so hard on talking, despite being perfectly comprehensible in grunts. Her days are about caring and copying and climbing and clowning. And they are so full. All of our days are full. Full of learning and loving and just living.