Chichi’s Party February 7, 2009

Yesterday we had Chichi’s birthday celebration in her classroom.  It was very simple because we had already done the big party on Wednesday with her friends.  So yesterday was a presentation on her life followed by juice and brownies.  Lu and Dinho came to the party too.  When Lu got there he walked right into the classroom where the kids were playing “beat the calculator” and sat right on Chichi’s lap.  It was the cutest thing ever. 

When the kids finished we showed the presentation which embarrassed Chi a little as I thought it might and then we sang happy birthday.  When we started to serve the cake Lu was right in there grabbing plates to put brownies on (he is not yet 3).  The teacher could not believe it.  He is so funny some times.  Anyway, I have the best brownie recipe ever and the kids loved them.  There was only one problem.  When I made them the night before, I only had 6 eggs.  So I could only make one batch.  That meant that there was one per kid, no leftovers, and Dinho and I went without.  On the way home we stopped to buy eggs so I could make more for our family!

Here is the recipe for the best brownies ever – the only thing I do differently is add the eggs one by one and beat well after each addition:

1. Let soften: 1/2 lb. butter (don’t melt it)
2. Melt: 5 oz. bittersweet chocolate. Let cool.
3. Cream the butter with 1 3/4 cups (packed) light brown or white sugar and 5 eggs. Add 1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract. Beat in the melted, cooled chocolate and 1 cup flour.
4. Spread into a buttered 9×13″ baking pan. Bake 20-30 minutes (hs note: mine took 30) at 350 degrees.
5. Optional: chopped nuts, or 1 tablespoon instant coffee, or 1 teaspoon grated fresh orange or lemon rind, or 1/2 teaspoon allspice or cinnamon, or a mashed over-ripe banana, or none of the above.

Kids say AND DO the darndest things… February 6, 2009

I am not sure who said this originally, but it sure is true. Case in point: Lu asking about life on the moon the other day. However, yesterday we were at the club to celebrate Chichi’s birthday and someone was playing live music in the restaurant. I kid you not when I say that Lu was rockin’ out to the music. It was so hilarious. He was sort of shaking his head to the beat with his eyes half open while batting his hands on his chest. It was just hysterical. When everyone clapped after each song, Lu was adamant that we all clapped too. It was too funny.

I want to say that I have a funny story to tell about Chichi, but I cannot think of one at the moment. It is funny, when I started to write this blog millions of stories and anecdotes were constantly popping into my head. Since I’ve been such blog slug lately those stories haven’t been coming to me as easily as they once did. If you ever talk to yourself – you know what I mean. I have very elaborate conversations with myself in my head. So when I am in the middle of one of these conversations, I then think to myself that I need to remember it to put it in the blog. I will start that habit again shortly!

Seven years ago today… February 5, 2009

Today is my daughter´s birthday.  She is seven years old.  It is really pretty hard to believe.  I was making a presentation about her life to be shown in her classroom and it is surprising how she now looks like such a girl.  She is no longer a baby or a toddler.  She is not even chubby-faced anymore.  Sometimes when I look at her she takes my breath away, other times it is because I am starting to get overheated at something she has not done or done to her brother.

I remember the day she was born very clearly.  I was 100% unprepared for the birth and that whole process.  I was just told not to go to the hospital too early.  As it turns out, we almost did not make it to the hospital.  We put the car in the car park and she was born 45 minutes later.  In fact, it was a bit of a miracle that we were able to get my doctor on the phone and over to the hospital on time.  Anyway, the big news of this memory is that when Chichi was first born and screaming a lot, the nurses put her on my chest very close to my face.  At that point I stroked her forehead and said Mommy´s here.  She stopped screaming immediately when she heard me speak.  Her reaction to my voice was one of the most powerful moments in my life and one I am never going to forget. 

I love telling my daughter the story of her birth day.  It is such a beautiful first line.

What is the first line in yours?  Apparently mine had something to do with an absent parent and a Montreal Canadians game.  I am not sure if it is fact or fiction, but it most certainly is the start of a great story.

 

…and we’re back! February 3, 2009

It has been a while.  (In fact, I had forgotten my password as well as the nicknames I use for my kids!)  For some reason I thought I was going to have a lot of time to be blogging over the holidays and at the start of the New Year.  Oops!  I was wrong about that one too…

I have to tell you a little story about Lu.  Luckily he said this the other day, or it might have taken me even longer to get back blogging.  He looked out the window at the moon and asked if there were people living on the moon.  When I said there were no people on the moon, he wanted to know if there were a whole bunch of people living on the moon.  He kept on that train of thought and asked a couple of other similar questions.  Frankly, I was quite blown away.  Here is my not-yet-3-year-old asking about life on other planets.  To me that seems like pretty abstract thinking for a child of 2 and a bit.  I made a mental note – obviously – so I could share that with you later.

Incidentally, I have a blog with another teacher here at school that we use in our classrooms.  It is kidmais.edublogs.org.  We have been asking them about the change they want to be and the comments they make are pretty interesting for 6th graders.

This is the beginning of something, so welcome back!