Circus Boys' Dreams

Above are our Circus Boys, on their last day of circus classes. Tomi in particular had been dreaming of joining the circus ever since his first sighting of nouveau cirque. There are five vacation cycles in France, starting with ten days around All Saints Day, so we filled the first week with a circus initiation for 5-7 year olds which was brilliant (and which had a secondary effect of conking three of the four of us out at hours which this family has never before seen). By the way, Tomi is walking backwards on the low beam, there. Funny, the things we take for granted when we're older. It was really touching to watch them all "try, try, try, and try it again" - and also stunning to watch them come up with some of their ideas, when they were working in groups or pairs. Kids are absolutely amazing.

Ah, and speaking of boys and dreams:

Ours began understanding the difference between dreams and reality a bit later than some, from the stories we've heard tell. But recently, they've been really into their dreams, and telling us about them. Sometimes, I suspect that they're telling us what they would have dreamed of, if they'd have had the choice. The other morning, though, I swished into their room just as Tomi woke up with a giggly laugh, saying, "Mmmm!" and then, as he came to, he mumbled, happily, "I was dreaming of chocolate!" There was a satisfied pause, and then, from the other bed, a happy little voice chirruped, "C'était quoi comme chocolat?! (What kind of chocolate was it?!)" and when Tomi didn't answer immediately, Leo said, "It was with milk in it? An' nuts?" Tomi never really did answer the question, nor did he have the time, because the idea of hot chocolate had already taken ahold of him, with the mention of a milk & chocolate combination. Suddenly, two little chocolate hounds were sprinting for the kitchen...

And then, this morning, I was in the bathroom when I heard the boys' door slowly creak open. I looked around the corner and saw a half-sleeping little Tomi, peeking out and saying, "Papa? Tu es là? Parce que je t'aime (Papa? Are you there? Because I love you)." I think he thought I was his daddy, so I said, softly, "Papa's in bed. You can go tell him..." He hugged me and whispered, "I dreamed of Daddy, and I wanted to tell him I love him." But by then, he was waking out of his dream-state, and got entangled in embarrassment, and never got around to telling his papa about it.

A Cartoon Lightbulb

Leo is sick, so he got to stay home today. As he was lounging in bed and his brother and papa were getting ready to head off to school, I started to explain to him how the day was going to proceed, starting with the fact that I was going to take a bath and wash my hair. This is the conversation that followed...

Leo: Why do you have to wash your hair?

Mom: Because it's dirty.

Leo: Why is it dirty?

Mom: (explains as best she can)

Leo: Why don't I have to wash my hair?

Mom: Because yours isn't dirty.

Leo: Why?

Mom: Well, little kids' hair doesn't get dirty as quickly as adults' hair does.

Leo: Why?

Mom: Good question. Yet another that I'll have to look up, later. In any case, your hair doesn't get dirty as quickly as mine does. You can wash yours less often than I do.

Leo: What is "less often"?

Mom: "Not as often"? ..."Not so much"? ..."Not as many times"? ..."A little bit - not alot"? For instance: you can do something alot, or just a little bit; you can do something often, or you can do it less often.

Leo: AH! (laughs with understanding and holds up one hand) "Ro-o-ock!... (holds up the other hand) Tree-ee-ee!..."

Those of you who have never watched The Iron Giant (1) should watch it and (2) may not get what just happened. What was really cool/funny was that Leo was clearly understanding that I was giving him an on-the-one-hand-versus-on-the-other-hand definition, and was delighted to have understood. And when the lightbulb flashed on, he immediately made the connection with the scene from The Iron Giant in which Hogarth is giving the giant his first English lesson. (Here is a page with some transcripts from the film, including this one, second from the last. The last one is actually the scene which taught the boys their first taunting/insulting phrase - another funny chapter in our family's book, which included yet another cool cartoon lightbulb.)

Blowing Kisses

My dear, dear Gramma (a.k.a, the boys' dear, dear Great-Gramma) celebrates her 88th year as a spring chicken today!

We on this side of the Atlantic wish you a very happy one, Gram - and I add my thanks (many times over) for the 39 of those years during which you've been my Gramma. xoxo

p.s. I start every day with thoughts of you as I sip my hot coffee (though admittedly not as hot as you'd like it!) in my favourite mug - the green-grey loon mug that you gave me to replace the even loonier one that was broken in our first household-with-kids accident, several years ago. Since it's addition to our household, I've only extremely rarely drunk from another. More thanks for the mug, and for its attendant daily thoughts.

The pictures are from our trip to Como Park this summer. The best part, according to everybody who was there, was our ride at the end of the day on the beautifully restored merry-go-round, which Gramma remembers riding as a child. Tomi was adamant that his great-gramma ride one of the chariots with him, and held her hand tightly the whole way. The rest of us charged ahead, atop the steeds that carried them along, so to speak. A lovely end to a lovely day.

Good Times, Gain, Losing It & Loss

(1) the casting of a most important vote* (2) the castaways at work together on their cushion raft (3) and the find of the weekend: four antique Louis-something chairs, for a song, one with the 'cast' for the cushions I'm going to make in order to prolong the life of their caning.

It was a very busy, very good weekend, filled with friends, old and new, and some quiet times so lovely that they took my breath away. It ended weirdly, spectacularly, with a bout of gastrointestinitis that made itself known to Tomi and the rest of us in the group as we waited for the train in Rosheim. Luckily, I had hurriedly stashed a pair of underwear and two plastic bags in with the rest of the junk in the backpack before we left. Even more luckily, our friend Alain had some wipeys, also for 'just in case.' And then, the weather was not only on our side, but brilliant. So the little sicky on his mother's lap in the train, wearing only a sweatshirt and undies (even the shoes and socks had to be bagged up!) wasn't too uncomfortable, after all. His mommy (ahem!) was wearing about 25 kilos of pumpkins and pumpkin beer on her back and 18 kilos of sick boy on her front, though, so she is still hurting from the exprience.**

And here is an article that went straight to my heart and head on several different levels. The compassion and caring for humanity that the various members of this family have shown - starting with their son and brother, Tom - is immense and uplifting; the thoughts and feelings shared, concerning loss and grief, are extremely well put; and the political parts are not only clear and concise, but serve to illustrate and as food for thought for so many other situations, political and otherwise.

* Please excuse the 'do.' The picture was taken before the bath was.

** His daddy can't do this any longer, because of a work-related back injury that would be all the more horrible if it were given any cause to flame back up.

A Pick from Last June

I just realised that I had a good example of the boys' prowess scanned from last June. We had stopped by their mémé & pépé's place on the way out for tartes flambées, and pépé put a cartoon channel on for the boys. Crypton immediately caught all of their attention, making it hard to get back out and to our tartes and so on. But the up side of that part of the adventure was the drawings that the boys came up with later, while the adults chatted away over tartes and brews on the restaurant's terrace. These were the first things Leo came up with:


I have to admit that I'm feeling humbled by what is unfolding before my very eyes. And thrilled, too!

Another Few From the Peanut Gallery

Our boys are difficult to pull away from their "workspace" in the corner of the living room. And their teachers tell us that things are the same at school. There is so much being produced that we honestly can't keep track of it all. I'm trying to devise ways, but the work piles up faster than I can tag and file it away, or send it to those for whom it was made, or simply get it up on their art string (just above their workspace).

The pieces above and below are among the squillions of things that made me laugh or brought a tear of parental sentimentality or pride or both in the past couple of days, plus the birthday card Tomi spontaneously made for me, after their daddy told the boys that the next day was my birthday, and so on. There was a funny moment at the beginning of the conversation, when Jean-Philippe said, "Demain, c'est l'anniversaire de..."* and Leo yelped, "De NOUS!" When JPhi said, "Non, de maman!" Leo's face crumpled and he wailed, "NO-o-o-o-o-o-o-ON!" Within a minute or two, though, the boys were as excited as though it were their own birthday. Pfew! Anyway, it was impossible to choose from the piles and piles - it quite honestly made me exhausted just thinking of doing so - so I simply scanned the first things I laid my eyes on in MY workspace (whence the boys' insistence on calling their art table "ower work. space" (= our workspace)).

by Leo > from left to right > Tomi, Mommy, Leo & Daddy

by Tomi > a psychedelic skyful

by Leo > a Pokémon cat with hearts representing the four (nuclear) family members, subsequently cut out with a pair of poor kiddie scissors (the boys are looking forward very much to their first pair of real scissors).

* "Tomorrow is guess-who's birthday?" "OUR birthday!" "No, it's mommy's!" "NO-o-o-o-o-O!"

Highly Suggested Watching