December pics 2

Coline started swimming in December. She and Leila are two happy swimmers and even though I do not get a chance to actually swim I find it relaxing. Let's say that it has a strong positive effect on Leila's mood for hours before and after, and that is priceless.

Leila spent 3 days decorating our paper Christmas tree (on the table on the picture below) and was glad to find out that a tiny Christmas tree does not necessarily mean tiny presents. Note that she is wearing pink and blue and seems to be equally fond of her blue dress, her pink sleepers and her white and orange ballerina skirt, which I made as a Christmas present for her (and I am very proud of having made it, even though it was late at night and I just wanted to crash in bed. There is something to homemade gifts).

We spent Christmas day in Ponte Nova at Cristiano's grandpa's house. It was extremely hot there and so the girls (that includes me) played with water most of the time. Coline apparently cannot see a bucket full of water without wanting to swim in it. She also cannot see stairs without wanting to climb them up. The one that goes up from our kitchen to the terrace and is a ladder rather than stairs has already given us a couple of fright but we all enjoy a little adrenalin rush.

Leila has been painting cats lately. Is this a sign or premonition that our family is about to expand a little more?

December pics

Leila is on holiday and seems to be very happy to stay at home. Coline is full of teeth, energy and determination. We are all doing very well and wishing you a happy and lively end of the year.

Genre

Leila: le rose c'est pour les filles. Le bleu c'est pour les garcons.
moi: ...

2 jours plus tard:
Leila: le rose c'est pour les filles. Le bleu c'est pour les garcons.
moi: euh... non...(...)

Notez que les points a la fin de ses phrases sont en fait des points d'interrogations. C'est dans les yeux que ca se lit.

Deroutee par mes (non-)reponses, je me suis apercue a quel point je suis deroutee par ses assertions. Pourtant il fallait bien que je m'y attende, on ne trouve exclusivement que du rose (dans le contexte dans lequel nous vivons "exclusivement que" n'est pas un pleonasme) dans les exemples locaux.

A titre anecdotique, je suis allee acheter un cadeau d'anniversaire pour une copine de Leila. Ayant annonce a la vendeuse que je cherchais un cadeau pour une fille, elle m'a dirigee vers le paradis des ustensiles et poupees en plastique rose. Ce sur quoi je lui ai annonce distinctement que je n'acheterais de preference rien de rose, que par contre j'aimerais bien qu'elle me montre les voitures parce que Leila pensait que sa copine aimerait une grosse voiture qui avance toute seule. La vendeuse nous a montre le coin des voitures et m'a dit fierement que, compte tenu que je cherchais un cadeau pour une fille, j'avais de la chance car il y en avait une rose.

Alors demain je lui dis quoi a Leila?

En attendant, elle nous a toutes les trois maquillees en barbe-bleue cette aprem, et on a bien rigole - je lui accorde, la barbe c'est (tres generalement) pour les garcons. Et pourtant ca lui va tellement bien!

reading

I enjoyed thoroughly the last three books that I read. They were gifts from or lent to me by my friends in France and of course that also made them special. Above all I enjoyed having the opportunity to read peacefully for long stretches of time. That was made possible by Coline's habit to have a two-hour nap in the afternoon, where she would only sleep if I was there to breastfeed. Otherwise I would have made myself busy around the house or on the computer. Sadly, this habit has passed, she is now generally too busy with her life to sleep much during the day. In ten days school is over (for a two-month summer holiday) and so I can just forget about reading. I will probably keep the girls busy for the 14 hours that Leila is awake every day and then I will collapse.

Nonetheless I felt drawn to my bookshelf yesterday. I felt like picking a book that I would enjoy reading a little bit of every day, for the next year perhaps. I often feel more alive when I am busy with a book that I enjoy. It has been raining for the past four days, without a minute break, and I wonder how one can survive this weather without a book.

My bookshelf is small. I have read all the books on it. They are few, but they have been selected over the years. They are the books that traveled from France to Brazil via South Africa. And there was THE book. It is so powerful that I cannot sit and read it. Two pages into the book I was doing yoga again, after an almost year-long break. I only read this book once and I do not want to rush this second reading because I just wish I could be busy with it for the next ten years. I hope I have forgotten it enough to continue being surprised by its brilliance every page that I read. Thank you, maman, who gave it to me.

Here are the books that I read:

Contes a guerir, contes a grandir by Jacques Salome

Le Concept du continuum (The continuum concept) by Jean Liedloff - even though I did not share all her views, I enjoyed reading about the way of life of the Yekwena and imagining that we could live differently, in harmony with nature and ourselves.

Le complexe du herisson by Muriel Barbery - I loved bumping into words that I have often heard without being sure what they meant.

The book that I am reading now:

Femmes qui courent avec les loups (Women who run with the wolves) by Klarissa Pinkola Estes - only just that name! (it almost beat Vladimir Maiakowski, doesn't it?)

November pics

One afternoon between 1 and 5:30 pm. Smiles, smiles and more smiles.
Early morning with Tintin. He has been teaching Leila to present her bottom to her sister's face, and Coline to chew shoes, paper and more.
Papaya is something that Coline does not eat but enjoys smearing herself up with. Grapes, on the other hand went down pretty well. It is a pity that we rarely find them here (or they do not taste like grape. Seriously!)
Such delightful culinary experiences are restricted to hot days (and that is because I truly resent having food all over the place, clothes and myself, and she has no clue about it).
On Sundays we often go out for a long walk in town and come back home for a shower, dinner and a (kiddies) movie. That day Leila did not make it to the 5th minute.
Their bath is small indeed, but they have fun in it. I really like the inflatable bath. Coline has been sitting, standing, slipping in it and never hurt herself. I just sit and watch.
Leila's shot. She does love her South African daddy.
Coline kept herself busy with the books on that shelf for a couple of days.
She generally woudn't stop until it was empty. She now has moved on. She pics one and either eats it, or turns the pages, for ages.
... doing pull ups...
It is safe to say that the weather has been unpredictable lately. One day with a beanie, the next in a cold water basin.
By the way, this is where tintin stays most of the time. We miss our garden!
Just tall enough to knock to table, Coline practices her standing skills while Leila paints. That was a typical "swimming lesson morning" where Leila is in a good mood and hence so is the rest of the family.
Showing them off, there are now 5. Teeth.
This bed is made for playing, and that's just what she'll do. One of these days this bed... oh forget it.
And another heaven for little miss happily-empty-any-shelf-in-a-blink.

Team work at noon. Leila, here, and as on most days, dressed in Anita's ballerina gear with her "jupe Provencale", standing at the edge of a stool, was cutting potatoes, with a real knife indeed.

October pics