Friday, February 10, 2012
Good, good???
OK, um, so we flipped another switch, and the furnace is working again. Not sure why the electricity went off in the first place, not sure what will happen next, but we'd love to still have heat tomorrow morning...
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Sleeping books
ME: (Frantically trying to get out the door to take Alina to school.) Alina, where's your library book? You need to take it back today. I purposely put it right here next to your backpack!
TASSIA: It's in her bed. She sleepted with it.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Beautiful Biculturalism
I think that every family owes it to itself to be bicultural. If you don't happen to actually have 2 cultures on hand, you could always just pick one at random, learn about it and, mostly, celebrate their holidays.
Get this. My children, because they are American, get to carve pumpkins, dress up, and trick-or-treat in October. Because they're American, and we do that. In November, we have a special meal and a great excuse to have friends over and be thankful. It's called Thanksgiving, and, once again, we celebrate it because we're American. Then, we have Christmas and New Year's, where we get to pick our favorites out of 2 sets of traditions. Then, in January, besides birthday cake, we get to eat Galette des Rois. This is a crown-shaped cake that is eaten on and around Epiphany. "King Cake," as we call it to avoid franglais, is a French tradition we embrace whole-heartedly (and I prefer Galette au frangipane, if anyone's taking notes). Then, along comes Chandeleur. That's today. Somehow, in a mixture of sacred and pagan traditions, everyone in France eats crêpes today. Here, again, I find myself forced to bow to tradition. Life is rough. And, Carnaval is coming up in a couple of weeks...
Do we get to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, too?
Get this. My children, because they are American, get to carve pumpkins, dress up, and trick-or-treat in October. Because they're American, and we do that. In November, we have a special meal and a great excuse to have friends over and be thankful. It's called Thanksgiving, and, once again, we celebrate it because we're American. Then, we have Christmas and New Year's, where we get to pick our favorites out of 2 sets of traditions. Then, in January, besides birthday cake, we get to eat Galette des Rois. This is a crown-shaped cake that is eaten on and around Epiphany. "King Cake," as we call it to avoid franglais, is a French tradition we embrace whole-heartedly (and I prefer Galette au frangipane, if anyone's taking notes). Then, along comes Chandeleur. That's today. Somehow, in a mixture of sacred and pagan traditions, everyone in France eats crêpes today. Here, again, I find myself forced to bow to tradition. Life is rough. And, Carnaval is coming up in a couple of weeks...
Do we get to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, too?
Monday, January 23, 2012
I love
the fact that no one in our house is sick at this moment.
that, for the first time, I hooked up the bike trailer and pedaled Tassia, Sybille, and myself to the playroom.
that tired-muscle feeling that means I'll sleep well.
the fact that, by some miracle, my playing the violin after the girls are in bed no longer disturbs them.
learning a new piece.
hearing the girls laughing upstairs with Thomas while I'm getting dinner.
seeing Alina get her bow and arrows, hearing her call me Caroline, and having her ask me what kind of meat I need her to bring home from hunting.
the days getting longer.
watching Tassia take apart and put together my set of nesting Russian dolls.
feeling like I accomplish things with my day.
getting rid of things we don't need. It makes me feel lighter, somehow.
that, for the first time, I hooked up the bike trailer and pedaled Tassia, Sybille, and myself to the playroom.
that tired-muscle feeling that means I'll sleep well.
the fact that, by some miracle, my playing the violin after the girls are in bed no longer disturbs them.
learning a new piece.
hearing the girls laughing upstairs with Thomas while I'm getting dinner.
seeing Alina get her bow and arrows, hearing her call me Caroline, and having her ask me what kind of meat I need her to bring home from hunting.
the days getting longer.
watching Tassia take apart and put together my set of nesting Russian dolls.
feeling like I accomplish things with my day.
getting rid of things we don't need. It makes me feel lighter, somehow.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Wiggle, wiggle
At dinner tonight, Alina got a funny look on her face and said, "There was maybe something hard in my banana. It hurt my tooth." She put her hand in her mouth, and this shine came into her eyes. "It moves! Look, my tooth, it moves!" She then immediately started to sob. Not because it hurt. Not because she was scared. But because she's been asking for weeks and months about when she would lose her first tooth. And the day will soon come. She sobbed with a grin on her face and a gleam in her eye, and then climbed up into my lap for a cuddle.
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