{"id":2307,"date":"2011-09-28T15:24:15","date_gmt":"2011-09-28T19:24:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/julijasukys.com\/?p=2307"},"modified":"2020-01-04T16:36:48","modified_gmt":"2020-01-04T22:36:48","slug":"talking-to-children-ii-scaling-clouds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/julijasukys.com\/?p=2307","title":{"rendered":"Talking to Children II: Scaling Clouds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My son and I have been spending 24 hours a day together for the past couple months. It\u2019s been wonderful, but also occasionally a strain, because we are creatures of habit who are not used to spending so much time alone together. But here we are in a new place (Gozo, Malta), where we know very few people. So we\u2019re stuck with one another.<\/p>\n

And just when I could perhaps be forgiven for feeling a bit saturated by my beloved four-year-old\u2019s constant presence, he reminded me of the beauty of language, and the fact that figures of speech don\u2019t become dull and clich\u00e9 until we are big. Much older than four.<\/p>\n

A couple of days ago, Sebastian had a tummy ache and took one of those mega-naps in the afternoon that should have eaten into night-time sleep, but didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were feeling a bit under the weather there, weren\u2019t you?\u201d I said the next morning when he got up.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d he answered, \u201cbut now I’m starting to climb up the weather.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said this without skipping a beat.<\/p>\n

I laughed, because there he was, suddenly in my imagination, scaling the side of a dark cloud, hair plastered to his head from rain, and happy.<\/p>\n

Kindergarten starts Monday. And with it, a return to old habits.<\/p>\n

[Photo: kevin dooley<\/a>]<\/p>\n

\"Share<\/a>