Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Happy Birthday, Bishop Conlon
Yesterday's fun thing, which I regret I did not capture on film, was that we brought our Bishop a little birthday present, as yesterday was his big day. Sometime ago our lady friend in the nursing home had given Felicity a little blue beany baby bear with a birthday hat. It was a "December birthday bear". I figured that would be perfect. Kwamai created a card for him, with various pictures of people smiling on it. He wrote (rather neatly, I'd add) various greetings, including "I (heart) you" several times. Felicity decided we should include a Marian holy card. We popped it all in a gift bag and made our way down to the chancery office. The Bishop was not in, which did not surprise me terribly, but the receptionist said, with broad smile, that she would make sure he got the gift. And I told Kwamai to be sure to ask him, when next we see him, if he got the card and gift.
Enjoying the Snow
This morning I had Kwamai and Felicity pose in front of the house. Felicity is an adamant Polar Bear; I had to wrestle with her to get her to wear boots (i.e., she wanted to go bare foot outside!!) and a coat. Inside she will peel down to her t-shirt and unders.By the way, the snow is not quite as deep as it looks. The "banks" are actually piles of leaves!
Monday, December 3, 2007
Advent Celebrations
We got off to a little slow start on our Jesse tree, beginning today rather than yesterday, but better a little late than never. A Jesse tree, if you are not familiar, traces the Old Testament history of God's people up to the time of Christ, and each day gets a symbol which is attached to a little tree. I dug out a tiny Christmas tree from the basement, and I hope it will hold them all. Perhaps in years to come we will plan ahead for a different type of branch. The ornaments I'm using come from this site.
I made onigiri for dinner tonight on account of it being the feast of St. Francis Xavier, missionary to Japan (and India). Kwamai proclaimed "oh, gross, why did you put that yucky red stuff on them" (umeboshi, pickled plums) and Felicity had no interest in eating anything. Erol dutifully ate one, and I ate the rest. So, we're off to a great start in the festive food department.
During the evening rosary and Advent prayer, Kwamai and Felicity both decided they were hungry and went to raiding the cupboards and fridge, in a social, noisy kind of way. The concept of "quiet time" is getting to be quite a laugh around here as every moment of the day both Kwamai and Felicity are asking or telling me something, both taking up to three minutes to get one thought out all the way, and I am generally left with my head spinning and my mouth spewing random answers that I hope will fit something someone has said.
But, in the midst of it all, we are building memories. Kwamai insists on our Sunday picnics, which we are on year three of, if I remember correctly. I remember desperately trying to get him to not grab the Advent candles in years past, and trying to get 30 quiet seconds to say a prayer.... But at least the tradition sticks with him: during Advent on Sunday nights, we turn down the lights, eat food in the living room, and pray. One of these years, the point of Advent will dawn on him, too, I imagine.
So, amidst mess, meltdowns and meal revolts, the celebration and preparation for Christmas continues.
I made onigiri for dinner tonight on account of it being the feast of St. Francis Xavier, missionary to Japan (and India). Kwamai proclaimed "oh, gross, why did you put that yucky red stuff on them" (umeboshi, pickled plums) and Felicity had no interest in eating anything. Erol dutifully ate one, and I ate the rest. So, we're off to a great start in the festive food department.
During the evening rosary and Advent prayer, Kwamai and Felicity both decided they were hungry and went to raiding the cupboards and fridge, in a social, noisy kind of way. The concept of "quiet time" is getting to be quite a laugh around here as every moment of the day both Kwamai and Felicity are asking or telling me something, both taking up to three minutes to get one thought out all the way, and I am generally left with my head spinning and my mouth spewing random answers that I hope will fit something someone has said.
But, in the midst of it all, we are building memories. Kwamai insists on our Sunday picnics, which we are on year three of, if I remember correctly. I remember desperately trying to get him to not grab the Advent candles in years past, and trying to get 30 quiet seconds to say a prayer.... But at least the tradition sticks with him: during Advent on Sunday nights, we turn down the lights, eat food in the living room, and pray. One of these years, the point of Advent will dawn on him, too, I imagine.
So, amidst mess, meltdowns and meal revolts, the celebration and preparation for Christmas continues.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Current Funny Sayings
Kwamai has quite the sense of humor. We still get the treat of knock-knock jokes and riddles at dinner time, and some of Kwamai's jokes are the best, in the round-about sense especially that they are so hard to decipher. He is into homonyms: pair and pear, for example. Felicity comes up with some interesting riddle questions, but then is completely stumped for the answer, so she slaps the table. For example: "Why does the garbage man put the garbage can into the garbage truck?" I guess just saying that is funny enough. The other night we were all laughing to the point of tears: Kwamai and Felicity just because they love to laugh at themselves and each other, and Erol and I because the jokes were so corny or nonsensical that they were hilarious. Felicity's funny habit, which I thought she picked up from a certain video, but Erol assures me predates it, is to ask "Ready for another one, kids?" before telling a new joke.
Speaking of that, Felicity has a habit of asking permission for just about everything she does. We went out tonight to Eat N' Park for dinner, and she asked me if it was ok if she colored the cookie on her place mat orange. She will ask if she can put her Little People in various seats in their vehicles. But if I suggest she do something different, she adamantly refuses, so it certainly isn't about any uncertainty on her part about what to do.
When Kwamai was little, we must have said "what if..." to him too many times. He came to believe that the conditional preposition was pronounced "whiff". And so from time to time he still says "Whiff I do this" or "Whiff we go there". It doesn't help that Erol and I pick up and repeat all these cutisms, and so sometimes say "whiff" to each other. Remember that Bill Cosby comedy routine about teaching kids to speak incorrectly? I fear it has come true.
And speaking of speaking incorrectly... the accents! I have to come to grips with the fact that I don't live in Wisconsin (Wiscaaaaaaaaansin) anymore, and my children simply are not going to pronounce their vowels properly unless I make a concerted effort to model. I have already noticed that Felicity has a firm Ohio Valley accent in the way she pronounces food (feud) or blue (bleeoo). And of course Erol who purposefully and willingly force-fed himself a Pittsburgh accent, insists on saying "daaan" (down) and "abaaat" (about), and so Kwamai tries to incorporate these as well, since Papa is of course the coolest thing since sliced bacon. What I wouldn't give for a little Canadian "abouwwt" in our haaaas. Even I sometimes say "kellers" (colors) which always makes me shudder and correct myself.
Ok, back to serious land (but speaking of foreign languages), Kwamai is currently learning to read Japanese characters. We have gone through the first four groups of the first syllabary, hiragana, for a total of 20 characters. He is doing very well, and at this pace he should know all of them by January or so. However, pace is never something I count on staying the same. Sometimes he begs to do more than I think is prudent, and sometimes he has no interest to do any. But he knows that pretty soon he and I will be equals when it comes to learning reading, as I have forgotten much of what I learned. The lure of surpassing someone is very strong for him.
Speaking of that, Felicity has a habit of asking permission for just about everything she does. We went out tonight to Eat N' Park for dinner, and she asked me if it was ok if she colored the cookie on her place mat orange. She will ask if she can put her Little People in various seats in their vehicles. But if I suggest she do something different, she adamantly refuses, so it certainly isn't about any uncertainty on her part about what to do.
When Kwamai was little, we must have said "what if..." to him too many times. He came to believe that the conditional preposition was pronounced "whiff". And so from time to time he still says "Whiff I do this" or "Whiff we go there". It doesn't help that Erol and I pick up and repeat all these cutisms, and so sometimes say "whiff" to each other. Remember that Bill Cosby comedy routine about teaching kids to speak incorrectly? I fear it has come true.
And speaking of speaking incorrectly... the accents! I have to come to grips with the fact that I don't live in Wisconsin (Wiscaaaaaaaaansin) anymore, and my children simply are not going to pronounce their vowels properly unless I make a concerted effort to model. I have already noticed that Felicity has a firm Ohio Valley accent in the way she pronounces food (feud) or blue (bleeoo). And of course Erol who purposefully and willingly force-fed himself a Pittsburgh accent, insists on saying "daaan" (down) and "abaaat" (about), and so Kwamai tries to incorporate these as well, since Papa is of course the coolest thing since sliced bacon. What I wouldn't give for a little Canadian "abouwwt" in our haaaas. Even I sometimes say "kellers" (colors) which always makes me shudder and correct myself.
Ok, back to serious land (but speaking of foreign languages), Kwamai is currently learning to read Japanese characters. We have gone through the first four groups of the first syllabary, hiragana, for a total of 20 characters. He is doing very well, and at this pace he should know all of them by January or so. However, pace is never something I count on staying the same. Sometimes he begs to do more than I think is prudent, and sometimes he has no interest to do any. But he knows that pretty soon he and I will be equals when it comes to learning reading, as I have forgotten much of what I learned. The lure of surpassing someone is very strong for him.
Advent and Christmas
Advent season is upon us, and I am really trying to aim for celebrating it more fully this year as a family. Today I brought home from the University library the cartoons of St. Francis Xavier and St. Nicholas, for their respective feast days coming up. It's a start. Kwamai wants to decorate the outside of the house, but I must say he is the leader and sole member of that crusade. We play to go caroling on December 13 with our parish, and perhaps we will go caroling in the Christmas season itself.
I'm going to shoot for celebrating the 12 days of Christmas this year, opening one gift each day, and observe the Christmas season starting, rather than ending, on Christmas day. We'll see how the approach goes over with Kwamai and Felicity.
I'm going to shoot for celebrating the 12 days of Christmas this year, opening one gift each day, and observe the Christmas season starting, rather than ending, on Christmas day. We'll see how the approach goes over with Kwamai and Felicity.
Monday, November 26, 2007
The Loud Family: Our Trip to the Good Zoo
I'm wondering what it is. I get this distinct feeling that, anywhere we go, we are the loudest group afoot.
We went to the Good Zoo this afternoon, which was a wonderful outing, despite happening without a lot of advance planning. We took in a laser show, a lights show, and the driving tour of the lights. As well as the animals, of course. Other families seemed to calmly move from one set of animals to the next, chatting to each other. We burst from one thing to the next with all manner of exuberance. I'm sure this is partly my perception, and for the record I don't see anything wrong with it. I just notice that we seem to be different in this regard!
Felicity at first was excited to see the piggie, but then when we approached the barn (or more accurately, I think, when she smelled it), she went right off the idea. However she was excited to see the goats (where Kwamai and Erol had dashed in the meantime). Neither Kwamai nor Felicity were game to have the goats lick the 25 cent feed off their hands, although Kwamai tried very hard to toss it to the smaller animals who never seemed to get any attention because of the one giant goat who practically lunged over the fence to gobble up any offerings. In the next stall was the llama. Erol carried Felicity over to see it, and she kept calling out to me "This is the Mama one!" We told her, no, llama, not Mama. "Chickens!!" she screamed as we passed the hen house... At the playground area and Kwamai led us all in imaginative games of pirate ships and sea monsters and space monsters and space walking. Well, then Felicity needed a potty break and that abruptly ended the animal expedition for her and me.
We spent quite a bit of time in the train exhibit in the main building. Felicity absolutely loves trains. She wanted to watch each area for trains to pop out of tunnels or disappear into them. Kwamai was more fascinated by the light shows. I have a feeling we may go another time before they come down in January. Sure would be nice to see if we get a good snowfall!
We went to the Good Zoo this afternoon, which was a wonderful outing, despite happening without a lot of advance planning. We took in a laser show, a lights show, and the driving tour of the lights. As well as the animals, of course. Other families seemed to calmly move from one set of animals to the next, chatting to each other. We burst from one thing to the next with all manner of exuberance. I'm sure this is partly my perception, and for the record I don't see anything wrong with it. I just notice that we seem to be different in this regard!
Felicity at first was excited to see the piggie, but then when we approached the barn (or more accurately, I think, when she smelled it), she went right off the idea. However she was excited to see the goats (where Kwamai and Erol had dashed in the meantime). Neither Kwamai nor Felicity were game to have the goats lick the 25 cent feed off their hands, although Kwamai tried very hard to toss it to the smaller animals who never seemed to get any attention because of the one giant goat who practically lunged over the fence to gobble up any offerings. In the next stall was the llama. Erol carried Felicity over to see it, and she kept calling out to me "This is the Mama one!" We told her, no, llama, not Mama. "Chickens!!" she screamed as we passed the hen house... At the playground area and Kwamai led us all in imaginative games of pirate ships and sea monsters and space monsters and space walking. Well, then Felicity needed a potty break and that abruptly ended the animal expedition for her and me.
We spent quite a bit of time in the train exhibit in the main building. Felicity absolutely loves trains. She wanted to watch each area for trains to pop out of tunnels or disappear into them. Kwamai was more fascinated by the light shows. I have a feeling we may go another time before they come down in January. Sure would be nice to see if we get a good snowfall!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
This Week's Update
Felicity has taken to grazing her way through the day. Meals are non-attractive, but she will ask for bits of things all through the day. At least she eats good food that way, so I'm not complaining.
I'm wishing I had one of those clicky-counters like I've seen ticket-takers use at concerts to keep track of how many times through the day I hear "Mama!" It is a sweet word, of course. Felicity these days repeats it about 10 times before she says anything else to me, often expecting a response each time. So it's:
She is also fascinated with the "There Goes A..." series, about bulldozers, firetrucks, helicopters, trains, trucks, boats, etc. Felicity's suggestion for a new video is "There Goes an Ice Cream Truck"! Sounds good to me.
As for Kwamai, he is bursting with imagination as usual. For several days we've had a military formation encamped in the living room. When I asked him what we might do around Christmas time to bring some cheer to those who need it, he suggested going to the Veterans Hospital (in Pittsburgh) to visit or Christmas carol. Kwamai has also been busy coaching Felicity in games they make up together, like how to carry the giant Winnie the Pooh through the house while standing back to back. This week he was begging to be sure he would get to go to the library with us (so that we wouldn't go while he was at Catechesis, which became a moot point because it was cancelled anyway.) He was excited about gathering up books for himself (excitement about books being a very heart-warming thing for me!) I tried introducing him to P. G. Wodehouse for his bedtime listening, but learned he is not really interested in fiction. So, I'll need to find more children's history, or something!
I'm wishing I had one of those clicky-counters like I've seen ticket-takers use at concerts to keep track of how many times through the day I hear "Mama!" It is a sweet word, of course. Felicity these days repeats it about 10 times before she says anything else to me, often expecting a response each time. So it's:
Mama?
Yes, honey?
Mama?
Yes, honey?
Mama?
Yes, honey?
Mama?
Yes, honey?
Mama?
Yes, honey?
Mama?
Yes, honey?
Mama, can I have some pineapple?
She is also fascinated with the "There Goes A..." series, about bulldozers, firetrucks, helicopters, trains, trucks, boats, etc. Felicity's suggestion for a new video is "There Goes an Ice Cream Truck"! Sounds good to me.
As for Kwamai, he is bursting with imagination as usual. For several days we've had a military formation encamped in the living room. When I asked him what we might do around Christmas time to bring some cheer to those who need it, he suggested going to the Veterans Hospital (in Pittsburgh) to visit or Christmas carol. Kwamai has also been busy coaching Felicity in games they make up together, like how to carry the giant Winnie the Pooh through the house while standing back to back. This week he was begging to be sure he would get to go to the library with us (so that we wouldn't go while he was at Catechesis, which became a moot point because it was cancelled anyway.) He was excited about gathering up books for himself (excitement about books being a very heart-warming thing for me!) I tried introducing him to P. G. Wodehouse for his bedtime listening, but learned he is not really interested in fiction. So, I'll need to find more children's history, or something!
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Inquiring Minds Want to Know
Ok, so not only Felicity but I also had my bout of the tummy virus. Not fun at all.
I was telling Erol, the evening after Felicity got sick, that one moment she was as happy as a clam, and the next she was throwing up. A seriously quizzical Kwamai scratched his chin and inquired "Just how happy are clams, anyway?"
Last night Kwamai volunteered to clean up the entire living room, and put all the toys away. He then proceeded to tidy the dining room as well, and then swiftly went up to bed. All because he knew I was still recovering and it would make me feel better. What a sweet boy. I won't complain that I can't find a DVD I had on the couch. Everything turns up eventually.
I'm not sure that we are entirely out of the sick woods yet, but I sure hope so!
I was telling Erol, the evening after Felicity got sick, that one moment she was as happy as a clam, and the next she was throwing up. A seriously quizzical Kwamai scratched his chin and inquired "Just how happy are clams, anyway?"
Last night Kwamai volunteered to clean up the entire living room, and put all the toys away. He then proceeded to tidy the dining room as well, and then swiftly went up to bed. All because he knew I was still recovering and it would make me feel better. What a sweet boy. I won't complain that I can't find a DVD I had on the couch. Everything turns up eventually.
I'm not sure that we are entirely out of the sick woods yet, but I sure hope so!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Kwamai's Feeling Better
Kwamai had some kind of a stomach virus that had him laid low for about 24 hours. Felicity threw up at almost the same time he first did, but that was all it was for her. Kwamai spent yesterday rather wiped out. So, a quiet day was had by all. We read books, talked quietly, napped. He is so polite when he's not feeling well! I'm glad to report he is feeling better this afternoon. How can I tell? He's back to composing lunch time songs. Today's theme? Going potty in one's pants.
All back to normal, thank goodness.
All back to normal, thank goodness.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Hey, It's Good to Be Back Home Again
Well, Mama survived her first time ever being away from her kiddos overnight. Special thanks to Papa Grandma for making a special trip to help care for them! Felicity even developed a new repetitive saying while I was gone: "I want to tell you a secret." Kwamai didn't let on that it mattered to him that I was back, but before I left he was glued to me, literally following me everywhere throughout the house.
It's very good to be home, and I have some appreciation now for what Erol must feel like being away from home (though not overnight) for such a large percentage of his waking hours.
It's very good to be home, and I have some appreciation now for what Erol must feel like being away from home (though not overnight) for such a large percentage of his waking hours.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Good, Loud, Morning
Somehow the attraction first thing this morning was having an Indian party, complete with raucous drum music. It was hard to capture video without squelching the creative spirit (!) so this isn't very long. Just extend it in your mind for about 30 minutes.
Friday, November 2, 2007
The Ugly Man
Felicity has a variety of plastic people that accompany her through life. One is the figure of a man with one of his hands extended. She has taken to calling him "the ugly man". I wondered about this, and finally she managed to explain, and I managed to understand that what seems like an eternity ago (this post reminded me is was actually May 8 of this year) as we were waiting for Erol to finish his work with the spring election, we were looking at a large mural outside his building. I vaguely remember saying that the man depicted on the mural was kind of ugly, and looked like Felicity's toy man.
Man, and I thought no one but Kwamai remembered obscure details from more than half his lifetime ago.
Man, and I thought no one but Kwamai remembered obscure details from more than half his lifetime ago.
A Day at Salon Mom...
... can yield scary results!
Completely contrary to her usual, Felicity came to me this afternoon and asked me to put all of her hair elastics in. I do not claim any particular ability in the realm of hair styling. She seemed fairly pleased with the results, though!
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Felicity Provides Liturgical Accompaniment
Today at the All Saints' feast day Mass we had an organist, but no cantor. So he simply left off playing the liturgical parts that required a cantor, such as the Alleluia verse.
Felicity didn't find this quite satisfactory, so while the priest slowly processed with the gospel book, she sang out:
Alleluia!
Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car
Alleluia!
I didn't dare look around to see if anyone else was stifling laughter.
Felicity didn't find this quite satisfactory, so while the priest slowly processed with the gospel book, she sang out:
Alleluia!
Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car
Alleluia!
I didn't dare look around to see if anyone else was stifling laughter.
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