...March : The List...

 Now I don't know about you, but I'm thinking this whole "March comes in like a lion..." thing has some pretty good potential.  Fierce, wild, and altogether forceful?  Sounds good.  Ready to tear things up and make a snack of February?  Even better!

Bring it on March...we're ready to ROAR!!!

First a few old familiars...best laid plans and all that...

❐ re-tile the entryway (I know, I know...is it even worth it at this point?) But...this repressed interior decorator needs that flow!

❐ daytrip to a new locale in New York

❐ daytrip to a new locale in Pennsylvania

 

❐ dinner with just Johannes (this is 100% guaranteed to be on every list!)

 

❐ lunch with just Henri (as is this!)

❐ take Henri on a train ride (surely we can plan a daytrip around this)

❐ visit Ringing Rocks Park (I mean...it's a must with my little rock-star!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And now for something new...

❐ now that Early Intervention is over, let's go ahead and rearrange our living space to suit our daily needs a bit better

❐ diving into signing and signaling

❐ future focus: minds on moving! Time to scout out new vistas!

❐ put it in the book: schedule those healthcare appointments

❐ city streets, new eats, family completes

❐ salty air and Red Bank fair

❐ visit an aquarium and adopt a fish for Henri

...February : The List...recap

  Farewell, February.

Farewell, though so much of you still seems to be lingering...carrying over into this new month with your unfinished business, your tentacles of unresolved trauma and tribulation, your long-reaching consequences.  You've tried your best to throw us off course...and in some disappointing ways, been quite successful.  We'll feel you still, I'm sure, come June.

But here we close the books.  Some boxes checked, and others empty.  An accounting, of where we hoped to be and where we landed. A visual aid to remind me in years to come how best laid plans were thrown off course by illness (yes...again...or is it ongoing?) and emergencies, and reunions...and a revolving door of challenges, choices, and next-right-things.

I feel quite wrung out by you..."I'm tired", my ceaseless chant...or whine...or excuse.

I'm tired.  Too many irons in the fire...too few sparks to keep the blaze roaring.

But here I draw the line:

-------------------------------

Because for as much misery as you brought, we filled you up with moments (big and small) of pure joy, pure love, and pure life.  We poured into you reignited relationships, daytrips aplenty, mini-adventures, hard-won milestones, celebrations...and plenty of cake!

Sure, there are unchecked boxes up above.  Disappointments logged in empty space.

But February...you were full.

To the brim.

To overflowing.

You were full all the way into this start to March.

...February : The List...

Thank goodness for another clean slate, courtesy of a new month.

January...did not go as planned...

The first part spent in "quarantine" as one, then another and another of us got sick...plans postponed, then cancelled and mourned.  Schedules re-scheduled, then abandoned all together.

As a result, we spent the second half of the month...the "recovery mode" portion, playing catch up on the basics...work and appointments and early intervention and therapies and volunteer commitments all getting crammed into the few remaining days. 

Is it any wonder that I'm starting off this new month feeling equal parts frantic and frustrated?

But, I have a plan.

Or, rather...plans...

Some of which, as you can see, are simply "forwarded" from last month to this one,
whether for want of real, heavy winter snowfall and freezing temps,
or because we just didn't manage to squeeze them in.  

Here's to hoping we get each one checked off this time around!

Cheers to a new month, and new possibilities!

❒  -> build and decorate our fairy house and plant it in the woods

❒ -> go on a rock hunt for round white rocks and build snowmen with them

❒ -> ”spraypaint” pictures in the snow with spraybottles of water/food coloring

❒ -> make snow-eis

❒ -> explore one of NJ’s waterfalls in the winter…look for ice flows

❒ -> walk the beach and gather shells, rock, seaglass….bundle up!

❒ -> drive to a desolate spot and stargaze at night, with hot cocoa!

❒ re-tile the entryway area

❒ daytrip to a new locale in New York State

❒ daytrip to a new locale in Pennsylvania

❒ dinner with just Johannes

❒ lunch with just Henri

❒ schedule and book our first post-Covid overnight trip

❒ teach Henri 3 new signs

❒ visit a children’s museum

❒ take Henri on a train ride

❒ daytrip to RedBank for gluten-free goodies and sea-salt air

❒ have dessert for dinner

❒ visit Ringing Rocks Park

❒ go on another weekend thrift haul, complete with a picnic lunch

❒ make chocolate covered strawberries with Henri…don’t forget the sprinkles!

Let's check back in on the 28th and see how many boxes we ✔ off!

...february plans...