Leo Clement

On Tuesday I experienced something that was in some way both very special and horribly heart wrenching. I was present at the funeral and burial of a full term stillborn babe. She looked like a little doll, resting gently in a simple, but lovingly and carefully worked wooden box that her father prepared for her. In continuation of the disparities, it all seemed so wrong, and yet so right, that this should be the way that this precious baby should be laid to rest. How bizarre and terrible! How lamentable, and yet how beautiful. How simply her parents carried her and laid her down in a grove of trees close to their house, and yet how courageously they did it. One can not experience something like this by proxy, I realized, without treading the path of empathy. What is empathy, but the ability to transmit the pain and sufferings of others to ourselves? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there is many ways that this empathic trait can be manifested, but only one way is

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on cats Bright shiny lights and warm cozy hats Blue little sea horses and dangly strings, These are a few of my favorite things!  Art projects and fall leaves Chopsticks and paper and pictures with bunnies   Smiles from mummy and raised up like kings These are a few of my favorite things!  Shiny new vacuums with buttons and hoses Lots of cuddly hugs and kisses on noses Growing so swiftly as if flying on wings These are a few of my favorite things! When the dog bites When the bee stings When I'm feeling sad I simply remember my favorite things And then I don't feel so bad!

Well, our Easter, or Pascha as we call it, was quite a shindig! Joy at Christ's Resurrection was complete with beautiful late night services, family time, and of course, sleepless nights and complimentary colds. All in all it was a wonderfully chaotic time and the kids loved every minute. Notice the three steps up to the ambo: that has been the scene of Leo's tireless stair feats this past week.  It was definitely a week and a weekend of firsts for us and Leo. He went to a restaurant for the first time and sat at the table like a big kid. He spent three days and two nights away from his familiar home and on one of those nights he got woken up and taken to the midnight Pascha service. He was super! He also has stood unsupported for close to five seconds, and on another occasion got his first real thump on the head from the floor because off a misstep. Poor bub has got enough lumps on his head without adding to the collection! I guess though, it is inevitable that he will 

No news is good news as they say! All has been well here in Camp Little Lion. Although that blast of weird and wonderful warm weather (Say that five times fast ha!) has gone away leaving boring and cold, but normal March/April weather for us in VT. We are still loving seeing the tenacious little shoots and blooms around the yard, and Leo periodically makes sprints for the door, in hopes of playing in the grass outside. Everything feels like it is waiting, bidding it's time until the reviving warmth comes for good. Leo on the other hand, is frankly done biding his time. After a year spent flat on his back, he has a "been there, done that," attitude and we are basically running just a step ahead of him in trying to keep the harmful obstacles out of his way. Like the stove, or stairs for instance. Ahh the stairs!! Right now they are the equivalent of the magnetic center in the earth, and Leo is a tiny prop plane with no steering or brakes. Lets just say that I need eye