A princess ...

Dakota ...

Laying in the soft, green grass ...

The beauty of where we all head for the flower festival each wednesday morning is that it's simultaneously a wonderful adventure land for three gorgeous boys.  Rocks that become pirate ships ... or are just fun to jump from ... great stumps and logs to hide behind ... a huge hill to climb and slide down ... and plenty of space to run and play in ... of course after that? ... a chill in the green grass is not such a bad idea ...

Never too many flowers ...

Spring + Frankie-Belle + Ella + Flowers = Wednesday mornings ritual ... every wednesday morning at the moment ... and it's not a problem for any of us ... both girls can't get enough and it takes hours before the reach saturation point ...

... and these below from a wednesday gone ...

Talking hats and dancing boots ..

There is always something new emerging in the children's play at the farm ... a new sense of self, a new relationship to their environment, a new way of expressing, a new way of communicating ... consciousness unfolds before or very eyes.

These three moments emerged on friday morning.  Each of them just gorgeous.

Magnus found he could balance a hat on a stick and was soon followed by Ted and Ari ...

They had the hats talking to each other, dancing with each othe and eventurally going as hight as they could make them ... Magnus lead the way with his usual care and enthusiasm for good quality relating ...

Meanwhile ... Dakota watched on and suddenly transformed the idea into a dancing boot ... which everyone found pretty funny ...

Jyra had been dancing with me singing and clapping to make her music (at her request) ... as she danced and told me she was a princess, she stopped at the side to put a stick in the ground.  This was a castle for the princess, she danced and narrated some more about the princess and soon was building a whole land for her to exist in ...

Not like that ...

Oli asked me today if I knew how old he was and before I could answer said, 'I'm three and a half.'

I replied, 'Wow Oli, three and a half is great.'

To which he said, 'Not like that, three and a half.'

I asked, 'Say it again Oli,' listening close ... and heard 'Free and a half.'

So I said, 'Oh sorry Oli, so your Free and a half.'

To which her replied, 'No ... I'm Free ana half.' ... slight exasperation in his voice now.

'O.K. Oli, I've got it now, Free ana half.'

'Oh ... not that, I said, Free ana huff.'

So I tried again, 'Is it Free ana huff Oli?'

'Not that,' says Oli back and this time I look him sqaure in the face, look and listen and ask if he'd say it for me one more time ... and then think I've got it ...

'I've got it Oli, you are Flea in a huff.'

'Yeah that's it!' he replied, with a sigh of relief and a smile.

I almost laughed outloud as he was getting a little bit like a 'fea in a huff' with me while I couldn't pronounce his age the right way.

What I found fascinating in this exchange was that Oli needed to hear it from me exactly as he says it himself.   This is to my experience really unusual.  Young children, mostly hear it as we say it even if they can't say it precisely for themselves yet.  This means, most would hear 'three and a half' said to them, say it as best they can which might be 'free and a half' or 'flea in a huff' ... and in conversation, would correct you if you say anything less than 'three and a half'.   They don't hear themselves saying it differently or not quitely.  Yet here was Oli totaly dissatisfied until I heard every nuance of how he said it and said it back to him the same way he says it.  Fascinating indeed.