Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the family category.
The hills are alive
Chichi is practicing for 2 Christmas programmes this year. One at school and one at gymnastics. Yesterday she went to the dressmaker to take measurements for her gymnastics costume. That reminded me we needed to see if she had a party dress that fit her to wear for the school pageant. The kids are presenting the Sound of Music and the girls need to wear party dresses, party shoes and ribbons in their hair. Chichi has a couple of really fancy party dresses handed down from a friend that she has never worn. I tried both of them on her yesterday and luckily, one still fits. As we were trying them on she said: I have to wear this? YUCK! I hate dresses. I told her that she also needed to have ribbons in her hair. She thought that sounded terrible. Meanwhile, her brother was watching the whole scene and he had a different reaction. He said: Mommy can you buy me one of those?
Notes
Have you ever stopped to consider the world of possibilities in a note? Some of the note types that spring to mind are thank you, doctor`s, and principal`s. Yet there are also notes in the following varieties: foot, musical and bank. This may not be an exhaustive list, but that`s not the point. These lists do not include the best ones – those which are written by your own young children who may not know how to write or spell that well, but that can convey their profound sense of love nonetheless.
We received a note after our daughter`s sleep away camp that said something like:
“Dear Mom and Dad, you are very nice.”
I was thrilled to receive the note and put it on the fridge beside the note she wrote to her brother, which by the way said he was very cool and very cuddly! So the other day I decided to leave a note on my kids` pillows before I went out to work. In the middle of the night my daughter woke up with a start and proceeded to wake up her little bro too. When I got them back into their room, my daughter looked at the bookshelf where she had placed the note. At one in the morning she thanked me for my note.
That falls into the category of love note.
The Power of Pop
My son was asking me the other day to sing the “Halloween song” with him – you know the one – “shilla, shilla nye”. You may also know it as “Thriller, thriller night…” – well 3 year old, 2nd language, kid vocab does not lend itself well to the “TH” sound. But surpisingly you can tell what the song is by the tune!
The funny thing is that my son is totally devoted to his sister. For example, she only wants to listen to the “High School Musical” CD in the car. There is no such thing as musical democracy with her and no time for anyone else’s music. So when she has not asked to listen to the CD, he will. He loves the song, “The boys are back…” and was encouraging us to sing the following: “shilla, shilla nye – The boys are back…” Can you hear that?
Possibly the funniest thing about all of his antics is that Chichi and I now look at each other and bust up about the things he says like: “rabanada (french toast) cookies”!
Why I love Mahatma Ghandi
As I was telling you yesterday, Chichi did a presentation at school on Mahatma Ghandi. So my new parenting technique is to refer to Ghandi about everything. For example, if Chichi say she doesn’t want to eat all her dinner my response is: “Well Ghandi would never waste food.” If she refuses to be nice to her brother, I say: “That is not peaceful.” Or, when she watched me get dressed this morning and did not bother to get out of bed, I said: “Mahatma Ghandi would never do that.” As I was over-using the Ghandi referrence, my husband was behind Chichi fake-gagging himself. My response to that: “Whatever works buddy!”
Belated Mother’s Day wishes
I wish I was an organized person and was able to keep up with dates, anniversaries and most importantly people’s feelings. I know that I should be able to care for all the people that matter to me, but for some reason, it is just not always possible. I apologize for getting my Mother’s Day post up so late.
Being a mother makes Mother’s Day a little different. Before you become a mother, you want to salute yours because you love her and she is special. I think that until you are a mother yourself, you have no idea how hard it is. There are a million reasons why it is hard and a million other things that make it so. Sometimes we take our mothers for granted and believe that unconditional love is in their DNA. It is not. Sometimes it is a struggle to deal with our children. There is not always support for mothers from family or friends. It can be lonely even. For these reasons I want to salute some very special moms in my inner circle.
First I have to take my hat off to my own mom. She lives in a parallel organized universe to which she did not give me the key. Her attention to detail and organization completely baffle me. She always knows how to choose details for gifts and receptions for us and others that blow me away. My mom is a very gracious host and an extremely generous person. She taught me the value of remembering that we are here because others have helped us get where we are. There is no one in my mom’s church that she has not baked for, or entertained. She is constantly opening her home and her heart to new friends and old. My mom is an excellent friend, wife, mother and grandmother and I love her for all of her great qualities.
Secondly, there is my grandmother. She is an amazing person. At 80-something she has less memory loss than I do. She knows what all her children, grandkids and great-grandkids are up to all the time. Not only is she able to remember what all of them are doing, she is interested and cares. I love that she is an avid walker, reader and cross-worder! She is a role model and I cherish her for being that to so many of us.
Thirdly, there is my dear friend here at work. She is much more than a colleague and friend – she is a member of the family. I love the fact that motherhood the third time around changed her in such a beautiful way – she became complete. It was one of the most amazing personal transformations I have had the privilege to witness and it really makes me get all misty-eyed to think about how one person can really embody the word “mother” so completely.
Finally I have to mention my sister-in-law. She “mothers” so many people in her immediate and extended family that she really deserves to be honoured on Mother’s Day. It seems to me that there are certain people who are born with the “motherhood gene” and she is living proof. Motherhood is what makes her tick and what she exudes. I really try to listen to her well because I have so much respect for someone that cares for so many.
I love being a mom and I love my kids, but for me motherhood is a work in progress. To me it is like a huge editing job – a tweak here, an adjustment there. Most of the time I feel like I am not doing a bang-up job, but I keep stumbling and bumbling on. From what I hear, that is all part of being a mother too. Happy Mother’s Day to all of us – mothers and children alike!
What is the importance of April 21st…
Well, today is a holiday here and we asked our students to look up the reason behind the holiday. Since I knew that everyone would be able to do research and tell us what the holiday signified, I decided to talk about what it means to me personally.
It is my father’s birthday. That may not seem all that significant in itself to you, but my birthday is just 2 days after my father’s birthday. I have always felt it is very special that my birthday and my father’s are so close together. I have always been close to my Dad and as I was growing up I was always told that I looked a lot like him. To me that always seemed a little weird – why did I have to look like a man? But now as an adult I can perceive that these similarities are actually very special.
I live very far away from my Mom and Dad, but I still try to be close to them. I think about them every day and they are the real guides in my life. That is something that never changes regardless of our age. For all these reasons, April 21st is a special day for me.
Happy Birthday Dad…
Insomnia
I woke up the other night when my son was calling me to help him go to the bathroom. Once I had taken him to do the deed, I could not get back to sleep. I tried several fool-proof methods to get back to sleep and after an hour with no success, I gave up. So I went down to watch TV. American Beauty was on and I got sucked into watching it again. It is very weird. The first time I watched it I walked away thinking – man, those people in that film are FREAKS! When I watched it this time I could see myself in some of the characters at some points. Mid-life crisis? Mommy guilt? Whatever category it falls under, it made me go up and hug my kids. I kissed them and whispered to them how much I love them. My son that day had told me not to be mad at my daughter. He told me to be nice to her. I was pretty taken aback by that and the fact that he is so able to articulate his feelings. Like I may have said before he narrates his life and is constantly talking. But that level of communication is something I never experienced with my daughter. She just does not open up like that about her feelings. Anyway, after listening to him and talking to my daughter, we are working on caring for each other more. I am trying to convince them that listening to me and doing what I want them to do is a way of showing caring. I am a slow learner with this whole motherhood thing and I think I will be working on teaching my kids how to be caring for the rest of my life. I am not sure that I am the best example for showing caring, but I want to try. I think it is something important to be taught in the home and by the child’s parents.
Long-awaited news about Easter…
I may be going out on a limb here, but I think it is time to write about Easter. The kids and I were home alone and so we went over to our friends’ house on Good Friday. The kids dyed eggs and we ate grilled fish on the barbie. As with all good gatherings in this part of the world, it started a little after noon and wound up around 9pm. The kids were waiting for the other family to go home and so was I. When one of the hosts fell asleep in his chair at the table, we all made a mass exodus!
The next day we played all morning with the 15 eggs Chichi and Lu had dyed . It was so funny because some of the eggs were a little crushed and so the dog wanted to get in on the action too! We started out with both kids hiding the eggs for me to find. After a while we all took turns hiding for the other two. The funniest thing was when Lu was hiding his eggs. He would put all 15 in a low flower pot and when we came to find them he would lead us right to them. It was hilarious. He was squealing and going on, all excited about the egg hunt. Chiara was increasingly tricky with her hiding spots and used her climbing skills to get up high enough to make it more difficult for me. That was a fun way to pass the time. I was not sure what we were going to do with all those cooked eggs. I had thought of egg salad sandwhiches or something like that, but at the end of the day, I did not have to worry about what to do with the eggs. When we got back from going out with a friend for pizza on Saturday night we found a mass of egg carnage on our varanda. The dog ate all 15 eggs in their shells. I was sure he was going to be sick as a dog the next day, but he wasn’t. I have no idea where that expression comes from.
We went back out to our friends house the next day for another Easter meal after the Easter bunny came to our house. My husband had suggested painting the floor to make a bunny trail to the kids’ Easter eggs. I talked to a couple of friends and they suggested using flour instead to make it. I did. It was nice. It worked. The kids loved it, but… our floors are very light. I had to use quite a bit of flour to get any effect. If you can manage to picture this in your mind, you can imagine the state of the place after everyone had run around in the flour with their chocolate Easter eggs. I think I may not do the bunny trail in flour again!
St. Patrick’s Day
I forgot to wear green today, but I received this Irish Blessing from a friend and thought I’d share it with you:
May the road
Rise up to meet you
May the wind
Be at your back
May the sun
Shine warm
Upon your face
The rains
Fall soft upon your fields
And
Until we meet again,
May God hold
You in the hollow
of his hand
Proud Mama
I guess there is no reason why we are not allowed to brag a little about our kids on our blogs, right? Even if the answer is no, I am going to anyway!
Chichi did a painting of a cat in art class, as did the rest of the first grade. However, hers is placed right near the door to the library in a position of honour. I was so surprised and pleased that I got all teared up when I saw it yesterday. I phoned my husband and he and Chichi went to see it after school. She and I went to look at it today and we checked out all the other kids’ paintings too. She seemed quite proud and I know I sure was! I was also really proud of her the other day when she was doing her nightly reading. She has started reading at night with her Dad in Portuguese and I am surprised at how well she is doing. She can read most of the books that we have for her in Portuguese and she seems to becoming more fluent in her reading. However, I was thrilled the other night when I read one page of “Go Dog Go” and she read the other. We did the same last night for the Curious George original story. When Lu wanted me to read and sing Itsy, Bitsy Spider to him, Chichi wanted to read “Green Eggs and Ham”. I told her no, and so she went ahead and read it on her own. She was reading it to herself, but it sounded like she was really able to read it on her own. I was so happy about that.
In other developmental milestones, Lu went through last night diaper- and accident-free!
In further developmental milestone delays, Chichi and Lu started going to sleep on their own last Friday. However, they both ended up in our bed at some point during the night. The update on that: they have been in their beds ever since. That my friends is only about 3 years late!
