My baby can say...
Hello there. Daylight savings has come along and heightened the season. As you are probably feeling true autumn, I am feeling true summer. Technically, it is still spring, but not for me. It is hot, sticky, and tiring. These are days that you either have to go for a swim or jump in a cool bathtub by midday to make it sanely through the afternoon. Yesterday, I had a big cooking day. We were out of bread, granola, and dinner had to be made. When Matt returned home after a day of substitute teaching, he questioned my sanity, rightly so given the hot weather. By the end of it all, I too wondered if I should have changed plans.
I am a stubborn woman, yes. My hard-headedness has taken me all over the world, travelling to places that took some explaining to loved ones. It also paved the way to making me the French teacher, choir director and cook at a small school, not an obvious mix of skills. This job was surely the most life changing I’ve had in my short life. I was taught by many amazing adults and children, and in turn had a chance to touch a few lives. This week I called an old student of mine on the telephone to thank her for gifts she had sent. She excitedly told me that she had decided to work towards a culinary arts degree when she finishes high school. She gave me credit for inspiring her, wow. Although she is only a freshmen, and her parents have been cooking with her for her whole life, it gave me a little boost. What a different life I lead now, touching the lives of just two sweet children in such a different way. Matt and I worked with hundreds of children at a time in our past lives, pre-parenthood. Now we spend our time shaping two little girls who will someday credit their teachers with whom they spent just a few hours as their inspiration. I suppose we’ll take some credit regardless of whether it is given to us.
Matt got some work teaching at the Catholic high school in Kempsey this week. Usually he hasn’t much to say about the day, just that babysitting is pretty easy and not worth a mention. On Friday he had one period of “Agriculture,” eighth graders. Given a class with no plan, he was most impressed with the students’ knowledge of how to busy themselves for an hour on the school’s farm, which wasn’t even an acre.
Straight away the kids fired up lawn mowers, clipped the grass, fed animals, transplanted seedlings, picked ticks off of the two cows, removed rats from the chicken feed, and so on and so forth. This was a nice alternative to sitting in a quiet classroom. He was a little worried that they’d ask him questions for which he didn’t have a reply, but they all knew exactly what to do. Apparently Kempsey schools have little farms within them for learning purposes, for “city kids” who aren’t growing up in agriculture. Of course I like this idea!
In addition to the teaching this week, Matt kept working on the website, the veranda and his upcoming court case. Court case? Remember the kangaroo that Matt hit en route to a funeral? The one for whom the police were charging Matt for negligent driving? Well, after all of the angst and worry, six days before the supposed trial, lo and behold, the police dropped the charges and called off the court case. Of course Matt is relieved but also annoyed that it took them nine months to figure out what a dumb case it was. Anyhow, one less anxiety can only be a good thing.
Being a homemaker (feels funny using that non PC word, but that is what I do and love), I haven’t too many worries in life, mainly getting food ready before the girls lose “it.” This week, there was trouble on the land, on the leaves really. The pests figured out how lovely my garden was looking. There are flies everywhere, laying eggs on everything green or red. These eggs quickly turn into ravenous caterpillars that get fatter and fatter and eat more every day. Until one day, they metamorphose into another bloody winged creature that will lay a lot more eggs. So I’ve spent hours researching the problem, out with flashlights and inside reading books. We have fruit fly already, on our few remaining stone fruits on the trees and on the tomatoes. Grasshoppers, snails, and beetles are munching potatoes, beans, arugula, cabbage, and beets. Caterpillars are on the corn and tomatoes. Even the herbs are being destroyed. They haven’t noticed the lettuce, garlic, pumpkins, melons, carrots, cucumbers or the broad beans, so I suppose I should be thankful. In the mean time, Jacinta, Keith and I have been picking off heaps of caterpillars. I squish some, others I toss in a bucket with the affected tomatoes to be destroyed later on. Jacinta plays guardian of the pests: knocking them back down if they try to crawl out. They crawl all over each other, creating fluorescent green caterpillar towers. It hurts to pick off the affected fruit leaving only one or two fruits on a tree, but it’s obligatory. You are required by law to destroy any fruit fly affected fruit because it spreads so quickly to your neighbour’s crops. Trying to live off the bounty of the land is surely showing me that we humans must tromp on other life forms to survive, no matter how vegetarian one thinks they are. To grow vegetables, you must kill their predators whether you do it by squishing or spraying. You can use companion planting and crop rotation, but there will be bugs that are competing for your food.
There was a massive black snake in the terrace garden the other day. He didn’t want us or any of our veggies, but a mate. Although he was just passing through, the girls and I vacated that garden very quickly, moving over to the orchard for morning tea. We had just been entertaining ourselves by plucking caterpillars off tomato bushes, so I was sad to be interrupted. Jacinta commented that the tomato bush looked like a Christmas tree, filled with red and green ornaments. She knows I went Christmas shopping the other day and in her curiosity for what I bought, is quite conscious of Christmas coming.
Halloween just happened, what’s this talk of Christmas? Halloween isn’t even a real holiday here, nor is Thanksgiving. We celebrate them both anyway, because we are also American. We planned a Halloween party for Jacinta’s friends. The dress up theme was sea creatures, Jacinta’s idea. Because she chose a very hard animal to create, I dragged my feet until this week to begin the costume making. The dolphin came to life after a few late nights with Matt, Keith and Mary’s help. Jacinta and I made popcorn balls and pumpkin cake. Matt helped Jacinta carve the pumpkin and wrap the popcorn balls. Eventually the popcorn balls were hidden in a heap of straw to be found, as a game. We repeated the game over and over hiding bits of junk from the shed where we had the party. We bobbed for apples and the dads took the kids on “hayrides” in the big red wagon. Perhaps the neatest thing about children’s parties so far is that parents all come and have just as much fun as the children.
We finished the party off by trick or treating at a neighbour friend’s house and then at four different locations on our property. Matt and Keith gave out treats from different ends of the house. Michelle, thinking that the trick or treat question needed to be taken more seriously, gave out chicken seed as a “trick.” Craig waited down in the shed and juggled for the kids, as a “trick,” and then also gave them a treat. Our neighbour Melissa wanted the children to each do a trick for their treat. It was funny watching the Aussie’s try to interpret this strange custom of ours, “trick or treating.”
Genevieve didn’t dress up as anything from the sea, she played the part of a sweet baby, a wakeful one, in an orange pumpkin T-shirt. Matt and I marvel that she can be so pleasant while awake, given her lack of sleep. Other people might talk about a good nap, meaning two hours for a baby this age. Evie’s good nap might be thirty minutes. Often it’s twenty minutes in the morning, and perhaps thirty minutes in the afternoon. She’ll then stay up past Jacinta by an hour or two to play. She won’t fall asleep until she bonks her head on something, and in her tears, the milk will put her to sleep. Then she wakes every thirty minutes, or so it seems. Of course I am exaggerating a bit, but not much. A good image of Genevieve right now is one of those pulley dolls. You pull the string between their legs and their arms and legs do jumping jacks over and over. Evie will crawl around and play with any old thing for a long while, but eventually she crawls up your leg to be picked up. Once in your arms, she rejoices. Her arms go up and down together, her legs kicking in and out together, especially if someone else walks in the room and pays her attention. She is one chirpy little babe. I’m curious what she’ll grow into, having this much energy.
Here is an example of her curious happy spirit. It will make you want to throw up, as I wanted to. Today we were away for a few hours. Upon return, Evie rejoiced in her freedom to explore the floor, under the table as she usually does. I had swept earlier so I wasn’t worried about what she’d find. Luckily I glanced down and noticed a strange shape she had just put in her mouth. I pulled it out and quickly realized it was a dead baby frog!!! A FROG!!! DEAD! In my daughter’s mouth! I screamed. Jacinta and her friend wanted to know what the problem was. They were more interested in seeing what the dead frog looked like and where I had thrown it in the garden. Evie was just happy to be picked up and have a chance to play in the water at the sink while I washed her mouth out over and over. I guess the frog had come in and dried out while we were gone. How terribly disgusting. I’ll check the floor now, even more often than before.
Today was a great day for all of us. Three friends and I went to a soap making workshop and learned not only how to make body soap and shampoo bars, but laundry and dishwashing detergent. It was outdoors, lovely, and free of children. This was the longest I have had away from the girls, it was such a treat. Mary and Keith took care of the girls while Matt had a conference call. Then Matt took the girls over to our friends’ house to play and have a day with the daddies in charge. Matt and Craig had not only our five combined children, but also Michelle’s son Rory. They seemed to have a good time, the babies fared rather well also. They said the only stressful moment was just as they were about to drive the kids out to meet the mums at the soap workshop. Aidan hosed the girls down just as the babies were getting tired and starting to whine. Quickly the daddies dressed the girls up in pretty dresses with no undies. Aidan (5) dressed himself, and got in the backseat, forgetting his shorts. It wasn’t bad for two daddies taking charge of six kids. After all that, Matt and Craig went to a movie while Anissa and I took the kids home.
Jacinta and Lilly wanted to play a little longer, so Lilly came home with us. On the drive home they were chatting about “their babies.” “My baby can say mamamama,” Jacinta said. “My baby can say dadadadada,” replied Lilly. “My baby can’t say dadadadada, just mamamama,” said Jacinta. On and on they went, competing for the prize of “whose baby” could say the most. I think Lilly won. Or perhaps I did, because I got to be the fly on the wall and witness their lovely three year old conversation.
Here’s to a lovely autumn week for you all. Hope you had a nice Halloween, and stayed warm in the chilly air. I hope you too can be a fly on the wall and witness something beautiful, but not one of those flies that lays eggs on my tomatoes. That wouldn’t be very nice.
Peace,
Shana
I am a stubborn woman, yes. My hard-headedness has taken me all over the world, travelling to places that took some explaining to loved ones. It also paved the way to making me the French teacher, choir director and cook at a small school, not an obvious mix of skills. This job was surely the most life changing I’ve had in my short life. I was taught by many amazing adults and children, and in turn had a chance to touch a few lives. This week I called an old student of mine on the telephone to thank her for gifts she had sent. She excitedly told me that she had decided to work towards a culinary arts degree when she finishes high school. She gave me credit for inspiring her, wow. Although she is only a freshmen, and her parents have been cooking with her for her whole life, it gave me a little boost. What a different life I lead now, touching the lives of just two sweet children in such a different way. Matt and I worked with hundreds of children at a time in our past lives, pre-parenthood. Now we spend our time shaping two little girls who will someday credit their teachers with whom they spent just a few hours as their inspiration. I suppose we’ll take some credit regardless of whether it is given to us.
Matt got some work teaching at the Catholic high school in Kempsey this week. Usually he hasn’t much to say about the day, just that babysitting is pretty easy and not worth a mention. On Friday he had one period of “Agriculture,” eighth graders. Given a class with no plan, he was most impressed with the students’ knowledge of how to busy themselves for an hour on the school’s farm, which wasn’t even an acre.
Straight away the kids fired up lawn mowers, clipped the grass, fed animals, transplanted seedlings, picked ticks off of the two cows, removed rats from the chicken feed, and so on and so forth. This was a nice alternative to sitting in a quiet classroom. He was a little worried that they’d ask him questions for which he didn’t have a reply, but they all knew exactly what to do. Apparently Kempsey schools have little farms within them for learning purposes, for “city kids” who aren’t growing up in agriculture. Of course I like this idea!
In addition to the teaching this week, Matt kept working on the website, the veranda and his upcoming court case. Court case? Remember the kangaroo that Matt hit en route to a funeral? The one for whom the police were charging Matt for negligent driving? Well, after all of the angst and worry, six days before the supposed trial, lo and behold, the police dropped the charges and called off the court case. Of course Matt is relieved but also annoyed that it took them nine months to figure out what a dumb case it was. Anyhow, one less anxiety can only be a good thing.
Being a homemaker (feels funny using that non PC word, but that is what I do and love), I haven’t too many worries in life, mainly getting food ready before the girls lose “it.” This week, there was trouble on the land, on the leaves really. The pests figured out how lovely my garden was looking. There are flies everywhere, laying eggs on everything green or red. These eggs quickly turn into ravenous caterpillars that get fatter and fatter and eat more every day. Until one day, they metamorphose into another bloody winged creature that will lay a lot more eggs. So I’ve spent hours researching the problem, out with flashlights and inside reading books. We have fruit fly already, on our few remaining stone fruits on the trees and on the tomatoes. Grasshoppers, snails, and beetles are munching potatoes, beans, arugula, cabbage, and beets. Caterpillars are on the corn and tomatoes. Even the herbs are being destroyed. They haven’t noticed the lettuce, garlic, pumpkins, melons, carrots, cucumbers or the broad beans, so I suppose I should be thankful. In the mean time, Jacinta, Keith and I have been picking off heaps of caterpillars. I squish some, others I toss in a bucket with the affected tomatoes to be destroyed later on. Jacinta plays guardian of the pests: knocking them back down if they try to crawl out. They crawl all over each other, creating fluorescent green caterpillar towers. It hurts to pick off the affected fruit leaving only one or two fruits on a tree, but it’s obligatory. You are required by law to destroy any fruit fly affected fruit because it spreads so quickly to your neighbour’s crops. Trying to live off the bounty of the land is surely showing me that we humans must tromp on other life forms to survive, no matter how vegetarian one thinks they are. To grow vegetables, you must kill their predators whether you do it by squishing or spraying. You can use companion planting and crop rotation, but there will be bugs that are competing for your food.
There was a massive black snake in the terrace garden the other day. He didn’t want us or any of our veggies, but a mate. Although he was just passing through, the girls and I vacated that garden very quickly, moving over to the orchard for morning tea. We had just been entertaining ourselves by plucking caterpillars off tomato bushes, so I was sad to be interrupted. Jacinta commented that the tomato bush looked like a Christmas tree, filled with red and green ornaments. She knows I went Christmas shopping the other day and in her curiosity for what I bought, is quite conscious of Christmas coming.
Halloween just happened, what’s this talk of Christmas? Halloween isn’t even a real holiday here, nor is Thanksgiving. We celebrate them both anyway, because we are also American. We planned a Halloween party for Jacinta’s friends. The dress up theme was sea creatures, Jacinta’s idea. Because she chose a very hard animal to create, I dragged my feet until this week to begin the costume making. The dolphin came to life after a few late nights with Matt, Keith and Mary’s help. Jacinta and I made popcorn balls and pumpkin cake. Matt helped Jacinta carve the pumpkin and wrap the popcorn balls. Eventually the popcorn balls were hidden in a heap of straw to be found, as a game. We repeated the game over and over hiding bits of junk from the shed where we had the party. We bobbed for apples and the dads took the kids on “hayrides” in the big red wagon. Perhaps the neatest thing about children’s parties so far is that parents all come and have just as much fun as the children.
We finished the party off by trick or treating at a neighbour friend’s house and then at four different locations on our property. Matt and Keith gave out treats from different ends of the house. Michelle, thinking that the trick or treat question needed to be taken more seriously, gave out chicken seed as a “trick.” Craig waited down in the shed and juggled for the kids, as a “trick,” and then also gave them a treat. Our neighbour Melissa wanted the children to each do a trick for their treat. It was funny watching the Aussie’s try to interpret this strange custom of ours, “trick or treating.”
Genevieve didn’t dress up as anything from the sea, she played the part of a sweet baby, a wakeful one, in an orange pumpkin T-shirt. Matt and I marvel that she can be so pleasant while awake, given her lack of sleep. Other people might talk about a good nap, meaning two hours for a baby this age. Evie’s good nap might be thirty minutes. Often it’s twenty minutes in the morning, and perhaps thirty minutes in the afternoon. She’ll then stay up past Jacinta by an hour or two to play. She won’t fall asleep until she bonks her head on something, and in her tears, the milk will put her to sleep. Then she wakes every thirty minutes, or so it seems. Of course I am exaggerating a bit, but not much. A good image of Genevieve right now is one of those pulley dolls. You pull the string between their legs and their arms and legs do jumping jacks over and over. Evie will crawl around and play with any old thing for a long while, but eventually she crawls up your leg to be picked up. Once in your arms, she rejoices. Her arms go up and down together, her legs kicking in and out together, especially if someone else walks in the room and pays her attention. She is one chirpy little babe. I’m curious what she’ll grow into, having this much energy.
Here is an example of her curious happy spirit. It will make you want to throw up, as I wanted to. Today we were away for a few hours. Upon return, Evie rejoiced in her freedom to explore the floor, under the table as she usually does. I had swept earlier so I wasn’t worried about what she’d find. Luckily I glanced down and noticed a strange shape she had just put in her mouth. I pulled it out and quickly realized it was a dead baby frog!!! A FROG!!! DEAD! In my daughter’s mouth! I screamed. Jacinta and her friend wanted to know what the problem was. They were more interested in seeing what the dead frog looked like and where I had thrown it in the garden. Evie was just happy to be picked up and have a chance to play in the water at the sink while I washed her mouth out over and over. I guess the frog had come in and dried out while we were gone. How terribly disgusting. I’ll check the floor now, even more often than before.
Today was a great day for all of us. Three friends and I went to a soap making workshop and learned not only how to make body soap and shampoo bars, but laundry and dishwashing detergent. It was outdoors, lovely, and free of children. This was the longest I have had away from the girls, it was such a treat. Mary and Keith took care of the girls while Matt had a conference call. Then Matt took the girls over to our friends’ house to play and have a day with the daddies in charge. Matt and Craig had not only our five combined children, but also Michelle’s son Rory. They seemed to have a good time, the babies fared rather well also. They said the only stressful moment was just as they were about to drive the kids out to meet the mums at the soap workshop. Aidan hosed the girls down just as the babies were getting tired and starting to whine. Quickly the daddies dressed the girls up in pretty dresses with no undies. Aidan (5) dressed himself, and got in the backseat, forgetting his shorts. It wasn’t bad for two daddies taking charge of six kids. After all that, Matt and Craig went to a movie while Anissa and I took the kids home.
Jacinta and Lilly wanted to play a little longer, so Lilly came home with us. On the drive home they were chatting about “their babies.” “My baby can say mamamama,” Jacinta said. “My baby can say dadadadada,” replied Lilly. “My baby can’t say dadadadada, just mamamama,” said Jacinta. On and on they went, competing for the prize of “whose baby” could say the most. I think Lilly won. Or perhaps I did, because I got to be the fly on the wall and witness their lovely three year old conversation.
Here’s to a lovely autumn week for you all. Hope you had a nice Halloween, and stayed warm in the chilly air. I hope you too can be a fly on the wall and witness something beautiful, but not one of those flies that lays eggs on my tomatoes. That wouldn’t be very nice.
Peace,
Shana
posted by Matt & Shana & Jacinta & Genevieve Henry at
11:53 PM
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