Pleiades Bee

Skip to content
  • Us

Tag Archives: montessori

Play

February 17, 2014 – 12:06 am

“Play is the work of the child.” – Maria Montessori

By kara | Posted in All | Also tagged afternoon, doll, mess, play, playroom, puzzle, tea | Comments (0)

A School Year

June 21, 2012 – 4:35 pm

Sophie’s first day of preschool, September 6, 2011 She was so excited. Sophie’s last day of preschool, May 23, 2012 Her teachers said she was so quiet, her last day. I think she was sad. She’s still telling everyone she’s just on spring break. I imagine she’ll appreciate summers more in her later years. “Time […]

By kara | Posted in All | Also tagged 2011, 2012, first, preschool, Sophie, year | Comments (0)

Work

May 18, 2012 – 10:02 pm

Sophie knows that Andy goes to work every day. And that he works on a computer every day. And that his work earns our family money every day. She attends a Montessori preschool and the word “work” is used often. So she also understands work as an activity she pulls off of a shelf and […]

By kara | Posted in All | Also tagged editing, freelance, parenthood, Sophie, stress, work, workbooks, writing | Comments (2)

Your Fourth Birthday

May 1, 2012 – 12:44 am

Dear Sophie, This year, your birthday was a big deal. You spent the year prior throwing daily birthday parties. These parties involved emptying toy baskets and decorating the house with their contents. Making cakes out of boxes and insisting we sing and make a wish (over and over and over). Wrapping presents (often books from […]

By kara | Posted in All | Also tagged 4 years old, birthday, cake, preschool, Sophie, tea party | Comments (1)

Parents’ Night aka Sophie’s Night

March 21, 2012 – 11:35 pm

Several weeks ago was Parents’ Night at Sophie’s preschool. We took the boys with us. This was not smart. Sophie goes to a Montessori preschool, although I imagine any preschool has low-lying shelves with lots of little things on them. They boys’ eyes were big, their hands, everywhere. And Sophie was less than thrilled with […]

By kara | Posted in All | Also tagged James, Owen, parenting, preschool, Sophie | Comments (0)

Sophie’s Preschool Pictures

December 20, 2011 – 12:18 am

Sophie attends Country Hills Montessori three days a week in Fort Thomas. Robert White of White Photography, a CHM parent and professional photographer, took the class pictures this year. I love this one. This one makes me laugh. This is the face she makes when you say, “smile.” Her Great Aunt Susie, by the way, […]

By kara | Posted in All | Also tagged photography, preschool | Comments (0)
  • Kara Gebhart Uhl on Facebook Pleiades Bee on Twitter RSS Feed Receive Email Updates from Pleiades Bee Kara Gebhart Uhl on Google+ Kara Gebhart Uhl on Pinterest

  • Us + Contact Me

  • My Instagram

    It’s so nice the Easter Bunny (a) knows I’m on a diet and (b) knows my long-loved wristwatch broke and the local jeweler can’t fix it and I’ve hated having to pull out my phone every time I’ve wanted to know the time (I’m too tired to fix this double usage) these last few weeks. That Easter Bunny — she’s the best. Cleaned under the couch today. allergy eyes, Peeps on a stick, Wednesday Andy and I traveled to Italy by way of Paris the day after our October wedding in 2004. Going on no sleep we walked from our teeny tiny hotel room to Notre Dame, sat on one of those benches in the picture and, heads on each other's shoulders, fell deeply asleep. No one bothered us, or our cameras and belongings. We slept for a long time. And when we woke, we laughed at ourselves –– finally arriving in Paris, and promptly falling asleep. And then we toured one of the most magnificent works of art I've ever seen. Perhaps the loved Dostoevsky quote, "Beauty will save the world," has more merit than I once believed. For while there is no good in today's tragedy, there is, dare I say, espérance, for in this moment we have found something that binds us all –– the love of great beauty in this messy existence we share and our very real grief over its loss. OU in the sweet springtime. My sunny hummus on a sunflower seed bagel was as good as always. My sister let me tell her stories as we drove around campus and even humored me when I asked the guy coming out of 69 Stewart if the middle bedroom (mine, many years ago) still has pink shag carpet (it does not). I have such love for this small patch of earth, the time I spent here and the fierce friendships made. Patty Griffin + Lucy Wainwright Roche , burgers and beer at The Mine Tavern, a sweet little b&b (the pictured room was only our room for about 10 minutes until we were kicked out and given the much smaller room we paid for — we wondered how we got so lucky!), tomorrow tromping around my old stomping grounds, Athens. celebrating my sister’s birthday with one of our favorite artists in a beautiful old opera house on this fine spring night home office (not attic!) view. I have this weird theory that if we didn’t have the sky, moments like this would be considered fine art. I often worry about our small living room as we grow. There’s no family room. Den. Bonus room. When the house is filled with people I simply fill the living room with seats: dining chairs, stools, the piano bench, a floor pillow. We make do. But where are all the teenage legs going to go? I worry. And then I observe any normal day, our couch filled with two adults, two kids and a cat. And if Sophie wanted to pile in with us, there’d be room. You make room. I still scour Craigslist for a sectional that will miraculously fit our space. But then I also think of the first night my sister and I each had our own room (I missed her). And why Andy and I don’t necessarily want a king-size bed. How Tucker would always get up, come to us and lie back down again, just to be next to us. How Andy, who claims to hate Jupiter (our cat) but secretly loves him, built steps for Jupiter so the cat-he-loves-to-hate could continue to sleep with Sophie who recently moved into a loft bed. Our kids, still, sometimes seek our laps despite empty chairs. Smallness forces closeness. I admit to a ping of jealousy when I’m in a house with multiple rooms for sitting, with space to breathe. I feel like it would all be easier (dreams I have: first-floor laundry, a garage, two full baths, the ability to blow-dry Sophie’s hair without unplugging the car). But even the best dreams come with a price. And right now this pic of this random weekday night is pretty darn dreamy to me. Me, 12,000 times/day: “Kids! Drew! Look at how beautiful the tree looks!” (So far, they’re all still humoring me.) The boys were helping me run errands and while buying toiletries at Target they asked if they can have deodorant too, like Sophie. I was too tired to put any real thought into it so I said yes. James immediately picked some out. “Are you sure?” I asked. “What about the kind Dad uses? Maybe there’s a kid version. What about these natural ones?” “MOM,” James said. “We have to get this kind. This is the kind they make for twins.” “Yeah, Mom,” Owen said. “It’s the twin pack!” We were at Lowe’s today and Sophie bought that Restrooms sticker and put it on the boys’ bedroom door and then she filled their room with toilet paper. The boys f.l.i.p.p.e.d. o.u.t. Once we got them to stop screaming we explained the best way to deal with a prank is to prank the other person back. Well, the boys decided to one-up us on this and declare war. (I said fine, as long as they waited until I bought some cheap toilet paper.) Sophie and I are on team Ninja Kitties (I was not allowed to be on the naming committee.) We’ve had a good spring break but school tomorrow will be nice, too. 🧻 Spring! This kid had a minor medical issue (all is fine) and the doctors at Children’s included a line in the take-home instructions that said “The doctor recommends STARBUCKS — Stat!!!”. I was so grateful for this small measure of humor and kindness, and this resulting smile. (And Sophie loved her first-ever Starbucks drink, a Very Berry Hibiscus something or other.) Thankful for CCHMC (today and many times in the past) and thankful for one of the most caring, patient and kind team of doctors and nurses we’ve ever encountered. Sometimes I feel like I can’t breathe, not living out in the country. But having a place like this, minutes away, is one of the (many) positives of living where we do. Lizz and Eric drove to Kentucky from Atlanta to spend the weekend with all of us and to help celebrate Sophie’s birthday. The day they arrived my three kiddos fought with each other at our house all morning but their cousins must be magic bc the fighting all but stopped once we arrived at Jill’s house and they held Freya and clapped whenever Carmen showed us how high she could jump. The picture of the boys’ backs ... they were showing off their wet pants (and butts) which they had valiantly used to dry the slide so Carmen could slide down it. But the slide was quite steep and, once at top, Carmen was “too busy” to slide down it. I sure wish we all lived closer to each other. Freya slept in that space above my chest down to my belly button and I swear that’s like a drug, a baby snuggled on you like that. And kudos to Lizz and Eric for making the drive with two little little ones. Our turn, next time. ❤️ 11 “I think she is growing up, and so begins to dream dreams, and have hopes and fears and fidgets, without knowing why or being able to explain them.” — Louisa May Alcott O+J introducing their cousin Carmen to childhood at 8.
    TAP

  • Favorite Essays

    Choosing Compassion in a Culture of Fear

    Seeking the Bigness in the Everyday

    The Love in Trying

    The View from Up High

    Season of Innocence

    The Huffington Post guest post: Apologies to the Parents I Judged Four Years Ago, a TIME's top 10 opinion piece in 2012

    Simple

    Changing Love

  • Things I Love

  • Links I Love

  • Archives

    • 2018
      • January (1)
      • February (1)
      • June (1)
    • 2017
      • April (1)
      • May (1)
    • 2016
      • February (1)
      • March (1)
      • August (1)
    • 2015
      • January (4)
      • March (1)
      • May (1)
      • November (2)
      • December (1)
    • 2014
      • January (10)
      • February (6)
      • March (3)
      • April (3)
      • May (1)
      • June (4)
      • July (3)
      • August (2)
      • October (5)
      • December (11)
    • 2013
      • January (8)
      • February (14)
      • March (18)
      • April (10)
      • May (7)
      • June (12)
      • July (6)
      • August (4)
      • September (6)
      • October (2)
      • November (2)
      • December (2)
    • 2012
      • January (27)
      • February (10)
      • March (9)
      • April (12)
      • May (15)
      • June (12)
      • July (15)
      • August (11)
      • September (9)
      • October (12)
      • November (8)
      • December (19)
    • 2011
      • January (18)
      • February (13)
      • March (18)
      • April (17)
      • May (14)
      • June (11)
      • July (17)
      • August (10)
      • September (19)
      • October (15)
      • November (12)
      • December (16)
    • 2010
      • January (17)
      • February (10)
      • March (15)
      • April (21)
      • May (10)
      • June (13)
      • July (17)
      • August (19)
      • September (21)
      • October (23)
      • November (14)
      • December (19)
    • 2009
      • January (21)
      • February (20)
      • March (25)
      • April (22)
      • May (30)
      • June (17)
      • July (27)
      • August (28)
      • September (19)
      • October (17)
      • November (20)
      • December (19)
    • 2008
      • May (22)
      • June (25)
      • July (26)
      • August (24)
      • September (24)
      • October (26)
      • November (20)
      • December (21)

  • Tags

    andy art birthday christmas colleen dinner discipline family fashion florida food friends Grandma handmade happiness health holiday James Katy life love mess motherhood music Nini Owen parenthood parenting Paw Paw play Pop Pop preschool siblings sleep Sophie spring summer thanksgiving time toddler tucker vacation welcome winter worry

  • Email Subscription

Pleiades Bee is proudly powered by WordPress
Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS).