McCarty Farm=perfect wilderness of childhood

We went to the McCarty farm yesterday so Justin and Micah could work on the cobb oven. We love going out there. It's in the middle of nowhere and you just feel so calm and peaceful when you're there. This is the perfect place for Eli to experience the wilderness of childhood. He can pretty much go wherever he wants without having meddlesome parents interfering. For instance, he and Harper went out to one of their ponds to look for fairies and trolls. Eli wasn't buying into the whole fairy and troll thing, but Harper had him convinced they were real by the time we left. Another adventure was going down the rabbit hole to find Alice in Wonderland (a hole in the ground there dog started). Eli was really disappointed that we didn't want to keep digging so he could find it, but all was well once he and Harper started watching the movie, after which Harper and Eli took turns being Alice and Mr. Rabbit. Another note: Eli pretty much spent the entire day in his underwear. It was beautiful outside and we're in the country, so why not? There were places where some snow hadn't melted yet, so it was really funny seeing him walking through the snow in his underwear. He even tried it with no shoes but that didn't last long. We are so grateful that Eli has a place like this where he can really be a kid. Pics to be posted soon.

Pillow fights and snowball fights

It's amazing how much fun a 5 1/2 year old can have with pillow fights and snowball fights. They are pretty fun for the mom too. Although the 5 1/2 year old and his mom may have to wear protective gear next time...

Magic Tree House

Eli loves the Magic Tree House books. We've read all of them plus the research guides. He has always wanted a tree house or outdoor playset (actually, if he had his way, both). I would love to give him a tree house for his 6th birthday in June. We don't really have any good trees for a tree house, so we would have to build a "treeless treehouse." And by we I mean Justin and possibly 1 or 2 friends. I could paint it though! Anyway, here is a really cool picture and blueprint for building one. Now we just have to see how much it would cost to build this monster... Here it is.

The Joy of Destroying Things

So I got bored last night. Must be the weather. I started thinking that it would be fantastic to stand at the oven and be able to look into the dining room at the same time. Out comes the hammer. Out comes the saw. Wow, I have no idea what I'm doing.

On a positive note, no child has ever admired his father more than Eli admired me as I recklessly threw the hammer into the wall. He kept asking me if I knew what I was doing. Of course I said yes. Lying to children is what fathers do.

At one point Eli said, "Is this when the house falls down?". I had to put the hammer down, laugh, pick it back up, and say (in my best Atticus Finch), "Not yet."

The Dangerous Book for Boys

My parents gave Eli a book a few years ago for when he gets older called The Dangerous Book for Boys. This whole "wilderness of childhood" thing reminded me about this book, so I got it out. The chapter on building a treehouse got me especially excited b/c we're trying to figure out a way to build Eli some kind of treehouse/fort. I think this book will be perfect in our quest to let Eli have his own adventures. If you want to read more about this awesome book, click here. And for you parents out there that have girls, they have The Dangerous Book for Girls too!

Our Backyard

During the devastating blizzard that we somehow managed to survive this past week, Eli was a little more willing to bear the cold than I was. I did make it outside for some sledding and snow fort building, but the little fellow still had some energy to expend, so we bundled him back up and threw him in the backyard.

Our backyard is something to behold right now. It's pretty much a junkyard. I'm a magnet for free stuff, so there's a neverending collection of scrap lumber, windows, bicycles, and an assortment of used "_______" mixed in with the chicken coop, the straw bale garden, the "junk" shed. So I settled in next to one of our windows to observe our little explorer.

It was SO interesting to watch him pick up random pieces of useless bits of whatever, and try to figure out what he could do with them. Pieces of sheet metal were collected into the wheel barrow. Scraps of wood were lifted, inspected, and usually dropped back down where they came from.

I gave him one bit of guidance. Under no circumstances was he to enter the shed. I described it to him as a death trap for adventurous 5 year olds. Sharp, heavy objects just waiting for someone to pull them down in a murderous pile. To add just a bit more temptation than was reasonable, I had managed to leave the shed door open.

Watching him stare into the cavernous shed of death, pulling together every bit of restraint he could muster, was pretty entertaining. He didn't go inside, but he sure wanted to. And he will, eventually, and that's ok.

Wilderness of...theater!

A week or so ago I signed Eli up for this. I think he is going to LOVE it. He's such a ham and he loves to sing and dance. So this will be a kind of wilderness for him-he gets to use his imagination and he will at least be free of parental advisory.

Regaining the adventure of childhood

After reconnecting with the blog world of my friends, I have been inspired to start a new blog for Mr. Fortney and myself to author. Justin has been reading this great book, Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon, which is what inspired the title of this blog (thanks to Micah McCarty for loaning the book to him). He writes about how childhood "is, or has been, or ought to be, the great original adventure, a tale of privation, courage, constant vigilance, danger, and sometimes calamity." He talks about the incredible amount of freedom his parents gave him to explore, in a land ruled by children, where a kid can exile himself for at least some portion of every day from the world of adults. Now, we schedule everything for our kids, driving them from place to place so they never get a chance to discover the unexplored lands between. I want Eli to be able to have this adventure. He needs time when we aren't telling him what to do or what not to do. I'm not sure exactly what this will look like, b/c I don't feel comfortable with him just wondering the neighborhood by himself-at least not yet. But I want to find ways for him to explore and get away from the world of adults.

-Amanda