Marching Toward Spring

Language - and why it's important

How I write is actually how I talk. Even to Aurora.

As far back as I can remember I've had an "advanced" vocabulary compared to most. No clue why I talk so archaically; maybe because I grew up around more adults than other kids, maybe growing up in a weird medieval anachronistic society where we all spoke "oldish".

But because of that, I don't really mince words. Some of that is being autistic. Using words and language soothes me and "big" words convey my meaning better than a lot of little ones. But also because while I have the habit of having to overly explain myself I also want to be clear in what I convey.

You can definitely see the influence of not mincing words on Aurora.

I have a cousin that was using words like "accoutrements" correctly in sentences at age 2. While she's not that advanced, her grasp of concepts is astounding. Her logic is a little funny at times, but her grasp of language to explain things is spot on.

One of her favorite words lately is "officially": "Well, officially, mommy, that is an 18-wheeler" when I call it a truck or semi. Or "Officially, I want to go to Chik-fil-a".

Her ideas of what it means to be a "big girl" are also hilarious, but well reasoned. "When I'm a big girl mommy, I'm going to drink coffee like you," and "I'm a 4 year older now, but when I'm 5 I'll be a big girl and I'll be able to climb trees".

She impresses everyone with her ability to put together concepts and convey them so clearly. I'm impressed every time she masters a new turn of phrase or concept she was stumbling over. From one day to the next, something that caused her frustration suddenly clicks and next thing we hear from the backseat is "Nothing, nothing, tra la la" when we ask her what she said.

Send help; I might have been too sarcastic with her...

History Through Hollywood (sort of)

So this month ended up being more focused on history than love, though we did touch on that as a topic through the month too. Mostly I did this through the power of movies. Why reinvent the wheel?

I loved the old Disney movies growing up, the ones my parents watched. A lot of them showcased really good values and dreams to aspire to. Many of them, now, are full of good teaching moments.

The two we focused on were "Tall Tale" and the original "Pete's Dragon".

• "Tall Tale" is a story about a boy who meets a trio of old American West icons - Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, and John Henry, who help him to fight back against innovation and save his family's farm. Set in the Old West, it gives a good introduction into the time period and some of the prevailing mindsets and practices from the era. We were able to touch on American icons, the Wild West, the Industrial Revolution, and even briefly on slavery and it's impact (something we will go more in depth on as she gets older). We also discussed fashion of the time, technology, and whether it was a good or bad thing based on the story.
• "Pete's Dragon" fit more with the theme of love; the original is a story about an orphan who was adopted by a horrible family and ended up running away. His only friend is an "invisible" dragon who is actually very real. The dragon, Elliot, ends up helping Pete to find a new family and place in a solid community. The key points we went over during this movie were love - the love between Elliot and Pete, the love Pete found with his new family, and how love is important with families. Other things I pointed out were how being different isn't always bad, people just need to give you a chance. Even "weird kids" can help bring light back to a busted lighthouse and save the day.

I've got a couple of other shows lined up to keep touching on history this way. We started one of my favorites the other day, "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken", which is about horse diving girls in the late 1930s.

Are there any older movies with good teaching moments you liked growing up? I'd love to add to our watchlist if you can think of any others!

Lesson Focus in March 2025

March will be about learning weather, which is something very important to Southeast Texans.

Hurricane season doesn't officially start until June, but learning how to decode weather patterns around here is good practice. My dad says "wait 5 minutes or drive 5 miles" and the weather will change, and while that is true you can sort of tell what the day should be like. Aurora also has already asked to start a weather tracking chart. She wants to start keeping track of what the weather is with special stickers.

Another thing we are going to lean into this month is bird watching. We're already starting to see an increase in migratory visitors. We'll start seeing a lot more after the first couple of weeks of March. There are several easy to access wildlife reserves that have good observation of migrating water fowl. I plan to get us out there at least once this month, both for exercise and to see what species we can identify.

I've also, unfortunately, incentivized her with Pokemon GO recently, so we'll be out Pokemon catching before we can look at the actual birds. Anything to get us all out and moving more.

And stay tuned - we're starting to get our garden area hashed out. I want to get a basic system up and running by the heat of summer, because I at least want herbs and salad greens this year. Drop me a line if you'd be interested to see our plans for that. We're working on a hodge podge aquaponics set up; I'll definitely post pictures but let me know if you want details on the full process, too!

And with that, Peace & Love ???

I hope everyone had a satisfactory Heart Day experience, depending on your tolerance for love and romance. Ours was pretty rushed as usual this year; candy holidays are something I do more because I'm "supposed to" than any real interest in the holiday.

Another lesson we are all learning is how to work through death and loss together as a family. If you don't subscribe to my other newsletter, I talk about that in this week's post here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/kara-mace_another-friday-another-edition-of-that-weird-activity-7298736996510769152-ab79?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAB03s3wBxcA2E_tGM35FguzWZ1sRzd1fIsw

Thank you for keeping with us. Have a happy spring, and we'll see you next month!

Kara Mace

OddlyNormal Mom and Writer, delivering practical advice for busy parents of magical children.

www.practicalmagiccopywriting.com