Evolution

It's been 11 days of post-school busy-ness. Another ear infection, a birthday party, equine therapy and occupational therapy, late nights with visiting friends, theater performances, sticky summer heat, dining out, running through the woods, and watching the wild milkweed bloom.

There's everything to write about. I am overwhelmed with all I should capture and lacking in poetic inspiration, so my goal for today is just to show up.

I continue to be amazed by life and the people in my orbit. B, dancing her way through her first play, timidly at first, and then with more confidence at every curtain call. Her unselfconscious pride at her own growing body: "Look! I might need a bra soon! Look, my belly is getting bigger!" C, recovering more quickly from life's speedbumps, getting a haircut --- at first, heartbroken that he did not look like himself anymore; later, more confident and accepting of compliments. We are all evolving, adapting, becoming. Just like everything else in the natural world.

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The thing I like about insects is all of the unknown surrounding them. I suppose this is true in every field of science, but it seems especially apt in entomology. As recently as the last decade, scientists studying treehoppers, like the keeled one pictured above, discovered that the helmets atop their heads generate from the same genes that produce wings.* The evolution of this adorable little bug still contains many mysteries. The treehopper has been around for hundreds of millions of years, and I just happen to be alive when this particular discovery was made. How incredible.

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Today my kids are attending summer rec camp for the very first time, from 9-4pm. That's a long day. This feels like another huge milestone, especially for C. I'm still standing by, but I'm not panicked. Next week he'll be 7 years old. He's having an emotional growth spurt. Even before his antibiotics kicked in for his ear infection I observed new levels of resilience. A few days ago, he got mad at a friend for being a little bossy. It was late afternoon and his ear hurt, he was transitioning from screen time, he was tired, we had folks visiting from out of town so our regular routine was off, and it was hot outside. A perfect storm. He yelled at his friend and threw an exercise/yoga ball at said friend's head, and then, when I told him to go upstairs, he pushed over the vacuum cleaner which in turn broke a picture frame. Chaos. But within the span of 15 minutes, he was able to put on socks and shoes, go out to the car, and drive with his sister (cheerfully, without his gaming console) to equine therapy. Despite earlier protestations, he even participated in therapy once it was his turn. And THEN, after sitting for an hour in traffic on the way home, he had a movie night with the same friend. ANDDDD - this is huge - I quietly asked him if he could say sorry to his friend when we got home, and he did. It is hard to overstate how much progress this is. He apologized without shame and moved on. I've been working hard to teach C that everyone has tantrums and that he is not unique or bad in his emotional outbursts.

Watching our evolution as a family and as individuals in real time fills me with the same awe I experience in discovering an unusual little insect on my sunflower plant. Miracles abound.

* https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/treehoppers-bizarre-wondrous-helmets-use-wing-genes-grow-180973713/