Luci decorating Christmas cookies with frosting in the way she paints on paper--sticking with one piece and layering and slathering incessantly. This and the constant finger licking/dipping eliminated any possibility of presenting it to the neighbors.
The kids running around Stepney Green after the decorating and pretending to trap Peanut with sticks. We had a definite time restriction (darkness and dinner approaching) so I was happy for the pursuit of Peanut since it increased her exercise.
Me, hanging out with the eldest son upstairs and commenting on how buttery and wonderful the milk always tastes in the tea there. To which he replied, "Oh, it's Carnation."
Peanut repeatedly attempting to get her head inside Luci's new doll house and failing. I thought there was some smell to the wood that she liked but it was just a untouched ginger snap left by Luci. I indulged Peanut because she has a weakness for almost all things ginger and molasses.
Jesse getting so excited, official, and proud about bringing our plate of saran wrapped cookies up to the neighbors. He didn't think there should be too much candy covering the cookies and was good about signing his and his sister's name to the card. (Yesterday he composed a whole card, letter, and envelope for the Hayeses completely on his own. It read "Dear Heezoos, I luv you, luv, frum Jesse.")
Me, appalled, that the woman in number 15 as well as the residents in 7 still don't have service water. And me intrigued to find out that it probably wasn't the number of phone calls that made the water company and council take the problem seriously. It was one of resident's mothers on Christmas Eve who works at BBC.
The 3 of us (Darren is on his first trip back to the US) eating leftover chocolate and biscuits for breakfast with buttery eggs and day old quality coffee, which I have determined is way better than poor fresh coffee. Yummers!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Monday, December 24, 2007
Wonder!
Wow, what a week has passed! A parent-teacher conference at the beginning of the week which was very encouraging. When you are sending your kid to school 5 days a week you want to know he is in good care. It seemed the teachers had a thorough record of all the kids' learnings. I like that he's learning but don't care as much about that as the fact that the teachers are paying attention to the kids and not just letting them screw around. J brought home a big wad of papers, his work since half-term that I have yet to look through. We also went as a family to a Cinderella play (not your traditional) with J's class and it was fun to meet other moms, ride in the coach (we got to wear seatbelts!), and watch the kids reactions. I think Jesse was somewhat pleasantly intrigued but his final comment was "Too long mummy" and that was his complaint about it when he woke up for a related nightmare that I knew would happen.
I think a cross-dressed wicked stepmother might just do that--I'm sure he thought there's probably something not quite right about that lady. Luci seemed to thoroughly enjoy it, with the scary parts outdone by the singing and fairy mum.
My computer bit the dust this week so that's been a bit of a pain and a wonder if or when I will get another. I really do like this connection to the outside world.
Our reliable tap water also went bye-bye. On Tuesday a neighbor came down to check and see if we had flushing toilets and running bathroom taps. Well "yes" I said after running upstairs to check the taps. I offered to give her water or let her use the bath. She said thanks and I thought "Poor dear". By that afternoon, we and that neighbor, #9, and 13, and 3, and 6, and 12 and on and on to the whole building were out of water, except for number 8 who had absolutely no problem. I checked that into my memory. We had a difficult English exchange but certainly I'd be able to ask him for water. The upstairs residents then began to express that they had no water at all. So our kind neighbor came down to tell us that we could use the tap they passed in the stairwell on the way to their flat. But we were okay with our kitchen water access. Until I called to place my complaint-then the whole building went completely out. (Imagine no flushing toilet for 6 or 7 days, imagine that with 12 people in your flat. Well, you'd get creative wouldn't you?) Thames Water "resolved the problem on Sunday, but funny, it was back to the normal abnormal by this morning. Needless to say I was fed up! More by the injustice than the water loss. I mean it had actually gotten really laughable and most of the time D and I were having a good time with it. But it felt like every time I called, I was told that I was about the only one calling. I asked my neighbors and they'd say they had all called. We found a few more neighbors passing our window and gave out the number so they could call. Finally with all the calls, our water came back! We flushed! But... we wrapped presents, Darren went to get his bike which he parked somewhere, and oops! He should have taken his shower before he left because there's a trickle of hot water up there now. But to hear the machines outside my window digging for a solution under the pavement give me great hope because it was only today that the council and Thames Water decided it was an emergency, even though there's a lot of elderly people here. After my 3rd call this morning and after many, many others, we finally qualified!
It has been fabulous to meet our neighbors this way. We did not get many names and chances are we wouldn't have been good about remembering them anyways but it's given us a basis upon which to interact and that is brilliant!
I haven't even talked about Christmas yet. We are very excited! We attended a crib service (a service for the kids) at Saint Dunstan's, a 15th century church in our neighborhood. Our acquaintances Sarah and Phil had invited us to come around to their place for an open house afterwards and so it worked out well. We walked back with them and hung out until 6, then came home, did the bedtime routine including a bath (that's when the hot water was flowing out of the tap), put the kids to bed (they're so good when concerned about the opinions of Father Christmas), and started wrapping gifts. Now, we aren't ones to teach our kids about Santa, we've always told them that it's just pretend. However, we have come into the knowledge that Jesse totally believes in Father Christmas, having been nurtured into this by his teachers. And his imagination and wonder is so endearing that we're just gonna go with it this year. Except I don't want to worry him too much. The poor kid has been concerned that FC won't fit down the chimney as he stares at our heating unit. (It would be hard to imagine him fitting through those grates.) So will we leave the back door unlocked he asks. Then last night, just because I polished off the chocolate chip cookies, J burst into tears because FC wouldn't have anything to eat! Darren found another one and we remedied the situation. Right at bedtime, concern over not having left a note arose and D assured him that HE could just write a note. Jesse's final instructions were to put the cookie on the floor in front of the door with the note so that Father Christmas wouldn't miss them.
Merry Christmas to all our friends and Loved Ones! Enjoy reflecting on Jesus' birth, drinking wassail, and being with your loved ones. And enjoy those presents too. I love that St. Dunston's is having a service at 10 am tomorrow where the kids are invited to bring one of their presents to show everyone, as long it is not musical.
I think a cross-dressed wicked stepmother might just do that--I'm sure he thought there's probably something not quite right about that lady. Luci seemed to thoroughly enjoy it, with the scary parts outdone by the singing and fairy mum.
My computer bit the dust this week so that's been a bit of a pain and a wonder if or when I will get another. I really do like this connection to the outside world.
Our reliable tap water also went bye-bye. On Tuesday a neighbor came down to check and see if we had flushing toilets and running bathroom taps. Well "yes" I said after running upstairs to check the taps. I offered to give her water or let her use the bath. She said thanks and I thought "Poor dear". By that afternoon, we and that neighbor, #9, and 13, and 3, and 6, and 12 and on and on to the whole building were out of water, except for number 8 who had absolutely no problem. I checked that into my memory. We had a difficult English exchange but certainly I'd be able to ask him for water. The upstairs residents then began to express that they had no water at all. So our kind neighbor came down to tell us that we could use the tap they passed in the stairwell on the way to their flat. But we were okay with our kitchen water access. Until I called to place my complaint-then the whole building went completely out. (Imagine no flushing toilet for 6 or 7 days, imagine that with 12 people in your flat. Well, you'd get creative wouldn't you?) Thames Water "resolved the problem on Sunday, but funny, it was back to the normal abnormal by this morning. Needless to say I was fed up! More by the injustice than the water loss. I mean it had actually gotten really laughable and most of the time D and I were having a good time with it. But it felt like every time I called, I was told that I was about the only one calling. I asked my neighbors and they'd say they had all called. We found a few more neighbors passing our window and gave out the number so they could call. Finally with all the calls, our water came back! We flushed! But... we wrapped presents, Darren went to get his bike which he parked somewhere, and oops! He should have taken his shower before he left because there's a trickle of hot water up there now. But to hear the machines outside my window digging for a solution under the pavement give me great hope because it was only today that the council and Thames Water decided it was an emergency, even though there's a lot of elderly people here. After my 3rd call this morning and after many, many others, we finally qualified!
It has been fabulous to meet our neighbors this way. We did not get many names and chances are we wouldn't have been good about remembering them anyways but it's given us a basis upon which to interact and that is brilliant!
I haven't even talked about Christmas yet. We are very excited! We attended a crib service (a service for the kids) at Saint Dunstan's, a 15th century church in our neighborhood. Our acquaintances Sarah and Phil had invited us to come around to their place for an open house afterwards and so it worked out well. We walked back with them and hung out until 6, then came home, did the bedtime routine including a bath (that's when the hot water was flowing out of the tap), put the kids to bed (they're so good when concerned about the opinions of Father Christmas), and started wrapping gifts. Now, we aren't ones to teach our kids about Santa, we've always told them that it's just pretend. However, we have come into the knowledge that Jesse totally believes in Father Christmas, having been nurtured into this by his teachers. And his imagination and wonder is so endearing that we're just gonna go with it this year. Except I don't want to worry him too much. The poor kid has been concerned that FC won't fit down the chimney as he stares at our heating unit. (It would be hard to imagine him fitting through those grates.) So will we leave the back door unlocked he asks. Then last night, just because I polished off the chocolate chip cookies, J burst into tears because FC wouldn't have anything to eat! Darren found another one and we remedied the situation. Right at bedtime, concern over not having left a note arose and D assured him that HE could just write a note. Jesse's final instructions were to put the cookie on the floor in front of the door with the note so that Father Christmas wouldn't miss them.
Merry Christmas to all our friends and Loved Ones! Enjoy reflecting on Jesus' birth, drinking wassail, and being with your loved ones. And enjoy those presents too. I love that St. Dunston's is having a service at 10 am tomorrow where the kids are invited to bring one of their presents to show everyone, as long it is not musical.
Monday, December 17, 2007
The Christmas Festivities are ON!
Last week commenced with us attending Jesse first play ever--the nativity play at his school where Jesse got to be Joseph. We wondered if self-consciousness would kick in but it never did. He was so happy and proud to be a part of it and I couldn't believe how non-chalantly he said his line. It wasn't extremely dramatic but it was totally without self-consciousness or any related afflictions, just perfectly delivered. It was great to see him sing all the songs that he had been singing around the house. I thought it was funny when Luci said, "Mommy, is Jesse a pirate?" It was also fun for us to notice that Jesse was playing the air drums, etc. while the kids that had those parts were doing it for real. It was cute to watch him mime front and center on stage.
On Saturday we went to our neighborhood farm for a nativity thing too. Our friends from the Salvation Army organized this fabulous thing, which I gather they do every year. They had nativity related costumes for the children to put on (J declined, and Luci did too, as he was nativitied out and besides, he's off on Saturday). The boy who was the star (he was pre-picked) told everyone to follow him and we all followed as the nativity played out. We visited the 3 wise women near the geese and chickens, King Herod stationed with the pigs, the shepherds with the sheep and then finally the stable where the baby was, with the animals conveniently penned nearby. At every spot we sang a Christmas carol accompanied by the Salvation Army Band. (By the way Americans, this may surprise you as it did me, but the Army is alive and well here.) It was great to see friends, or people for who I am beginning to claim as that, and eat mince pies and drink mulled cider. I went home absolutely frozen and with dung on my shoes but feeling a bit closer than normal to the first Christmas.
On Sunday we went to the Christmas Carol service at our church, another confirmation that I am in the land of literature, theatre and music. It was a full house, we had to sit squished in the front seat of the balcony with squirming children but they had a couple pieces from the Messiah, a song performed by the the Bengali Fellowship that meets there and a bunch of carols. And all this performed within a cathedral--fabulous acoustics which makes everything sound amazing. Luci did her spinning ballerina moves on the side and made me jump up with 2 seperate declarations of "Pee-pee!" and "Poo-poo!" Jesse either wooed or irritated the lady next to us into giving up some spider man stickers from her purse.
This week is the week before Jesse has a break from school for 2 weeks. So he gets out early tomorrow since there are parent-teacher conferences following. On Wednesday he has a Christmas party that I'm slicing some cheese for. On Thursday we all get to go with J's class to a theatre production of Cinderella, and on Friday he gets out early again.
We are also going to have our first (I really think it's our first) native English friend visit for a dinner on Thursday night. We've had a couple of other folks over but it's been more of a time to pick their brains on things and get acquainted rather than pleasure. Wow, what a big milestone for us! We also have a date with this guy and his roomies to come play Settlers in January.
Friday, December 07, 2007
Delights
I once knew a man (in InnerChange) who would always say "Good morning delight!"
Well, that's generally what I think when I pick up Jesse from school--I'm just so happy to see him! Today he greeted me with this note that I think he worked out pretty much on his own. He's really been working on his words and it is incredible to watch him sound out words and then write them. They're often not right but pretty close!
Also, the other day as we were returning home from the school pick-up and then the playground, Luci was gurgling/cooing for a hug from Jesse, so Jesse leaned over into the stroller and hugged her. Then she gurgled again and with a warm smile he said, "You really like that huh?" and leaned in to give her another hug. Then there was yet another hug and he said, in Luci's ear, "Luci, I will always be in your life."
And I'm thinking, "Where does he get this stuff?" My heart just melts.
Some more delights I'm looking forward to this month are:
going to a Cinderella play with Jesse's class. They had some extra tickets so the whole family will be there. This is perfect because Luci keeps asking to watch the movie which she's never seen before.
time around the Christmas tree with the fam
bringing Christmas cookies to our neighbors upstairs. I may not be able to compete with the curries flying around but I should be in the top of my game Christmas cookie wise, since there is no competition.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Things I Learned Today
From my own experience:
London can be dead silent sometimes. There are the crazy urban areas where everything and everybody is whizzing and whirring by but in the middle of a big park, like Victoria, it is as if nothing is around except a squirrel rustling through the grass or a bird chirping, I love it.
My dollar is pathetic!
The swans on the canal will ALWAYS hiss at Peanut as she runs by.
From a great newspaper called the Guardian:
France subsidizes artists who work something like 570 hours investing in their art form over 10 weeks time.
These are the 4 most environmentally polluting countries per capita (from worst to less bad): 1) Australia 2) U.S. 3) Great Britian 4) China.
From a great book that I recommend to everyone. It is informative and enjoyable because it is one family's account of trying to live on locally grown food, called "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver:
The turkeys we eat generally (those non-organic ones we can pick up anywhere) are genetically altered and bred to grow so fat and inactive that the females have to be artificially inseminated. There's no energy to go about it naturally.
"Nearly three quarters of all antibiotics in the United States are used in CAFOs." (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations)
London can be dead silent sometimes. There are the crazy urban areas where everything and everybody is whizzing and whirring by but in the middle of a big park, like Victoria, it is as if nothing is around except a squirrel rustling through the grass or a bird chirping, I love it.
My dollar is pathetic!
The swans on the canal will ALWAYS hiss at Peanut as she runs by.
From a great newspaper called the Guardian:
France subsidizes artists who work something like 570 hours investing in their art form over 10 weeks time.
These are the 4 most environmentally polluting countries per capita (from worst to less bad): 1) Australia 2) U.S. 3) Great Britian 4) China.
From a great book that I recommend to everyone. It is informative and enjoyable because it is one family's account of trying to live on locally grown food, called "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver:
The turkeys we eat generally (those non-organic ones we can pick up anywhere) are genetically altered and bred to grow so fat and inactive that the females have to be artificially inseminated. There's no energy to go about it naturally.
"Nearly three quarters of all antibiotics in the United States are used in CAFOs." (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations)
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Setting the Record Straight
Jesse has been wanting to go to this thing called "club" all the time. You see his school friends go and so he wanted to go so badly because it would be so fun. Come to find out there is one club that is a daily after-school club that only kids with 2 parents working can go to and the other one is called "Sisters club" on Thursday afternoon that all kids are eligible for.
Now--I did not want J going to club. I feel that his school is enough time away from the family. But I thought since he repeatedly asked for it, he should try it once and then maybe visit on special occasions. Or maybe he wouldn't like it. After all wouldn't he be too tired to hang out there from 3:20 to 5:45?
Well, on Thursday morning we went up to the teeny-tiny old nun sitting at a table outside of his classroom and signed him up for sisters club. The very first thing that happened was that Jesse, upon seeing the nun, said "Wow! You look really old!"
And I said "Jesse!" but the that was it, after all making a big deal out of that just makes it worse and he did say it innocently--that was just his observation I guess. Well I paid a pound fifty for club plus one pound so he could pick out his snack when the time came. Yeah, I was just thrilled to hear that they got to choose between coke and lemonade, and candy bars and some other things. Which made a whole lot of sense combined with the other factor of club--that there's between 80 and 100 children supervised by 7 or 8 nuns. Are they all as teeny-tiny as this one?
Well, I don't know and they sure are cute and well-meaning. But when I came at 5:45, Jesse was saying he was so tired, it must be his bedtime, and that he thought I was never gonna come, and that he never, ever, ever, ever, ever wanted to go to club again. Well, I will consider him cured. Should be all I will hear about club again! Oh, and the snack table was entirely bins of gummy candy like you see in a candy store--these were their choices.
Luci.
Every morning for the past month Luci says, "Why Jesse goes to school and I'm a girl and I don't go to school?"
This morning I heard her say, as she was pretending with her Old McDonald (Donald Duck), "You go to school because you are a boy and I don't go to school because I'm a girl, and Old McDonald's a boy so he goes to school. No matter how many times we correct her,("'No. Luci. The reason you don't go to school is because you are too young not because you are a girl") she maintains this idea. I want to say, "This is the 2000's, women can go to school!"
Now--I did not want J going to club. I feel that his school is enough time away from the family. But I thought since he repeatedly asked for it, he should try it once and then maybe visit on special occasions. Or maybe he wouldn't like it. After all wouldn't he be too tired to hang out there from 3:20 to 5:45?
Well, on Thursday morning we went up to the teeny-tiny old nun sitting at a table outside of his classroom and signed him up for sisters club. The very first thing that happened was that Jesse, upon seeing the nun, said "Wow! You look really old!"
And I said "Jesse!" but the that was it, after all making a big deal out of that just makes it worse and he did say it innocently--that was just his observation I guess. Well I paid a pound fifty for club plus one pound so he could pick out his snack when the time came. Yeah, I was just thrilled to hear that they got to choose between coke and lemonade, and candy bars and some other things. Which made a whole lot of sense combined with the other factor of club--that there's between 80 and 100 children supervised by 7 or 8 nuns. Are they all as teeny-tiny as this one?
Well, I don't know and they sure are cute and well-meaning. But when I came at 5:45, Jesse was saying he was so tired, it must be his bedtime, and that he thought I was never gonna come, and that he never, ever, ever, ever, ever wanted to go to club again. Well, I will consider him cured. Should be all I will hear about club again! Oh, and the snack table was entirely bins of gummy candy like you see in a candy store--these were their choices.
Luci.
Every morning for the past month Luci says, "Why Jesse goes to school and I'm a girl and I don't go to school?"
This morning I heard her say, as she was pretending with her Old McDonald (Donald Duck), "You go to school because you are a boy and I don't go to school because I'm a girl, and Old McDonald's a boy so he goes to school. No matter how many times we correct her,("'No. Luci. The reason you don't go to school is because you are too young not because you are a girl") she maintains this idea. I want to say, "This is the 2000's, women can go to school!"