Floorboards and paper bags
Hi there everybody!
This is the first occasion that I am writing while Jacinta lies in bed awake, mind you, it is 10:30pm. She had been trying to fall asleep for a while and I gave up waiting. Now she is listening while I type, and continues to come up with numerous reasons to call me over. At first I snuck out of bed believing she was asleep and she caught me two feet away, yelling out in full voice, “Mom?” So I then tucked her in again and told her I’d be close by working on the computer. Surprisingly, she smiled and laid back down. Fifteen minutes later, believing she was well and truly passed out, she calls out, “Mom? Baby blanket!” She no longer wants to lie under the big blankets but wants to change positions and be covered by a baby blanket. Smiles and kisses and another “goodnight.” A while later she calls out, “Mom? Pee pee in my nappy...” She happily goes through a nappy change and we have more smiles and kisses and another “goodnight.” Ten minutes later she proclaims, “lellow pillow…mommy’s spot.” She wants to move to my spot, take the coveted yellow pillow (all three of us sneakily rearrange the pillows to have this one) with her, along with her baby blankets and sleep there. Again, there were more smiles and kisses and another “goodnight” to follow. It has been about twenty minutes since that exchange so I dare say she has finally let go of the waking world for the evening. Sweet little Jacinta Grace, she seems to love life so much she can’t let it go, but alas, she is asleep.
It has been an energetic week, filled with lots of cooking, children’s voices and the company of friends. I always relish the chance to share the garden with visitors: munching on peas, grabbing herbs and greens for meals and just gazing at it. We played outside quite a bit, feeding and checking on the animals, scrubbing floorboards, and just wandering aimlessly. While Mat was off being trained to be a census collector, Jess and I went to the beach with our friends, moseying along the boardwalk looking at all of the interestingly decorated boulders painted by people on vacation who wanted to leave their mark. This was true moseying; we spent over an hour walking a length that could be walked in 10 minutes. The kids climbed the painted rocks, watched fishermen and women, watched schools of fish swarming around the deep crystal clear water, and ran to and fro. Zach and Jacinta were sometimes holding hands but more often Jess ripped her hand away saying, “self!” leaving Zach feeling sad and rejected. Eventually we reached the beach where the kids played in the sand and in the water. It is winter and the sun is actually warm enough to make swimming at the beach somewhat possible, up to your knees only though. Surfers go year round here, mocking the silly summer surfers, of which I am neither. Surfing doesn’t interest me even slightly, I wonder why, seriously.
House building, now that is interesting when you want a house! This week Matt finished off the last few tasks needing to be complete before the pest man came and sprayed for termite prevention. The big day was Thursday, spray, then put on the floor, sounds easy aye? Well the spray is supposed to last 5-8 years so the level of toxicity has gotta be pretty high. The smell is horrendous, and still lingers now, 3 days later. Thus the moms’ job was to keep the children at a distance, bummer. We had all wanted to work on the floor, but happily distanced ourselves from the nasty odor. Matt and Tim joked about their life spans rapidly diminishing while they put on a few floor boards. Those of you who know Matt’s history of injuring himself, well, he did it here, with a hammer. Just a few boards into the job Matt mysteriously disappeared from the work site and came back with ice on his blue thumb. No moaning or cursing, just acknowledgement of normality. It has been raining now for a few days and Matt has taken on 3 hour afternoon shifts at the Macadamia Nut factory Monday through Friday. Thus, we have 6 floor boards, a huge truck tarp, and aluminum roofing covering our “floor” at the moment. I think I may get my wish to help with the floor. The smell might be gone soon, perhaps sooner than the much needed rain.
The world situation is terribly depressing right now, as it would be constantly if I were always aware of all I could know about the state of the world. I am coming to an understanding of why many of us are so complacent in politics amidst all of the suffering. Why doesn’t the US see the injustice Israel deals out? Amidst a myriad of reasons, the US deals out the same cards to many countries, presently Afghanistan and Iraq, as Russia deals with the Chechans. In a major newspaper here the Israeli foreign minister was quoted justifying the overwhelming Israeli response of force in Beirut giving the US and Russia as examples of normal procedure responding to “terrorism.” What can we do with this knowledge? Is being aware of the situation calling us to action? Well, if powerlessness, sadness, sympathy and anger lead to action, then we would benefit from the awareness. If we understood more of the situation, perhaps real empathy, feeling with the afflicted, would get us up off our chairs. But does the corporate-sponsored media get paid to rile us up? Not likely, and what are those of us who act like we really understand the problem doing? Not much, just being aware and being sad, that’s me at least.
The only way to get off that nasty thought is to write about Jess and her antics this week. Reading has become so much fun before nap and bedtimes. Jess enjoyed story time with Zach and Caitlin immensely this week, especially tickles and jumping on the bed before story time. She listens intently, commenting on what she sees or knows about the story and often points at something asking, “What’s this?” She knows the names of her favorite books from afar by the colors on the cover. In one of her recent favorites, the Runaway Bunny, she decided one day that the parental figure was a Daddy. I have followed suit ever since. Besides, too many books honor the mother-child relationship and leave the father out completely. It’s humorous though when we get to the pages when the “daddy” bunny follows baby to the circus and wears a tutu while walking a tightrope and the next page when “daddy” bunny is wearing a dress while holding bunny on his lap. Jess cracks up each time I read the last page when the baby bunny says, “Shucks, I might as well stay home and be your little bunny.” I don’t know why exactly, perhaps it’s just the sound of the word but she’ll repeat it to herself at random points in the day. “Shucks bunny! Hee hee hee hee,” she’ll chuckle, over and over.
Today Jacinta and I went out to the Bellingen markets in search of wool, soap, fruit and little pony tail holders. Yep, she wore her first silly looking ponytail this week and loved it! In preparation to leave I asked her if she wanted to pack her back pack and for the first time she said, “no.” I didn’t know why, but packed a few things for her just in case. She sat in her seat the whole ride with her water bottle, eventually pretending that it was her baby. The baby changed identities once in a while, from Kai to JD, back to Kai and ending on JD. She strapped him in her belt with her, dressed him up, changed his nappy when he pooped, and brushed his hair. When she returned home she asked to see pictures of Kai as she had already seen pictures of JD this morning. The wool lady was not at the market so we went to the Steiner shop and bought wool there instead. The brown bag in which the wool was taken home and the few little balls of wool I bought entertained Jacinta for over hours this evening. It was a hat, a shaker, a musical instrument, a dance partner and a good way to carry things around. We all know kids like these things the best, but yet I still coveted so many cool wooden toys in that shop for Jess. I laughed knowing that I almost refused the beloved bag in the shop because I had a few bags with me. It’s just awesome what an imagination can do with simple things if we allow it to run free and play along from time to time.
As my eyelids fall droopy watching the clock tick past midnight, my imagination tells me it’s a gorgeous summer Saturday morning for you all right now. I’ll leave you to a relaxing summer day and go dream about actually spending it with you. Good night (:
This is the first occasion that I am writing while Jacinta lies in bed awake, mind you, it is 10:30pm. She had been trying to fall asleep for a while and I gave up waiting. Now she is listening while I type, and continues to come up with numerous reasons to call me over. At first I snuck out of bed believing she was asleep and she caught me two feet away, yelling out in full voice, “Mom?” So I then tucked her in again and told her I’d be close by working on the computer. Surprisingly, she smiled and laid back down. Fifteen minutes later, believing she was well and truly passed out, she calls out, “Mom? Baby blanket!” She no longer wants to lie under the big blankets but wants to change positions and be covered by a baby blanket. Smiles and kisses and another “goodnight.” A while later she calls out, “Mom? Pee pee in my nappy...” She happily goes through a nappy change and we have more smiles and kisses and another “goodnight.” Ten minutes later she proclaims, “lellow pillow…mommy’s spot.” She wants to move to my spot, take the coveted yellow pillow (all three of us sneakily rearrange the pillows to have this one) with her, along with her baby blankets and sleep there. Again, there were more smiles and kisses and another “goodnight” to follow. It has been about twenty minutes since that exchange so I dare say she has finally let go of the waking world for the evening. Sweet little Jacinta Grace, she seems to love life so much she can’t let it go, but alas, she is asleep.
It has been an energetic week, filled with lots of cooking, children’s voices and the company of friends. I always relish the chance to share the garden with visitors: munching on peas, grabbing herbs and greens for meals and just gazing at it. We played outside quite a bit, feeding and checking on the animals, scrubbing floorboards, and just wandering aimlessly. While Mat was off being trained to be a census collector, Jess and I went to the beach with our friends, moseying along the boardwalk looking at all of the interestingly decorated boulders painted by people on vacation who wanted to leave their mark. This was true moseying; we spent over an hour walking a length that could be walked in 10 minutes. The kids climbed the painted rocks, watched fishermen and women, watched schools of fish swarming around the deep crystal clear water, and ran to and fro. Zach and Jacinta were sometimes holding hands but more often Jess ripped her hand away saying, “self!” leaving Zach feeling sad and rejected. Eventually we reached the beach where the kids played in the sand and in the water. It is winter and the sun is actually warm enough to make swimming at the beach somewhat possible, up to your knees only though. Surfers go year round here, mocking the silly summer surfers, of which I am neither. Surfing doesn’t interest me even slightly, I wonder why, seriously.
House building, now that is interesting when you want a house! This week Matt finished off the last few tasks needing to be complete before the pest man came and sprayed for termite prevention. The big day was Thursday, spray, then put on the floor, sounds easy aye? Well the spray is supposed to last 5-8 years so the level of toxicity has gotta be pretty high. The smell is horrendous, and still lingers now, 3 days later. Thus the moms’ job was to keep the children at a distance, bummer. We had all wanted to work on the floor, but happily distanced ourselves from the nasty odor. Matt and Tim joked about their life spans rapidly diminishing while they put on a few floor boards. Those of you who know Matt’s history of injuring himself, well, he did it here, with a hammer. Just a few boards into the job Matt mysteriously disappeared from the work site and came back with ice on his blue thumb. No moaning or cursing, just acknowledgement of normality. It has been raining now for a few days and Matt has taken on 3 hour afternoon shifts at the Macadamia Nut factory Monday through Friday. Thus, we have 6 floor boards, a huge truck tarp, and aluminum roofing covering our “floor” at the moment. I think I may get my wish to help with the floor. The smell might be gone soon, perhaps sooner than the much needed rain.
The world situation is terribly depressing right now, as it would be constantly if I were always aware of all I could know about the state of the world. I am coming to an understanding of why many of us are so complacent in politics amidst all of the suffering. Why doesn’t the US see the injustice Israel deals out? Amidst a myriad of reasons, the US deals out the same cards to many countries, presently Afghanistan and Iraq, as Russia deals with the Chechans. In a major newspaper here the Israeli foreign minister was quoted justifying the overwhelming Israeli response of force in Beirut giving the US and Russia as examples of normal procedure responding to “terrorism.” What can we do with this knowledge? Is being aware of the situation calling us to action? Well, if powerlessness, sadness, sympathy and anger lead to action, then we would benefit from the awareness. If we understood more of the situation, perhaps real empathy, feeling with the afflicted, would get us up off our chairs. But does the corporate-sponsored media get paid to rile us up? Not likely, and what are those of us who act like we really understand the problem doing? Not much, just being aware and being sad, that’s me at least.
The only way to get off that nasty thought is to write about Jess and her antics this week. Reading has become so much fun before nap and bedtimes. Jess enjoyed story time with Zach and Caitlin immensely this week, especially tickles and jumping on the bed before story time. She listens intently, commenting on what she sees or knows about the story and often points at something asking, “What’s this?” She knows the names of her favorite books from afar by the colors on the cover. In one of her recent favorites, the Runaway Bunny, she decided one day that the parental figure was a Daddy. I have followed suit ever since. Besides, too many books honor the mother-child relationship and leave the father out completely. It’s humorous though when we get to the pages when the “daddy” bunny follows baby to the circus and wears a tutu while walking a tightrope and the next page when “daddy” bunny is wearing a dress while holding bunny on his lap. Jess cracks up each time I read the last page when the baby bunny says, “Shucks, I might as well stay home and be your little bunny.” I don’t know why exactly, perhaps it’s just the sound of the word but she’ll repeat it to herself at random points in the day. “Shucks bunny! Hee hee hee hee,” she’ll chuckle, over and over.
Today Jacinta and I went out to the Bellingen markets in search of wool, soap, fruit and little pony tail holders. Yep, she wore her first silly looking ponytail this week and loved it! In preparation to leave I asked her if she wanted to pack her back pack and for the first time she said, “no.” I didn’t know why, but packed a few things for her just in case. She sat in her seat the whole ride with her water bottle, eventually pretending that it was her baby. The baby changed identities once in a while, from Kai to JD, back to Kai and ending on JD. She strapped him in her belt with her, dressed him up, changed his nappy when he pooped, and brushed his hair. When she returned home she asked to see pictures of Kai as she had already seen pictures of JD this morning. The wool lady was not at the market so we went to the Steiner shop and bought wool there instead. The brown bag in which the wool was taken home and the few little balls of wool I bought entertained Jacinta for over hours this evening. It was a hat, a shaker, a musical instrument, a dance partner and a good way to carry things around. We all know kids like these things the best, but yet I still coveted so many cool wooden toys in that shop for Jess. I laughed knowing that I almost refused the beloved bag in the shop because I had a few bags with me. It’s just awesome what an imagination can do with simple things if we allow it to run free and play along from time to time.
As my eyelids fall droopy watching the clock tick past midnight, my imagination tells me it’s a gorgeous summer Saturday morning for you all right now. I’ll leave you to a relaxing summer day and go dream about actually spending it with you. Good night (:
posted by Matt & Shana & Jacinta & Genevieve Henry at
12:49 AM
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