Hunting for pretty things
Good evening y’all. Jacinta is four now and seems bigger all of a sudden. She woke up Monday morning and truly felt as if she had grown taller overnight. Matt took the day off work so we had a long leisurely day opening gifts, playing with them, baking and eating treats. We thought we’d spread out the gift giving so she could truly appreciate each gift. She had opened up Keith and Mary’s gifts of clothing the day before so she woke and put them on right away. When she opened up her new bike helmet she put it on and wore it around the house. Then came the newly knitted belly warmer, added to the ensemble. Then came the new tap shoes to jazz up her outfit. Keith fixed up a little pink bike for her, adding a basket, bell and handle streamers. She happily rode this inside (it rained all morning), but was disgruntled to hear that you can’t ride a bike in tap shoes. My knitted mushrooms were still wet from felting the night before but nonetheless Jacinta found them while hunting around the house for gifts. Giddy from all the attention, Jacinta’s energy spilled over to Genevieve who was also excited all day. The piñata was quite a highlight. Although Evie had bitten off one of its noses, it was still strong enough to hold up to both girls whacking it with a cricket bat. We ended up holding it still so Jacinta could hit it hard enough to knock out all of the goodies: chocolate covered macadamia nuts, liquorice, carob buds and dried fruit. This would be the reason Jacinta didn’t want any lunch.
When asked what she got for her birthday Jacinta answers not with a litany of all the gifts, but says, “A Dora torch!” The simplest gifts make children so happy, a pink “squeeze” flashlight that my mom thought Jacinta might like. She particularly likes birthday cards. My friend dropped off a gift for her just before bed and Jacinta’s first comment was, “Where’s the card? Why didn’t Trish give me a card?” Matt’s sister called and asked what she had gotten for her birthday and Jacinta excitedly replied, “I got a birthday card with balloons on it!” Although she also loves her fancy new tap shoes, putting them on every morning and tapping around the house until we make her take them off. She wants to read her new books over and over. She was given a lot of really nice winter clothes, even a hand-knitted sweater vest made by my friend Trish. I love new clothes, so I was keen for her to try them all on straight away. She thought they were pretty, but wasn’t as interested in seeing if they fit, she is four. As the days went by, she eventually tried them all on. One day she said to me thoughtfully, “With all these new clothes I look like another person.” I asked her if that was okay and she smiled and said yes.
After all the thrills were over, Jacinta was anxious to see her friends. They were coming over for French class in the late afternoon. She was a bit confused as to why they weren’t coming for birthday cake. It is because we are waiting to have her party when my sister and her family arrive (this is very soon!), which Jacinta wanted to do, or said so a few weeks ago. In spite of Jacinta’s confusion, we had a fun French class while Genevieve napped. For the past few weeks Evie has been with us so we have stayed up close to the house. Without our youngest member, we ran down to the dam and threw in pebbles and played around. It turns out that all of the children were a bit under the weather, huffing and puffing after each activity. But Jacinta was fired up, she was four and proud of it!
The mass of vitamins, herbal concoctions, tissue salts and homeopathic remedies is also growing gradually each day. Matt and the girls are all sick. Nature has left me alone for the time being so I can care for them, thus I am exhausted. You know something must be wrong if I’m so busy fulfilling others’ needs that I skip breakfast. I’m busy spiking their juice with olive leaf extract, Echinacea, zinc, herbal teas and luckily, they can stomach it. The cough syrup I make is quite a hit, it’s hard to go wrong with anything honey-based. I try preparing broths and meals that would be healing as well as nourishing. In the past, the girls consumed what I “prescribed” in their weakened state, but neither Jacinta or Genevieve will get near them now. Understandable though, I must admit, the rice cooked in fish broth was a bit strange. But potato and corn chowder, how bad can that be? I know their appetites are tiny when ill, but I can’t tell if they are choosing starvation out of pickiness or if they honestly have no appetite. In her illness I am giving Genevieve mommy milk in the daytime again so she has an easy option. So I gave up. Aiming to spend more time cuddling and playing with my sick girls, I gave them peanut butter sandwiches for dinner one night. Matt had his newly rediscovered childhood fare, baked beans on toast while I ate the fishy rice that no one else would touch. It felt good and bit funny to be so slack for dinner, breaking routine is good for us all sometimes.
On Sunday my cooking attempts were so half-hearted that I burnt hard-boiled eggs!
How does one burn eggs cooked in water? Put a lid on and leave them boiling long enough that all the water disappears and the egg shells pop like popcorn. Imagine the smell and the shame. Keith helped me get over it and laugh it off though after he called me up from the compost to ask me what I was cooking. Gardening alone on a beautiful autumn day can do this to you, or maybe just me. Matt had taken the girls to town and up Mount Yarrahappini for a look around and I was feeling free. I can not even remember accomplishing anything, perhaps readying seedling trays for planting. Mostly I observed the sogginess in the garden and the lack of sun, reasons why seeds are not sprouting and plants are not growing very much. I came to the conclusion that I needed to cut down two big trees before I could really expect much more. I can’t cut down trees alone, and can not ask Matt or Keith for help anytime soon. I am at peace with this though, all things in time. I may not have a very productive garden now, but it sure is a peaceful place to be.
It has been a really peaceful week. The girls have had lingering colds for while so I decided that we would stay home all week and get rid of their colds. We skipped preschool and playgroup and rested at home. There were a few rainy days so we got a bit stir crazy, the car even got stuck in the mud. (It rained almost nine inches in one night.) Jacinta had a few long naps and read a lot of stories. Genevieve played and climbed as she does normally, just breaking down a bit earlier in the day for a nap. On the sunny days, it was really nice to just stay. It changes your whole outlook on a day, having nothing to guide you but the weather, your whims and your body’s needs. Laundry took us outside to the swing set, and to the shady line near loads of shady little nooks to play “hide the mushroom.” Jacinta found a feather and suggested we go on a feather hunt. She ran to fetch a treasure basket and once we started the hunt, she changed the plan, we were just looking for “pretty things.” She led us through the chook pen, through the garden shed into the orchard garden. One of the “pretty things” we found was the first ripe orange on our orange tree. It wasn’t very juicy, but surely bearable, not bad for the tree’s first efforts. Perhaps it’s equivalent to the first eggs a chicken might lay, a bit underdeveloped.
By Friday, Keith had towed our car out of the mud with his car and we were ready to go into town. Genevieve was having a terrible time sleeping and thus, we all were, and we needed food. Jacinta, almost healthy again and bubbling from having had a birthday proudly told all of the shopkeepers, “I’m four years old!” The doctor solved the mystery of Evie’s pain, an ear infection. So we went back to the health food shop and bought another homeopathic remedy. It was nice to be out on a sunny day and see some other humans. Now that we know, I can better help Evie sleep at night and not just treat her for a cold.
Last night I kept Genevieve elevated to 30 degrees and she actually slept in her crib, more comfortably than she could with me on the floor by the fire. She did wake every few hours though. Jacinta even woke up in the middle of the night, lucky I had fallen asleep at 7:30! Matt couldn’t sleep either. So while working on his book, he kindly came out and stoked up the fire for Jacinta, Evie and I every few hours.
So Matt is officially stressed about his book. It is crack down time, the deadline is coming up. He is not worried about the inability to finish it, more so realizing what it means in regards to his time with the girls and I. This week, to make it worse, he is on call for work. He has to answer his cell phone between the hours of 6am and 10pm and reschedule services for both clients who need to change times and for workers who are sick and need to find a replacement to service a client. Each case manager takes four weeks a year on call, and now is one of Matt’s weeks. Now he knows why people groan when speaking of being on call. Being sick, on call and working against a clock to finish a book is a bit much for one week, but the girls make him smile a lot. Communicating with inspiring people for his book, being employed, and looking at the stars at night make Matt smile too.
Although the house was trashed all week long, never getting a break from the little wrecking ball/ mess maker, I am finding peace within the mess. I am learning how to sit in it for a few minutes before I compulsively jump up and pointlessly try to clear the floor. I didn’t do much in the garden, but I made my girls smile, laugh and helped them to rest. I didn’t see many friends, but I snuck out Thursday night after the girls fell asleep for fifteen minutes of choir and sang my heart out. I don’t find many opportunities to speak French with French speakers or use any of my college education here, but I have found an organization with whom I can volunteer and do both of these things. After a few weeks of phone tag, I finally got in touch with Anglicare, the organization which works with newly immigrated African refugees. It looks like I’ll be able to start working with them sometime this winter. Genevieve has woken three times throughout this journal entry, crying for pain in her teeth and ears, but Matt and I finally got her back to sleep, again.
She is calling out again, but she will sleep sometime. So will I and so will Matt. Someday soon she will sleep through the night, and so will we. And Jacinta is four!
I hope you find time to go on a hunt for “pretty things.” There will surely be a few pretty things wherever you are.
Take care,
Shana
When asked what she got for her birthday Jacinta answers not with a litany of all the gifts, but says, “A Dora torch!” The simplest gifts make children so happy, a pink “squeeze” flashlight that my mom thought Jacinta might like. She particularly likes birthday cards. My friend dropped off a gift for her just before bed and Jacinta’s first comment was, “Where’s the card? Why didn’t Trish give me a card?” Matt’s sister called and asked what she had gotten for her birthday and Jacinta excitedly replied, “I got a birthday card with balloons on it!” Although she also loves her fancy new tap shoes, putting them on every morning and tapping around the house until we make her take them off. She wants to read her new books over and over. She was given a lot of really nice winter clothes, even a hand-knitted sweater vest made by my friend Trish. I love new clothes, so I was keen for her to try them all on straight away. She thought they were pretty, but wasn’t as interested in seeing if they fit, she is four. As the days went by, she eventually tried them all on. One day she said to me thoughtfully, “With all these new clothes I look like another person.” I asked her if that was okay and she smiled and said yes.
After all the thrills were over, Jacinta was anxious to see her friends. They were coming over for French class in the late afternoon. She was a bit confused as to why they weren’t coming for birthday cake. It is because we are waiting to have her party when my sister and her family arrive (this is very soon!), which Jacinta wanted to do, or said so a few weeks ago. In spite of Jacinta’s confusion, we had a fun French class while Genevieve napped. For the past few weeks Evie has been with us so we have stayed up close to the house. Without our youngest member, we ran down to the dam and threw in pebbles and played around. It turns out that all of the children were a bit under the weather, huffing and puffing after each activity. But Jacinta was fired up, she was four and proud of it!
The mass of vitamins, herbal concoctions, tissue salts and homeopathic remedies is also growing gradually each day. Matt and the girls are all sick. Nature has left me alone for the time being so I can care for them, thus I am exhausted. You know something must be wrong if I’m so busy fulfilling others’ needs that I skip breakfast. I’m busy spiking their juice with olive leaf extract, Echinacea, zinc, herbal teas and luckily, they can stomach it. The cough syrup I make is quite a hit, it’s hard to go wrong with anything honey-based. I try preparing broths and meals that would be healing as well as nourishing. In the past, the girls consumed what I “prescribed” in their weakened state, but neither Jacinta or Genevieve will get near them now. Understandable though, I must admit, the rice cooked in fish broth was a bit strange. But potato and corn chowder, how bad can that be? I know their appetites are tiny when ill, but I can’t tell if they are choosing starvation out of pickiness or if they honestly have no appetite. In her illness I am giving Genevieve mommy milk in the daytime again so she has an easy option. So I gave up. Aiming to spend more time cuddling and playing with my sick girls, I gave them peanut butter sandwiches for dinner one night. Matt had his newly rediscovered childhood fare, baked beans on toast while I ate the fishy rice that no one else would touch. It felt good and bit funny to be so slack for dinner, breaking routine is good for us all sometimes.
On Sunday my cooking attempts were so half-hearted that I burnt hard-boiled eggs!
How does one burn eggs cooked in water? Put a lid on and leave them boiling long enough that all the water disappears and the egg shells pop like popcorn. Imagine the smell and the shame. Keith helped me get over it and laugh it off though after he called me up from the compost to ask me what I was cooking. Gardening alone on a beautiful autumn day can do this to you, or maybe just me. Matt had taken the girls to town and up Mount Yarrahappini for a look around and I was feeling free. I can not even remember accomplishing anything, perhaps readying seedling trays for planting. Mostly I observed the sogginess in the garden and the lack of sun, reasons why seeds are not sprouting and plants are not growing very much. I came to the conclusion that I needed to cut down two big trees before I could really expect much more. I can’t cut down trees alone, and can not ask Matt or Keith for help anytime soon. I am at peace with this though, all things in time. I may not have a very productive garden now, but it sure is a peaceful place to be.
It has been a really peaceful week. The girls have had lingering colds for while so I decided that we would stay home all week and get rid of their colds. We skipped preschool and playgroup and rested at home. There were a few rainy days so we got a bit stir crazy, the car even got stuck in the mud. (It rained almost nine inches in one night.) Jacinta had a few long naps and read a lot of stories. Genevieve played and climbed as she does normally, just breaking down a bit earlier in the day for a nap. On the sunny days, it was really nice to just stay. It changes your whole outlook on a day, having nothing to guide you but the weather, your whims and your body’s needs. Laundry took us outside to the swing set, and to the shady line near loads of shady little nooks to play “hide the mushroom.” Jacinta found a feather and suggested we go on a feather hunt. She ran to fetch a treasure basket and once we started the hunt, she changed the plan, we were just looking for “pretty things.” She led us through the chook pen, through the garden shed into the orchard garden. One of the “pretty things” we found was the first ripe orange on our orange tree. It wasn’t very juicy, but surely bearable, not bad for the tree’s first efforts. Perhaps it’s equivalent to the first eggs a chicken might lay, a bit underdeveloped.
By Friday, Keith had towed our car out of the mud with his car and we were ready to go into town. Genevieve was having a terrible time sleeping and thus, we all were, and we needed food. Jacinta, almost healthy again and bubbling from having had a birthday proudly told all of the shopkeepers, “I’m four years old!” The doctor solved the mystery of Evie’s pain, an ear infection. So we went back to the health food shop and bought another homeopathic remedy. It was nice to be out on a sunny day and see some other humans. Now that we know, I can better help Evie sleep at night and not just treat her for a cold.
Last night I kept Genevieve elevated to 30 degrees and she actually slept in her crib, more comfortably than she could with me on the floor by the fire. She did wake every few hours though. Jacinta even woke up in the middle of the night, lucky I had fallen asleep at 7:30! Matt couldn’t sleep either. So while working on his book, he kindly came out and stoked up the fire for Jacinta, Evie and I every few hours.
So Matt is officially stressed about his book. It is crack down time, the deadline is coming up. He is not worried about the inability to finish it, more so realizing what it means in regards to his time with the girls and I. This week, to make it worse, he is on call for work. He has to answer his cell phone between the hours of 6am and 10pm and reschedule services for both clients who need to change times and for workers who are sick and need to find a replacement to service a client. Each case manager takes four weeks a year on call, and now is one of Matt’s weeks. Now he knows why people groan when speaking of being on call. Being sick, on call and working against a clock to finish a book is a bit much for one week, but the girls make him smile a lot. Communicating with inspiring people for his book, being employed, and looking at the stars at night make Matt smile too.
Although the house was trashed all week long, never getting a break from the little wrecking ball/ mess maker, I am finding peace within the mess. I am learning how to sit in it for a few minutes before I compulsively jump up and pointlessly try to clear the floor. I didn’t do much in the garden, but I made my girls smile, laugh and helped them to rest. I didn’t see many friends, but I snuck out Thursday night after the girls fell asleep for fifteen minutes of choir and sang my heart out. I don’t find many opportunities to speak French with French speakers or use any of my college education here, but I have found an organization with whom I can volunteer and do both of these things. After a few weeks of phone tag, I finally got in touch with Anglicare, the organization which works with newly immigrated African refugees. It looks like I’ll be able to start working with them sometime this winter. Genevieve has woken three times throughout this journal entry, crying for pain in her teeth and ears, but Matt and I finally got her back to sleep, again.
She is calling out again, but she will sleep sometime. So will I and so will Matt. Someday soon she will sleep through the night, and so will we. And Jacinta is four!
I hope you find time to go on a hunt for “pretty things.” There will surely be a few pretty things wherever you are.
Take care,
Shana
posted by Matt & Shana & Jacinta & Genevieve Henry at
11:33 PM
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