Saturday, January 27, 2007

POP!

Our last sighting of Laurence & Guillaume sans Hector (on the outside, that is) turned out to be but two days before his birth. The docs had stopped the meds that were keeping their bairn on the inside that very day, and Laurence was up and about like a (big-bellied) bird in spring. We joked about the wee one arriving within the week, and... two days later, out he popped!


Oh! And get this! On the way to their house for lunch, we got off the tram and began crossing the path through the botanical gardens, when the boys spied a series of large tree roots that had burst through the concrete. Of course, these roots were an invitation to any small child (and many's the big kid, too) to go hop-skip-jumping. And of course, that's what mine did... until Leo missed a root and came tumbling down & straight into a fresh dog-dump. I whipped out a wipey and was hurriedly cleaning his knee - at the same time warding off his hand, which was frantically trying to caress his wounded, poop-covered knee - when the extremely handsome woman that we had passed earlier, and who had gestured towards us as she spoke with a colleaugue or a friend, approached us, bent down and said (in French), "I know you don't know me, but I know you... I mean, I feel as though I know you, since I've seen so many pictures of you on your blog! I'm Guillaume's mom!" I must've looked very confused in the lead-up to the last sentence; but a this point, I laughed and said, "That's too much of a coincidence! We're on our way to Laurence & Guillaume's for lunch!" We had a lovely wee chat and then parted ways, promising to be meeting up soon for more talk and a bite to eat, a drink to sip... and a grandson to wonder over...!

Another little wonder was born on Martin Luther King Day: Samuel Robinson Challu! His lovin' mom, Amy, was (along with her brother, Chris) one of David's and my first Iowa City friends.

Samuel & Hector are a couple of very lucky little guys. Congratualations to all six of youse!

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

"Mommy? This?"

"That's snow, sweety! Those are snowflakes!"
"Falling, falling, soh-fake!"

That was a snippet from the conversation on the way home from school at lunchtime today. Then later, after supper:

"Mommy? My go tennis?"
"Erm... you want to play tennis?!"
"No! My go outside! On tennis!"
"Ah! You want to go out on the terrace?"
together: "YES!"

Yep. Winter arrived at last. And it's leaving its leavings still, as I type at 00:00 - hasn't stopped since it started, around 11:45! So beautiful... I love snow so much, not least (these days) for the added beauty it offers the view from our perch. And (ibid.) for the glee it brings out in small children:
After supper, we had a snow(ball) fight on the terrace and did some drawing in the snow with sticks. Also did a lot of stick-waving, of course...

Jean-Philippe and I have very different ideas about flash usage and other photographic details, and the result - aside from some interesting wee conversations and pictures, some VERY blurry or overexposed messes and a few jabs in the ribs - is that I've started taking several pictures of the same thing using each of the main modes on our digital camera, for experiment's sake. For instance:

Next morning, 24 January:
As Jean-Philippe made his way towards the kitchen to start the coffee this morning, he spied Tomi shuffling in before him. He thought that Tomi was looking for toast, but found the little urchin looking out quietly at the terrace. When Tomi sensed his dally behind him, he cocked his head gently and said with a little smile, "C'est marrant..." ("It's strange...") He was talking about the mounds of snow out there, everywhere:
The first is from last night, around midnight (after the boys' having chucked everything off of everything around 20:30); the second is from this morning, around 09:00.

When we finally made our way out and to the market late this morning - an endeavour that took an hour of getting ready and another hour to walk the 300 metres - there were but 4 or 5 stands! Then again, there were about 4 or 5 clients, so... Another hour and dozens of putting-the-mittens-back-ons, we were home again, home again...

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Suggestions Addenda

It has come to my attention that a few of the suggestions in my previous blog post needed a bit of extra explanation. But first! A couple of images from the other night, just before we prepared the boys for bed:
Tomi was reading through one of the boys' favourite books, given to them by GAMPA! just after their birth: a collection of many great children's sotries, illustrated by many great children's illustrators. But when he came to the images of the gestation and birth of a chick, he became entranced; and kept asking, "(What is) this?!" as he pointed to the various stages. Leo, meanwhile, wanted a posed picture of him with each of his growing collection of Absolutely Necessary for Bedtime and for Morning Milking Animals. Worm* won out in the blog selection process, but the funniest one (when it was being taken) was the Dinosaur one, because of the antics (opening the dinosaur's mouth, and ROWR!-ing); and the Goo-Goo Bear one was the sweetest, because he insisted on a few takings, in order to get the perfect image of his love for that little bear (a gift of his Great Aunt Peggy a tthe time of their birth)...

And now, back to the addtions to the previous post's suggestions:

1) The "special things" high up in one corner of the kitchen are things like juice boxes, chocolate, etcetera. They're things for "special moments" or when we're out and about, that kind of thing...

2) The cake with the crown is a Three Kings Cake. On the day of the Epiphany (the first Sunday of January - in France, at least), you gather around a cake with a small surprise baked into it. The person who gets the piece containing the surprise is the king/queen, and wears the crown for the rest of the day.

3) I'd also suggest that Pretend Soup not be given to a child before their third birthday (as Ellen did). Molly Katzen mentions that age as the starting age, and also that most of the recipes are really for slightly older kids, but can be done with extra help from an adult from the age of three. So far, we've done the pizzas, Zucchini Moons and Noodle Soup, and (although it is, honestly, alot of work when two three year olds go at it at once - and sometimes necessitates dividing the boys up for a few seconds & letting each one have his moment of glory while the other one has a window to get into the "special things" corner) they've all worked spectacularly, and the boys are really, really proud to have helped to make their lunch, supper or snack, as the case may be.

4) Of course, of course: hours after I'd blogged about the Jurassic Park incident, the boys were begging to watch it again. It was clear that they hadn't forgotten the "really! bad! boys" and "really! bad! dinosaurs," but it seems that didn't matter as much as I'd feared. (For instance, they'd be begging, and one of them would start talking about the events in the movie - as though to be sure that I knew what movie they were talking about - and say something like, "Really bad dinosaur eats one man! Breaks little house! Rowr! Yom! Yom!" referring to the lawyer's demise in the latrine.) In any case, we've put the movie away for now...

Here are a couple of images from last Tuesday's First Secret Session (hah! hah! More information later...), which culminated in a couple of cute moments between Marion and the boys. The third picture is a clearer image of (Tomi engaging in) one of the boys' lateset obsessions: stick gathering and waving. They are only allowed to do the waving "outside," of course, so the terrace has become more important to them of late...

And a couple of pictures of Tomi's artistic exploits. The drawing (which he gifted me after its creation. To do this, the boys sometimes lay their creations on my desk when I'm not looking. And when I ask about it, they say, "This (is) Mommy's," in a kind of shy way. It's very sweet) ...the picture is of a "little boy." You can see his pink arms. But what you might think are (somewhat insect-like) eyes are actually his ears. I figured this out later in the day, when Tomi came to me, distressed, with a "boy" he'd drawn and was cutting out. Sadly, he explained to me, he'd cut the boy's ears off... The second picture is of our first cutting accident. When he turned around with a cry for help, I found his scissors entrenched in his t-shirt! He'd been holding them close to his body for better stability, and the t-shirt got scrunched up into them. It seemed that he thought that if he didn't move and if I helped him, his t-shirt could be saved. Another very cute moment. (Oh, and that's hot chocolate that's covering his face. He was saving it for later.)

* Worm was a 1-year birthday gift from Ina & Jerry Lowenberg. He dethroned Goo-Goo for a while, but they now share that seat, and their reign is a peaceful and happy one. The lizard that the Lowenbergs gave Tomi is second in command to Teddy (a.k.a, Telly), and is often called (make a blathering noise with your tongue, something like:) "blah-uhl-ath-uhl," as in: "Mommy, my not find blah-uhl-ath-uhl!" ( = "Mommy! I can't find lizard!")

Thursday, January 11, 2007

A Suggestion or Seven & a Wish

First of all, I'd like to recommend a bit of reading.

Second of all, I'd like to recommend that you never begin watching a DVD'd series like 24 if you have any thoughts of working evenings for the coming week. Though it's highly recommended for those suffering from a severe allergy attack and unable to locate their adrenaline shot.

Third of all, I'd like to recommend cooking with wee ones as soon as they express an interest in it:
But if you have twins, do keep an eye on the one who's not cutting; look over your shoulder every once in a while and be sure that (s)he hasn't got up and into the hintercorners, where you store the "special" things...

Fourthly, and if you're thinking of following the third of my recommendations (see above), I recommend very highly the cook book that Aunt Ellen gave the boys for their 3rd birthday, Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes. (If you click on that link, you'll get one mother's opinion of the book. If you want to compare prices online, you can go to epinions.com).

Fifthly, if you're king, I recommend you find yourself a worthy queen. And that you play Lavender Blue at your wedding ceremony. Which I recommend you hold on the first Sunday of the month of January, of course!

Sixthly, it has come to our attention - thanks to a small child at the Rheinschneck café and park in Kehl, Germany - that if you are lacking snow, you can always make gravel angels.

And seventhly (?!), we recommend very highly that you listen to your inner voice, and that even if your small children LOVE dinosaurs and BEG you to let them watch the hidden Jurassic Park DVD they've unearthed (hidden because you wanted to screen it before you decided what age you were waiting for the little ones to reach before you let them watch it )... well... you see what I mean. After having watched Jurassic Park, Leo and Tomi actually asked with serious, searching eyes if they could please watch a movie WITHOUT "bad boys." It seems they've come to the conclusion that the butler (Aristocats), the tortoise (La Prophecie des Grenouilles), the dog catcher (Lady and the Tramp) and even Malificent (Sleeping Beauty) pale in comparison with a tyrannosaurus or a couple of velociraptors. Actually, I'd agree with that assessment. Except, perhaps, in the case of Malificent. Still, though: she was only an animation. Velociraptors are REAL! RUN!

But back to the fifth, above: here's hoping Barb and Larry had a lovely, loving wedding anniversary together! (& if you're wondering why said fifth makes me think of their thirty-eighth on the fourth, I'm sure Barb & Larry will be happy to answer any queries.)

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

HeRe'S To a HaPPy PaSSaGe...

...to all of you into this newest of years! It certainly was a happy one here at 24a. We had arranged things so that we could begin towards the end of the afternoon with the board-game players among us - & especially the young Dylans among us - & also so that people could come and go as they pleased - and as they could. Our address is a good one for such things in Strasbourg. But the adults were so blinkety-blinkin' up to their ears in preparations even at 5pm that (I have to admit) if I'd've been Dylan, I wouldn't have been impressed. However! we were so impressed with the little that we got to play of Dylan's game, Labyrinth, that we're going to try and reschedule THAT part as soon as possible. And let's be honest: for the rest of it, we can honestly say that we did it right!

We were especially happy for the presence of Clare's mom and of Assia & Mohamed; and also for the giant tiny dance floor that our wee ones inspired right around midnight. And of course, we were impressed by the city-wide fireworks display; and especially by that part that our friends, big and small, put on just under our windows. Lara & Eliza were eXtrEmeLy impressed, seeing as their big brothers were down there, after the clock turned, creating some of the havoc. YEE-HAH!

There were a precious few pictures taken, which meant that only a certain percentage of those who were there were filmed, in the end
(a few of the 9-12 crowd, and here's to 'em!). But there were several good 'uns (including the two above), and here they are:

Speaking of havoc: turns out that I wasn't the only one who thought that this year's city-wide fireworks displays were among the most impressive, ever - which is to say, of course, that they were also among the most dangerous to navigate. To begin with, there were more large, sky-spanning explosions. That was the good side. But there were also more danger-seekers, which (again: of course) meant more danger-avoiders (since alot of people are only awaiting the striking of midnight, the round of kisses and a last round (of champagne) to begin their way home. And that is also - and again, of course - the moment when the wreaking of havoc begins)... They were avoiding things like the triangular battle at the end of the street, which caught the groups who left at around 00:30 and those who arrived around 00:45 in their cross-fire. Oy!

And here is the biggest of the Xmas Corners, BEFORE and AFTER. The last of the revellers having departed around 4:30am, I slept until noon the next day. And accomplished this while the Beinert Boys Three slept the afternoon away... And HERE is to a wonderful Year 2007 to you and yours - and to everybody, everywhere. Would it could be so: peace on earth, good will to all.

Friday, January 05, 2007

...snif...

I was helping the boys into their pyjamas after dinner tonight, while Jean-Philippe washed the dishes. We'd promised the boys we'd all watch a movie together, and they were really excited, partly because we'd told them it would be a 'big kid' movie (Inner Space, as it were). It had been a perfectly lovely day-into-the-evening; the boys were all squirrely and jabbering away... I don't remember exactly what thought/memory set things off, but suddenly (quite seriously: it was like being struck by lightning, blinded for a moment, bowled over) I was hit by this series of memories of and thoughts about David, and tears started falling with no warning at all, fast and hard. Leo was standing over me with his hand on my shoulder as I helped him. He ducked his head down and said, "Mommy? Crying?" When I said, "Yeah," he bent down and tenderly encircled me in his arms, then kissed my cheek very softly and went back to hugging and hugging me. Tomi leaned over and gently put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Mommy, don't cry." A bit later, they asked me why I was crying. I think they sort of understood. Whether they did or not, I feel... well, you can't really put this kind of feeling into words, can you? So I won't. Except to say that I would never have believed that I could love them any more than I already did - but I was wrong.