In the ninth year...

our first katydid sighting! um, yep, we have random corn growing by our patio. The birds must have dropped a seed there but the girls want it to grow to feed to the animals.

“In the ninth year the child actually experiences a total transformation of his being, which points to a significant transformation of his soul-life and to a significant transformation of his experience of the bodily-physical”
                                                                                                                                     - Rudolf Steiner

These past couple of weeks have been turbulent my friends, quite turbulent indeed. I do believe we are neck deep in the nine year change. It has shown it’s face here and there over the past year or so (it came at eight for us) but now I think it has officially moved in. You know those days when you have to walk away from your child because emotions are so high you are afraid of what you may say? On Saturday I had to do that three times with one of my girls  *ahem* and it was still early in the morning. I felt like my sweet, sensitive and compassionate child was lost. I vented to my friends and thankfully they encouraged me and reminded me that this phase is a huge milestone and it won’t last forever. That was exactly what I needed (Thank you, friends!) 

Once I had felt that I cooled down long enough, we had a talk and then I asked her to be my “sous-Mama” (like sous-chef) the rest of the day. Basically she just stuck with me and helped me out with whatever I was doing. She loved it. We reconnected and rebuilt the strength we both needed to conquer another day. We ended the day working with our hands to really help sort through it. My girl worked on some wet felting while I made a new batch of play dough. I decided to add a few drops of lavender essential oil as well as some drops of peace & calming essential oil blend (more on these oils here) to help them relax more.  Little L was the first to discover the play dough and the girls shortly afterwards. They spent a couple of hours working with it and peace was restored in our household.
 Sunday was smooth sailing but I know we will still have trials ahead of us. I am trying to remember to stop and connect much more often and to remind myself that no matter how hard I think it is on me and the rest of the family, it’s one hundred times harder on her and she needs even more love and support to get through it.
On a slightly comical note – When my friend came to visit us in the spring she brought with her two books that Waldorf teachers use for understanding the nine year change. They are Encountering the Self, transformation & destiny in the ninth year, and I am Different from You, how children experience themselves & the world in the middle of childhood. I am very sad to say that I haven’t read them yet. I was going through a rough spell with my girl during that time but then it seemed to go away so I let myself fall behind. Now I am kicking myself, of course, and have the books on my nightstand to start reading tonight. I need all the help, wisdom, understanding and support I can get, so I can pass it down to her.

Speaking of that friend, they are coming for a short visit on the way back from a long trip very soon. The children and I have been planning things to do for while they are here. One thing we decided that they would need after such a long trip is a big home cooked family meal – think Thanksgiving type food. We can’t wait!

As for the random castle photograph – I have been doing a lot better with rotating the children’s toys but somehow or other their castle set had been packed away for a couple of years. I found it again digging through boxes in the garage and got it out. Little L had never seen it before and with this big dragon phase he is currently in, I bet you can guess how excited he was to play with it all.

p.s. – I forgot to add that you can also color your play dough if you wish, I was just in a hurry with this batch so we kept it plain. Next time I might add some Joy essential oil blend, too. You know, to help keep the crabbies at bay.