{life with a curious and crazy 10 yr old}
Duende Bloo is always planning something. A tea party, a wedding, a birth of puppies, and this week a soiree (she’s been trying out dresses and dances and considering punch). She plans tiny Lincoln Log villages with protective dogs trolling about, and mounts dolls on mighty steeds (some horses, some giant ceramic cats), she plans surprises (and tricks! she’s such a trickster, hiding boxes of love notes or stealing our pillows, etc). She plans witchy potions (she cut and sewed her own witchery foraging bag this week, too, so she could go to the thawing creek to get supplies), writes movie scripts and comic books, and recently designed (and copied) hand drawn coloring books that she would like to mail out to her favorite people. This week’s cardboard creations are a ‘car seat’ for her baby doll and I think at this very moment she is building some sort of ‘arcade’ – she was mumbling something about a coin slot just a few minutes ago.
She’s so good to help around the house, too (not always with a smile, definitely sometimes with a whine but most of the time, she’s more helpful than not) – she gets the mail, checks on the chickens and gets eggs (and is a big help in vaseline-ing the chickens), feeds the animals, cleans the litter box, and helps with food-making for us. She does laundry, cleans windows and appliances, and sweeps when necessary. She’s always one to assist with a crazy project (like planting seeds or caring for plants, ice cream or pesto making) and is adept with many tools (knives, small saws, some power tools with supervision, the food processor/kitchenaid mixer/dehydrator). She surprises me sometimes with her ability to solve problems and create what is satisfactory to her crazy little mind.
Duende is growing into a lovely young person. She’s still part kid but is also part animal/part teenager (same thing). Her body is developing along with her brilliant mind – she still retains a lot of her child wonder and imagination but has the attitude of someone very serious at work. Last week she was still trying to figure out who the tooth-fairy was; she made us all write so she could compare our handwriting. When that was still inconclusive she mapped out the possibilities. I think she decided it was the dog. Ha!
To be 10!
Rock Bottom Homestead 