Funhouse

Today I received the highest compliment an unschooling parent can receive. We live in a funhouse!

It was a fairly typical day. This morning we did make an unexpected visit to the dentist. It was tolerated quite well and Juliet left with a new toy, a balloon, having seen part of a new movie and became more comfortable with the doctor. She even gave him a high-five and waved goodbye to the staff- big moves on her part. She took a bath with her new stuffed animal and played with it, making it jump into the water and float. Camille helped me pick up the house a bit since we were expecting friends and we had some lunch, a breakfast burrito for me, eggs for Camille and an apple and cheese stick for Juliet.

Then my friend came over with her 2 year old daughter to hang out. Camille and Juliet were so excited to have them here that they were both pulling out their dress-up clothes and jewelry and games to share. They showed off their bedrooms with their fresh coats of paint and new old shabby-chic furniture. Juliet put on her tap shoes and Camille demonstrated her Build-a-Bear's magnetic hands. They jumped on the beds, all three beds in varying sizes, and played the wii, Cooking Mama and Sing It. They checked out the art studio and the soft fabric on the shelves, we peeked at our corn growing in the yard. The little one played with a doll and chattered the whole time she was here, which was about ninety minutes. I think she touched everything she saw and was bouncing with excitement. The girls were all talking at once, it seemed- there was so much energy and happiness moving around! That's when my friend declared this a funhouse.

After they left, hmm, we watched videos on youtube and shows on the Disney channel. I facebooked, promoted the conference and make phone calls to schedule appointments. Juliet and I played in the dirt and Marc came home to squeals of delight. Camille did cartwheels. I paid bills and Juliet helped me stamp the envelopes. The girls planned dinner, made menus and placecards, set the table and decided what to pick out of the garden. After they each made their version of salad and the rest was cooking, Marc scouted a coyote in the vacant lot behind us and we peered through binoculars at him, George. Camille cut up a kiwi and placed it in her butterfly pavilion to see if she could catch a bird. We shucked our corn. Juliet took my dinner order, carefully writing it all down, and requested I order a popsicle and then presented me with an orange one. After dinner, more videos, more TV. I'm blogging and Camille and I have plans to read Nancy Drew. At some point tonight, we'll fall asleep, happy and full of fun and peace and togetherness.

After being declared a funhouse, I shared with my friend a story about my pre-kids days in Floral Design school (which was only two weeks). My instructor mentioned that her house was more of a workshop than a home; the house was devoted to projects and workspace and just happened to have a small space to sleep, eat and bathe. The emphasis was on the project, the interests. It seemed odd to me then and I remember thinking I could never live that way, but now I completely understand. Our house is much the same, with an emphasis on the play, the fun.

The bed moved this morning to accomodate rolling from one higher one to the lower one. We have fabric "ropes" to swing on in the foyer and Juliet discovered a new way to slide on them with her slippery tap shoes. Toys and books dot every cranny, our dining room table is our computer lab where we enjoy games, youtube, facebook and google. Our library room is where our cat likes to sit and holds a chest that houses an always-varying assortment of treasures. The hall closet is full of shoes and boots, umbrellas, scarves, hats and bags that are pulled out and used in different ways several times every day. There are videos and CDs scattered around the living room, lots of toys and clothes and a leather couch that gets lots of climbing action. The kitchen has many tools and ingredients that we use to whip up concoctions and potions, recipe books for ideas and a big island for measuring, cooking, drawing and eating. The kitchen table bench today had a bowl of dirt and a shovel sitting on it- the roly poly had escaped, however, to environs unknown. There are fish and sea monkeys to feed, our cat to pet, birds to watch and squirrels to chase away. We have fruits and vegetables growing in the yard and lavender, chamomile and other herbs that we like to smell and toss into our baths. There's lots of opportunity to do more than sleep, eat and bathe.

It's so much more than a place where people live. It's a place where people LIVE and laugh and love! It's not always neat and clean (when did I last mop?) and things aren't always where they "should" be or how the house was designed to be lived in; dishes often occupy our floors, couches, desks and tables. We don't always eat the same food or at the same time. Sometimes it's difficult to find something because we don't remember which bag it was last stuffed into for an imaginary trip or an actual outing. Sometimes it's very loud and our media compete. Sometimes we forget to eat because we're so engrossed in our activity. Some nights, we stay up very, very late and fall asleep on couches or the floor, or the tent we sometimes set up in our big bedroom. We focus on the fun and hearing that acknowledged today was like winning an Oscar. It's a title I wouldn't have earned a few years ago, when I played it so safe and needed order and quiet, which I equated to peacefulness. It really was just not exciting. I've let go and found more peace buried in laughter, piles and excess of materials. It's always been there waiting; the trick was discovering that it's usually disguised as rib-tickling, mess-making, bed-jumping, loud-music playing, bathtub-splashing, wii-singing, dirt-flinging, veggie-salad-made-with-milk-and-chocolate-cereal, why-not? fun.

A pretty typical day in our funhouse. Who wants to come over and play?