Strange Machines

We have been down with gastric flu all week and haven’t done much. I’m so grateful my parents could help out while we all rested to recover. Which goes to show parents never stop parenting. I’ve already promised my kids I’ll help out with their kids…

When Bear was almost 3, Boy died.

He saw Boy in his dying spasms and watched me weep as we brought him to the emergency hospital and weep even more when he died. He waited while I held Boy in my arms for a long time telling him I loved him and was sorry I didn’t spend more time with him.

The next day he followed us as I brought Boy’s body for cremation and watched me embrace Boy, let him go and wait the three hours for his cremation. He also saw me bring back his ashes in an urn and was curious to see his bones, which I declined because I told him, Mom would be sadder. He accepted.

He saw me go to the hospital and I gave birth to Kitten 2 days later and then life revolved around the 2 children. Occasionally he would ask to see Boy’s bones as the urn is on my dresser but I would gently say no.

That same year in December my grandma fell very ill. He saw me stay with her in the hospital, hold her hand and stroke her hair while talking gently to her. We explained to him that Mama was dying, like Boy did. He nodded.

We were all there before she died. At her wake and funeral he was there all the while and he went up to her in her coffin to say goodbye.

He knows everything dies and seems to accept it. Maybe he has seen it happen twice and thought it isn’t so terrible. We don’t bring it up much but perhaps because he lived it and saw us live through it and go on with our lives that he realized it isn’t something terrible to fear, it is simply a part of life.

Kitten is now busy with cooking and marketing. She carries her basket and picks up items and pops them inside. She also loves to play with the pots and pans I bought Bear before and I’ve seen her standing with a pan pretending to cook.

So what’s a Momma gonna do? Make her a playset of course.

I cut the pieces out but did not sew them together. Just put the pan on the black felt and cook!

Made an egg sunny side up for them to cook. More on the way!

After having to hitch rides twice today, with kids and pram, I decided I better get serious about getting my driver’s licence. It isn’t about the cost of it, really, although here is one of the most expensive places to get a licence, although at my age even for a new driver, it is crazy how inexpensive auto insurance is. It is the time! Someone has to watch the kids for the 2 hours I need for each lesson and plus the additional travelling time.

I have the book(s). We need to take the basic theory and pass. Then get a learner driver permit, and then take the advanced theory and pass. And then take some 20 practical driver lessons, pass the practical, get some inexpensive auto insurance, and then get the nerve to strap both my kids into car seats and drive all over town (like the song goes).

Honestly, by the end of the day like now, I am too beat to read the book, let alone digest anything it says. Everything at this hour is purge purge purge. There is an iPhone app teaching the basic but I’ve only gone through it twice. I guess what is holding me back is that it is such a tedious process which eats up the only time I have to rest and have a mental break, which are the days my parents help out with the kids, and I am loathe to give those up.

Still, it has to be done someday. Go for the lessons, pass the exams, buy the inexpensive auto insurance, and use the car. Just not today.

Felt crafty yesterday and made my very first zippered pouch which turned out to be more of a pillow for the children’s favourite stuffed toy Tiny Kitty and a skirt for her.

Admittedly though, red is not quite her colour but she still wore it graciously.

Bear had been rather enamoured by Tiny Kitty, the super cute tiny Tiddlywinks kitten who came into our lives just a week or two ago.

She is sweet and pink and just 6″ tall, with the sweetest face and a lovely smile. She is girliness epitomized in a cute stuffed kitty. (Bear always chases the girl at the playground dressed in pink!)

Bear speaks to her in the sweetest voice. He puts her pink blankie over her. He puts her pillow under her little head. His best friend Baby Liopleurodon is her best friend. Last night, I even overheard him tell Mama Kitty, “Your daughter is so pretty!”

Anyway, his best gift to Tiny Kitty was to reunite her with her Daddy, William, who had been with us for a while now.

As the story goes, William lost his baby mama Mama Kitty and Tiny as travelled together from the United States. Somehow the mother and daughter found their way home. Could there be a lost brother too? The plot thickens.

Here is a recent pic of the happy family:

It is sometimes difficult to pin down an exact thought until you see it. Reading Eli Gerzon’s story, I realized how I am educating my children is really worldschooling. We live, we learn. Not at home. But in the world.

We are hardly ever at home. I find myself teaching the children more when we are out, often in the car and while sitting down to eat something, or on the run. A typical day goes like this:

We get up together, wash up, put the clothes in the laundry basket, diapers in the bin, get dressed, have a light breakfast, and then go out for lunch. In the car, the kids read their books, or we practice counting by each spotting a blue car and tagging it.

At lunch, Bear builds a Lego fort to protect his Lego humans against an onslaught of Safari Ltd dinosaurs or imagines some other scenario. He orders his own food. Cuts his own broccoli. He draws pictures of his family over dessert or plays Animal Kaiser (teaches him math!) with his Grandpa or Godpa. He asks for the bill politely. Sometimes he even signs for it.

While shopping, sometimes I tell him he can pick out a safe toy under $10. He has to read the price tags and tell me whether it is more than or less than $10. If he is not sure, he asks me. He can only buy well-made safe toys. No PVC. He knows this and accepts when I tell him it won’t last, it is unsafe, or it is made of PVC. When I pay for it, he tells the cashier we don’t need a bag, and thanks him or her for ringing up his toy.

Kitten naps. Sometimes.

At the supermarket, he rides in the cart and picks his own fruits and especially his own broccoli. He was taught how to choose the freshest and picks them himself. He chooses super foods because they make his body run well (and grow big and strong like a liopleurodon). He asks the lady at the weighing counter if how she is and if she has had lunch. She smiles at him and weighs his broccoli. He tells her, thank you and have a good day! She says, you too! At the payment counter, he helps to load the groceries, and thanks the cashier.

I’ve been giving him $2 to buy his Grandpa a curry puff and he goes by himself, with me about 5 metres away watching and ordering my own drink. The lady selling curry puffs is still amused at this 4 year old asking her, “May I have a curry puff for my Gong Gong please?” It has been a few months. We rest in the car and I share my drink with him. Kitten hears all and sees all. Sometimes she dozes now.

At home, we pack away the groceries, wash up, and I rest on the couch while the children play. Some days he paints, other days he plays with magnets (on the table, away from Kitten), or an activity book, or stickers, or if Kitten sleeps, we look through a huge book on the Universe or dinosaurs.

I break out the Ikea tunnel and tent, throw in some pillows and stuffed toys, and Bear and Kitten go wild with some imaginary game. I rest, or sew something, or read my news.

Daddy comes home and we do dinner then have family time. Bath time. Then bed time when we play games with stuffed animals. Sometimes hide and seek, sometimes hide and seek with the stuffed animals, other times we reenact Three Little Pigs, except this time it is Three Little Cats and 2 Liopleurodons. Bedtime and lights out, and another day is done. It is always lovely to cuddle them at night.

Is it possible to upgrade my brown thumb to light brown? My yellow bamboo wilted and one corn plant decided to go yellow but this one bloomed!

These beautiful Tiddlywinks kitties arrived in the mail today.

My very first playset with a bag, blankie and pillow, 2 skirts and a pair of pants, and a beautiful kitty momma to keep her company on her journey from the US. What a lovely surprise! I love love love these two!

Kitten is on cloth by day but at night both kids are still on disposables. Previous night leaking was due to very full cloth diapers leaking from the waist and legs so I decided to get them longies which they can wear at night.

PovertyJane makes beautiful wool shorties and longies from upcycled wool sweaters. Upcycled clothes are the best for kids because any possible chemical residues have been washed off already.

Here are the lovely ones that arrived today.