it took me forever today to finally figure out how to occupy ava. some days it is easier than others, and some days it is more difficult. today was on the difficult side of the spectrum. i pulled out her favorite--a glueing and cutting project, and she lasted about 5 minutes. everything i tried just did not engage her. and then i looked at the container of utensils that sits next to the stove (spoons, whisks, spatulas etc), and thought, "gee, this has been bugging me for a while. it is due for a good scrubbing, inside and out..." and then it hit me. bucket of soapy water, container of instruments of every variety, sunshine--what could be better? they did not exactly get clean, but she spent a good hour and a half finding all sorts of uses for them. when i hear her chatting to herself, i know we have hit the jackpot.

and then this afternoon, she devised her own occupation. she has a hobby horse--a stick with a horse head on it--and periodically she lavishes all sorts of attention on it--feeding it, watering it, washing it, etc. today she went outside, and i saw her talking to it and bringing it to the grass (the 3 tufts of grass that we have in the sunny part of the yard), bringing it to the bucket of water, to the baby pool, and so on. and then she became very absorbed in another bucket, putting all sorts of items in it, mixing, adding water, chattering away the whole time. when i asked her what she was doing, she proudly stood up and said "i am making soup for my horse!" it just must be universal. every single child must have an inborn compulsion to make "soup" out of whatever ingredients might be at hand. and ava was going to town. she was incredibly busy, incredibly serious, and incredibly determined. she would march around, looking at the ground, see a pinecone and say to herself "oh, this is great, i will put a pinecone in. this will make it really good..." and then she would march on over to her bowl. it was very fun to watch, especially because i was bowled over by her imagination. this was real. she had completely entered another world where she was concocting something exquisite for her horse, and it was exciting, and satisfying and fun. and suddenly i grasped a little memory of what it was like to do that as a child--to want a certain reality so badly that you truly lose yourself and the world around you to imagination. how wonderful.

and then, as i was reflecting on all of this, she came over to me with a spoon laden with sand, wood chips and water, and said "mommy, would you like some of these delicious french juices?"

french juices??????????