Works in progress

Earlier this week in one of my online knitting groups, this question was posed: "What is the biggest project you’ve ever undertaken? Define big however you like." Most people responded with details of their knit or crochet project, but one person said, "The biggest project I’ve ever undertaken is the raising of my sons! Nothing much compares with that."

So true. Having Aidan and raising him to be a confident, smart, responsible, honest, kind, and [insert positive adjective of your choice here] person is by far the biggest, most difficult project I have ever undertaken. Parenting is hard work and there is no time off. And while certain aspects of the job have gotten easier as he has grown, other aspects have gotten much more complicated. And as Aidan has grown, I have grown in my role as a parent. I have learned over the years the better ways to handle situations, how to elicit better responses from Aidan when correcting behavior...I just need to learn to REMEMBER better.

Most of the time I can honestly say that I like Aidan - he is funny, smart, inquisitive and interesting. But there are times (several this week alone) when I wonder when the reasoning circuit in his brain will be complete so he can think through what he is doing and see the consequences ahead. I wonder when he will use his fantastic memory for more than Pokemon cards, Harry Potter books, and Nintendo 3DS games. I wonder when he will look beyond this moment and learn that delayed gratification may be better than doing something right now.

In knitting, we have WIPs, FOs and UFOs - Works In Progress, Finished Objects and UnFinished Objects. WIPs are just what you think they are, FOs are completed projects, and UFOs are projects that are not finished but are not actively being worked on. I like to think that both Aidan and I are WIPs, and that we both have a lot more work to do on ourselves and on our relationship.

Solitary walk

It is winter break for most central New York school systems, so Aidan has the entire week off from school. He has been having a great time playing with friends, but today he is at Beaver Lake Nature Center's day camp. Last year when he went to winter day camp, he played in snow caves, cut ice from the lake and snowshoed. Not today! With temperatures well above freezing and only scant patches of snow on the ground, some other kind of fun will be in order.

After I dropped him off at 9 am, I decided to stay at the nature center and walk, rather than return to the village for my walk. When I walk around the village, I take my iPod and listen to the various podcasts that I download. But since I was away from traffic, I choose to forgo the iPod and just listen to the outdoor sounds. I walked two different trails, Deep Woods and Pine Meadow, for a total of 1.6 miles. I met several other solitary walkers but for the most part, it was just me and the creatures. Woodpeckers were hammering on trees (for what at this time of year?), squirrels and chipmunks were running around, chickadees were chattering and the crows, as usual, were in a royal snit about something. I enjoyed the fresh smell of the outdoors, the crispness of the air and my own thoughts.

It was a lovely way to start the day and a nice change of scenery.