good listening

Lately I have been impressed how talented kids are at listening. Teachers, parents and grandparents do remind little ones to put on their listening ears every now and then, but when those listening ears are on, they can hear! Every word. Reasoning as we all should reason -- with words and facts, rather than emotion.

Take Snowdrop. Yesterday, she told me (and I quote) -- gaga, eventually you are going to die.
This topic hasn't come up much here or at home, so I imagine she comes to it from school.
I admit that this is correct, though I add -- but not for a long long time.
Again, she must have heard exactly this addendum before, because she responds -- that's right. You'll die for a short time. And then you'll come back!

Here's another -- her teacher had said that people vote today and that it is very important to vote. Snowdrop needed clarification and her parents told her about the process of selecting leaders. She was jubilant when they said that they planned to vote.
I didn't think you could -- she explained. My teacher said you had to be 18 to vote. (She knew that they are not anywhere near that magic number.)



It is a wet election day here, in Wisconsin.






Wild hurricanes could not keep Ed and me from trudging out to vote. Soon after breakfast...






...We vote. It always surprises me how deeply emotional the act of voting is for me. Not because I approach the selection of candidates with emotion. But the mere act of taking part in this form of collective governance -- it is something that I do not take for granted. It matters. My hand is in the pot.  If it cannot be just exactly the kind of candidate that I want, well, that is part of the magic -- it shouldn't be any one person's choice. (Thank goodness!) Work on convincing the collective if you think they are straying. Then cast your vote.






Snowdrop asked if you can vote for yourself. My knee-jerk response would be "no," but in fact, you can! Forever in the annals of voting history you could have -- Snowdrop -- one vote. (Maybe more going forward! Who can tell!)






For the time being, I pick up a tired girl at school. By the time we are at the farmette though, she is peppy and flying.

I want to trim her bangs today. This gives her the idea that we should play hair salon with her babies. And with Ed. As always, her babies protest. Not Ed: he is most agreeable. Even when she takes scissors to his hair.












She sprinkles his hair with "flower dust" then moves on to the rest of her brood. And herself.






The afternoon cannot end without a Snowdrop story.






Today, I drive the little girl home so that I can catch up with her mom a bit. Once in the car, Snowdrop asks -- gaga, can I read in the car?
Of course. And once you learn to read everything, you can take any book with you to read in the car.
A police car wont stop us?
No, Snowdrop. You are allowed to read. As a passenger. 

I can only guess where this comes from: did she hear at some point a parent say "Snowdrop, we have to wait. We cannot send a message while driving. It's the law."


My daughter and I step out for a few minutes while the girl plays with dad and Sparrow continues a late afternoon nap.






We do not talk politics -- why should we. We both know each other's voting patterns. But there is a feeling of hope.

 I'll post now while that feeling stays with me. And now I'll go back to some good listening. There is much to be studied and understood in the hours before us.