Joys of unstructured solitude

Our days have been busy ones. I am sure part of the reason the girls don't miss home as much is because we are constantly doing or planning something. Not big things but they occupy our minds bodies and time. And we also have the leisure of moving at our own pace, namely, slow, and moving by our preferred choice of transportation, legpower. For example, on Monday we walked 3 kms to the French playgroup (and then back), then had a picnic in the park nearby and played in the playground then went home and created a book of all of Sophia's favorite French songs. On Tuesday we went to the mint and learned all about coins and their production, went home for lunch and did some math and then headed to the climbing gym for the afternoon and evening.  We are the creators of our lives right now. 

And I have learned the advantages of being isolated. When you have no friends, no commitments, no school, no phone, no job the days actually become fuller but much more relaxed. True their are downsides to isolation but people often ignore the advantages. In this time of busy solitude the girls have formed a strong clan. Amazingly, with life's other little kid stressers removed, they get along much better and rarely fight. It is nice to see them so genuinely enjoying each others company. They have also had time to develop interests. Interests that go beyond the normal love of playgrounds and candy. Aurora is into science and animals. She has lots of time to delve into these topics. For example, this morning when I got up I found her on the couch reading through a book of experiments. Sophia is into hospitals and anything medical. Honestly this has nothing to do with me but began with a required visit to the hospital in Norway.  She insists on checking every medical children's book out from the library and reading them over and over and over again. She is also intent on learning to swim and read and regularly reprimands Aurora that she needs to spend more time teaching her to read. Tova is into everything. In a literal sense. She is an energetic monkey who chases after her sisters and repeats everything they say. And so we are thankful for this time of adventurous family solitude.