babyamalia

Happy First Birthday, My Darling Boy

2012-01-18T19:28:00.000-08:00

My son turned one, a beautiful milestone.

I made him and his sister matching sailor outfits, from a navy blue sail boat fabric I had in my stash for a good while. Amalia thinks they are not sail boats on the fabric, but upside-down space needles... the nostalgia for Seattle I guess!

The party was sailing themed, obviously, and the boy loved the cake.

Happy birthday, my little.

I wish I was a boy...

2011-12-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

One of the peculiar things about moving to South America is getting used to the "upside-down" seasons. It is December and school is out for the Summer! Christmas and Summer! So to wrap up the end of the academic year (runs March to December!), Santa visited the kindergartners and brought them presents. The poor dude was sweating profusely, and had about 70 kids take turns to sit on his knee. I have to give it to him, he was cheerful all the way through. This was the first year Amalia did not run away from Santa, due no doubt, to the wonders of peer pressure. Which leads me to my gripe of the day; I am finding myself being offended by more things than usual. Normally I am an easy going kind of person, readily adaptable, and very tolerant. But I am huffing and puffing more than usual, discretely though, as I do not enjoy creating uneasiness.

So, my rant is that Santa brought cute dolls for the girls, the kind with over-sized heads and pretty humongous eyes, and cool water shooters for the boys. I could see Amalia eyeing the boys opening their presents, and then excitedly opening hers. She showed enthusiasm, took her doll to one of her classmates to show her she also got a doll, and then carried on eyeing the boys and their water shooters... I did not say a word, and shortly afterwards, came her statement: "I wish I was a boy... and that I got a water shooter too". Why oh why did they again insist on drilling it that girls and boys are different? It really hurt me to feel her disappointment, and I did explain to her that I thought the shooters were cooler too, I am a girl and happy about it, that you do not need to be a boy to have a water shooter, and that I will buy her one as soon as we make it to the mall. Man, was I angry! Before, I was pretty much oblivious to the way my daughter looks. Now I notice every small thing, how she is the only girl in her class with short hair and without pierced ears... In fact, and I am not joking, in the four months we have lived here I have not seen any other little girl with a hairstyle above the shoulders!

This is a country of contrasts, to use a cliche, where women are everywhere in the work force, where a female was president for a full term and exited with an 80% approval rate, but it is also where the current male president thinks it appropriate to make a joke about what in essence is rape, and still there is a pervasive sexism abounding.

So I get angry about these little things that happen in school, stew, then question myself and wonder if I am making too much ado about nothing... But I cannot help but being angry.

Sew Mama Sew GIVEAWAY - Baby Rattles - NOW CLOSED

2011-12-11T17:22:00.001-08:00

And the Winner is comment #4: Cherie! Thank you all for the ideas about the silk, for visiting my blog and dropping me a word.

Welcome!

I have made a set of small baby rattles for the Sew Mama Sew giveaway.

About me: After living in North America for the past several years, our family has recently moved to South America, specifically to Chile. We are all adapting to our new life. Amalia, who is five years old, is doing fantastic and is speaking Gringo Spanish remarkly well, after being plunged into the deep end of kindergarten mid-school year, and being surrounded by a gaggle of eager spanish speaking kids. She thankfully swam and is thriving, despite a couple of adjustment issues we are still working on. The younger child, was only months old when we moved, and as such has no idea of his early voyages.

I am yet to find a source of quilting cottons around here, and shipping charges from overseas are killing me, so I am eyeing my stash carefully. I recently came across this idea of making a rattle set for a baby, where each rattle has a different number of bells inside. Yesterday, while buying some art materials, I saw a bag of bells for sale, so I quickly assembled three sets today. One for my baby boy, one for a Christmas present for a friend's baby, and one for you.

I used a set of precut 4'' cotton squares I recently bought on Ebay for the pillow bodies, and some quilting red fabric I had left over from making Christmas decorations for the numbers. Fusible web, the bells and cotton wool stuffing was all I needed to add to make these cute little rattles. As you can guess by now, the "1" rattle has one bell inside, the "2" rattle has two bells, and so forth. They all sound slightly different and I am looking forward to the baby's reaction when trying them.

So, if you would like to enter to win one of these sets of rattles, please leave a comment on this post. That is all! It would help me if you told me the initial of the baby you have in mind for the rattles, as I will then personalize the rattles storage bag, but it is not a requirement. Also, as an aside, please tell me what I can make with two yards of plain red silk dupioni I have been stashing for the last two years... Any ideas? A Bag? Quilting with silk? Please let me know of any project you may have seen using silk!

For more great handmade giveaways, please visit sewmamasew this week!

Open internationally, ends Friday December 16 at 5 pm PST (our old time zone, sniff sniff). I will select a winner randomly, who I will e-mail on Friday, and who I hope will get back to me within 48 hrs. If not I will draw another name. I will update this post with the winner's name. Please make sure you have a way of being contacted.

Giveaway Day at Sew, Mama, Sew!

2011-11-26T19:04:00.001-08:00

Coming soon!

Very excited about it.

Stereotypes

2011-10-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

Picture this:

Kindergarten class:
1) Once or twice a week, as part of the curriculum, girls go to ballet class while boys go learn how to play chess. No questions asked about individual preference, just a plain gender division.
2) Random homework assignment: Make a list of boy toys and girl toys.
3) Art work is displayed on the classroom wall, one bulletin board for boys another for girls, labelled as such in large signs overhead.

Am I overreacting by being appalled?

Germ theory

2011-10-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, we packed up our life and moved to South America. Actually it was less straight forward than a direct move. We crisscrossed the Atlantic, took a break in Southern Europe, so that it was a while before we finally arrived and settled down.

We have been through many changes, of course, and one is that the children, especially the baby, who until now had been super healthy, has managed to catch a few illness in the past month.
Everyone who I talk to blames it on the rain, the humidity, the tail end of Winter, the wind, and any other meteorological phenomenon you can think up. I generally just nod my head and mumble hmm-hmm. I guess germ theory is not too popular around this place.

But today, during yet another visit to the pediatrician, the nurse made a variation of the same remark "it is probably the weather", to which I responded that perhaps it was the fact that big sister had recently started school and is bringing home a bunch of new viruses. Or maybe it is that, replied the nurse.

Incidentally, babies are constantly wrapped up in many layer of clothing, lest they catch a chill and become ill. I have had countless people chiding me for not bundling up the kids up enough. "Where is the baby hat?", "It is too windy out for the baby, move him away from the wind", "shouldn't the girl have another jacket on?" etc etc, from everyone it seems. I have seen babies in snowsuits when it is 60 degrees out.
On the other hand, absolute strangers will smooch the baby at every opportunity... People in the grocery store will touch him, kiss his hands and put their faces right on his... But supposedly, it is the evil air drafts that make you ill!

How to be a good big sister

2011-04-05T10:04:00.000-07:00

Amalia is in awe with her new baby brother, and also trying to ascertain how far she can go when exploring him, like he is a new toy. Yesterday she told me she was going to check on him, who was sleeping. After several minutes of no noise I went to check: She had taken his socks off and was looking at his toes through a magnifying glass...

Spring or not

2011-03-27T22:12:00.000-07:00

Half way through the day, last monday, Amalia suddenly remembered it was the first day of Spring, and as we were coming out of the car said brightly "Today it is Spring". She then looked up at the sky and told me a little puzzled "It still looks like Winter".

New baby

2011-03-08T23:31:00.000-08:00

The newest member of our family, this weekend, at eight weeks.

Happy 2011

2011-01-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Special day

2010-08-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

Amalia prepared to leave with us in the morning for a special day. We were in our way to the clinic to have an ultrasound and find out the sex of the baby inside my belly. He will be joining us early January, according to the predictions. We are all very excited about these news. Amalia was in denial for a few days, but has now come around to the idea of a baby brother rather than the sister she was sure to get.

Summer is coming soon

2010-06-14T20:41:00.000-07:00

This weekend was superb for all things outdoors, with sunshine and moderate heat, so we milked it! Lake, tennis, playground, one of the lowest tides on the beach, picnics, walks and grilled dinners! Amalia asked "Is it still Spring?" I think she senses the changes in the air.

Amalia airborne!

We found many interesting things at low tide, including large moon snails, jelly fish, sea cucumbers, crabs and a lot a different seaweeds. But most impressive for me was this nest of herring eggs attached to a piece of floating seaweed, although I have to admit my first thought was about sushi.

Summer is in the air

2010-06-13T09:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had one of the first full blown Summer days, and we celebrated by enjoying the lake nearby. In a silly move I applied sunscreen all over myself and Amalia before we left home, but missed a spot on my back which got painfully sunburned... I now have a red stripe on the back of my neck.

Fun at the lake

2010-05-22T21:56:00.000-07:00

Most days, unless rain is pouring down, we tend to hang around the lake for lunch. Some days we picnic on the grass, others we sit by the water edge. If it is hot enough we will soak our feet... Fun at the lake!

Amalia's quote of the day

2010-05-17T18:49:00.000-07:00

We were parked in the parking lot of the local supermarket, and Amalia asks me to open the sunroof on the car. It is a nice day; I open it, she climbs out of her carseat and stands between the two front seats, pops her head out and says "WOW!".
"What do you see?" I ask her; "Everything in the world" she replies....
That one made me chuckle.

Amalia's first trip to a movie theater

2010-05-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

Today was a special event day: Amalia had her first taste of a movie theater. Since yesterday, when I announced we would be taking the bus to a new adventure she had been quite excited. It was difficult for her to imagine what a movie theater is, since she is used to small screens at home (really small... a portable DVD player or the laptop screen). I explained to her that it was a big, big screen, and many people sat together to watch a movie. I took her to a small charming movie house nearby, which I kept referring to as a cinema, until I remembered a movie theater was more in tune with the local dialect ;)
The place was indeed quaint, with velvet sofas and chairs in the lobby, and an old-fashioned movie projector on display. We arrived over one hour before the movie was due to start, and even though there was a library and a playground a stone-throw's away, she would not budge from the steps on the entrance. After sitting for a long while by the front door, we decided to enter n and wait inside. We had the place to ourselves, and Amalia got her picture taken in every ornate sofa, settee and armchair in the place, including on a chaise-lounge. When the movie started we were finally joined by a total of three more people, and had a pleasant movie watching time. She enjoyed it, but asked me questions throughout the showing, which makes me glad we were almost alone in there. Also she sat on my lap the whole time, slightly overwhelmed by the experience. A first for the books.

How my daughter makes me smile

2010-05-05T19:38:00.000-07:00

Amalia has been interested in bones for a long time, ever since she asked me what were those stringy things behind her knee. We then looked at a couple of anatomy pictures, a purple plastic Halloween skeleton, talked briefly about tendons and ligaments (way over her head obviously), but she really took a liking to bones and in finding out what has bones (people, dogs), what does not have bones (leafs, plants, inanimate objects).
A while back I kind of explained to her that bugs, although crunchy do not really have bones but have something called an exoskeleton. It took her a while to remember the term, but since we talk about bugs on a very regular basis around here, a few days ago she proudly announced that bees do not have bones, but they have excellent-skeletons!

Amalia's quote of the day

2010-04-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

Amalia peering into a glass-bottom mug: "This is my microscope; When I was a girl I had a microscope and I saw a pig eating a kangaroo... Pigs like to eat kangaroos."

Apparently she has both a girl and a boy alter-ego, who are very brave and not afraid of anything, even bugs. These alter-egos appeared recently after she suddenly decided she is deathly afraid of all things creepy-crawly. Night awakenings resumed, after months of peaceful sleep. Finally she is settling down again, gradually less panicky about bugs, but it was a rough ride for all living in our home.

Enjoying the trees

2010-04-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

I have been sparse with my words lately, but here are some pictures we took a few days ago, after the clouds parted late in the afternoon after a day of rain, making the end of the day light beautiful and strange.

A look at the bright side

2010-04-06T20:14:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago Amalia dropped my cell phone onto rocks on the shore of Puget Sound. I could tell before I looked at it, from the sound it made, that it did not escape the fall unscathed. I was right, the screen cracked, but the phone itself functions perfectly, as does the camera. I like the camera on my phone a lot, as it takes very decent pictures, and since it is always in my pocket, it comes in handy when I wish to snap a memento but don't have my bulky camera with me.
Although the camera still works, I cannot see what I want to photograph... but even so, I decided to look for a saving grace, and I have been blindly snapping away. The results are fun, and surprisingly coherent.
A few recent pictures, from the broken, blind phone camera, completely unedited:

And now you are four...

2010-03-02T11:20:00.000-08:00

I have not posted for a long time, but little things have accumulated that merit a post. Tomorrow Amalia turns four, and it is delightful to realize how much she has grown in the last year; physically, of course, but emotionally and in all other facets of her life. This year was an eventful one, as was the one before, and the one before, and even the one before that! I am now realizing that all the years of her life were indeed eventful, by moving, language adaptations, and illness (which, fortunately, we overcame). One gets used to change, habituates to the new state of affairs, whatever that may be. After a slight reposition or major change, the routine is established, and one forgets that a lot has cumulatively happened.
This past year we moved from the East Coast of Canada to the West Coast of the USA. The move, as I have before mentioned, brought change in routines. Amalia was in daycare full-time before the move and she is now in preschool only a few hours each day. She resented the move, undid progress in some areas, became pickier and monochromatic. She cried and asked me to go back. But, shortly after, she recovered, put a whooping amount of weight on, grew taller, became happy again. She has matured, has now her own bedroom, her own grown-up bed, is articulate and amazes me. She can still run faster than any other kid, and has again started to draw with more than one color. She loves her toy cars, and her many balls of all sizes.
We live on the fourth floor; Amalia, as any other kid her age, loves to push buttons, any button that needs pushing, but in the Summer she could not reach the 4 on the elevator. I told her she needed to be four herself before she could reach the 4 and kept my fingers crossed it would work out, but noticing that a big gap remained between her outstretched fingers and the elusive button. A few weeks ago, she stood on her toes and pushed that 4 button. I recalled the doubts I had had that Summer, and marveled at her growing body. I love you Bebe.
-----------------------
I wanted to keep a tally of my sewing projects so here are the latest pieces of work.
I made a blouse for Amalia, similar to the one I gave away in the One World One Heart event, her choice of fabric (really). I also made a dress which we may use either for her birthday party this week or perhaps for Easter, after I adjust the too loose neckline. And finally I whipped up a pair of shorts, which she may be able to wear this Summer, they are a little big. In the photo below she is wearing the blouse and the shorts together, although they surely do not go together.

Finally, a big shout out to Chile (Fuerza!), where we have many friends and family.

One World One Heart Winner

2010-02-15T22:10:00.000-08:00

And the winner is... Comment #30

Rose Works Jewelry said...

Nice to meet you! My niece would look adorable in that shirt :) Thanks for coming by and entering my giveaway!
January 30, 2010 8:37 PM

I will e-mail you right now!

Thank you everybody for visiting, I had fun visiting you too!

Dewy morning

2010-02-15T14:02:00.000-08:00

A foggy morning gave way to a saturated landscape in the playground today; there were droplets everywhere.
Amalia, as always, enjoyed being outdoors, even though it was chilly and mostly deserted.

Spring is peeking

2010-02-12T17:11:00.000-08:00

Despite groundhog predictions, Spring peeked from all around earlier this week, with cherry blossom and purple irises appearing. We had a few good sunny days, when almost the rest of the country, appeared to be blanketed by snow. This is, of course a shock for us, since where we lived before had snow in the ground consistently until April, and the poor bulbs had no change to sprout out the ground until May, at the earliest. Amalia lived in snow boots for several months, and last year she actually wore a hole through them.
I have been snapping photos of Amalia with my cell-phone, and foregoing my bulky camera, just because the cell camera is surprisingly good. Also, Amalia is sporting a brand new Spring inspired haircut, to celebrate the early signs that there is life after Winter.

Today, as it was raining, (alas, two days of sunshine seems to have been the quota for this week) we played indoors and tried the lovely new crayons that arrived in the mail, courtesy of Clementine Art and the blog of Sugar Pop Ribbons.

Happy Valentine weekend.

The Artistic Mother

2010-02-11T10:06:00.000-08:00

I have been enjoying this new blogging thing, and since I decided to participate in the One World One Heart event, I have come across a bounty of interesting blogs. I have also found out that people are very sweet and generous and like to share their work with others, and as such I have stumbled across great giveaways, of handmade things, that are precious and unique.
A blog that I started following early one was that of Shona Cole, An Artful Life, where she shares both her artistic skills and her role as a mother. She writes in a very inspirational way about both these aspects, which in fact appear to merge in her work. She has just become a bona fide published author with the release of her first book The Artistic Mother.

Disney

2010-02-01T23:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we took Amalia to a live Disney show. She is not a great classic Disney connoisseur but she was looking forward to see Buzz Lightyear in the intergalactic flesh. She had a good time, although at instances she was overwhelmed by the magnitude of things, and every time theatrical smoke was used on stage she would tense up, and once or twice, worriedly told me there was a fire. I guess my ongoing attempts to educate her on the importance of fire, smoke and seeking help have been too memorable for her.

I realize that it is not the show itself that mattered but the memories that we are slowly building together, the anticipation, the trip to the show, the mass of kids all excited about something, the participation in the event.

On the other hand, the marketing and pushing of overpriced trinkets was overwhelming for me, and many other parents around it seemed. Everywhere one turned there were helpful people selling all kinds of kid-entrancing goodies, and I had a hard time trying to sustain my stance of not giving in to all that crap. But kids are not anything if not persuasive in their tactics, it takes a determination of steel to withstand the pleading.

But it was worth it I think, and she now has the Mickey ears, a memento of the event for all of us.

One World One Heart

2010-01-26T09:24:00.000-08:00

NOW CLOSED :)
I WILL DRAW THE WINNER TODAY (15th FEB) AT 10PM PST (7PM EST;6AM GMT Feb 16th)
Now the main reason I am introducing myself this late is that I have decided to participate in the one world, one heart event:

In brief, it is an open house of blogs, with the main purpose of introducing people to blogs they were not aware of before, and generally expand your blog horizons.
My part in this event will be to give away the following item, something I wanted to do for a while, since even though I have never gave away goodies before, I have participated in similar events and won a nice few fabric bags in the past. So here is my contribution!
I made a blouse for my daughter a few days ago, in expectation of a great Spring ahead. The way I like to sew involves as few measurements are possible, so I often end up making things that are actually too small. This was the case with this blouse; even though I followed a size 4 pattern, I think it will fit a three year old better, and it is a bit too tight on my daughter who will be four in just over one month. So if you have or know a little girl who likes pink blouses, I will happily send this your way. If you would like to win this blouse please leave me a comment with a way for me to reach you, either by leaving your e-mail address on your comment or have it visible on your blog so I can contact you. The draw will take place on February 15th and I will use a random number generator.

I have never introduced myself before because this blog started on its own, without a clear direction. I first got myself a profile so I could have an identity in order to leave decent looking comments on other people's real blogs. I then, took advantage and started writing down some impressions on my daughter's development, as a way of keeping a tab on her growing. Now, of course I am aware that this is a public forum and as such people are able to read it and are in fact very welcome to; no doubt you probably have the same worries, issues and hopes for your children as I have with mine . You just may or may not find it all that interesting to read my ramblings. Besides being a mother, I enjoy crafting, particularly sewing, so that is one aspect that may come through in some of the posts. Six months ago we moved from the North Atlantic coast to the Pacific Coast, I left my job (for now at least...) and find myself in a new role; I am not sure how long this role will last... Welcome!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sleep

2010-01-07T11:24:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was a rough day for both Amalia and I. We both had had a bad night of sleep, an inexplicable set back in Amalia’s sleep patterns. She had made a fuss going to sleep and woke up several times to call me to her bed and to ask me to stay with her.

Five months ago, after we moved cross-country, Amalia’s routine was thrown and she resented this. I had underestimated the impact the move would have on her. After all I though that when you are three years old, as long as you are with your parents you should be happy enough. But I was wrong. Overnight she went from going to daycare full time to being at home with me. She was bored, she asked for her friends. One month into our stay I excitedly told her we were going to visit the Space Needle, something she had been obsessing about since the move. She loves the Space Needle, even before we had moved she talked about it. Sensing my excitement at the prospect of the trip she got very excited herself and told me maybe Kara would be downtown too! Kara was one of her little friends from daycare, and it broke my heart to hear the hope in her voice of meeting her friend again.

Things improved gradually, we had set backs, she stopped eating her staple favourite foods (salmon and spinach soup), and became pickier and pickier in her food choices (plain noodles, plain rice, cheese). Things improved a lot when she started preschool, she came out of her grief and got a new set of friends, and is now so social it amazes me. This brings me back to the issue at hand, which is sleeping habits. Shortly after we settled we bought her first grown-up bed in her first grown-up bedroom. Until then she had slept mainly with us or near us, in a variety of arrangements to suit us all. She took the responsibility of being now a grown-up girl seriously and the thrill of growing up trumped the fears of sleeping alone. So, for months until recently she had gone to bed very peacefully after reading a couple of books and being tucked in. She would fall asleep by herself, and wake up the next morning happy and well rested.

So this latest set back surprised me. For about one week she had tantrums and would wake up during the night. I know that the Christmas/New Year hoopla did contribute to this, and allowing her to stay up to greet the New Year and see the fireworks was not a good idea long term (very animatedly she told me the fireplaces were lovely). So yesterday was the culmination of two sleep deprived people butting heads and running out of patience; she was short-fused and I was tired. We both ended up crying and napping. Last night she went to bed peacefully and slept the whole night. So I hope this regression was just a bleep in the routine and she will be back to her normal self from now onwards. I love her dearly.

My husband told me last night I was probably over-analyzing the whole issue, but it bothered me immensely that I broke down and cried. I don’t remember doing that … in fact I remember quite clearly the last time I had cried like that, almost two years to the day, and it had been entirely justified then. So, I have picked myself up, and am back to my normal balanced self. It is amazing what sleep deprivation does to you!

Farewell 2009

2009-12-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

As seen in Shona Cole's blog, I though the idea of a Cinquain constructed to summarize the year that is about to end was an excellent idea and an exercise in minimalistic reduction of thoughts and feelings. A challenging thing it was to pin-point the major theme of the year and to capture it in a few chosen words which should embody one's complex feelings.

As copied from her blog:
"a Cinquain is constructed in the following way:
· The first line is one word (a noun/the topic)
· The second line is two descriptive words (2 adjectives that describe the first word)
· The third line is three action words (3 -ly adverbs or –ing verbs)
· The fourth line contains four words that express a feeling or make a statement (a 4 word phrase)
· The last line is one word (a synonym or adjective that refers to the first word)"

So here is mine:

Change
Planned thought-through
Packing traveling readjusting
Pros and Cons abound
Continuum

May 2010 bring you goodness, greatness and love.

More than skin deep

2009-12-17T19:53:00.001-08:00

One thing I learned this Summer, was to carry a small boo-boo kit on my backpack wherever we went. Bare knees and running down-hill are an exhilarating and dangerous mix; Several times Amalia stumbled or otherwise slipped and landed on her hands and knees. It was even painful for me, and all I did was watch it happen. The first time, was also one of the worst, as she was running on the sidewalk, and the skinned knees bled profusely (profusely at least in my lay view... ), blood slowly dripping toward her ankles, as tears likewise streamed down her cheeks. It also coincided with the first dinner out as a family after the move cross-country. We had at last settled in the apartment and we were walking down the street, only a few blocks to a burger place. So, after improvising with tissue and small band aids holding it place, I learned my lesson, and kitted-up our own Summer survival pouch, with small and large band-aids, neosporin and some antiseptic wipes. (I found that to put tissue on a wound is a very bad idea... it sticks and it is not pleasant to remove it later!)

That kit got used in several occasions through the Summer and early Fall, and then slowly, as pants started to be worn more often, and maybe Amalia started to run in a more coordinated manner, it got used less and less often and is has now sat unused in my backpack for a while. Kids don't enjoy getting hurt, due to the physical pain, of course, but also due to the dent to the ego a fall brings about, and the general surprise of it all. I found that a slick of antibiotic ointment resolved more than pain, it soothed all those emotions a three-year old goes through after accidentally getting hurt. The rite of sitting her down and taking care of her boo-boos was reassuring to her, and made me feel extremely competent at parenting, doing my job of making my kid feel new again in an instant.

These days Amalia takes it personally when she falls or runs into something in the playground, and puts up a brave face even when it hurt her. The other day she walked onto a metal pipe in the playground, and bumped her head. I could see she was not only startled but also in pain, as she automatically said "I'm OK" in a loud voice and kept her lips pursed, repeating it over and over until she burst into tears. I tried to reassure her, telling her it is OK to have an accident, but could see she was feeling humiliated by the event; I have a proud little girl, sometimes her behavior surprises me.

I finally managed to download all the photos that were stored in my cell-phone, and seeing some of these made me recollect these events. Here are a selection of the pictures.

Girl Power

2009-12-15T10:51:00.000-08:00

For the last couple of months Amalia has taken to Pixar movies. Before then, she would watch short shows, like Backyardigans or Peep, but not full movies. Well, now she is rather obssessed with "Cars" and "Wall-E" in particular. So, yesterday I showed her the trailer for "Monsters, Inc" to see if she was ready for it. I thought the issue of monsters was still a bit too much for her, even in a funny context where the monsters are likable and not scary at all for the most part. Well, I was right; after watching the trailer a couple of times she told me "I almost like it, I'll like it after I'm a boy". So either she thinks that growing up encompasses such changes as sex reversal, like in some fish, or, most likely, she already thinks at this age that somehow boys are tougher than girls, and like scary things.
Actually I know for sure she does think boys enjoy scarier things, and it is very interesting to see her come up with gender-specific generalizations. Even though I believe she has not been exposed to many stereotypical roles and situations, from an early age boys and girls are not only aware that they are different but behave differently. However, I was still surprised to see this happening, for example at day-care, where the boys although in a minority in her class, were the most rambunctious of the lot. Even when boys were able to wear tu-tus and dress up like princesses or have their nails painted if they wished, they still behaved in a manner that sometimes made me think "Gee...Boys!".
Amalia also often makes a distinction between Daddy's preferences and ours (the girls). She will point out to a spider in a book and say "I don't like spiders mama, and you don't like spiders, but Papa likes spiders!", even though this is not, in reality, accurate.
So for now, we will leave the monsters for Daddy's obvious enjoyment.

Now that Amalia has grown up (all is relative), we have started to be able to enjoy games as a family, and she is surprisingly good at playing Jenga! The little fingers must help somehow...

Winter Wonderland

2009-12-09T10:32:00.001-08:00

Saying the mornings have been crisp is an understatement. We have had a string of beautiful sunny days, the temperature not raising above freezing, allowing us to have a wonderful time playing outside. The light is amazing, the colors vivid, as they can only be in Winter. I don't mind the cold, we can bundle up, but the opportunity to be out and about is priceless. From my desk I see the snow-covered Olympic mountains, and so, life is sweet.

I am watching the behavior of a three-year old girl evolving on a daily basis, and one thing that I learned is that she is indeed a small but powerful sponge, absorbing not only the good but also the bad examples she witness. A few days ago Amalia insisted on putting on make-up, ending up with one purple eye and a gray glittering cheek. I had a hard time convincing her to clean her face at the end, and as I was wiping her with a damp cloth, she covered her eyes with her hands and said: "not my make up". After all Mama does not wipe her face when she is done so why should she? At the end all was well, the make-up was removed, and we left the house with a fresh faced little girl, just the faintest traces of shimmer sparkling in the afternoon sun. There is probably nothing that can so strongly prompt introspection as watching yourself reflected on your offspring.

I noticed a streak of Picasso on the snowman Amalia brought home from preschool today; We always hope for the best in our kids, so it is not that she cannot correctly represent a snowman, but that she chose to take artistic license while doing it.

Christmas napkins were made yesterday.

Squirrel

2009-12-08T17:17:00.001-08:00

There is a particularly large squirrel that lives around the playground, no doubt fattened up on fallen cheerios and goldfish crumbs. It has lost all fear of humans, and it approaches us if it sees we are eating a snack. Today it was no exception, and I had to actually scare it off as I was afraid it would nibble on our fingers if we were to take our eyes off it. I have never fed it, but nonetheless the little creature was hopeful that it would get something. After it finally left, Amalia commented on how big its belly was: "That's a fat squirrel mama, just like you!"

Yesterday I marveled again on how much she has come along in the last couple of months. We attended a pot-luck lunch at daddy's work, and Amalia was the only kid there. After a few minutes of awkwardness, Amalia started feeling at ease, and by the end, while I was sitting down eating some food, she was standing among a small group, with a paper cup in hand, looking up and chatting away. My heart really warmed up at the sight, she appeared so grown up all of a sudden, and I could almost envision the future. I just hope she was not letting people know they looked like squirrels.

It has been four months since I have been officially not working, and I am really sitting on the fence about returning to a full-time job soon.

Baby Amalia grows up and is now preschooler Amalia

2009-12-02T15:28:00.000-08:00

Amalia had a great day at preschool today. As it was very sunny at pick up time, we went to the playground, where she sought out a couple of other kids and played very well, at one point putting her arm around the shoulders of a little girl and asking her if she would like to go to the baby-swings. She has blossomed a great deal socially in the last couple of months, and it is heart-warming to see it. She will now approach another kid her age in the library or playground on her own initiative and introduce herself. I am proud, and she is happy.
A couple of days ago, unprompted she told me: "When I am angry I don't love you too much, but when I am happy like this I love you." It made me smile, and I am happy that not only is she articulate now, but is aware of her feelings and how powerful they can be.