Good morning from Florida. We are finishing our spring break where we have enjoyed epic breakfasts at Proinos Breakfast Club, midday snacks of ice cream sundaes in lieu of lunch, and dinners outside by the beach with live music as we watch the sun slip into the waves. We have been outside for breakfast too because we love to enjoy the warmth and also it’s right near a big road so Sarah gets to watch traffic. What’s not to love? We have experienced different beaches each day, and Carl and I were surprised to learn that the girls’ favorite was the one right next to a big road with the parking lot sand sharing space with the beach sand, all of it containing more trash and broken glass and bottle caps than the other beaches that received more care and grooming. Sarah loved picking up trash, and Amy found the sand there the best for doing gymnastics. Carl and I preferred the beaches with a little more space and a little less trash. Yesterday we went to Honeymoon beach. It was beautiful but quite rocky in many areas. That didn’t stop Amy from finding a place to do gymnastics. Carl even joined her for handstands, doing an impressive job that you will all have to imagine because I didn’t have my camera on me.
Speaking of beach gymnastics, Amy has done about five million handstands, cartwheels, round-offs, and splits. Usually her feet hurt after a round-off, but sand is somehow magical and absorbs her force in just the right way. Carl has taken five million pictures of sunsets, and I have refreshed my Amazon author page five million times to check for new reviews. Amy claims this is the way she knows I’m me and not a doppelgänger. I promise to stop obsessing once I get to the fabled fifty reviews that will supposedly magically make algorithms work in my favor to suggest my book to others. I’m at 49 ratings, 47 of which are reviews! Thank you to everyone helping me get there!!!
I know you are now wondering what Sarah did five million times. I think she queried “isn’t it?” with a grin stretching ear to ear. Her newest love and fodder for imaginative creations is “Isn’t It?” Baby Isn’t It has been born. Sarah sings Isn’t It scales, beginning with the usual do-re-mi and switching mid scale to “isn’t it.” She loves asking the question, “isn’t it?” We have been coaching her on how to phrase her statements to work appropriately prior to her question and coaching her on how to change the question to fit the situation. For instance, you can say “it’s dark, isn’t it?” but you wouldn’t say “you stubbed your toe, isn’t it?” You would say, “you stubbed your toe, didn’t you?” English is such a complicated language!
One day we went to the Sugar Sand festival. After walking through the various sand art sculptures, we went to get our family photo taken. As we got in place behind a sign sculpted out of sand, Sarah reached to gently touch the back of it and was told “no.” She was already hot, tired, and wanting to go play on a playground. And she wanted to make a sand sculpture herself, which she could do once we got out to a different area. She does not like being told “no.” (I don’t either.) Somehow miraculously we got the picture and got out without Sarah having a meltdown and throwing her shoes or destroying the sculpted sign, but those visions flashed through my mind as I could see her struggling with her anger. For all the times she explodes, there are also five million times she keeps herself together against all odds. I know Amy and I do too. I’m not sure that Carl has to wrestle with or resist such ire, because he is generally less flappable than the rest of us.
Sarah always finds ways to say things that I never would expect or predict, sometimes just slightly shifting the expected grammar because she is still learning. These unexpected errors or imaginative creations bring bursts of joy and laughter for the whole family. Carl accidentally bashed his toe on a door, and Sarah asked, “why did you bash your toe?” That’s not something most people would ask, but somehow it came it at the perfect angle and we all burst out laughing.
At meal times Sarah and Amy have been singing duets adapting Mink’s song from the animated Frog and Toad series. Mink always sings about the different ice cream flavor options he has. Sarah changes the words to match her loves and Amy chimes in to help shape the song to match Mink’s whole performance. Yesterday the song offered things such as strawberry Xes, blueberry Xes, and even Isn’t It Xes. There is also a Frog and Toad episode in which Frog finds a stick that becomes his new best friend, much to Toad’s jealous dismay. Yesterday on the beach, Amy and Sarah each had new besties that were rocks, and Amy wrote “Isn’t it?” out of shells while Sarah traced the letters in the sand.
This has been a fun trip, isn’t it?
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