fashion

Our mornings are becoming more and more complicated and time consuming it seems. If Kaspar might wake up a little grumpy, then getting him into some sort of clothes is relatively easy. I grab a t-shirt, jeans and hoodie and away we go. Stella on the other hand is a diva in making. She wakes up jolly, but it's enough for me to even suggest she wear the pink underwear or the green socks to get her nose out of joint. SHE HAS TO PICK OUT HER OWN CLOTHES ~
Some days picking out the colour of underwear or socks can take up to 10 minutes. In my frustration I've considered buying ONLY white underwear from now or some other just as drastic a measure. Then comes the dress v/s pants issue. Another 10 minutes. There have been days where she's in tears, on the floor, because I refuse to let her wear a summer dress without anything else under it. To her it does not seem to matter that it's -15 celsius outside. Ha! You wouldn't believe the time it takes for this little "princess on the pea" to get dressed and the patience it requires, the patience, patience, patience... I'm struggling with that myself. She does come up with some crazy outfits, too! The one in the picture is one of her best. But some have been just hideous. Occasionally I wonder what the caregivers at daycare think about her style of dress. Maybe they blame it all on the parents... What parents have to live with. Uhg.

taking pictures

If you want to know what these two are like, just look at these pictures taken on picture day at Latvian school. I love it! I get five goofy ones of Kaspar and five, pretty much all the same, shy, sweet, slight smile ones of Stella. So typical...

How many years before they learn to write? And how many before they stop writing you love notes? I received this no from Kaspars, shortly after Valentines day. Heartbreak :-) He is so proud to be able to write, even though at times it takes all my imagination to try and figure out what he has spelled (like the second and fourth line ~ I really do!) I love getting them from him. He's been writing me little notes and putting them in my bag or my pockets for me to find. It's the sweetest gesture and puts a smile on my face every time. It amazes me how thoughtful a 5 year old can be!

cold winter days

Oh, it's cold. Cold, cold, cold... out there!!! Especially, when we have to wait for a school bus for 20 minutes or more. (Most days it's more then 20 minutes, it seems!) Yup, we have been blessed with this strange bus driver, who is either extremely late or suddenly one day way too early or in a foul mood... I just don't understand this woman. I generally don't like complaining about people, but this week I have considered filing an official complaint with the bus company. The only saving grace is Kaspar, who has not whined, complained or been outraged (like myslef) by the wait (or the cold) once. Bless that kid! :-)

I was actually thinking of writing about LEGO, but after the long wait in the cold, I needed to get this out of my system!

Lego is amazing! On these cold winter days, Lego has become our life. I remember being absolutely amazed by Lego when I was a kid and it seems like my love for it has lasted and been rekindled through my kids' enjoyment of it. And the company is amazing at marketing the stuff, too, because on a certain level it becomes addictive not only for the kids, but parents, too. For example, the little Lego "surprise mini figure" packages (and they're not cheap, almost 3$!) are hard NOT to buy! And it's not only because Kaspar will beg and plead and even offer to wash dishes or clean the stairs, if I let him have a new mini figure. No, no! I like the thrill of collecting them as much as he does. I want to buy them just as much as he does. I want to see what's in the little green bag, too! And then there are Lego computer games and Lego magazines and Lego books and Kaspar and Daddy are even shooting a Lego stop action movie. Yes - Lego rocks!

superheroes and beef

My kids have gotten into super heroes. Yes. I have no idea how it happened. I did not promote it. But they have caught the bug and there is no going back. I cannot say that I have a problem with the idea itself. I mean, having "superman" and "bat girl" running around the house chasing bad guys is as fun as playing "house" or any other imaginary game. And my "spider woman" and "iron man" are very creative dressers! (see the picture!) At times the creativity even goes further as in playing imaginary superheroes. Last night Kaspar was "shiny-man" with a list of super powers that never ended, including all the super powers of all super-heroes know and recognized by a 5 year old. It's hard to keep up with the two of them and their games!

However, I have a beef with the violence it promotes. All that comes with the territory super-heroes is in one way or another violence promoting! All the shooting and fighting in the cartoons... The video games (even the ones for 4-6 years old) are about shooting, stealing, blowing things up or catching bad guys with guns and bombs and such. I just don't like that part of our culture.

I'm not one of those parents that pull all the plugs and tell their kids "You will have none of this, no matter what all the other kids are doing!" I know that living in a large city, where all the other kids are watching these violent cartoons and playing the games, it is pretty much impossible to avoid them coming into contact with this culture. And being forcefully deprived of it would just make them rebel. I speak from experience :-) But I struggle every single day with the dilemma of how much to allow? How much to deny? How to explain it to them? How to show them a different way, a different view...

Parenting is just so bloody HARD!

fun and not so fun stuff

Argh. We have been sick again. It seems like at least one of us (adults included) have been sick every single day since mid December. We seem to be passing some bug around from one another. I hate it. The dreaded SICK month of January. But February just arrived and I'm hopeful that with this month comes some relief.

However, on a happier note... I made a pig costume for a play at the kids Latvian language school while sitting on the couch and nursing my very sore throat. Stella loved it! And I kind of loved it, too. It was fun making a costume from scratch. I had not done something like this in years. And the best part is that we get to keep it, now that the play is over and done with.

Today is a snow day, but since the daycare was open, I am at work. Catching up with work that has piled up during my sick leave. I would much rather be outside watching the snow fall!

ballerina

Stella began ballet lessons last week. She just LOVES it! She loves it so much that we have to change into the ballet clothes for a little while before we put on pajamas at night. I wonder if it's the clothes she loves or the actual lessons :-) I don't know, can a three year old can tell the difference? What she can tell, though... and has pointed out to me several times... is that her tights, body suit and slippers are all different pink colours and they DO NOT MATCH. Ha! I could not believe my ears, when she first complained. It is quite adorable watching her lessons, these little mini ballerinas, all in a row walking on their tip-toes. And Stella is a very focused little "ballet girl" as she likes to call herself.

too fast, way too fast

I have this very, very clear memory from my childhood of my aunt saying "where does the time, go?" whenever she met up with us. And I remember thinking to myself that it must be something old people say. I must have been about 5 years old at the time.

Two days ago Kaspar lost his first tooth and I found myself standing in the bathroom by myself, feeling extremely sad. All I could think of was - where does the time go? He is growing up too fast, way too fast... I must be getting old! Very old by 5y old standards, for sure!

Kaspar's baby tooth on the bottom had been moving for a while now, but a couple of days ago he surprised me by asking if I can pull it out. It turns out he had conversed with some of his friends at daycare and school and decided that if he does not get it removed he might swallow it while he's asleep and then WHAT WOULD HE GIVE TO THE TOOTH FAIRY? That was a much more scary thought then having mom remove it, as it turns out.

I was not really into it. I tried with my fingers, it moved, yes. It moved a lot. But... I could not really grab onto it. It did not come out. I breathed a sigh of relief. But Kaspar was not about to give up. A few minutes later he brought me the nail clippers. "Can you pull it out with these?" I laughed. He got mad. And then I tried to scare him by saying that I will have to use my work pliers. Do you think he was scared? Not at all! He thought it was a spectacular idea. He even offered to go and find a pair for me and a few minutes later came down with a very large pair of vice grips. This time we managed to have a laugh together and I came to the conclusion that he was not going to give in and I was going to be pulling out a tooth tonight, like it or not! I tired with a pair of tweezers... and then another pair of tougher tweezers... and finally with a pair of my fine detail pliers I was able to grab on an the tooth came out very easily indeed. Kaspar was thrilled! He was beside himself!

We HAD to call daddy at WORK IMMEDIATELY. And when daddy did not pick up right away, Kaspar proudly told me that he was much braver then daddy. "Is that so?", I asked surprised. And he went into the details of the story how last summer daddy was afraid of letting me pull out a sliver with my tweezers, but you see, he was not afraid to let me pull out his tooth with my pliers. What could I say, but agree that tonight he was braver then daddy. It's amazing how well kids remember details and events. Even if it isn't from a very recent past.

They do grow up too fast and unfortunately I do not have such perfect memory... and I'll probably forget a lot of these little details too soon.

stella is drawing

As you might have guessed.... yes this is Stella! With the ears and the curly hair and the teeth :-) I love this one. She can spell her name now, too. And best of all, in this pic it actually appears all in one line, as opposed to each letter on a different trajectory all over the entire page.

holidays are over

I woke up this morning, early as usual... so that I can get some work in before the kids get up. And I cannot resist the habit of turning on CBC in the morning... The first thing I head was :"The holidays are officially over!" and the next: "You are probably not getting enough sleep." Talk about psychic!!! I'd wholeheartedly have to agree with both statements, even if I do not like to admit either :-)

I was thinking about writing something about Christmas this morning and began to search for a picture of the kids, but strangely all I kept getting was ones of the kids picking each others' ears, noses, pulling lop-sided smiles or looking a little goofy one way or another. I guess the days of "normal posing" are over for now. Especially with Stella. She has this totally fake, goofy, forced smile she pulls every time I'm pointing a camera her way. And Kaspar just cannot keep still. C'est la vie!

We are back to school, back to daycare, back to work today. Yikes. I'm not ready for 2011 just yet. Is there no way to postpone time for a little ??? Happy New year everybody!