Clash and Contradiction: parenting

Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts

March 7

>> Sunday, March 7, 2010 – craft, household, parenting, photography

On Saturday morning our plans to visit the farmer's market were thwarted. We awoke, wondering why it was so bright in the house, and glanced out of our living room window to see branches, heavily laden with snow. It had snowed several inches overnight and more fluffy white flakes were still falling.

Mikey saw the snow and shouted "Mummy, snow! snow! snow!" He would not stop shouting until we got dressed and found our snow boots, he put his on all by himself. Mummy fumbled for her coffee as she was not yet awake, while Mikey stood at the door still shouting. We walked outside in the snow for about an hour, wandering around our military housing complex, Mikey kicking the snow with his little blue boots and chasing the few birds that had dared venture out. On the way back we came across Sarah outside with her lovely dog, Beni, who was very excited to see Mikey and licked his face.

Someone seriously needs to tell me how to properly expose for snow.

When we got home, after we'd unraveled ourselves from our snow-cover layers, Mikey did some watercolour painting while mummy worked on fixing up his toy box bench, cutting foam and fabric to make the seat cushion.

The toy box has been sanded down to take the gloss off, it just needs some primer and paint now. Sadly it's a mixture of solid wood and wood veneer so I can't just sand it right down and stain it.

The seat cushion also needs to be painted. I wanted to paint some elephants on there because they're Mikey's favourite animal but I tried to draw some elephant outlines and they're really not all that good, they looked somewhat like demented trees. I am thinking that I will perhaps paint some birds on there instead as they're a little easier for me to draw. I'm hoping to get it all finished this weekend, but I may need to enlist the help of a friend to watch Mikey while I go to the basement to spraypaint.

I know I'm posting this at an insane hour (it's 3.40am here) but Mikey woke up and I've just been on the phone to my mother in-law, talking about my sister in-law's wedding. Then I called my husband (who was in a bar in Chicago with his brother, cousin and friend. tsk tsk!). Now I'm not tired at all, I'm going to regret this tomorrow (today?) I'm sure.

March 5

>> Friday, March 5, 2010 – household, parenting, photography

This morning Mikey woke early again. In an effort to not be outdone I decided I would start some of today's work early, Mikey helped by handing me nails and pretending to hammer. We completed our new noticeboard from an old picture frame and some chicken wire just as the sun started to come up.

Sorry the photo is not so good, we don't get much light in that little corner of the apartment. The little calendar in the top left is by Lisa Rupp Design.

Our afternoon was spent drawing with sidewalk chalk and climbing the side of the large hill near to our apartment. Tiring work, now we are going to spend this evening snuggling out of the blustery wind and reading some Beatrix Potter together from some of my old books while eating yoghurt and granola. Mikey has asked to hear The Tale of Tom Kitten several times already in the past few days, he thinks that Tom and his sisters are very naughty.

We have big plans to finish cleaning the house tomorrow, as well as doing some laundry and of course fitting in some outside time.

I'm re-reading Buddhism for Mothers by Sarah Napthali. It's just as insightful the second time as it was the first, perhaps moreso.

March 3 - The Rhythm of Spring

>> Wednesday, March 3, 2010 – household, parenting, thoughts

We're slowly slipping into our daily rhythm for Spring, it's not a forced schedule but more like how the rest of our days naturally evolve around the necessities of set meals times, sleep and household work.

Here is a rough outline of how our days look at the moment, although I haven't written in snack times but they kind of fit in as we go:

Morning

Wake up
Breakfast and TV time
Yoga, which we do together now that Mikey is old enough to copy mummy. He thinks that getting into the positions is pretty hilarious. Downward facing dog is his favourite, he's not too good at any that involve standing on one leg.
Household chores and/or errands
Free Play, which is Mikey's unguided play time. Sometimes he will play alone while I finish my household chores and other times I will play with him.

Lunch

Naptime, during which mummy either does more chores, does some crafting, does some blogging or naps along with Mikey.

Afternoon

Outside play, if the weather is reasonable, which involves either the playground or going on walks. It really has to be peeing it down with rain or snow for us to not go outside, just because he sleeps and behaves so much better if he has a good amount of outside time. If the weather is bad then we do indoor constructive play which involves playing and listening to music, painting, drawing or building with blocks (sometimes we bring these activities outside with us).

Dinner

After dinner we have some calm play with quiet toys to help wind down for bed. We also do a little singing.
We read some books together.
Daddy takes over for bath time.
Mikey goes to bed, which is when mummy gets free time.

This is all subject to change of course, as the evenings start getting lighter and we begin to slip into summer then we will have more outside time and go on walks after dinner. But this is it for now.

It's taken me a while to realise the importance of a daily rhythm to the smooth running of our days, for me to actually pay attention to the natural rhythm that our days fit into all on their own and embrace that rhythm. It makes things so much calmer and simpler, mikey really benefits from the security of knowing what will come next in his day.

What's your daily rhythm? Do you have one? How does it work out for you?

My husband left this morning to fly back to the States for a week. It's funny, I've noticed that no matter how long they are gone, be it a week or an entire deployment, it still royally sucks. Hopefully I can get some work done while he's away though, I have furniture to finish.

February 17

>> Wednesday, February 17, 2010 – parenting, photography

Yesterday the snow was beginning to melt and the sun was shining beautifully. Mikey and I ventured from our nest and blinked our eyes in the bright sunlight. We dressed up warmly in coats, hats and gloves and carefully peered out of the door to our stairwell.

The snow was melting! Icy water was running down from the roof and dripping slowly off of the very tips of the icicles hanging there. We tested the snow on the ground with our boots, it was still frozen but slippery where the sun reached across it. Carefully, on tip-toes, we held hands and walked across the snow. We walked all the way to a nearby cemetery, passing cars, bicycles, buses, trams and doggies on our journey.

We slowly walked through the cemetery collecting leaves, twigs and pebbles as we went. Mikey had brought his little shopping bag and carefully placed each treasure inside it to bring home with him. We sat quietly on a bench and watched the birds at a feeder nearby, there were crows, sparrows, finches and even one of the naughty escaped parakeets from the local zoo.

On the way home Mikey noticed a playground, he pointed and started shouting "Mummy, Slide! Slide!" so we stopped to play for an hour or so in the sunshine.

I asked Mikey if he ever wanted to leave the playground and he said no, but sadly it was close to naptime so we had to say goodbye.

We arrived home and curled up on the couch to eat some homemade rice pudding with nutella swirled in it before taking a lovely long afternoon nap.

Later in the evening our neighbour's children found a black cat in a tree outside our apartment. She was cold, hungry and seemed lost. We put her on the ground after getting her out of the tree, expecting her to go home, but she didn't seem to know where to go and just hung around us. It was getting dark so I decided to bring her indoors and feed her, she wolfed down the food and drank lots of water. She was so friendly and we kept her overnight, Mikey followed her around saying "Kitty! Kitty!", threw a little ball for her to chase, laughed and pet her saying "gentle, gentle". She snuck into our bedroom during the night and slept above my husbands head as if she belonged there. In the morning she curled up on my lap while I drank my coffee, purring loudly and marching/kneading on my stomach with sharp little claws.

We are going to take her to the shelter so that they can check if she has a chip. If we cannot locate her owners then we will be keeping her. I kind of hope we get to keep her, she is beautiful and Mikey loves her very much.

Wordful Wednesday

February 16

>> Tuesday, February 16, 2010 – craft, parenting, photography

This weekend was wonderfully long, with time spent playing in the snow, nights out (and nights in!) with lovely friends and cooking good food. Mikey and I went out for a long walk on Saturday afternoon with a friend and her two dogs, he loved running around them and laughing at their antics in the snow. We got home in time to throw together a lasagna for our husbands and their friends when they arrived home from playing music at another friend's house.

Our Valentines day meal consisted of baked salmon with squid ink pasta, the pasta tossed with grilled tomatoes, spinach, olive oil and pecorino romano. No photos I'm afraid, we were far too busy eating it for any of that nonsense. It was delicious.

I have resolved to buy myself some thicker socks, Mikey wants to play outside in the snow for hours but my feet are frozen after 30 minutes. On Monday afternoon after playing for an hour and a half, getting ourselves thoroughly covered in snow and our hands cold with melted ice from our icicle hunt , we had to come back inside, change our clothes, snuggle under soft blankets and drink tea to warm ourselves up again. After dinner we all cuddled up on the couch to watch a Miyazaki film and Mikey fell asleep.

I finished knitting both a cushion and a cowl this weekend. The cushion still needs some work, it looks too plain and I have yet to decide what it really needs, but it is perfect as a throw cushion for our bed. The cowl is just perfect and deliciously warm, I am absolutely in love with this chunky pure merino yarn. I have it in several colours and am tempted to go back for more.

I have photos of Mikey's finished end table. It was an awful, uneven red stain before... but now it looks lovely. He also has some new picture frames for his artwork that I'm in the process of putting on the wall.

And now, thanks to all of this business, my house is a huge mess! So it looks like today is cleaning and laundry day, although the sun is shining beautifully so we might escape outside for a while too.

I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's and Fasching weekend. It's Pancake day/Shrove Tuesday today and I'm going to be making British Pancakes/Sweet Crepes for lunch. Yum.

February 10

>> Wednesday, February 10, 2010 – parenting, photography, whimsy

Here we go again. We thought that perhaps the snow had left us for the rest of the year, but this morning it snowed again. Big fluffy balls of snowflakes fell in flurries, once again coating everything pristine white.

We have construction work in our stairwell at the moment, so to avoid the constant noise of drilling and hammering Mikey an I took the snow as an excuse to go out and play. The construction workers laughed at us when we headed out the door, wrapped from head to toe. They laughed when we came back in an hour later, stomping snow from our boots on the door mat and brushing it from our hats.

I was intending to head into downtown today to buy some more knitting needles, perhaps I will catch the bus later. The snow makes me want to go outside and play in it, but then come back inside and snuggle under a blanket with some hot tea and watch BBC Planet Earth with Mikey. It's certainly not the sort of weather I enjoy running errands in, but I do need some new larger sized needles so that I can work on my latest knitting project.

Mikey found some paper decoupage beads that I had been using to make a necklace, he said "Snow! Snow!", threw them all around and then said "Uh Oh, snow...". He's always taller than I expect these days, I think I've put things out of reach and there he is with them in his curious little hands.