stillness

It started out with the good intention of going to a puppet show - how overwhelming can a puppet show be really?  Well the answer...if you haven't already guessed...is really overwhelming.  The combination of April vacation (=way more kids than normal at the library), unseasonably warm weather and that it took place in a very small -unventilated basement room- of our local library proved to be a very over stimulating.  Owen could not keep still and we were packed in like sardines...and well you can imagine Isabelle trying her hardest to sit on top of me in order to avoid touching any of the several people surrounding us.

It went pretty well...I was surprised at how well Isabelle was coping with the situation...a short time ago I thought she would have made a be line for the door as soon as she saw all the kids.  But then...oh...but then...the last puppet really wanted to give everyone in the audience a kiss.  Oh no.  I thought...we are close to the back...she surely won't make it all the way back here.  But she did.  And upon the dragon swooping in to kiss Isabelles head we all witnessed shear uninhibited fear - she screamed.  And not the cute squeal scream.... it was the puppet is going to rip my head off type of scream.

After we nearly escaped...with all our heads in tact...we walked to the park to breath for a few minutes. Followed by some hugs and big heavy sighs.  I think she knew she over reacted but there was just nothing she could do about it.  It was okay, I know my girl and I apologized for the situation escalating to what it had.  We loaded up into the car and headed home...and then we all napped (which never ever happens).  After Isabelle woke up and ate her lunch she said she really wanted to go for a walk to her special place (in the woods across the street) and I was more than happy to oblige.  She told me on the walk over that she really loved the puppet show but thinks she feels more safe when we play in the woods - yup she is definitely my girl.

we built a stick home for the wood fairies

and stood quietly to watch the mice scurrying through the leaves and wood

My girl may not be all that comfortable in a room filled with unfamiliar faces...or big stuffed (cute) puppets giving her a kiss.  But she is comfortable in the woods...with her fairy friends, mischievous wood gnomes, and her new favorite...water striders (those little bugs that seem to dance on top of the water).  I witnessed something special about Isabelle in the picture above...I noticed and felt so proud that my girl could sit quietly and patiently until the mice went back to work.  That she understood what patience was and she was rewarded with glimpses of tales and little furry bodies scurrying beneath the leaves.   And in this moment I forget all my worries of how Isabelle or when Isabelle will adjust to big crowds or overstimulation...because truly...down deep I'm not sure I ever have myself.  And I think I too feel safer in the stillness of the forest, under a canopy of trees and being whispered to by the wind and a babbling brook.  Yup, my girl and I are quite content in the forest.