An (un)Eventful Day

New Year's eve was a wonderfully uneventful day. Dinner at 6 pm with C and B. Home by 8 pm. In bed by 8.45 pm. One video after another. Hoodwinked and Pirates of the Carribean. Never mind that we've seen them both. Sebi was having fun repeating every other line and humming the background music. Big Brother in his bedroom. Online, of course. Text greetings sent by 10 pm. At 12.30 am, I pulled out the P50 crossword book I picked up earlier. I've forgotten how much I liked crosswords. Today, more videos and doggy walks. Maybe a search for an open Starbucks. It's all good.

New Year's Eve 2008

Before I can blink I see arms and legs torpedoing through the air. I hear a "Yaaaaaahhhhh-Hoooooooo!" as Little Guy lands head first into the couch. Sandwhich still in hand and intact, he sits up and declares"That was cool!"

A great way to welcome the New Year I think!

Melancholia

It hangs around my home like the all too familiar unwanted houseguest.
I imagine it to be an overcast stooped figure occupying the corner seat.
I am not in the mood to entertain. If only I could launch it on one of Sebastian's
many paper airplanes.

Lucia

Christmas at my grandfather's always involved a chicken relleno and russian potato salad. All made by Lucia. She started as my uncle's nanny over fifty years ago. Eventually moving on to become the family cook. As the the years passed, she took over running the house. She was my grandfather's loyal companion. A wife and numerous lady 'friends' had come and gone in grandpa's life. Four house moves. Grandchildren born. In-laws passed. Through sickness and his eventual death on Christmas eve in 1995, she was there. Through the ups and downs (and sometimes bizarre happenings) of our lives, C and I knew that grandpa's house would always be the same. There was nothing particularly extraordinary about going to grandpa's. It was in fact, rather mundane. But it was this that made it special. There were no surprises. We knew what ice cream there was in the freezer. We knew what brand of shampoo was in the shower. We knew that if Lucia cooked roast beef today, it would taste and look exactly the same next week. Next month. Or next year. Grandpa and Lucia were the constants in our ever changing lives. Three days ago, in the early morning of December 23 Lucia had a stroke. She lies in a hospital bed unable to speak. We'll know more in the next few days. Coincidentally, we had chicken relleno (from me) and russian potato salad (from C) for our Christmas eve dinner. It wasn't the same.

Turning Green. But Not From Envy.

My sweet (and oh so creative) little boy has coloured the dog green. Yes, it's true. I am not making this up. Splashy wide streaks of green from head to tail. The effect lies somewhere between vandalism and street art. I guess it's a matter of perspective.

They were out walking the dogs when I arrived. When the door opened and I heard "I am home!" the first thing I saw was a green dog. A quick double take on my part. "Anong nangyari sa aso?" "Kinulayan po ni Seb." was the answer. As Lilia cleaned the flat, Seba kept (very) busy in his room. The dog wasn't the only thing green. Little Guy was also dressed in green with matching green streaks on his arms.

Maybe it was the unexpectedness of this whole scenario but I wasn't up for a lecture on why one should never colour the dog green. Besides, I knew M. would have this discussion with him.
The gist: He wanted to have a green dog for Christmas. He used the permanent marker from the kitchen on doggy and the whiteboard marker (from his room) on himself. Doggy would have been "all green" but his hand got tired. Yes, he agreed no more colouring the dog. Green. Or any colour for that matter.

Later that evening, as I was tucking him in: "Mommy I also know how to cut a dog's hair."

All I Want For Christmas II

We bought Sebi a playmobil summer house. I had wanted the portable carry house. M. was against it because "it's girly." "But it's a house," I said. "When did living in a house become girly?" I wasn't in the mood to go back and forth on the merits of a playmobil house. In the end, we opted for the summer home. Anyway, it's a good fit with the camper we got on our last trip to Singapore. I love playmobil. When I was a child my sister and I had the Fisher Price Little People garage. At my bito and bita's home, the nursery had the Little People Village. Sitting on the floor with little people was synonymous to hours of fun. I am serious. In fact, I loved this toy so much, when Big Brother was a teeny tot, I went out of my way to find a Little People garage (just like the one I had)!

But I digress, we were at lunch, when Sebi announced that he wants basically everything in the Playmobil catalogue (with the exception of the castle because it's *cough* *cough* "too girly." It is technically one gift as it's contained in ONE catalogue. Or so, goes the logic behind this line of thinking. "What about a Wii?" asked M. "No. I'll just get that for my birthday. It's too expensive. Besides Santa Clause doesn't do electronics." Between bites of fish sticks and chips, Sebi non-chalantly explains that "Santa is afraid of getting electricuted and isn't good with wires."

Never mind, that we are talking about the guy who employs a posse of elves and flies across the sky on a sled pulled by reindeers.

It's Mommy Magic

Sebi came in carrying a huge chocolate chip cookie. He sat in front of the computer and was getting ready to play his favorite game. "Can I have a piece of your cookie please?" A frown forms on his face and he breaks of a miniscule piece. More like a crumb really. "Can I have another one? Maybe a little bigger." It's really killing him now. The frown has gone and now it's just a look of aggravation. "Never mind" I say. He smiles and goes back to the computer. "How come it' not working but M. is using his laptop?" he cries. "It's mommy Magic. You didn't want to share your cookie so I did my mommy thing." I say as I gesture with both hands. "Is this true?" he wails to his father, who's comfortably laying in bed watching tv. "Never under estimate Mommy's powers." his father says grimly. Suddenly with floursh, he whips out another cookie (and a big smile). "Wanna share?"

Peanuts Or Cashews

The building will have a screening of The Peanuts Gang for the holidays. I asked Sebi if he would be interested. "I only eat cashews" was the poker faced reply. I just assumed he knew that the Peanuts gang referred to Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy et al. Apparently, that wasn't the case.

Elvis Has Left The Building

Sebi had his end of semester program today. It was a lovely and quick program. All in all, it took an hour with performances from the first, third, and fifth grade classes. The first graders sang 'Rain, Rain Go Away' and "the mashed potato song." The fifth graders did two Elvis songs. As part of the show, they had some boys pretending to be Elvis. Sebi obviously enjoyed this part. On the way home from school, he wanted me to know, "That wasn't the real Elvis. You know, Elvis is really dead. He died a long time ago. Do you think dad knows?"

* It's time to check the i-pod for M.'s Elvis collection...Will we soon be singing "you aint nothing like a hound dog..." ? Let's see.

*sigh*

It's been a busy week. My daily list of things to do seem to be un-done. There has been a national day. A Christmas program at school. Dozens of cookies to bake and presents to send off. Not to mention, the flat hasn't been decorated for the holidays yet. (That's on my agenda for today.). I am tired.



Yesterday, I finally took the time to pull my default long gown out of the closet. It didn't fit. As in, it really didn't fit. After peeling myself out of it. I hurriedly put on my trousers. Relief, I thought. Then a little white button flew across the bathroom floor. Depressing.

Papi Does Reading Day

Today was Markku's reading day. He read Mauri Kunnas' Kolme Kokkia. This is the one where Riku, Roope ja Ringo make a huge pizza with all kinds of odd ingredients. It's one of Seba's favorite books. Markku read the book in Finnish. It was great to see Seba counting out loud (in Finnish). He was shy at first but soon warmed up. He had been looking forward to this day. Papi going to school to read to his class was a big deal. Not even a day at the golf club, or the long drive back home, and late night kept Seba from getting up early this morning.

The Plant

Yesterday Seba came home with a plant. A souveneir from last week's trip. I hadn't actually seen it till last night. Markku and I were having a late dinner when I noticed something on
the kitchen counter. It was a plant sitting on a water filled dinner plate. Next to it was a glass of water. On the other side, a lunch box with a flash light propped on it. The flash light's beam directed at the plant.

"Uhm...What's that?"

Then I found the note in Little Guy's homework envelope. A short list by Seba of the elements needed to ensure a healthy plant. (food, light, water, and air)

This answered our 'air' conversation earlier.

A New (Christmas) Tradition

I've adopted a new Christmas tradition from one of the blogs I read.

Mrs. B gifts every member of the family with a specially chosen Christmas

ornament. The beautifully wrapped ornaments are given during Thanksgiving

dinner. I loved the idea so much I decided I am starting a new tradition in my

family. Yesterday afternoon, while buying a wedding gift for a cousin, I stopped

to choose two special ornaments for my boys.

Each will get a ceramic ball that opens, with a special message inside.

There's even enough space for me to hide a little note.