Paige outgrew her shoes last night. I think she also grew four inches just in the last few days. She's between sizes and wearing shoes that are a quarter size too big. Brown Mary Jane's with soles that won't mark the floor, flowers by the buckles. She stumbles a bit at first, shuffles her feet, and she smiles. A big, ear to ear grin and she says over and over again "look at my new pretty shoes!"
A few tumbles and bumps, and she's good to go. She catches herself and gets her footing and she beams with pride.
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Fynn told me a story today, which in itself is nothing new. He tells stories about his trains, about his friends, about his dreams and his cold white milk {"cold like ice and snow"... .} He uses his arms and his eyes and his whole body to tell stories.
What was new today was the word he used to base the story off of. Ominous. Courtesy of the PBS Kids show, Martha Speaks. He tells me "Ominous means when something is going to happen" and he goes on to tell a story of his "ominous room" and the monster that was hiding behind a curtain that ended up being a friend of his.
He tries on new words and stumbles with them. They might be too big and they might be too bold and they might mean something that he can't quite get his head around. But he loves new words, even ones that are a quarter size too big for him.
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I feel like I'm stumbling around in shoes a quarter size too big, using words that I can't get my head wrapped around... but I know I'm not alone. We stumble and catch ourselves and hang on for dear life at times, but eventually we beam with pride knowing that we're here. Trying on new words and new shoes and leaving indentations to make them ours.
Life seems like it's always a quarter size too big. There's just enough wiggle room to stumble over, to grow into, to learn and to get comfortable and to become something that we have yet to discover.