What I learned in 2007

Here are some things I learned this year... I'll share them with you, so you can know them too.

Best way to avoid mess while cooking/baking: fill the sink with *hot* soapy water (too hot to touch). Drop your dirty tools and bowls in there as you go. When you are done, return to the sink to find the water cooled down enough to touch and the dishes practically just needing a rinse.

Make-up talk: Apply concealer with a brush. Especially under the eyes, it's much better coverage.

Watching my kids this year I know now that the impact siblings have on one another is profound. I used to think about child development in terms of the influence parents have on their kids, but now I see a bigger picture and the dynamic as a whole (in part due to the book Siblings Without Rivalry).

Weekly menu planning sounds lame, but it is undeniably one of the best things I did this year.

Your marriage is the foundation of your family. Keep it strong and full of laughter.

I like hand-knit socks. I thought they would slouch. I thought they would make my feet sweaty. Nope - incredibly comfortable.

Wearing shoes in the house makes you walk with more purpose and better posture.

Reaching out to someone you care about is almost always worth it.

People who have lost someone special in their lives don't mind when you bring that person up in conversation. In fact many people hate it that they can't talk about their loved ones who are gone. Why are we afraid to do this? We've lost too many special people this year to learn this lesson.

A better/quicker way to make roti, though it's still not the traditional way. But I still don't make it that often.

I am learning that my thirties might be better than my twenties. Which are all so much better than my teens.

Learning, ever trying to perfect, GRATITUDE for all these things and more...

the loving of night and light

A couple of weekends ago we spent some family time at Starbucks, sipping warm drinks, eating pumpkins muffins from Breadsmiths. The kids were colouring and chatting away to the Professor, who was colouring also. They were filling in a castle scene together, complete with dragon and moat. The Lamb said, I'm going to colour this princess with brown skin, like us. With a furtive glance at me... just out of the corner of her eye... she did.

I came across this poem tonight, at a friend's house. It's addressed to a little girl named Josie, who is anxious about being different from the (mainly white) children at her new school. It can be found in the poetry collection Poetry Speaks to Children. Enjoy.

Okay, Brown Girl, Okay
by James Berry

Josie, Josie, I am okay
being brown. I remember,
every day dusk and dawn get born
from the loving of night and light
who work together, like married.
And they would like to say to you:
Be at school on and on, brown Josie
like thousands and thousands and thousands
of children, who are brown and white
and black and pale-lemon color.
All the time, brown girl Josie is okay.

Josie, Josie, I am okay
being brown. I remember,
every minute sun in the sky
and ground of the earth work together
like married.
And they would like to say to you:
Ride on up a going escalator
like thousands and thousands and thousands
of people, who are brown and white
and black and pale-lemon color.
All the time, brown girl Josie is okay.

Josie, Josie, I am okay
being brown. I remember,
all the time bright-sky and brown-earth
work together, like married
making forests and food and flowers and rain.
And they would like to say to you:
Grow and grow brightly, brown girl.
Write and read and play and work.
Ride bus or train or boat or airplane
like thousands and thousands and thousands
of people, who are brown and white
and black and pale-lemon color.
All the time, brown girl Josie is okay.

Smile!

People keep telling me how much the girls look alike. Honestly I have never really thought so. Until I saw this picture.


They have the same chin. ;)

Leaps and Bounds (and tentative steps)

Last weekend you may remember that we were at REI and the Lamb was fascinated by the rock climbing wall. Seven days later her enthusiasm had not worn off, and as promised, we headed off to give it a try. I will admit here that my anxiety level was moderate to high. I knew that she probably wouldn't get hurt (she wasn't) and that they were professionals there (they were), but something inside of me didn't want to see her disappointed, or worse, discover that she has a terrific fear of heights or something. It's just in my nature to want everything to go well.

We got there and after a brief wait, the Professor and the Lamb got all suited up. The idea was that Baba go first, to show her "how". He did so, dutifully. Having climbed in high school I think he enjoyed the memories (but not the lack of upper body strength).


Next the Lamb was all ready go.


This is her standing next to the wall, getting a pep talk from Ozayr and the REI staffer, Hassan (go figure).


This involved Hassan saying at one point, "you're not going to fall because of this rope, see?" You fool! I thought to myself. The Lamb is at a delicate age: she does not consider failure. It's a beautiful thing and it's why this age is perfect for them to try lots of new things. If she wants to do something, she wants to do it, plain and simple - she does not back down because she thinks she will be awful or unable (if only we could stay that way our entire lives!!). This is tempered by an extreme suggestibility - if mommy and daddy think it's a bad idea she will NOT do it. See why I had to hide my anxiety? Not that I want to sugar-coat things, but I was unsure it was wise to point out the high risk of falling, or rather not falling... luckily they managed to get her started before she really started thinking about it all too hard...

And up she went.

I think it went rather well for her first time. The thing you may or may not know about my girl is that, well, she's four. She tends to get absorbed in her surroundings and tune out what she's supposed to be doing at the time. Like at the grocery store, I'm at the end of the aisle and turn around to find I've left her 15 feet behind, looking at the pictures on the label of a can of soup. Anyway this happened at about 10 feet. In her defense it was probably pretty interesting up there, looking at all the other climbers, the view, the tops of our heads... But there was a lot of calling her name trying to get her to decide whether she wanted to keep climbing or just come down. She came down in the end, and then went back up to around the same spot again once more.


Poor little Lion watched patiently from the sidelines, obviously itching to get at it. Being light and wiry I'm sure that she'll be good at it one day, but in the meantime she has a good foot to grow before she qualifies. The root of a lot of our problems with her these days come down to the fact that the Lion cub thinks she's four too. She's working at catching up as fast as she can.

It was a successful trip all round, and in our celebratory state we picked up hot chocolates for everyone on the way home (they even made a soy one...).


Of course I'm incredibly proud that she wanted to try something new, adventurous even, and went ahead and did it. And there's another element, a whole new threshold that we crossed today: my child has now done something that I have never even tried... WOW.

Holiday Gift Rescue

It's that time of year, the stores are crazy and the weather is bad - AND you still have a gift list as long as your arm. Here are a few unique gift ideas that might help you out in a pinch...

For a small child:

I recently discovered the online toy store Oompa. What a joy! The toys are all made from wood or cloth - no plastic-y junk and nothing battery operated. The designs are gorgeous and the toys are all fun. Up to age 5. How sweet is this snail?


For an older child:

I love the company Usborne Books. They specialize in a lot of homeschooling resources, so their catalogue is learning-based and the products are very good quality. You can find children's atlases, puzzles, learning modules and theme-based "kid kits".

For the entertainer:

I have given this as a gift before because I secretly covet it: Bambu. I don't entertain in my home very often, and fancy plates are pretty much wasted on us, but I love the Bambu bowls that are hand coiled and lacquered with these beautiful, rich colours.


For the organizer/person on the move:

This is something for the practical person in your life! Life.Doc offers an organizing binder for all your important documents and critical information. Perfect for someone who likes things to be in order and easy to find. Also good for someone who's always on the move and needs all their important stuff in one place. Comes with CD-Rom.


For the fashionista:

I only recently discovered the joy of Zappos.com. Self proclaimed "service company" that happens to sell shoes, bags, clothing and accessories. You can browse through this extensive site for hours. But be careful, you will probably end up buying something for yourself too because there is something for everyone.

For the modern tea drinker:

These Bee House teapots from Japan come in a variety of sizes, from a single cupper to a larger cylindrical size. This is the one I have:


For anyone (who cares):

Hit the OXFAM website to donate money to emergency relief, farming, education and health initiatives across the world through their "UnWrapped" program. Your gift recipient will receive a nifty card with a picture of the contribution you made in their name, for example,

a seed bank for an entire village (only $50).

Good luck shoppers...

White Out

More snow to come today. The "Yay Snow!" is wearing off with me, frankly it only lasted a day or two. Really, if we had to move away from Ottawa why didn't we go somewhere warm? Instead we are here in Minnesota where the weather is almost exactly the same as what we left. I am making a change this year though, I have asked for a snowsuit for Christmas. I am not going to stand shivering on the sidelines with wet pant legs while my kids play in the snow. I figure the only way to engage them (and myself) in some fun winter activities is to be warm and able to jump right in to making snow angels and forts. There's some nice winter gear and outdoor stuff at REI in Bloomington, but I think I'll wait to visit the MEC back home (what is it with these sporty places and their abbreviations??)

Speaking of REI, we were there on the weekend to buy the Professor a new pair of gloves and it was madness there. Holiday shopping is in full swing I guess. They have a giant rock climbing wall in the front section of the store, which is very impressive. The big surprise is that the Lamb is desperate to try it! She saw it right away and said I WANT TO CLIMB THAT. There's a section where it's not very steep for kids, and they hook you up with ropes and a harness and all the proper gear. She watched a few kids do it and is still determined to try it. So we're probably going to take her back next weekend and let her do it. I'm excited for her actually, I love seeing her take on a challenge. She sits back a lot and lets other people lead the way, so when she takes an interest in trying something new I don't want to turn it down. We got an REI membership when we bought the gloves, so if she likes this we can go for free climbing whenever we want. I'll keep you posted!!