Howling at the Moon

My son, Wyatt, said to me the other day, "Mom, I think a lady with long hair is on the moon."

I replied, "Yeah, I think your right." Then after mulling about it for a few seconds, I told him, "Some people think there's a man on the moon."

Then Wyatt returned with a certain child-like confidence "No, I think it's a lady." Sometimes he can be wise beyond his four short years. Who am I to tell him it's supposed to be a man, a rabbit or anything else for that matter; if he can see a lady, bless his heart, I am thrilled for his imagination.

We often enjoy looking at the full moon and wonder at the shimmery light it projects on the land at night. When we go to feed the horses after dark and there is a yellow halo surrounding a blazing full moon, we like to see how the hills are illuminated and the oak trees stand out individually like an gnarled army in waiting. Since in the winter we are always outside after the sun is gone, I have noticed that neither of my kids has any fear of being "in the dark." Our treks out back to put away the horses and throw on their blanket has numbed my kids to the boogie man or other scary night time things. It does not even occur to them to be afraid of the dark.

It fills my heart with not so little pride, that on occasion when I'm not expecting it, Wyatt will say excitedly, "Mom, come here. Look at the moon, it's beautiful tonight." My greatest hope is that I instill a sense awe and wonder at nature and our universe. As much as I can, I encourage my son to look at all the amazing thing in the wild places we see. If I can successfully give him love for simple organic things I think I will have done my job.

Me and Wyatt were teaching Ella about sun shadows earlier in the day, and since the moon light was bright enough we showed her the moon shadows too. She really did not get the whole concept seeing as though she is 22 months old, but after she repeated the word "shadow" a couple times while pointing in the right direction, I was well satisfied we were on track. She too will always look for the moon when we go out at night and if its not up repeats her questioning, "Moon? Moon?"

Last night after dinner when the full moon had reached about 45 degrees in the sky, we had a primitive gathering for my kids and the cousins who live next door. We assembled to do some howling. An enthusiastic four of five were thrilled to participate, but oldest cousin Luke said, "This is too boring." I was a little sad that at 7 he is already becoming to cool to join in. The younger kids thought it was fabulous since all Suzi and I do inside the house is tell them repeatedly to stop making so much noise.

I experimented with the video camera's night time capabilities and here is what I got. And yes I have no idea how to edit anything on the video yet. I feel the video stuff will be a long and arduous process so be patient with me and kind in critique.