we are going away!

We are going away for a few days! At last, the four of us together, to a place with a whimsical name, a name that have been bouncing from our tongues the whole day. Wishing you all the best for these festive days.

We have been pre-christmassing merrily since the end of November, writing greeting cards that made it to the post-office before December 1st - can you sense how proud I was to achieve this? - and hopefully will make it across the ocean, making (a few) presents too, and putting together our Christmas tree. This "tree" has been a center of attention and gathering point since I nail the first planks. It gets re-decorated every day, initially with our salt-dough stars and hearts and then with about anything that can be hung of wrapped around it, including chocolate from Germany. It is still very weird for me to see European traditions combined with the heat of the end of year in the southern hemisphere. My brain cannot comprehend that Christmas is coming even though the days are so long and we can barely stand having clothes on. 

In terms of clothes, Coline is quite determined not to wear any. It is convenient since she stopped using nappies more than a month ago and although she is doing very well at using her private and portable loo, she does not always make it there. I did however feel embarrassed when she stole the audience's attention at a choir presentation in the park for running around naked, giggling when I approached and screaming to death when I tried to dress her up. The one who is successful at dressing her up is Leila (who also manages to brush her teeth while I fail miserably) as the picture of "Coline dressed as a queen" testifies.

 

For a little more than 2 weeks we had the company of mamie-Claire. We did more sight-seeing and travelling around than in the whole year. We took the train from Ouro Preto to Mariana, spent a night in belo horizonte, visited the modern art gallery and botanical garden "Inhotim" and had many shared ice-creams. I also started swimming all by myself during Leila and Coline's lesson and even managed to keep it this way after mamie left. I am loving it. 34 is not too old after all to learn and swim properly.

  

together

Since last July Leila does not go to school and Coline does not sleep during the day. Actually, every once in a while she does and then I feel sorry for myself unless I am in the mood for a party until late at night. I already felt like a full time mum before, it is now as if time has stretched a little longer. It has been a lot easier than I thought, though. I did not take Leila out of school in order to switch to homeschooling. There have been many reasons. She never wanted to go to school, and was giving us all a hard time before and after school. Also, school is expensive here, and given that she was not making it every other day it did not seem to be worth it. Another reason is that I would have opted for a non-religious school, had I known before that there is such an option around here. So, it was decided that Leila would have a break from school until the beginning of 2013. There have been days where she was desperate to play with other children and even though she was repeatedly told that all the other children were at school, she was not keen to go back. The truth is that it has been very good for us at home. Sure, I have been offering fun activities, but I think that what she has enjoyed the most is to have found a friend in Coline, and also to have discovered her ability to play according to her imagination. Of course, one may say, she is a child and imaginative play is part of childhood. What we saw, though, is that it took some time, many hours of boredom and many unsuccessful attempts to get us, adults, to play with her, before she got into the habit of creating her own games.

Some days have been hectic, of course. We all have our bad hair days, and given our situation, where one does not get out of the house without the other two, it can sometimes be tricky to deal with a bad mooded component. But all in all it has been a great few months spent together, the three of us. For two years I could feel that my relationship with Leila had to be mended. It think that we are getting there now. Remembering Leila going into a fit when Coline was a baby and she was not getting enough attention, I am amazed to see now how much compassion and friendship there is between the two of them, how little jealousy. Tintin, on the other hand, still cannot see me give them a hug without asking for his share.

I recently read a list of "ways to "reset" when the kids are having a hard day" and found it so resourceful and full that I decided to compile my own. This is what works for us when we are stuck in a spiral of negative emotions and need a magic trick to get out of it.

: : painting - finger and body paint for Coline, gouache or watercolor for Leila. She likes it most when I draw something for her to color in and around or rather to create from.
: : blowing soap bubbles (after many disappointing attempts to use dishwashing liquid I invested in proper bubble liquid and found it totally worth it)
: : dancing to the sound of piano music (my electronic piano has 50 recorded classical tunes that they have been dancing / jumping / running / doing acrobatics on for more than 6 months now). It includes wearing a dress or skirt that flies when they spin and many variations, such as lately crawling under and through a chair...
: : face paint.
: : play-dough - from making it to playing with it.
: : lighting up a candle, singing happy birthday and making the flame dance by softly blowing on it.
: : going for a walk to the nearby river or park. that one is tricky because getting out of the house is one of the most stressful situation, but when we do manage to get out, it rarely goes wrong. Sometimes just going out to sit in front of the house does the trick.
: : watering the plants on the terrace.
: : playing hide and seek.
: : making popcorn and orange juice (Coline and Leila squeeze the oranges on the orange juicer until I feel too bad for the indigenous people whose villages are flooded for us to waste electricity).
: : having a bath or shower, or lately, because it is hot here, having a dip in our mini-swimming pool.
: : "fighting" with Leila, and rolling on the bed or the floor with Coline.

when I really need a break or just time to prepare a meal, they watch a cartoon, but unfortunately that does not make their mood any better.

What do you do when you need to "reset"?