LOAD Day 19 | Your Morning Basket

Off to take a bubble bath. But first

Journaling reads:

Bending, I jammed the spade into the soft dirt. It wasn’t quite warm yet, with the night temperatures still dipping into the 30s, but it felt good all the same.

“Here, put this into the hole,” I explained, handing the bulb to Olivia who was “helping”. She gave it a toss, and it landed sideways in the small hole. I righted it and spread the dirt back over the top, while mentally counting the number of bulbs we had already planted. I had twenty bulbs altogether and they needed to be evenly spaced in the small corner of our yard that will hopefully become our butterfly and hummingbird oasis.

On the next bulb, I tried to explain to Olivia how to come close to the hole, squat, and place the bulb gently inside with the pointy side up. She was having none of that and after withstanding a couple more of my patient lessons and tossing in a couple more bulbs anyway, she soon tired of “gardening” and ran off to swing from the hanging rings.

I worked on in silence enjoying the repetitive motion of the planting, the mental counting and recounting, the eyeballing of the proper spacing, and this brief time alone. It had been a hard day. A non-napping day. A day with promise that had turned ugly with the frustrations of toddlerhood. Mentally I retraced my actions and thought about what I might do better to try to stop this from happening again. I formulated a plan of action of which this, bringing Olivia outside after dinner to enjoy the new longer days, was a part. In short, I was hoping to wear her out to avoid another bad bedtime.

I am not a great gardener. I really want to have success with these lilies, coneflower, and butterfly bushes so the kids and I can enjoy the beautiful foliage and the creatures that they will attract. I have had success with a few things in my garden and am hoping to build on that success by planting something new, trying again for growth, paying attention and changing what I did the last time. Come to think of it, gardening and parenting are the same in that regard. I’m just working to create a place where everything can thrive.

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Pam

Pam is the author of The Your Morning Basket Guide and Plan Your Year: Homeschool Planning for Purpose and Peace. She also is the host of three popular podcasts -- The Homeschool Snapshots Podcast, Your Morning Basket, and The Homeschool Solutions Show. She lives in the Deep South with her husband and three kids, where she is the go-to lady for great curriculum recommendations or a just a pep talk on a rough day.