In

We're in our winter groove here. We fell into familiar rhythms at the first hint of tumbling daylight. Mostly this consists of tea and craft for me, lots of books for the eldest, and wandering around the house saying I'm booooooooorrrrred for the midget. When the planets align just so he finds a groove too, this outdoor boy of mine - sometimes it's lego, sometimes it's electronics, recently hotwheels and more irritatingly, Minecraft.

Nothing like being booooooored to find a groove.

Winter Afternoon Knitting

Knitting is becoming a bit of a social event here. One puts his sticks down, the other picks his sticks up, and we all have a chinwag about interplanetary systems before bed with a few more lines to whatever it is we're making added to the end. Masha'allah.

After intense years of toddlerdom and little-people-dom I appreciate these pockets of big boy calm. I appreciate being able to read a book as they read theirs, by themselves, QUIETLY. I appreciate being able to knit without jogging a toddler up and down on my knee. I appreciate conversations, with intelligence, deep thought, without the need for talkingnonestopwithoutbreathingspaces and repetition or without having to refer everything through Thomas the Tank Engine. When we talk about Harold, it is now King Harold and we are talking about the Battle of Hastings, and not Harold the Helicopter and the Fat Controller's latest complaint about engines that cause confusion and delay. I don't take it for granted. I really, really appreciate it. Alhamdulillah.

In My Hands, By My Side

The late afternoons here are now full dark and we are finding our groove somewhat by filling it with crafting, board games, knitting, spinning and quiet reading time.

I am finding that when I sit to knit, or spin, the boys will pick up their knitting or drop spindles too - with intervention and a helping hand from mama more often than not, but that's OK, because that's what mamas are for, right? The mini-man tells me what amazing thing he's going to make : a rug for the outside room; a jumper for his dad; some PJs or socks to keep me warm. His brother laughs and tells him how far flung this dream is, and each time I say, "one stitch at a time, and eventually you will get there", or "a man can walk a thousand miles in baby steps if only he keeps going". And if there is one thing I have learned in my life as a mama, and a crafter, is how much can be accomplished in baby steps if only one just. keeps. going.

Life, for the most part, is not made up in life-changing cataclysmic events, but in the everyday persistence of people who plod along. And whilst some who seek thrills and spills might find this mundane, preferring instead fireworks and revolutions, they eventually fizzle out and it is the plodders who change the world. 'Drip on drip on drip and even a mountain eventually erodes away'.

Stitch by stitch, step by step, moment by moment, and imperceptibly a man is forged from a boy by afternoons sat by their mama's side. And if there is one thing I have learned as a mama, and a crafter, is that life is now, and these small moments are strokes on a canvas that eventually build into a beautiful masterpiece. Bit by bit.

Just keep going.