Poor little balloons

Good evening y’all. This is the last journal I will write from Australia for a while. Next week at this time I will be in Milwaukee, sleeping at my sister’s house! I think I will try and keep up the journal, I just can’t think of any better way to spend my Saturday nights. I’m experiencing a bit of déjà vu, finally getting settled, loving my surroundings, being surrounded by people I love and leaving them all. This time it’s only for three months and not for an indefinite period of time.

Our street finally got recycling and garbage bins! What a luxury, we have been taking our recycling to our friends’ bins for a year and a half, and now we’re leaving! How can I leave my new recycling bin? Just kidding, it’s just a bit of hard plastic, friends and family are a bit more exciting. The great thing is that we are going to another place where we feel the same love and familiarity and it’s thousands of miles away, another home.

We’ve had a lovely week, we’re all mostly through our colds and able to be with friends again. Matt and I had a few cavities filled and refilled, that wasn’t so lovely but we like our dentist. Jacinta tells me each day that she’s “all betta!” The only reason she’s trying to convince me through her cough is so she can drink milk and have cheese again. (These are things we all love that I don’t allow when we are sick because it increases mucus.) She tells everyone else that, “I have a cold,” as a conversation starter. Monday we planted Jacinta’s pecan tree. Tuesday we had a nice playday with Nickolas and Sara starting at the park, followed by a walk to the fish man’s house, then a swim at the pool, lunch and play at home, ending with a jaunt to the garden. Wednesday we took a short trip out to Kempsey (45 minutes away) to visit the nursing home Mary runs. Mary’s colleagues and the elderly folk at the home had not yet met little Genevieve nor seen the great Jacinta in a while. Jacinta showed up with her doll tied onto her back and Genevieve in a smiley sweet mood to join everyone for morning tea. I just stood there and watched them make people happy. I’m just their chauffeur, and I enjoy that role. Little ones are just such a sight when you live in a place made up of only one generation.

That afternoon Jacinta’s little friend Nickolas came for a visit while his mum went to work. He is such a perfect match for Jacinta that I get more accomplished when he is here than when he is not. The children had plans: cutting with scissors, play dough, eating (of course), and having a bath. They would stick to one activity for a while needing very little help or direction, if any, then ask if they could move on. When they ran out of plans, they jumped in the bean bags and blankets, then went outside to play in the sandpit. It was a glorious half an hour with Genevieve sleeping in her crib and the “big kids” outside the window playing while I chopped vegetables.

Thursday was our last playgroup for a while. I suppose it will be playgroup every day at camp, the children will just be a bit older. I’m curious to see how Jacinta handles leaving all of her friends here to go and play with “big kids” at camp and her old Michigan baby friends who are all about three years old now. She tells everyone she is going “to America! To summer camp!” but has no idea what she is getting into. Jacinta is starting to notice familiar environments and discern her comfort level based on familiarity. She is very shy and sluggish in new places, yet boisterous and lively in places she knows. This is probably normal, I am perhaps freakish in my eternal love of newness and change.

Although…babies seem to thrive on a constant change of scenery too. Crying….why? Hungry? Poopy? Bloated? Tired? No! I just want to look out a different window mom! Genevieve likes hanging out in her crib more than Jess ever did, thanks to the mobiles. But she certainly prefers a cuddle and a walk around to experience different shades of light, shadows, and colorful walls. She spent a while gazing at Matt’s paint job on the girls’ bedroom walls. Now that she’s told me she doesn’t need to nap constantly, we spend more time playing on the floor. Evie loves to stand (supported of course) and wiggle around like a drunk. Placed on her belly she supports herself on her elbows, grabs the blanket in front of her, pushes on my hands with her feet and crawls. It must be so rewarding for her to actually get somewhere, to move off of the blanket. She works very hard and gets tired quickly. Choir nights are great for playtime. We spend a lot of time waiting around for other people to learn their parts so Genevieve and I have a good time playing on the floor. This is another place that I know my little girl makes a lot of people very happy. Our choir director sometimes jokingly scolds the alto section, “Stop baby gazing and sing!”

Jacinta has been singing lovely songs for us this week. Matt did some recording this week so Jacinta, naturally asked if she could too. She asked all week, so finally on Friday she gave it a whirl. She stood in front of the microphone, adjusted it, moved her chair in and out, and asked about the buttons. “What are you going to sing Jacinta?” Silence, the pressure was too great. Another repetitive question this week, besides “Why?” was, “Is today the day of Nickolas’s pahty?” All week the answer was no, but we worked on making his gift and cards. Jess drew a picture of herself bbq’ing a mouse with Nickolas by her side... interesting? I had this grand idea that we would dye him some silk for a cape. First off, there is no silk in Macksville, so we bought satin. I have since learned that satin is totally synthetic and can not be dyed. Perhaps my sewing machine sensed this was a pointless endeavor and therefore refused to cooperate. In the end, Matt took Jess to the toy store to buy a gift for her friend. She chose two little yellow trucks and a bottle of bubbles. A few months ago she tipped over Nickolas’s bubbles and remembered how sad he was when his mom informed him that there were no more bubbles. Matt was impressed that she could spend ten minutes in a toy store and never once think of herself, only of her friend and what he might like.

Finally this morning when Jacinta crawled into our bed and whispered in my ear, “Is today Nickolas’s pahty?” I could answer, “Yes! It’s today!” At the party, there was a tent full of balloons out on the grass for the children to pop and throw around. Why do I mention this? Balloons are friends that are not meant to die, according to Jacinta. She has shed many tears because of balloons popping, deflating or flying out the window. Just before the party she broke down and cried for ten minutes because she accidentally popped “the daddy balloon,” that had been in her room for over three weeks. In the past Keith has resurrected a few popped balloons and found a way to blow them up again. Not many people can do this and she expects us all to do the same. So as she played in the tent, she watched her savage friends popping the beloved balloons and hesitantly started to form a new relationship with her balloon friends. She poked her head out of the tent at one point needing approval, “Mom? They are popping the balloons…” I cheered her on and she went back in. A few minutes later she tried to save one from its fate and gently placed it out on the grass. Soon enough, Lily leaned out of the tent, touched it and jumped back as the blades of grass popped the balloon into bits. After a great party, lots of lovely fruit and food, a treasure hunt, and playtime she bid her friends goodbye and left without even asking to take home a balloon. Perhaps she will be cured of this extra reason for tears, this is yet another hope for her third birthday. Maybe we should pop balloons then!

Today she was asked, “When is your birthday Jacinta?” She replied, “In America.” We are all preparing for our big trip, except for Genevieve I suppose. I’ve been making lists and packing the silly things I might forget. Matt cleaned out the shed today. Jacinta and I mulched all of the trees and composted a few more. But for a three month trip, we did relatively little this week in preparation. In fact one night, I went to bed at 6:45. I figure I’ll have to pull a few late nights next week but it’s too hard to pack so early. We’ll spend next week really packing and saying goodbye to a few friends.

We’ll drive to Sydney on Thursday, fly out on Friday and end up in Chicago on Friday at midnight. We’ll spend a few days at my sister’s, a few days at my dad’s, and then a few days at my mom’s house. Friday May 25 we’ll drive to Detroit and go straight to camp which is in Almont, Michigan. Our address at the camp will be:

Matt and Shana Henry

5650 Sandhill Road

Almont, MI 48003

There is a camp phone at which you might reach us, or at least leave a message:

(810)798-8240

We will also have our old cell phone, but we may not have coverage so leave messages: (248) 722-0363

Otherwise, our email address is dependable: mattnshana@paintedguitar.com

We’ll be in Michigan until July 19 and will then spend the next month in the Chicago/Milwaukee area.

We’re looking forward to seeing you all, or at least knowing that we might hear the same shows on NPR.

Peace,

Shana