The week was one of sickness and snuggles. While I don’t wish for my children to be sick, I do enjoy the extra time with them, being able to take leave from work to nurse them back to health. In any case, I didn’t have much time and energy between making tea, giving baths, and dowsing them in essential oils to do much blogging or sharing on Instagram so I decided to collect up a few of my favourite moments from the week and share them as odds and ends. Well, okay, it’s mostly cute things Sen said that I don’t want to forget.

Sen is a highly analytical child and when he is presented with a problem he will solve it. When it comes to being told he can’t do something he rarely reacts emotionally, instead he comes up with logical (and sometimes not so logical) reasons to persuade his parents to come around to his view. Normally his reasons are quite rational and often Matt and I are quite surprised by his level of intelligence. This week, however, he started using two reasons that made little sense at first. When asked to put away his puzzle he replied “I can’t mama it wouldn’t be good for the environment.” Another variation, when telling me why we had to take a particular route to walk to the market “Because this way is better for the earth!” It wasn’t any better, but he knew what sorts of emotional arguments to use with me to get his way. Then, explaining to Matt why he should get a new Lego set “But papa, don’t you know it’s vegan and organic?!” I almost burst out laughing when I heard him say it. Then I heard my own voice come back to me…because when Ro asks for treats at the market I always reply “Is it vegan? Is it organic? Well, I think you know the answer…” So, it seems he is internalizing these as persuasive words and using them with us. Sweet, clever child.

Being at home, I did have some time to catch up on my reading. I finished Marie Kondo’s opus The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I’ve read parts here and there but never read it cover to cover until this week. I’m glad I did. I would definitely recommend it for anyone interested in minimalism and de-cluttering or seeking to create a calm home space. I have a few reservations when it comes to her lack of discussion of how to consciously discard items and not have them end up as landfill (she often mentions garbage bags, lots of garbage bags, which is a bit of dirty word around here, no pun intended). I’m also not convinced by her “spark joy” litmus test. But overall the book is excellent and especially the last section where she talks about the emotional life of things and the deep respect we should give to all objects we possess. A good book for sure.

I started reading Simple Matters by Erin Boyle and it’s excellent. I would definitely recommend this book! Stay tuned to hear more about it.

The local winter festival, known as Winterlude, started Friday night we couldn’t go due to sickness so hopefully we will make it next weekend. Here’s hoping for cold winds and snow so the ice sculptures won’t melt!

This week on the blog I have another interview with a minimalist to share and selections for the January Slow Living project focusing on “renew”. Come back and visit.

Xo, Danielle

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