Sunday, November 12, 2006

Miraflores

This afternoon I did a little sightseeing in Miraflores. It's an upscale area and I felt perfectly safe walking around by myself with my camera. I wandered down the Avenida Largo to Largo Mar, a shopping centre perched atop of the cliffs, overlooking the beaches and the Pacific Ocean. The fog was still in and it was fairly mild - warm enough for a tshirt and fleecy vest in which to hide my camera and wallet.

(clicking on the images should make them larger!)

... and yes, those are instructions in the bathroom - don't throw your toilet paper in the bowl ("water" is the spanish word for "toilet bowl", who knew? There is a basket provided for used toilet paper!) The elephant ride was in the shopping mall, it was a completely mechanized elephant walking all by itself!!

I had a delicious lunch of paella with Inca Kola overlooking the ocean, and did some window-shopping to get ideas for Christmas shopping. Later I found churros con dulce de leche - yum!!


On the way back to my hotel, I passed a procession of carnival walkers playing traditional Andean music. It turns out it was a candidate for the upcoming Municipal election, Pilar Brescia, walking the street and getting attention. What a way to say "vote for me!".

24 hours from Vancouver to Lima

0630 Arrive at Vancouver Airport and check in (thanks to Sarah for the ride!). I'm early for my flight but I wanted to leave lots of time for airport security screening. I have 2 large bags, a carry-on with my laptop and both recorders, and my microphone tube that is 3 feet long and makes security screeners very nervous!

0630 Security screening - I have to unpack my carry-on and place all the electronics in separate bins. They don't mind the microphone but my hiking boots and belts set off alarms and result in the full body frisking. Lovely.

0900 Flight to Calgary. I'm delighted to find that my carry-on actually fits under the seat!

1100 Lots of banking and a bumpy landing into Calgary, where we pop out of the clouds only a few hundred feet above a snow-covered landscape. I only have one hour to collect my luggage from the transit carousel and pass through US Customs, then drop off my luggage again. It was pretty tight!

1145 The US Customs agent asks what's in the tube and where I'm going with it. I reply that it's a microphone and I'm going to Peru to record wildlife. He asks what I do and I tell him I'm a marine biologist. "OH!" he says, "like George on Seinfeld! You saw that episode, right?" I lie and tell him of course I saw that one. This is now the 6th time I've been asked that question by a US Customs agent and they never say "like Jacques Cousteau"...

1200 Calgary Airport security screening - this time I am prepared and put everything into the bins, including my belt and boots, and get through with no problems - except I am made to drink the very expensive bottle of water I had just purchased in Vancouver!

1245 Flight from Calgary to New York. I watch a fascinating documentary about manta rays and the movie Water, about the injustice and deplorable conditions faced by widows in India. Everyone should see this film!

1900 Another bumpy landing into New York's JFK airport. I could see the lights of New York stretching below me as far as I could see.

1945 I check into the LAN Chile desk amid throngs of travellers from all over the world, many in traditional clothing from countries as varied as Kuwait, Indonesia and Jamaica. I stop for dinner in Bar Avion and feel replenished after a long day.

2100 JFK airport security screening. This time the screener wants to know if the tube contains a light saber. I play along, joking that my kids sure wish it was. I let her know it's a microphone and she assumes I'm in the film industry.

2230 Flight from JFK to Lima. I manage to get a couple of hours of sleep.

0500 Dawn breaks as we begin our descent along the Andes Cordillera. The fog bank is socked in tight along the coast, as it always is at this time of year, but I see the mountain peaks soaring up through the clouds like a chain of islands.


0615 We land at Jorge Chavez airport in Lima. Surprisingly, not one of the officials asked me any questions about my gear or what I was planning to do in Peru. They probably assumed I was heading to the jungle for an ecotour. I’m bombarded by taxi drivers as I exit the secure area, and rescued by my friend Susana who leads me to a waiting cab.

0645 Lima is humid!! We drive through the blue-collar port of Callao and make our way to Miraflores, the upscale district. Along the way we pass workers and students, minibus taxis, and when we get to the coast, long sandy beaches backed by cliffs covered in purple and blue flowers – la Costa Verde.

0730 My hotel is delightful and has everything I could ask for – a bed, a bath, free internet and a huge bottle of drinking water. I get another four hours of sleep and I’m ready to go!

... there's that crazy microphone tube!

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is

Happy Halloween! All 3 boys had so much fun!!

Saturday, October 28, 2006

dichotomous key

How to tell me and my brother apart, by Kieran:

Kieran wears glasses and is a Big Boy.
Liam wears No glasses and is a Little Boy.

--------------------------------

After Movie Night last night, I realized that there is another way to tell them apart:


Kieran ----------------------- Liam

Monday, October 23, 2006

Liam 2.5

Liam turned 2 and a half on Sunday and I wanted to record his milestone. It turned out to be a bit of a challenge amidst all the puking though. So here it is, a couple of days late!

My sweet Liam is not a baby anymore. Ask himself yourself and he will tell you, "Meemee NO baby! Meemee BIG boy now!". Of course, if you apply this logic to him in the form of "big boys pee in the potty", or "big boys all done numble-time", he gets himself all tied up in a big existential knot about it.

He's finally talking! Even though his first word was BALL when he was about 15 months, he really didn't have more than a handful of words for the next year. This summer he really started experimenting more with making English words (as opposed to signs and Liamish words), and since September he has really taken off. I'm sure he has all the vocabulary tucked away, just for some reason he never wanted to translate those into spoken word before now. It is so hilarious to hear some big words come out (like Darth Vader) while he's still using 3-word sentences!

He never said any numbers before this month, and suddenly he can count to 10 - wan, doo, dee, boor, bye, diss, debben, ade, nine, DEN!! He's learning his colours too, and I think he knows red and blue the best.

He loves his "school" (daycare) and he goes four days a week with "Miss Dinney" (Miss McKinney) while Mummy attempts to play at marine biologist. It's wonderful that his daycare is onsite and integrated with Kieran's school, as they get to play together after school, and several of Kieran's classmates have little brothers or sisters in the daycare too, so we socialize with all the same families. In fact, he has three playmates in his daycare room that will be starting Kindergarten the same year with him, so he'll know these friends for a long time!

At home he has pretty much given up on his Thomas duplo and trains in favour of playing big kid Lego with Kieran and his friends. He is relishing his role as kid brother and wants to do whatever the big boys are up to. Which is probably why he can't say his alphabet, but he can say knight, lego, darth vader, star wars, yoda, dragon, pirate, keyai (karate), and yight saber. I keep remembering Taking a Stance back when Kieran was 2 about no weapons in the house. How times change (introducing Kieran to Disney's Robin Hood, The Princess Bride, and Episode I the year Liam was born was the end of that little quest for moral high ground!).

He loves to play dress-up and he plans to be Yoda for Halloween. This is causing me significant amounts of angst since this means I have to actually take the glue gun out of its package to make the head thing with the green pointy ears. I have actually gone to Fabricland and purchased felt, people! These things, we do for our kids!

He's still nursing!! From the outset, I of course was committed to nursing for at least 2 years, but since Kieran weaned at 17 months, I was quite prepared for Liam to be weaned by now. But he seems to really enjoy the attachment and comforting aspect of it, and in the last three days of stomach flu I've been grateful to be able to get some fluids into him any which way. I'll be gone for 3 weeks in Peru next month, and I'll be taking some homeopathics while I'm down there to reduce my milk supply so that I don't get mastitis, and so that perhaps when I get back there won't be anything of interest to him anymore... But until then, it's nice to have that special snuggle time, especially as the stress mounts as I'm preparing for my trip. I know that I am so fortunate to have been able to have this experience with him for so long, and I am going to miss it.

He is such a sweet little snugglebug. Happy half-birthday, little dude! Love, Mummy xxxx

Sunday, October 22, 2006

If you give a 2-year-old a tummy bug...

If you give a 2-year-old a tummy bug,
He'll throw up all through his bed at 7 am on a Sunday,
And then he'll come and crawl into your bed for a snuggle,
But then he won't feel very well,
And so he'll sit up and throw up all over you in your bed,
And then you put him in the shower to get cleaned up,
And you'll go in his room to find him some clothes
And then you'll notice the barf all through his bed,
And while you're calculating all the laundry you have already signed up for before 8 am,
You'll go through the living room and find 5 piles of cat barf on the carpet
And one pile of cat barf in the CandyLand box,
And then your 6-year-old will want waffles,
And he'll want some maple syrup to go with it,
And your 2-year-old will have miraculously recovered from his barfing,
And want waffles too,
And he will eat the waffles merrily, and drink some herbal tea,
And throw up all over his chair,
And while you're cleaning up the barf for the 3rd time this morning,
You'll go downstairs to put his bed linens in the laundry,
And that's when you'll find the 4 piles of cat barf on the stairs,
And while your toddler is in the shower for the second time that morning,
You'll get the Green Machine going on the cat barf situation,
And then after you've got him dressed again, he'll want to help with the Green Machine,
And while he's helping with the Green Machine, he'll puke all over it,
And while he's in the shower for the third time,
And you've got the second load of bed linens in the washing machine,
You'll start to relax because the kids are playing nicely in the big boy's room,
Until you hear shrieks of horror because the toddler has puked all over the Millenium Falcon,
And is being dragged out of the room by his shirt, dripping barf as he goes,
And while he's in the shower for the fourth time,
He's perfectly happy playing with his shower toys,
While you get the Green Machine out again,
And promise your 6-year-old that he will one day be able to return to his room,
After you have thoroughly disinfected it,
And when you dress your toddler in the fourth outfit of the day,
He looks perfectly fine and happy and full of colour in his cheeks,
So you rashly let him eat 12 grapes and a sip of herbal tea,
While you're helping your 6-year-old try on his Luke Skywalker costume,
And your 2-year-old will want to try on his Yoda costume,
And they will have a light saber battle,
And Daddy will get so excited that he'll rush off to the store to buy a Darth Vader costume,
And he'll drop off your 6-year-old for a playdate,
And you'll take your toddler down to get his baba out of the dryer, all clean and dry,
And you'll settle on the couch for some numble time,
And he'll fall asleep.......
And you'll realize it's 1 pm and you're still in your pyjamas,
Which have crusted puke on them,
And you'll eat a bit of lunch, and have a really long shower,
And do another 2 loads of laundry,
And clean up the kitchen,
And clean the kitty litter box,
And in a while you'll hear coughing from your toddler's room, followed by crying,
And you'll go in to find him sitting in a pool of puke,
And 12 grapes,
And you'll clean him up and take all his bed linens downstairs for the second time,
And he'll perk right up and do puzzles in the kitchen,
Until he throws up on the floor,
And you'll clean that up as Darth Vader and Luke arrive home,
And you'll watch in glee as a three-way light saber battle ensues,
And then you'll clean up some more barf,
And dress your toddler in his fifth outfit of the day,
And do another 2 loads of laundry,
And then you'll realize he hasn't peed or pooped today,
So you'll have a brilliant idea to make some fresh organic carrot juice to help clear out his system
And you'll put some beets in it because it's your heavy day,
And you would rather have spent the day on the couch wrapped in a blanket,
Dealing with cramps,
And you'll make scrambled eggs for dinner because they're easily digested,
And because your mother made them for you when you were sick as a child,
And he'll chug the juice and ask for more,
And he'll eat a nibble or two of eggs,
And he'll stand up and barf blood-red juice all down his front,
And your 6-year-old will freak right out thinking it's real blood,
And your 2-year-old will freak right out thinking it's a real problem,
And you'll be thankful it was all over the lino,
Even if it got into the cat food,
And then he'll get back up to the table and throw up some more bright red goo,
And then he'll have his fifth shower of the day,
And you'll put the big waterproof mattress cover from the 6-year-old's bed on his bed,
And you'll put the red sheets on his bed,
And you'll dress him all in red,
And he'll wander out into the hall and projectile vomit all over the light beige carpet,
And you'll realize you've been cleaning barf for 12 hours,
And you'll survey the bright red puke spread across the hall,
And your husband will don his shining armour and get out the Green Machine,
And clean it all up while you get your toddler changed into another red outfit,
And he'll bring you a towel when he throws up again,
And he'll sit with your 2-year-old, on a towel on his bed, under a red blanket,
And your 2-year-old will give up on the day and fall asleep in Daddy's lap,
And you'll read stories to your 6-year-old,
And Daddy will read more stories when you fall asleep in the middle of Paddington Bear,
And while you're cleaning the red puke out of the Green Machine,
Your 6-year-old will come out looking for pyjamas,
And tell you that his tummy feels upset,
And you'll remember that when you took the mattress protector off his bed,
That you knew this would happen,
And you'll put extra accident sheets under his sheet,
And pray that they'll sleep through the night,
And you'll go and run 3 more loads of laundry,
And just be thankful it didn't happen in the car.

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Grade 1

Kieran is in Grade 1 and loving it. At first he was a bit suspicious because unlike Kindergarten, they didn't have play-centres twice a day in which they got to play with the Playmobil castle or make Lego creations. When I asked what they do instead of centres, he told me, "nothing, we just LEARN!!"

Kieran's teacher, Miss Moss, is fabulous - she's creative and fun and just sparkles. How she gets 15 squirrelly 6-year-olds to sit nicely in desks is beyond me. She has decorated the classroom with IKEA stuff and, having inherited a classroom with a wierd little office in it, converted that space into a Book Nook with couches and comfy chairs and stuffies, that is Kieran's favorite spot. In fact, students from all the grades in the school come to read here, much to the delight of the Grade 1s.

His best friend is Nathaniel and they play together for hours after school, always some intense combination of Star Wars and Knight's Kingdom. Every sentence they utter during their playdates start with "And how about... "

And how about you're Obi-wan, and I'm King Jayko
OK, and how about I hit you with my light saber
Yeah but how about you hit my magic shield in its heart of power
OK, and how about then Darth Maul comes along
And how about we both go after him in our X-wings
Yeah and how about we defeat Darth Maul, but then we get back to the castle and the dragon has come and wrecked it
OK and how about we have to go back and get some more Jedi to fight the dragon
And how about we get more magic shields along the way
And how about .....

Yesterday was a Pro-D day, and Nathaniel's Dad and I took the boys up to the school and helped some other parents lay sod for the new field. The boys had a blast rolling out the sod and jumping up and down on it, and mining the ground for rocks, and watering with the really big hose, until they got bored and went to play with their Hot Wheels in the mud puddle.

Today after we all went to the swimming pool, Nathaniel came over for more Star Wars action. They had a serious game in which Luke and Obi-Wan had to defeat some pirates, and then collapsed into peals of giggles in a game in which they each had to sneakily place a sticker on the other, yelling "Tu as oubliƩ!" when they had succeeded. The French didn't even make sense, but the accents were sublime, and it made me just think how wonderful it is that they are so sophisticated but still goofy little 6-year-olds. I'm loving it!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Baby Lily

Introducing Lily Mia Aragona Murray:




In August my brother Kaje and his lovely wife Clelia became the proud parents of the World's Most Adorable Baby Ever. My niece Lily is so precious to me, I think even more so because in photos I am already seeing resemblances to my boys - and to me, I'd like to think, even though her Italian genes are also coming through magnificently. Sadly, they live in Australia, so we won't get to meet her in person until she's bigger. But we have regular web chats on Yahoo IM, in which we fire up the webcams and Kaje proudly shows off his daughter for us to coo over, while she either sleeps contentedly in the sling or chuckles merrily.

On our end, the kids love to go and bring the latest Lego creation or art masterpiece for Kaje's approval, or they just jump around like monkeys to watch themselves on the computer. At the risk of sounding like my grandparents.... when I was a girl, we used to have to WRITE LETTERS to our aunts and uncles and wait a couple of MONTHS for a reply. So it is so intriguing to me that my kids are growing up thinking that it's perfectly normal that if we want to see Uncle Kaje in Australia, we just ring him on the computer and chat away for half an hour.

Liam, however, seems to take the technology for granted a bit too much. The other day he was going through a litany of People Liam Loves:

Me-me yuv NANNIE!
Me-me yuv POPPA!
Me-me yuv GANNIE!
Me-me yuv GAMPA!
Me-me yuv OMI!
Me-mu yuv BABY YIYI!

To this, I asked Liam, "where does Baby Lily live?"

Liam's response: "Baby Yiyi yiv... inna PUTER!"

Travel plans and show-and-tell

I'm back! Funny how school starts and suddenly I find I have no time for blogging... by the time I've got the kids to sleep and made all the lunches, my brain has turned to mush. I've also been super busy getting ready for my Next Big Adventure - I'm going to Peru for 3 weeks, next month! More on that to come!

A couple of weeks ago I took a course on digital photography at the local Parks and Rec Centre. It was such an eye-opener to really learn how to use my camera on its Manual setting - something that is long, long overdue. After the morning session we went out in the garden and got close to nature - such a fun and relaxing day! Here are some of the best shots (in my humble opinion):




This one was my favorite of the day. Our instructor told us to find our subject, then get in twice as close, then get in twice as close again. Who knew?!







... and finally, here's one I happened to take a couple of days before the course, with the camera on auto, while chasing Liam around the corn maze. So go figure!!

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Firsty

Monday was a big day of firsts for us! Our school was finished with not a moment to spare and both kids started in their new classrooms. Here they are walking to school on Monday morning. I love that the school is now in a little patch of forest!

Liam has suddenly decided to speak, and all the way to school he was happily burbling "dool, dool!" Kieran chimed in and reminded him how great it was that they were both going to the same school, but Liam got all mad and insisted, "no, MY DOOL!!". I wasn't too concerned about him handling a full day away from home; here he is about a nanosecond after I dropped him off:






















Can you believe Kieran is in Grade 1? He has homework! He also has a simply fabulous teacher, I can't wait to see the fun they are going to have this year. He is as pleased as punch to have his very own desk and homework bag. I will just be impressed to see him SIT in a desk for more than an instant. He and his classmates were so cute when they all saw each other, gleefully showing each other all their loose and missing teeth and figuring out who was the tallest....


After school was Kieran's first karate class, which he said was awesome even though he was exhausted from school. He's not exactly catching flies with chopsticks yet but he seems to be taking to it with a lot of enthusiasm. I think it is because he realizes that it is his first step towards becoming a Jedi Master.

Liam is very upset that he is not allowed to do karate, and spent the whole 45 minutes in the waiting area doing his kicks and blocks and yelling "kee-yai!". He can't wait to be six. I told him "I'm sorry Liam, you're too little for karate". To which he responded, "NO! meme BIG! meme BIG kee-yai!" which I think is Liamish for "But I must be tested early if I am to begin my padawan training".

Big day for my big boys.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Great Big Evening

I've been thinking recently about how certain periods of one's life have a soundtrack. When I was six we were sailing around the South Pacific and my soundtrack was filled with songs of John Denver, Roger Whittaker and all the folk songs my Mum played on her old folk guitar.

In recent years our soundtrack has been provided by Great Big Sea. Their song "Ordinary Day" got me through the purgatory of writing my dissertation in grad school, and while we were living in the US, they were one of our lifelines to Canada. We saw them live in San Francisco in a tiny bar when Deanna and I were both 8 months pregnant with Aila and Kieran, and we were hooked, and since then we have gone to their shows any time they've come within a day's drive. We saw them again in Seattle and I met my wonderful friend Kerry at a Great Big Sea show - I think it was destiny - and Kerry and I went to see them a couple of weeks after Liam was born. When we moved back to Canada with a brand new baby and finding myself far away from my girlfriends, "Clearest Indication" soothed my lonely soul.

Like me with the sea shanties and folk songs of my childhood, Kieran has also become a big fan of their music - but then, any band with a large repertoire of songs about pirates and other scoundrels and heroes has got to be cool!

So last weekend GBS played live and we took Kieran to his first ever concert. I don't think he really knew quite what to expect, but as soon as the lads came on stage and started in on Captain Kidd, he was entranced. It was wonderful to see the look of wonder and amazement in his eyes to see his favorite music actually being played in front of him. We were blessed with the tiny venue and the warm summer evening, so we were very close to the stage. Ironically, had we gone by ourselves without Kieran we could have been right at the front of the stage where the lads like to banter with the fans, but this night was all about sharing the experience with Kieran. It was after his bedtime, so he fell asleep after only a few songs, but it was a lovely evening and a fine way to end the summer!

Friday, September 01, 2006

Photo op


Today we went for a photo shoot with Gordon Lafleur. He took us to a wonderful site on the Englishman River, a beautiful spot that we hadn't been to before. I can't wait to see how the photos came out. He was gracious enough to allow me to take these snapshots of the boys while he was photographing them. Don't you think the photos will be just gorgeous??

Pretty little hoppitses

This one's for Nannie...

Liam is still experimenting with spoken word. He's not yet convinced that it will give him more of an advantage in life than his current selection of signs, grunts and liamspeak. The other night, as an additional perk of babysitting, Kelsey taught him to say "hobbit", which when you think about it is actually quite insightful, the actual description of hobbits being:


They are ... a little people, about half our height ... There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort which helps them to disappear quietly and quickly when large stupid folk like you and me come blustering along, making a noise like elephants which they can hear a mile off. They are inclined to be fat in the stomach; they dress in bright colours (chiefly green and yellow)...
JRR Tolkein



Anyway, after dinner last night, I entertained myself by making Liam say "hobbit" for Daddy. Liam suddenly disappeared, and fossicked about in the bathroom for a few moments before emerging with one of the bath animals.

"Hoppit!" he yelled with glee! "Hoppit! Hop! Hop! Hop!"

Behold, my friends, the hoppit:

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Fairy dust

Kieran lost his first tooth yesterday!

Sometimes I catch myself looking at him and seeing him simultaneously at age 2 and age 15. He's growing so fast. He is already so competent at things that weren't even invented when I was six. But he still has moments of innocence. This morning we were discussing how exactly the tooth fairy goes about her business. I suggested that she must have some sort of magic backpack to carry all the loonies in, and another to carry all the childrens' teeth. We were trying to figure out the ramifications of this in terms of her ability to fly under all that weight, and how exactly she managed to squeeze through the mesh on his bedroom window with all this luggage.

Then Kieran said, "Here is what I believe. There was a tooth witch who wanted to take away all the childrens' teeth. She tried to turn the tooth fairy into a tooth witch, but the instead the tooth fairy decided to be good. So when she finds a tooth under a pillow, with a swish of her wand she turns it into fairy dust and sends it up to the stars. That's what I believe."

And you know, that is what I believe too.

Monday, August 28, 2006

Long night

This is for my Grandpa - and my Mum, who is with him tonight. I have no other words, but the song is swirling in my head.

======================

Long night
This is what it all comes to
Oh, long night
This is what we all go through
Oh, long night
Another friend is gone
Oh, long night
Leaving us to carry on

Death is a mighty uniter
The defeat that comes to every fighter
Live on--the dawn will be brighter
Live on, live on, live on

--- Rawlins Cross (1993)

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Bubble day

I saw the other mom at karate today. I approached her after the class and apologized for the parking lot incident. She apologized too and seemed embarrassed. The baby was screaming, she said, and she'd had it. I told her I understood. We all have days like that.

Not that I could derive any lasting feeling from having restored Peace in Mommyland. It was barely an our later that I found myself turning into Screaching Mom, with two tired kids in the back rebelling against my every suggestion, and an equally frustrated hubby catching the brunt of it. It's been a rough couple of days, with worry and grief over my Grandpa's stroke yesterday morning, tinged with bitter disappointment about our anniversary getaway plans for the weekend being cancelled because of it, and guilt about being frustrated about the weekend when my family was in crisis. This morning we had a fabulous walk TO the grocery store, with plenty of blackberries along the way, and the kids were so good and cute in the grocery store that the tellers were actually calling people over to see how cute they were (I kid you not!). Then unbeknownst to me, Liam dropped his cookie out of the stroller on the way home and screamed "Back, back!!" all the way home, a normally pleasant 30 min walk.

By the time I met up with Michael at the end of the day, we had all lost it. Kieran was tormenting Liam who was refusing to stay buckled in his car seat. I started screaching at the kids, and Michael, who had also had his fair share of stress today, including several hours at the office on his "day off", said to me, "It's a bubble day".

"Huh?" I said, not having a clue what he was on about.

"A bubble day. Like what you wrote in your blog. We all need to have our lists above us so that everyone can know all the stuff we're dealing with and be gentle with us".

See, this is why I love this man. I have only been posting on the blog for a couple of weeks, and he's not only reading but gently reminding me of my own thoughts. I stood there for a couple of moments just thinking this over, letting the world stand still for a minute while the warm fuzzy washed around me.

"BUBBLE!" yelled Liam, happily.

"BUBBLE, BUBBLE.... POP!!"

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Kids, try this one at home!

In other news, Kieran and I had some fun with a science experiment we found in his Chickadee magazine:

Materials:
- 1 small funnel
- 1 plastic water bottle
- 1 balloon
- 2 tbsp water
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1 tsp baking soda

Pour the water and vinegar into the bottle. Use the funnel to pour the baking soda into the balloon. Stretch the open end of the balloon over the bottle opening and shake the balloon gently so that all the baking soda empties into the bottle.

Results:










Also, we found that if we doubled the recipe, it makes a very satisfactory ka-boom! when the balloon explodes and the baking powder flies all through the dining room!

Making science with my kids. I live for this.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Mommy rage

Today I got yelled at by another mom. Me! We were both picking up our 6-year-olds from their karate workshop. Apparently her van was parked next to mine and I noticed that she was standing behind her van, holding her baby in his car seat - but I thought she was talking to another mom nearby, so I didn't pay much attention. I got Liam into his car seat and dispensed snacks to both kids, then climbed in myself, and proceeded to deal with Liam's dropped blankie, Kieran needing water, Kieran wanting the radio on, Liam wanting water, Kieran handing me his fruity snack wrapper, Kieran realizing his seat belt was twisted and all messed up in its buckle...

I was just about to get out to go around and help Kieran disentangle his seat belt, when I heard from behind me, "Can you HURRY UP??"

I looked back and the other mom was still standing at the back of my van. "Sorry!" I said, "I didn't realize you were waiting!"

"Well you looked right at me", she snapped. "Now can you hurry up, this isn't light", she continued, jerking her head at the baby in his carseat.

"OK" I said, "but I just have to help my son with his seat belt!"

I can't remember what she said then but it wasn't pretty. I gave up and backed out into another parking stall across the way so that I could help Kieran. On the way she gave me some parting shots and I'm sorry to say that I might have said something about her apparent need to take a pill.

I have been thinking about this altercation all day. It's one thing to have a run-in with, say, the unhelpful "customer service" clerk at Wal-mart, or the messy drug-dealing neighbours. But this was another MOM, someone just like me -- in fact remarkably so: the two kids, the newer minivan, the more-or-less trendy clothes and haircut, the small but interesting tattoo on the ankle. Aren't we all supposed to be standing by each other, united in this mutual solidarity of being in the trenches, trying to raise our children and find that perfect but impossible balance between staying at home and remembering who we are as adults? Aren't we supposed to give each other some slack?

But then I also remembered all the times, and there have been many, many, since I've become a mother that I have just had it, and lost it on complete strangers. How many times have I been dealing with one child wailing and the other pulling everything off the shelves, enduring withering looks from seniors and clueless non-parents, when I just need to get bananas and milk for crying out loud, and ended up coming across as a total bitch to the poor cashier? And part of that loss of control is the realization that I feel completely and utterly judged by all these people, and I am convinced that their verdict is: Lousy Mother. FAILURE!!!

See I think part of the problem is that our whole society puts such high standards on motherhood. We are supposed to love every minute of raising children, and never complain about how hard it is. Don't get me wrong - of course, I wouldn't change my two darling pirates. For anything. And most days, it is just magic. But wouldn't it be great if some days we could walk around with a little bubble over our heads saying "Look, this is all the shit I am dealing with me right now (list). Please be gentle with me and not so quick to judge".

If we are all gentle and understanding with other moms, surely that is the seed to creating harmony in our little part of the world. Tomorrow I hope I see that mom again so that I can apologize for being inconsiderate and let her know that I do care. Perhaps somehow it will make a difference.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Honestly, I did not feed him this line

The scene: Kieran, holding Liam by the shoulders and staring into his eyes at point blank range.

Me: Kieran, give Liam some space please!

Kieran: But MOM! I'm trying to connect with Liam's ENERGY!

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Crafty

Let's put this in context. I am not a crafty person. Oh sure, I have hundreds of dollars' worth of stamping supplies in the basement, but they haven't been touched in a year or two. I do own a glue gun, gathering dust unopened, next to the sewing machine I would love to know how to use. I have friends whose creativity is absolutely incredible, but my 6-year-old can draw, sew and make Lego machines better than I can.

Nevertheless, when Kieran said "I'm boooored!" for the umpteenth time one day last week, we made a pilgrimage to the dollar store and stocked up on all manner of goodies. We spent the whole afternoon creating and crafting and having wonderful Mummy and Me time. When Liam woke up he got to make one too. In the middle of a long, hot summer, it was a glorious day.


Bounty


I love my back yard. In the summer it is very private, and things grow all by themselves. With my gardening style that is definitely an advantage for anything green. The kids see the garden as a place to go on Mighty Quests for Dragons and Sea Monsters. I like to just spend time here and see what nature brings forth and marvel at it. And at the end of July we eat plums until our tummies ache...