High on Cora’s List of Things To Do this summer has been circus camp: for whatever reason, she’s had it stuck in her mind that this is something she’d like to do.

Actually I know the reason: on the PBS show “Arthur” the kids spent a week at circus camp and ended up being able to juggle, do flips, and more. So of course, that’s what Cora would look like in real life at the end of a week of circus camp.

I did some research and actually found a circus school in my area – a good one, no less – and they do weekly summer circus camps. I haven’t told Cora about it because it’s not super close to us and I’ve been waiting to see if she’d grow out of the circus thing.

Then last week, a small circus came to our town and Brian surprised the girls with tickets. We went and sat under the actual tent and watched everyone have a great time, culminating of course in a trapeze act. We had front-row seats and Cora watched, wide-eyed and silent, the whole time.

As we got home from the big top, I said, “So, Cora, does this make you want to go to circus camp even more now?”

Cora turned to me and deadpanned, “Oh, yeah, definitely. That is, if I want to break a lot of bones and FALL a lot! No thank you.”

Guess that’s been crossed off the list.

Saturday afternoon the girls and I were enjoying glorious spring weather playing outside on the street of our cul de sac. Maddie was zooming around on her bike while Cora scootered happily along, me admiring various tricks and occasionally pulling weeds from the front lawn.

After a while Maddie became restless and asked if she could bike by herself for a while. Now, I have never let Maddie go off for a bike ride before: she doesn’t even walk the half-mile to school alone. Mama’s not quite ready, I guess.

But I could see in her eyes her longing to stretch her legs, so I said, “Tell you what. You can ride the two blocks to the park, ride around the blacktop a few times, then come back, ok?”

Maddie’s eyes lit up.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day outside and the girls had a rare day of sibling amity for the entire day; we played outside after school then came home and continued in the back yard, pausing only briefly for dinner, until bedtime. Part of the time I simply lay on the grass and watched them laughing and giggling together, marveling that sometimes I get it right – at least, right enough to be able to give them this small measure of happiness in each other.

Anyway, their joy was overflowing and the funny things kept pouring out of their mouths. At one point, Maddie was demonstrating how she’s working on her front flip: she laid out several floor pillows in a row (yes, we take them outside sometimes, and really, the word “no” just didn’t fit in yesterday’s vocabulary), ran at the pillows, flipped in mid-air, and landed on her head – yes, head – and continued smoothly into a forward roll.

I watched her do this and said, “Honey, I am really glad you chose to use the pillows; practicing this on the hard ground would not be good.”

Last night I taught until just after the girls’ bedtime, and when I came home I immediately headed upstairs for a last-minute snuggle, as is my habit. The girls read books and say prayers with a grown-up, then are allowed a bit of time by themselves with the light on to read some more or do crosswords or puzzle books. Well, traditionally Maddie would read and Cora, not yet a reader, would do some sort of maze book or color.

But recently Cora’s been reading and I’ll occasionally come in to snuggle her and find her working her way through a book. Last night, I happened upon my daughter reading Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree.

Now, this is one of my favorite books, and I can’t get through it now that I’m a mom without weeping. So to see my daughter reading it aloud to herself – well, you can imagine.