“A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2015.”

Lillia: This week you started theatre camp here in Walpole. You tried this camp once before, the first summer we lived here and right before you started first grade, but you had, frankly, an awful time. It wasn’t the fault of the instructors at all — you simply didn’t know any of the kids, and you were also much more fearful of new situations back then. If I recall correctly, you spent most of the time there pretending to be a dog (a fairly common coping mechanism). This time around you seem very excited, and now that you’ve been in school with all of these kids for five years (yes, it’s been five years!) you know everyone very well. You seem to be having a great time so far, and I can’t wait to see your final performance next week!

Zane: This week we’ve been spending a lot of time at the town pool, which you really seem to enjoy. Your sister is at camp, and so the afternoons are a bit empty without her. We tried walking around the pond, but the trails are horribly overgrown with briars and itchy plants and we couldn’t get very far. We also went to play group at your preschool on Thursday. You enjoyed it, for the most part, but none of your best pals were there. You are so full of energy and so outgoing — you always want to know “what we’re going to do for fun.” My temperament is very much the opposite so it’s quite exhausting for me to keep up with you! Still, it’s probably good for me, and it certainly keeps things interesting.

“A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2015.”
photo by Damian Wilson

Lillia & Zane are on vacation this week!

“A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2015.”

Lillia: This is the first week of summer vacation, and we are all in a flurry as we get ready to travel to Lubec. You have suddenly become very interested in music, which is wonderful, and asked me to load up one of our old phones with songs so that you could listen to them on the long drive. Your taste is music is quite diverse, but I do notice a tendency toward slightly older music, not the current hits. I’ll be interested to see how your tastes evolve over time.

Zane: This week you’ve been very patient with me as I try to get all of the laundry and cleaning done before we leave for our family vacation. We’ve been doing a little bit of gardening, and we have lots of peas and kale growing — I do hope that there will still be some peas left when we come home! Today we are on our way to Maine, and I’m not sure how you will do on the long car ride, but I am hoping that you will have such a good time in Lubec that it will be worth the drive.

“A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2015.”

Lillia: This week you graduated from fifth grade! I can’t believe that next year you will be a “real” middle-schooler. This is a self-portrait that you created, and since I was not able to get a proper photo of you this week, I think this will make a goood stand-in. You have a busy summer ahead of you, with vacations, camps, and hopefully lots of swimming and reading.

Zane: This week you graduated from your first year of preschool! You have another year of preschool before you start kindergarten, so I am not feeling too sad about it all. Next year will be much harder. Still, I can’t believe my “baby” will be four years-old in August. Hopefully this summer will be a fun one for you!

“A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2015.”

Lillia: Well, it’s that time of year again — days and days of rehearsals for your big dance performance, followed by a weekend of pretty much living at the theatre. But, you know what? After watching you do this for the past four years, I can tell that this year you are really, really enjoying it (even the long days). I remember the first year that you participated in the performance — you were in first grade — you barely made it through the weekend! There were a lot of tears, and I’m pretty sure you never wanted to have anything to do with dancing again. This year I pretty much just dropped you off at the door and you spent the weekend socializing with all of the friends you’ve made at the studio. I would never let you see it, but I always get a little teary-eyed when I see you performing. Every year you seem so much older and so much more self-possessed. And, you are a beautiful dancer.

Zane: This week you haven’t been quite yourself. You don’t seem to have a full-blown illness, but you are definitely a little slower than usual (which just means I have a few more seconds to catch my breath). We have done a lot of work in the garden this week, and we finally planted the pumpkin seeds that your grandfather gave us for Christmas. I’m hoping that they will sprout soon, though the weather has been all over the place so it may take a few more days. You are very proud of your radishes, though they never made it to their full size because you just had to pick them once you could see that bright pink peeking through the soil. You have been giving radishes to everyone who passes by — you even gave one to the mailman and he ate it right then and there, which made you so happy. I’m glad to have a little buddy to share with me the joys (and sometimes sorrows) of gardening.