Thinking Allowed: Bumping up a year

Note: This is a delayed post I know it is now already February

December should feel light and festive but somehow it always feels a bit of a slog here in Australia where the big summer shutdown coincides with the Christmas break. As the school year comes to an end, the last minute field trips and concerts and celebrations start popping up like tulips. The UV index shoots up so the children start coming home dripping wet (admittedly Aurora became keen on schoolyard water fights so not all sweat), pink cheeked, smelling of sunshine and crayons and tired. There is a frenzy to get things done before the years comes to an end - last minute projects at work and at home, last minute appointments before everything closes for the holidays, last minute baking for teachers and events, and last minute trips to the beach to preserve your sanity.

And then there are the holidays - eight days of fire and donuts and oil, Christmas and New Years which overtake you even if you dont celebrate them as the kids insist on decorating cookies and singing every Christmas song they learn at school on repeat. And then throw in the birthdays. Spaced one week apart throughout December so we feel like we are constantly eating cake or leftover cake - Zadie then Sophia then Tova. Admittedly, even though she wont admit it I think Tova even felt tired out of celebration by the time her birthday arrived because she specifically requested no cake, no dinner out, no trip to the ice cream shop but instead sent me to the grocery store to buy a tub of ice cream and cones.

And on top of the birthdays, school and work let out and we are free to do what we want to so we chaotically pack up some bags and throw everything from our fridge into a cooler bag and head out of town. And for good measure throw in some covid clusters and borders closures. By the time we make it to the new year we are all exhausted (except for Aurora who doesn't seem to get tired ever).

But here we are now on the other side, half of us a year older and the other half the same age but feeling a year older. And looking back on December it seems ridiculous but successful. Zadie is now four years old. My only true Summer baby she is all sunshine. She has held off on growing up for awhile but has recently made a sprint for maturity more and more choosing the pack of sisters over her mother. In the last few weeks she has become surprisingly brave (trained by Tova of course). Over our short trip she went from afraid of the water to splashing about joyously and determinedly. She is such an incredibly sweet cuddly human. Sophia is now nine. In her usual Sophia intense way she can now do about thousand push ups if you give her a cookie. She is a focused hardworking child - except at home where she lives in a book devouring their stories like the world might end. She is caring and quick to give me hugs if I look at all sad or even if I do something silly like spill a bag of rice on the floor. Tova is now 7. She is also maturing and looks like a big kid now. She is bursting with so much energy and creativity we are constantly astounded. She loves to jump off high things. She climbs the ladder to the slide and then rather than sliding down jumps off the top. She can write stories and tell stories on and on and they are actually pretty good. Her mind is constantly awhir and time travels fast for her.