October 25, 2015 by Amy

Habits and hobbies

Zoe tests off the charts for writing and spelling (and high on everything else), and I love that she loves to learn new words. I also love when she tries and nearly gets it, but just misses.

“She gave hers and I added mine and we combineded them.”

I picked her up from school Friday instead of having her go to after care, and brought her home for a little nap before the evening volleyball game. She had been up late the night before finishing her Grandparents Day cards (the girl has to do three sets!) and we worried she’d crash after a full day of school plus playing in after care. I took the opportunity to snuggle with my girl, which doesn’t happen nearly as often as I like these days. She moved her feet and I heard a knuckle pop.

“Zoe, was that you?”
“Yes. I pushed my one big toe against my other big toe. Is that okay?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. It’s like popping the knuckles on your hand. I used to do it all the time before I lost flexibility in my toes from the bunion surgeries. Feels good, doesn’t it?”
“It does! It’s my new hobby. I’ve been doing it a lot lately.”
“Do you mean ‘habit?’ It’s your new habit?”
“Yeah. Habit. That’s it.”

I’m sure that some people can make a hobby of cracking their joints, but in our case, it’s probably best that it’s just a habit.

#blog#personal essay#writing#zoe