Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Providing Information

This blog is called Transformation Information, today I spent most of the day providing information to Jordan, my two year old great nephew. We walked down to the barn this morning and I spent about an hour giving him information on wasp nests, old coke bottles, changing of the seasons, why it was ok that the barn was not heated and the tractor would not catch a cold.
That was just in the barn.

We walked out in the woods and he identified deer tracks( not sure who taught him that) and then I provided information about why the deer could walk through blackberry briers and not get scratched, and how the deer could find their way home, and why they love to eat apples and corn.

Then we had a long discussion about the chickens laying eggs, where the eggs came from and why it was important to wash the eggs and your hands after gathering the eggs.

Next on to the bird feeders, suet and fresh water for birds and squirrels........there is an old log that he pours bird seed on and a young squirrel visits and eats the seed while Jordan is pouring it on the log. It's amazing, they are inches away from each other and neither are afraid. Jordan decided today that suet was just too messy and that from now on filling the suet baskets was my job.

During his bath, I had to provide information about soap, how the bubbles formed, why it taste
so bad, and how the bar got smaller and smaller each time he took a bath.......by now, my wealth of information was just about bankrupt. But, he also knows if I don't know the answer to something, we look it up.......on the computer, in a book, or newspaper, we try to always find the answer.

As exhausting as his visits are, he keeps me on my toes. All those questions, and he is full of them, and they just keep on coming and coming and coming.
Every day Jordan spends with me, I experience transformation.........I see the world through his eyes......I remember what it's like to meander down a path, to pick up leaves and be amazed by their colors, to hear the wind and run for no reason at all, just because it's fun.
We finger paint almost every time he visits, and I see the vividness of colors, and I remember my mom teaching me to draw. There is transformation in living for a little while each day like a child, looking at the world around you fresh, with eyes wide open, curious about everything you encounter.

So on the days that Jordan spends with me, I provide information for him, and he provides transformation for me. I think those are days well spent.

3 comments:

  1. That sounds like a wonderful arrangement for you both! What you teach a child grows forward. Some time in the future he will tell another small child what he has learned from you. It is amazing.

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  2. Charlene, every day that I spend with him, I realize how much I don't know!!!!

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  3. I'm glad that there are others who take the time to feed the wild critters. What a good example you show your great nephew.

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