a new morning

We woke up early to the sound of birds, chickens, roosters and dogs of our new neighborhood. We were groggy and excited to start a day in our new house, getting familiar with the grounds and unpacking. Last Friday was a day of carrying boxes and heavy furniture with a worried little girl grafted onto my left side while the rest of the body tried hard to participate and mostly accompanied five men, two cars and a truck. That day saw me drive at night with that same little girl asleep in her chair, the cat, the dog and a pile of odd items including stuff from the fridge and flower pots. We made it, and it was worth it.

Thembile, the dog, and Scratchy, the cat, seem to just belong here. They shared Scratchy's first trophy: a mouse, which he puked shortly after he ate its head, to Leila's delight (the catch, not the vomit). Coline is all excited about spotting spiders which size Cristiano brags about. I am split between my inclination to enjoying nature with liberated toes and my fear of spiders that makes my spine shrink when Coline goes barefoot on the grass. Leila has revealed herself as the fire master. She organizes expeditions to gather wood in our jungle of a backyard, sets it up in the fireplace and watches the fire so close she gets red and too hot to bear her clothes. We are adjusting to a much cooler and more humid climate here on our South-facing mountain, to all the bugs that call our house theirs and to not being withing a walking distance from anything, not so much because of the distance but because of the topography. We already had time for some intensity with Coline dislocating her elbow again and soon we are off to our yearly European tour.

  

Yesterday's moon set before sunrise reminds me that it is worth going to bed a little earlier.

we are moving soon

A new neighbor has moved in with a perfect timing for me to get all the boxes that we need. The permanent playground that is our home is under siege and although I have already packed most of the toys away the fun has not faded.

We surely had many delightful moments on this terrace but I am happy that we are moving to a place where we can spend more time outside and increase our scale of planting. As always, looking forward to changes in our lives.

blowing our hair back

This is what we do to blow our hair back lately. For me: taking care of the garden on the terrace, baking bread and creating presents, for Leila: science experiments and lots of drawing and for Coline: puzzles, trains and towers (such as the one she sits on) and pretend-playing that she owns all the money in the cash-register.

(all types of puzzles indeed)

Favorite children books

For some time I have had it in mind to write about the books we read, those that we love reading, over and over and over again.

Before leila and Coline were one year old their most favorite book was an introduction to kissing goodnight and a few familiar words along with bright and simple drawings:
"Pour qui ce petit bisou?" by Benedicte Guettier

Coline liked the melody of Mem Fox's poetry and Jane Dyer's beautiful watercolor illustrations in "Time for bed". She loved seeing mummies cuddle their little ones to sleep.

More recently we moved on to singing Mem Fox's" Ten little fingers and ten little toes"

And for some fun during the day we would make animal sounds with "My book of sounds around the farm"

and following the trail of Marianne Dubuc's "devant ma maison", a kind of word book with one drawing and a couple of words on each page, which as I read it in Portuguese was a wonderful opportunity to enrich my vocab in a children fairy tale-oriented way.

Coline just recently started enjoying being read to in the presence of Leila, as opposed to turning pages as quickly as possible and throwing herself on the book in a worm-like motion and with much noise. I can now sit with them jut before bedtime and get instructed to read some 5 to 15 books in the most pleasant, relaxed and attentive atmosphere. Their favorite books at the moment are fun and witty.

"De la petite taupe qui voulait savoir qui lui avait fait sur la tete" by Wolf Erlbruch, about a little mole who was accidentally pooped on and sets off to find out who did it. 

"The odd egg" by Emily Gravett, about birds and a duck who found an egg and a big surprise at the end.

"Bloub bloub bloub" by Yuichi Kasano, where a swim in the sea moves on to doing acrobatics with daddy, a turtle, a whale and other sea animals.

I find it somehow surprising that a six-page hardcover book can be a two-year-old's favorite book, but not so surprising in fact as it is one of crazy Claude Ponti's books, "Dans le loup". And it is about this obscure, puzzling and just inexplicable moment in little red ridding hood's story where we are lead to think that she and her grandmother are dead, but after all they are not. Quite a heavy topic to deal with in such little space and words, but so well dealt with by Ponti with the help of down-to-earth, straight-to-the point wording and amazingly explicit illustrations.

hmm, that just reminded me how much I love every one of Claude Ponti's delirious stories, he who thinks that imagination is like cycling, if you master the skill early enough, you will never stop pedaling. And on this note, I'll grab myself my own of Ponti, Gravett and Fox's favorite books and read myself to sleep. Good night!

I hope to read about your favorite children books too!

welcome to the newest member in our family

Last Friday was quite a special day. Instead of insisting to take Leila to school on time I allowed her and Coline to play after lunch, just because they are always in the best mood for playing right after a meal. A few minutes later we set off, not to school, but to hospital. While I thought that Coline had broken her arm at the same spot it got broken last year, I was, thankfully, wrong. She just had a dislocated elbow, which apart from being visibly very painful, was put back in place in a blink by a very annoying yet sufficiently competent intern. This all happened in less than an hour (I am grateful to the hospital staff who made sure that Coline was attended in a hurry simply because she was weeping).

After coffee (for me) and ice-cream and chocolate cake (for Coline who does have a sweet tooth lately) we then had the rest of a sunny afternoon to enjoy in the parc. This is where the idea germinated in my heart that I was going to the pet shop and adopt the adorable young dog who was being given away. As I said, we are moving to a house with a garden soon. And well, I just fell in love with her at first sight, and Cristiano kind of gave me a go-ahead when I mentioned her. She is very shy and soft and easily frightened. She gives Scratchy a lick on the nose when she sees him. I think he is the member of the family that she likes the most. Actually, she does not seem to be very interested in the girls, and rather scared of Cristiano, although she does like the hands that give her food and cuddles. She has a few names already, we are waiting to see which one will stick. A true nature lover she has eaten all the radish leaves from my vase and some other leaves too and she has been confusing my bedroom with her bathroom. I am working on a better understanding of the house rules.

Just because we have a new member in the family does mean that I am allowed to forget the others, quite the opposite. Scratchy - "the King" makes a point at sitting on top or above any of us and gets his share of dog food and water before she "the dog" does. Leila and Coline make sure I take pictures of them too.