Welcome to my January 2022 Daily Roots

This is like my open wellness journal of sorts. This is where I share our #wildrootedadventures & #dailyroots in sync with my Root & Flow Method monthly calendar & how I apply the concept of the daily roots to my life. Even though this has been a private space and practice for a few years, I keep it as an open blog as I am always working towards hopefully building a peace-loving, kind, wild-rooted, mindful community. With or without that though, this has been an important practice for helping me reflect on our own roots and rhythms. I also hope one day this can be something my son can look back on for guidance and fondness.

“Journey with us in our humble little world of wonder and magic. These are our #wildrootedadventures & the Seeds of Our Soul”!

Ah New Years morning! New year, different day, same pjs, same starry-eyed spirit hoping to create the best life we can! Last year, Bruce and I layed in bed snuggling and singing to wake up like we always do. This year, we did the same, but I was much faster to the coffee pot than I use to be. Once he was ready to take on the day. I too was ready, but coffee first, of course! Although, I try to keep it at a sustainable, not overly dependent rate by some days having tea or an alternative. We have an obsession with Bones coffee though!!!

We kicked off the New Year with a brunch with Nonna in our little, sweet home. Then, we had Black eyed peas for dinner, because … New Years!!! There are many traditions to ring in the New Years. Some eat oysters, but many in the South eat black-eyed peas.

“Cornbread, often served with black-eyed peas and greens, represents gold. For the BEST chance of luck every day in the year ahead, one must eat exactly 365 black-eyed peas, no more or less. Black-eyed peas eaten with stewed tomatoes represent wealth and health.” (Source)

There are many cultural roots and rhythms to this, but this has become an adopted tradition by many.

I do lots of recipes with black-eyed peas, so maybe I will dedicate a blog post to that one day! A simple one is boiling them in a vege broth, turmeric, and paprika. Add seasonings of choice. Add stewed tomatoes!

If you read my Dec. notes, you will see the quote book my Dad gave us. Today’s quote was by Bill Murray. Ha, what a funny synchronicity to today!

One of the ways we plan to nurutre and expand our creativity this year is the #crEATe project ! I started on it in 2021 and hope to make it more of a flow in 2022! I also LOVE seeing my son’s creative wheels starting to turn!! He has really become hooked on coloring and very into learning the colors right now! Lol, I really need to record a video of how excited he gets!!

Oh, those days as a Mom where you feel like your heart is going to jump right out! He had a slow, little fall in the snow today. He braised his head a little, which makes me so nervous due to my childhood experiences with a head trauma, but I try not to project this and focus on his present state of being. We held him to comfort him, then made sure he was okay. He was ready to get back to playing and was showing no symptoms. No blood, just a little swelling and bruising. We iced it to help the swelling while steadily playing. We are trying to teach him the skills to stay strong in hard moments, but that needing comfort is okay and that he does not just have to “power through”. He is naturally tough, so we want to make sure he can accurately assess when he is truly okay and not. Teaching him cues and words to help him assess how he is mentally and physically feeling is so important.

My little explorer continued on his journey by observing how the snow was melting, catching the melting snow in his bottle, and charging the batteries of his curious mind through these activities. I love watching his understanding of life coming into its own! Speaking of that, rinsing his head in the bath use to be something he was not fond of. He loves water and loves bath time, but that part, even when the temp seems perfect and his eyes were protected (even when we did co-baths) was not his favorite, but by staying calm and teaching him different ways to try it to find a way that is comfortable for him over time has worked well. He now likes to take a bottle and dump the water on his head and laughs at it running down his face.

Our connection to our senses help us assess our core needs and properly “charge our batteries”. I know I just used this phrase, but I like it, and I feel it is so appropriate. So much in our lifetime these days is about charging batteries; cars, computers, phones, etc. These things can sometimes be the root of what is keeping us disconnected from our own charging time and power sources. Ironic, since I am typing on a computer, but I do my best to be off the grid and unplugged when and where I can. Unplugging and creating time and space to reconnect to our world within and the knowledge of our senses is so important. However, sometimes before we can do that we have to do an assessment to discover and develop what we need. A lot of times, it is about figuring it out as you go. Sometimes our senses have become so polluted, immune, or programmed to things that tracing the patterns and understanding the needs can be a challenge. Sometimes, we need to get back to the roots or sometimes, we need new experiences to help restore pathways. For Bruce, he is in the natural stages of such a journey; discovering life through the senses. We follow several methods that have worked best for us to nurture these processes in the journey of childhood development.

You don't have to have all the things to create educational & entertaining spaces & moments. You just need a few essential things: love, connection, and room for creativity.

Haha, when we went out, he saw his sunglasses on the desk and put them on with such a proud look. This styling Leo!

Whole grain, flax, banana donuts with color kitchen natural dyes & sprinkles, YES PLEASE!

Strength, courage, and problem-solving is nurtured thru the balance of relationships and independence. When emotional needs are met and children feel secure to express themselves and explore, they will take mindful steps.

Color your world!!!

Driving (Private road around our house) , styling, digging…. creating rituals, celebrating traditions, doing our best to do what feels best.

Sometimes life is unpredictable. Listen to your needs. Remember, growth is not only what's on the surface. The roots are also growing, deep below, this way & that.

Boundaries & guidance are important, but if you start losing your patience & over-reacting, it's not their behavior we need to question, it’s ours. If we start breaking, losing composure, the root problem is often unmet needs, unhealed wounds, lack of awareness, or just a trying day. This was a good day. Most of our days are good days, but parenting is hard work, especially when you have been doing the root work for so long to be a more calm and conscious human. Days when I am tired, I find myself reacting to things that are really not that big of a deal. I have to pull back and go down the list of questions to self to get to the root of why something is bothering me so I do not continue to dish out actions and reactions that are not helpful nor just. I am normally able to be fully present, super patient, and I genuinely enjoy activities together + I act like a big goof. Days when my anxiety does its best to take over though, especially when I am tired or struggling with my pain, I am snappy over things that I normally navigate well. In those moments, I have to try to pull back, honor how I am feeling, be patient with myself, and do the best I can to be present. I have learned modeling how to calm my own energy is the best resource for teaching emotional regulation in challenging moments. Our circumstances are also naturally triggering. We live in a small space that sometimes feels like a zoo. We are steadily doing the work to co-create our path forward. Meanwhile, we do our best to make the best of things. The living space might be tiny, but the love and the art of living is abundant!

Small spaces, but a happy little nest made from love.

There is power in…

Laughing

Yoga

Shopping ethically

Supporting small business

Handmade

Repurposing

Mindset

Aesthetics

Taking a minute…..

A snowy morning with watercolors and chasing Nonna! He’s happy as a clam!!! “It snoooooo & nonoooooo” (His excited voice or sometimes it’s a quite “Nonnaaa” when he is being super sweet and cute!)

Pic above = daydreaming, vision boarding, planning = #goals

He has been learning how to clean up after each activity. It is the sweetest thing!!! By week 2 of learning this habit, I didn’t even have to tell him - he just started doing it when he was ready to do something else. Sometimes, I have to offer gentle reminders, but for the most part… this little human is starting to understand what it is to take care of our environments. We have worked hard on ensuring a trusting environment to process needs and feelings with calm, conscious communication. He is able to express what he needs and we do our best to meet those needs. When he is struggling to communicate or overwhelmed, we offer patience and support. We are not perfect. We had to do a lot of cycle breaking before even becoming parents to not project our own inner struggles from the past and the pressures from the mainstream narrative of society’s expectations and methods. There were moments in our parenting journey where those things tried to surface, but thanks to all the rootin’ work we had done beforehand, we were more conscious and mindful of when we needed to pull back to get our own inner needs met before projecting on to him or forcing the flow. When you force the flow and do not create the time to address the issues, then it = a pressure cooker. We will be sharing a lot more in our blog posts and workshops, but these are moments I am proud of and are the truest part of who I am, but took so much work to clear what was sometimes blocking me from being my truest self. When I am my truest self, everything flows with ease. There are days when I am trying to honor my truest self, but maybe not my best self in a moment. That is when I acknowledge, I need a moment or more time to do the root work to release and restore my energy. Time, especially in a pandemic and in our life circumstances with caretaking and work schedules, a village of support looks very different than the “fairy tales” of what it is to become a parent, so even though I knew my truest self and all the things I needed to do to honor that … there were periods of time where I was struggling due to major burn-out and so many things surfacing at once. Even when you do the root work and do everything in your power to prepare… life and entering new stages of life will bring things up that were impossible to prepare for. Once you’re in the thick of all that, then you have to do the best you can to find your way through it. Thankfully, the root work tools and my support systems helped me cope when I needed it most. My point from all of this is …. even when you know how to be your best self, there are times when it will be a struggle, especially when you care so much, because we are all under incredible amounts of pressure to create a positivie human experience. What matters is how you acknowledge it and the steps you take to work towards getting to a place (mentally or physically) that will flow with more of a natural ease.

This wooden transformable table, tower, chalkboard has been a game changer for our daily flow!! It has opened the doors for safely practicing so many life skills. It’s perfect for our little “classroom” life. The best part though about our little “classroom” is all the cuddles. I’ll do a full blog post on where you can find this magical wooden table and all the ways you can use it.

We engage in most activities, especially ones that require supervision (like bottles that have things in them and small parts and pipe cleaners that have sharp wires). The hardest part, but also the best part of living small is learning how to make the entire house a “yes” zone for free-play and living within constant sight of what is happening. “Independent” activities are accessible and available. From time to time he does those. For the most part, we do engaging activities that offer free, independent expression within the process. It’s all about finding a rhythm and balance of what works for your flow. I try to be fully present while playing with him, but there are times I multi-task, like reviewing a podcast while going for a walk, writing some notes while we color, etc. He also loves helping Devin and I with responsibilities; laundry, dishes, sweeping, dusting, etc. (“Chores” can be fun and an opportunity for learning life skills and educational insights.)