Eye to Wonder

      There's only one week of school until summer break, and I'm starting to think ahead to a summer routine for me and Avi. I'm so excited to have lots of time with her, and I've been inspired by a few podcast episodes to design your summer. I tend to do well with routine and structure, and so I want to make sure that I have a bit of a predictable rhythm with Avi to give shape to the days.     The biggest event this summer is that we are driving to California for about a month. This will be longest I've spent in my home state since I graduated from college about ten years ago, but with Covid in the past year, we've seen family less than usual this year. Joel is also able to work from home for part of the summer, so it seemed like a good opportunity to spend lots of time with family and enjoy some beach time.       Both while we are away and the weeks we are at home, I'm trying to get a sense of ways I can have a shape to the days while still embracing the

      This particular season in life has a lot of care-taking and a lot of deadlines. Between parenting an active 22-month-old learning to use the toilet and wrapping up a school year, this is a full season in life. To be clear, I love being a mom and a teacher. But the end of the school year is full of the combination of special events, administrative tasks, and grading. Plus this year, with Covid, we have some intermittent returns to hybrid teaching and the end of the year looks different than it typically does.      I'm finding it easy to focus on how much energy this requires and miss all the joy that is a part of this moment too. Lately, I keep coming back to this phrase: dig deep, and find joy. When I come home and focus on what funny thing Avi is doing or being really silly with her, I feel more joy and connection with her. When I focus on planning fun end-of-the-year projects that feel meaningful for my students and connecting with them, all the administrative tasks feel mo

            This month I'm experimenting with gratitude. May is the last month of the school year in Colorado, so it can get busy with all the special events for end-of-year special events, final grades, etc. We're having a few visitors this month, and it's also Joel's birthday this week.       My hope is that having gratitude as part of my daily routine will help me to slow down and appreciate all the little moments this month that might be lost in the shuffle. So far, I've tried a few approaches to make this routine work. Originally I envisioned adding a section to my daily planner for gratitude, but I found I used my planner most heavily at work and wouldn't always remember to complete it in the morning or evening when it felt most natural to gratitude journal. I decided to add it to my morning journal routine. Stacking a new habit onto an existing habit that feels rock-solid made the whole thing feel a lot more effortless.     Since I've decided where an