spring... there is nothing else like it

Yes. Spring is finally upon us. I have been waiting for it... of I have. And so have the kids. Kaspar actually had a "countdown". He literally was counting the days and the hours to the 7.21 pm on the first day of spring. You can imagine how brutally unhappy he was when we woke up to snow the next morning. :-)

Speaking of counting the days... a few nights ago I woke up in the middle of the night to some noise and discovered my sleepy son, walking around the house turning the lights on and mumbling something about having to check if things are still there... and then "I cannot tell you about it" and a little later "it has to be a surprise". He seemed really upset that I was there and it made no sense to me whatsoever.

It took me a few minutes, but I convinced him to come back to bed with me and cuddle. We needed to get back to sleep. It was only 3.45 am, after all!

Unfortunately for me, this is not where the story ends. Kaspar was wide awake (unlike me) and kept asking bizarre questions. Like "what day is it today?" and "if yesterday was seven days till a special day, then tonight, is it six days already till that day?" and so on... I was so sleepy that it took me a moment longer then usual to decipher the line of questioning. It turned out that he is counting down to my birthday. And once I figured that out all the rest of the pieces fell into place. He had been checking on the "secret place" of the "secret birthday gift" that he and daddy had bought and hid before daddy left for his tour. He still checks on it once in a while and makes me go upstairs to his room and close my eyes while he does it, but I did get him to promise me that he will not go checking on it in the middle of the night. He laughed very hard, when I told him that "birhday gifts cannot grow legs in the middle of the night and run away from their hiding spots." At 4.45 am we were still laughing... both of us!

compartments

In my studio again at 4am. The picture was actually taken by a super awesome photographer friend of mine Christina (this is her site!) and of course she was not here at 4am. But it was my studio after me having spent the entire night cleaning it up... until 4am the previous night. At 4am I finally gave up :-)

This morning Kaspar woke up, once again, in a bad mood. I swear, he's just NOT a morning person. I can relate, because neither am I. I used to hate having to wake up in the mornings, yet, I would have gladly work well into the night, if I could. That is, until my children turned me into A MORNING PERSON against my continuing PROTESTS and despite my refusal to get up before 7.30 am to feed anyone anything, let alone cook a hot pot of breakfast. Forget it! Eventually I caved. It's just as unbearable listening to whining children in the morning, as it is to cook that pot of oatmeal. Besides, I've pretty much learned to do it with my eyes shut. However, this morning I had this feeling that the "having to go school" issue was a bigger problem then usual. We talked about it. We talked about kids that can be mean. (Oh thatš a hard thing to talk about...) We hugged a lot. And got through the busy morning without a full blown temper tantrum on either front. I consider myself lucky, when we can manage mornings like this. Especially when it happens after Steve having had several nights of "late work" at the Gladstone and myself having had to do a few "all-night-ers" in the studio myself. Yup, life gets complicated, when you try to combine parenthood & job & art & career & money & classes for kids. It helps to keep lists. I find myself becoming a bit of a frantic "compartmentalizer". I know, I know... it's not a word, is it? But it helps to be one, if you need to somehow keep things organized on the go. I'm still flying by the seat of my pants...

patience

Patience in the world of "parenting" is way underrated! I will be the first to admit, that I AM NOT the most patient person, but I always believed that I have enough to get by... that is until my kids came along. The patience it takes to be calm, when a five year old keeps saying: "NO! I am not going to listen!" ~ on boy!

I often wonder how my parents did it? I know my grandmother would have simple given me a spanking for speaking like that, but my parents were never ones to slap or spank me. And I have never considered spanking a viable option in parenting, except that at times like this, when your patience is tested again and again, and again, and again... I find myself closing my eyes and counting to ten (that is what I usually teach Kaspar to do when he gets angry :-), because it sure makes me want to slap my kid on the bottom.

Oh, I was going to complain about the colouring agents they add to kiddie foods & candies and juices. Thus the picture with the green tongue. But we'll have to leave that for a later post... I have to get to work!

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.