Big Cozy Mess
Good evening. A full week it has been, as usual. The mess scattered evenly around the house might provide an accurate account of life at our house this week. There is a half filled package of gifts cluttering the table, alongside half drawn pictures waiting to be finished and sent to my new niece, Paige Elin Johnson, born in the wee small hours of the morning of April 4th. Three laundry baskets of clean sun-dried clothes sit in purgatory blocking the path through the lounge/play room. The brown rug has been unrolled from summer storage. It is now warming up the chilly floor, but is covered in fluff and random bits of rubbish stuck in its wool fibers which the floor sweeper can not seem to remove. Luckily fluff doesn’t trip you in the middle of the night, but the toys looking for a home may. Bean bags and pillows have taken the place of the couch and the piano which no longer resides in the lounge room. The disconnected stereo, speakers and cds are all on the rug now, having lost their home on top of the piano. There is a fireplace sitting in the corner taking the place of the old piano, awaiting installation. It may be messy but it feels nice to cuddle up in a bean bag on the floor of this room which used to seem like a walkway between a couch and a piano. You can actually sit across from one another playing guitar or having a conversation.
Our friends (and Genevieve’s godparents) Anne Marie and Bernie flew out from Sydney to visit for the weekend with their sweet little baby Sara (two months old). Besides wanting to see us, our Australian friends see our place as a tourist destination, being so close to the Northern beaches and a good distance from the fast-paced city. Last year they came out just after the death of their first baby to meet Genevieve and vacation nearby. So this was quite a special visit to meet their new healthy baby and see Genevieve and Jacinta a year later. A year ago Jacinta showed them a star on our bathroom mural that she had named for baby Theresa. She also showed them another star which she painted for their “other baby.” Well, somehow Jacinta knew baby Sara was coming, and we had her all weekend long. A dear little baby she is: hardly awake, hungry, cuddly, strong, curious, needy, and loved beyond measure. Jacinta followed Annie, Bernie and Sara anywhere she could. She helped change nappies, went on walks, asked them millions of questions, sat down next to them just to chat, and rode in their car anywhere we went. This was devotion we haven’t yet seen, it was beautiful.
Bernie wanted to do some manual labour too, so Matt obliged and came up with a big task: moving a piano. Keith, Matt and Bernie pulled that massive piano out to the veranda. While they were at it, they thought, “It sounds terrible, we might as well have a look inside and see if we can fix it.” Three curious and confident men who like to make music, are not piano tuners but have a few hours to enter a world they have never experienced before; what more could I hope for? Jacinta was certainly along for the ride, how amazing to see the insides of a piano! When they opened it up and found a rats nest (there since we bought it), they were inspired to at least clean the insides. Whilst vacuuming out the rat poo, dust and scraps of newspaper they broke a key, and in doing so discovered how to detach each key. So the brave men decided to take all of the keys out and start over. Using an air compressor, they blew out years of dust and residue and actually put it all back together properly. This $300 piano that had one-eighth of its keys stuck now sounds lovely. The keys move up and down as they should. Those three men and our three year old did it, and had fun learning about the mechanics of a piano. Nothing like a little faith in yourself. (Although I don’t think I’d attempt such a thing, I have faith in myself but not in mechanical practice!)
Besides putting our friends to work, we enjoyed walks, garden tours, cooking and eating, playing games, baby gazing, reminiscing of our time together with our first newborn, and relaxing in our spacious, empty lounge room. One lesson learned is that although some babies can handle restaurants (Jacinta), not all babies are that easily pleased. Genevieve is surely teaching us about different temperaments. It’s very interesting, although I’ll admit I’d rather have a peaceful meal in a nice restaurant than chase around a toddler who can’t stand being locked up in a high chair for more than five minutes.
I’m human, the comparisons are hard to avoid. Jacinta is almost four and enjoys sitting on her daddy’s lap for the entirety of an adult board game. She comes in an out of observation, practicing writing letters and numbers, joining in now and again. She sat in a high chair for ages as a toddler, she played with the toys we gave her and smiled. She stayed down low if we put her on the floor. Baby Jacinta was curious and determined but less active, easier. Yes, I now understand. So far Baby Genevieve is extremely entertaining, testing, demanding, spunky and full of energy and attitude. She covets anything that is not acceptable as a baby toy for her. She wants to be on the same level as everyone else, that is, higher up. Thus she must climb. I have tried pulling her down each time she crawls up onto the table this week, over and over. She is indignant to be deprived of the things that everyone else has: access to all of the junk on the table, a view of the cows, the refrigerator, crayons, markers, scissors, baby powder, telephones, etc. But most times, she gets over her frustration and finds a good toy.
In her race to grow up, Genevieve is imitating us very well. I have been sick this week and coughing. She pretends to cough and cover her mouth with her hand as I do, smiling all the while. The newest additions to her vocabulary are “hah” for hot, “diy” for drink, “shoe” for shoe, “ehyo” for hello, “ta ta” for goodbye and “dah doo” for thank you. She can blow you a kiss and even gives real kisses now. She likes to sniff things, imitating Jacinta and I sometimes with spices. With flowers she is all on her own. There are two frangipanni trees next to Mary and Keith’s veranda with just a few white and pink flowers left on each. Genevieve is very particular about these flowers. When one catches her eye, she calls out, “EH, EH!” in her most urgent tone until someone fetches her a flower. I sometimes try to change her focus because they are far too high for me to reach, but Keith will usually go and fetch her a pink flower. With the frangipanni in hand smiling from ear to ear, she sniffs and snuffs quickly like a dog. She then holds out the flower for you to smell too. Keith and I have both tried offering her other flowers but she is not interested, frangipannis only please. After having a good whiff, she usually tries to eat the flower. Unfortunately they are not edible.
What Jacinta deems edible right now is much more limited than Genevieve’s range of acceptable foods: crayons, flowers, and dog toys. Jess sticks to grains, fruit, dairy products, piggy products, eggs, and some fish. Vegetables are tricky. This week I tried a new tactic: honesty and humour. I told her we were going to play Green eggs and ham, but with pumpkin. I told her I was going to try and find a way she could eat pumpkin. I made pumpkin muffins (sugar usually means success) and nutty apple pumpkin fritters. She willingly tried them and ate one. Although, she kept asking when we were going to play Green eggs and ham. I’ll have to make a real game out of it for her.
As we all love learning a new skill, Jacinta beamed with pride the few times this week that she accomplished things so internally rewarding she didn’t even feel the need to say, “Look at me!” Today she drew her first heart with a point on the bottom. Previously she’d just ask me to draw the bottom of the heart for her. She asked Matt how to use his tripod today and not only did he show her, but let her take her first few pictures. What an honour! The smile on her face was perhaps more gratitude than pride. Often she spends her days doing seemingly insignificant tricks telling us individually to “Look at this trick!” I find myself wishing she could just enjoy the thrill herself and go on making up new tricks. I suppose she’s seeking perpetual approval, normal I guess. Keith too has a new trick, a new way to blow bubbles. He and Jacinta rolled a plastic sheet into a tube et voila! Massive bubbles and endless entertainment for both girls. He enjoys it so much I’ve even caught him blowing bubbles on his own. I suppose that’s a major part of growing up: learning to follow your own joy, leaving your need to impress and entertain others behind.
Matt and I made this dreamy move out to a small town with high unemployment to follow our own joy. We surely have found joy, love and hospitality in this place and also left a lot of the same behind. Each morning before settling down to work on the computer Matt carries Genevieve on his shoulders to see the cows and proudly reports back that she touched the cow on the head. Throughout the day Jacinta joyfully runs in and out of his “office” to show him piles of kidney beans she has shelled, pictures she has drawn, pretty clothes she needs to show off. Out here it is more unlikely that Matt will find paid employment doing exactly what his heart longs to do. Editing Originally Blessed is the closest he’s gotten to that yearning thus far, although it will not earn an income. So whilst doing some awesome soul warming work, he’s working at trying to please and convince numerous different social service organizations that he’s the one they need. He’s getting interviews now and also getting a few days of work in the schools. It is a humbling process. Someday the hunt will end in a job and hopefully it will leave time for soul enriching work.
It has been a quiet week for me. That is not to say slow, but I lost my voice completely for a few days. The counters are covered in little bottles filled with herbal concoctions and vitamins for the girls and I. Jacinta is getting over her cold, I am stuck in the middle and Genevieve is just starting to show signs of sickness, mainly loss of balance. She is also teething. My voice has mostly returned, accompanied by a dry painful cough. What a change, I use my voice non-stop: so no story telling, no songs, or verbal entertainment. Jacinta was bewildered by my silence. She dealt very well, accepting hand signals instead of verbal cues. Matt helped out as much as he could by taking the girls out, waking up early with them, doing dishes and cooking a big breakfast one morning. Keith took the girls out for a day to visit the elderly folks at Mary’s nursing home. Mary cooked for us on the weekend. My friend Trish brought honey and cookies to make me feel better. I had a nap on Sunday, what a luxury. It has been a long cold, but sweetened by help from lovely little girls and kind adults.
A little cold, so insignificant in the grand scheme of things. My step dad had another small stroke and has now lost peripheral vision in both eyes. He has my loving mother at his side to ease the pain, but his loss of independence dealt them a major blow. A few days later, my sister gave birth to a healthy little girl named Paige. We can only hope that we are surrounded by loved ones with whom we can mourn and celebrate life’s twists and turns. Here’s hoping we can all find ourselves surrounded by love and support. Have a peaceful, love-filled week.
Love,
Shana
Our friends (and Genevieve’s godparents) Anne Marie and Bernie flew out from Sydney to visit for the weekend with their sweet little baby Sara (two months old). Besides wanting to see us, our Australian friends see our place as a tourist destination, being so close to the Northern beaches and a good distance from the fast-paced city. Last year they came out just after the death of their first baby to meet Genevieve and vacation nearby. So this was quite a special visit to meet their new healthy baby and see Genevieve and Jacinta a year later. A year ago Jacinta showed them a star on our bathroom mural that she had named for baby Theresa. She also showed them another star which she painted for their “other baby.” Well, somehow Jacinta knew baby Sara was coming, and we had her all weekend long. A dear little baby she is: hardly awake, hungry, cuddly, strong, curious, needy, and loved beyond measure. Jacinta followed Annie, Bernie and Sara anywhere she could. She helped change nappies, went on walks, asked them millions of questions, sat down next to them just to chat, and rode in their car anywhere we went. This was devotion we haven’t yet seen, it was beautiful.
Bernie wanted to do some manual labour too, so Matt obliged and came up with a big task: moving a piano. Keith, Matt and Bernie pulled that massive piano out to the veranda. While they were at it, they thought, “It sounds terrible, we might as well have a look inside and see if we can fix it.” Three curious and confident men who like to make music, are not piano tuners but have a few hours to enter a world they have never experienced before; what more could I hope for? Jacinta was certainly along for the ride, how amazing to see the insides of a piano! When they opened it up and found a rats nest (there since we bought it), they were inspired to at least clean the insides. Whilst vacuuming out the rat poo, dust and scraps of newspaper they broke a key, and in doing so discovered how to detach each key. So the brave men decided to take all of the keys out and start over. Using an air compressor, they blew out years of dust and residue and actually put it all back together properly. This $300 piano that had one-eighth of its keys stuck now sounds lovely. The keys move up and down as they should. Those three men and our three year old did it, and had fun learning about the mechanics of a piano. Nothing like a little faith in yourself. (Although I don’t think I’d attempt such a thing, I have faith in myself but not in mechanical practice!)
Besides putting our friends to work, we enjoyed walks, garden tours, cooking and eating, playing games, baby gazing, reminiscing of our time together with our first newborn, and relaxing in our spacious, empty lounge room. One lesson learned is that although some babies can handle restaurants (Jacinta), not all babies are that easily pleased. Genevieve is surely teaching us about different temperaments. It’s very interesting, although I’ll admit I’d rather have a peaceful meal in a nice restaurant than chase around a toddler who can’t stand being locked up in a high chair for more than five minutes.
I’m human, the comparisons are hard to avoid. Jacinta is almost four and enjoys sitting on her daddy’s lap for the entirety of an adult board game. She comes in an out of observation, practicing writing letters and numbers, joining in now and again. She sat in a high chair for ages as a toddler, she played with the toys we gave her and smiled. She stayed down low if we put her on the floor. Baby Jacinta was curious and determined but less active, easier. Yes, I now understand. So far Baby Genevieve is extremely entertaining, testing, demanding, spunky and full of energy and attitude. She covets anything that is not acceptable as a baby toy for her. She wants to be on the same level as everyone else, that is, higher up. Thus she must climb. I have tried pulling her down each time she crawls up onto the table this week, over and over. She is indignant to be deprived of the things that everyone else has: access to all of the junk on the table, a view of the cows, the refrigerator, crayons, markers, scissors, baby powder, telephones, etc. But most times, she gets over her frustration and finds a good toy.
In her race to grow up, Genevieve is imitating us very well. I have been sick this week and coughing. She pretends to cough and cover her mouth with her hand as I do, smiling all the while. The newest additions to her vocabulary are “hah” for hot, “diy” for drink, “shoe” for shoe, “ehyo” for hello, “ta ta” for goodbye and “dah doo” for thank you. She can blow you a kiss and even gives real kisses now. She likes to sniff things, imitating Jacinta and I sometimes with spices. With flowers she is all on her own. There are two frangipanni trees next to Mary and Keith’s veranda with just a few white and pink flowers left on each. Genevieve is very particular about these flowers. When one catches her eye, she calls out, “EH, EH!” in her most urgent tone until someone fetches her a flower. I sometimes try to change her focus because they are far too high for me to reach, but Keith will usually go and fetch her a pink flower. With the frangipanni in hand smiling from ear to ear, she sniffs and snuffs quickly like a dog. She then holds out the flower for you to smell too. Keith and I have both tried offering her other flowers but she is not interested, frangipannis only please. After having a good whiff, she usually tries to eat the flower. Unfortunately they are not edible.
What Jacinta deems edible right now is much more limited than Genevieve’s range of acceptable foods: crayons, flowers, and dog toys. Jess sticks to grains, fruit, dairy products, piggy products, eggs, and some fish. Vegetables are tricky. This week I tried a new tactic: honesty and humour. I told her we were going to play Green eggs and ham, but with pumpkin. I told her I was going to try and find a way she could eat pumpkin. I made pumpkin muffins (sugar usually means success) and nutty apple pumpkin fritters. She willingly tried them and ate one. Although, she kept asking when we were going to play Green eggs and ham. I’ll have to make a real game out of it for her.
As we all love learning a new skill, Jacinta beamed with pride the few times this week that she accomplished things so internally rewarding she didn’t even feel the need to say, “Look at me!” Today she drew her first heart with a point on the bottom. Previously she’d just ask me to draw the bottom of the heart for her. She asked Matt how to use his tripod today and not only did he show her, but let her take her first few pictures. What an honour! The smile on her face was perhaps more gratitude than pride. Often she spends her days doing seemingly insignificant tricks telling us individually to “Look at this trick!” I find myself wishing she could just enjoy the thrill herself and go on making up new tricks. I suppose she’s seeking perpetual approval, normal I guess. Keith too has a new trick, a new way to blow bubbles. He and Jacinta rolled a plastic sheet into a tube et voila! Massive bubbles and endless entertainment for both girls. He enjoys it so much I’ve even caught him blowing bubbles on his own. I suppose that’s a major part of growing up: learning to follow your own joy, leaving your need to impress and entertain others behind.
Matt and I made this dreamy move out to a small town with high unemployment to follow our own joy. We surely have found joy, love and hospitality in this place and also left a lot of the same behind. Each morning before settling down to work on the computer Matt carries Genevieve on his shoulders to see the cows and proudly reports back that she touched the cow on the head. Throughout the day Jacinta joyfully runs in and out of his “office” to show him piles of kidney beans she has shelled, pictures she has drawn, pretty clothes she needs to show off. Out here it is more unlikely that Matt will find paid employment doing exactly what his heart longs to do. Editing Originally Blessed is the closest he’s gotten to that yearning thus far, although it will not earn an income. So whilst doing some awesome soul warming work, he’s working at trying to please and convince numerous different social service organizations that he’s the one they need. He’s getting interviews now and also getting a few days of work in the schools. It is a humbling process. Someday the hunt will end in a job and hopefully it will leave time for soul enriching work.
It has been a quiet week for me. That is not to say slow, but I lost my voice completely for a few days. The counters are covered in little bottles filled with herbal concoctions and vitamins for the girls and I. Jacinta is getting over her cold, I am stuck in the middle and Genevieve is just starting to show signs of sickness, mainly loss of balance. She is also teething. My voice has mostly returned, accompanied by a dry painful cough. What a change, I use my voice non-stop: so no story telling, no songs, or verbal entertainment. Jacinta was bewildered by my silence. She dealt very well, accepting hand signals instead of verbal cues. Matt helped out as much as he could by taking the girls out, waking up early with them, doing dishes and cooking a big breakfast one morning. Keith took the girls out for a day to visit the elderly folks at Mary’s nursing home. Mary cooked for us on the weekend. My friend Trish brought honey and cookies to make me feel better. I had a nap on Sunday, what a luxury. It has been a long cold, but sweetened by help from lovely little girls and kind adults.
A little cold, so insignificant in the grand scheme of things. My step dad had another small stroke and has now lost peripheral vision in both eyes. He has my loving mother at his side to ease the pain, but his loss of independence dealt them a major blow. A few days later, my sister gave birth to a healthy little girl named Paige. We can only hope that we are surrounded by loved ones with whom we can mourn and celebrate life’s twists and turns. Here’s hoping we can all find ourselves surrounded by love and support. Have a peaceful, love-filled week.
Love,
Shana
posted by Matt & Shana & Jacinta & Genevieve Henry at
9:27 PM
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