hard to believe, but that time is upon us already. these days, i feel like that's all i hear/talk about when i meet other mums. 3 March is the big day when i have to go and register Skye at the public school she will attend in the fall. my baby is going to be in school ALL day! that will be a huge change for all of us.
i'm also constantly getting questions from other mums about my plans for Skye for the summer. i always feel like i'm lagging behind. no, i haven't signed Skye up for any camps, no, i haven't decided yet if/where i'm sending her to for summer school. will it really make a difference in the long run? i was thinking i'll join a pool like last summer because the girls love to swim and if Skye really wants to keep going to school, perhaps a couple of afternoons a week would do. and then i thought we'd do some gardening. isn't that good enough? must i sign her up for some special outdoor camp? music camp? etc, etc.
what i do worry about is Skye getting bored in kindergarten. she writes really well now and has even started reading abit. and all of this, not because i've told her to do it, but she is genuinely interested in them herself. she loves to write letters to friends, and ever since she saw my manuscript, has been making her own books to read to us. :) i guess i'll worry about the boredom if it ever comes, but hopefully she'll be in a class with other kids who'll challenge her.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Ballet class with Vivian
in my attempt to get back into shape, i've taken up ballet again. it has been years since i danced, so i signed up for the beginner class and i'm glad i did. my muscles have gotten so weak, i couldn't even do a grand plie without a grunt! but it felt good to dance again, even though it was severely limited. the instructor is a character and should make classes interesting. i made the mistake of thinking Vivian would be a woman. i'm sure i'll have more stories about Vivian in the future, but at least he won't be a horror as some of my past male ballet instructors have been!
Friday, January 25, 2008
EC success?
for those of you unfamiliar with EC, i've provided a link. we've practiced EC with both Skye and Claire. Skye was out of diapers by 18 months, but i was hesitant to really claim EC success because how was i to know if i would have equally good results with my next child? well, Claire ups Skye on this one. she is out of diapers now at 14 months! i've been waiting to see how she would do and for the past week, she has only had a few accidents. she's just amazing! i still diaper her when we go out because i have no idea how close bathrooms will be while we're out, but she uses the bathrooms when we're out too. we did start EC with Claire right from the start and she has always let us know when her diaper was wet. we taught her the sign language for using the potty and that is a great help because Claire signs to us even if she can't say "pee pee". i didn't teach Skye the sign and so it took her longer, until she could say the word. it's actually fun to watch Claire use the potty/toilet these days. she'll sign with her hand as she's going and when she's done, she'll stand up and quickly spin around and point to her pee/poop and make some sounds like she's very proud of herself!
there's a whole website dedicated to the process of Elimination Communication.
since i cloth diaper, i'm just happy i don't have to wash too many poopy diapers. both Skye and Claire pooped in the potty early on. and now i can look forward to just washing night diapers!
for those of you who don't have kids, i'm sure you couldn't care less how our kids pee and poop, but for those of you who are parents, i'm sure you can understand our joy of seeing our kids grow out of diapers!
there's a whole website dedicated to the process of Elimination Communication.
since i cloth diaper, i'm just happy i don't have to wash too many poopy diapers. both Skye and Claire pooped in the potty early on. and now i can look forward to just washing night diapers!
for those of you who don't have kids, i'm sure you couldn't care less how our kids pee and poop, but for those of you who are parents, i'm sure you can understand our joy of seeing our kids grow out of diapers!
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Andros
a few years ago, i had read an article about the island of Andros, that it is an island in the Bahamas with few tourists. that appealed to me. so when we started thinking about our winter migration, Andros naturally came to mind. there weren't too many options in terms of lodging. many places only offered cabins for 2 people - not too kid-friendly. Phil managed to find a house for rent where we would have 2 bedrooms, a kitchen and a beach right in front of the house. too good to be true!
we set off, happy to be escaping the snow and the cold. and of course, our dear Claire, our little reluctant walker, decides to take her first independent steps in the middle of a busy airport! she still prefers to walk holding our hand, but we do know she can do it on her own.
Walking at last! from slkim on Vimeo.
we arrived in Andros to warmth and gentle breeze! the sun felt delicious on our skin.
we couldn't quite believe it, but the beach was literally the backyard of the house. here are Skye and Claire playing in the sand.
here we are at the sandbar. almost every day we were in Andros, we would trek out to the sandbar when the tide went out in the afternoon. it was a long trek, at least a half hour walk, but the reward was great. stepping onto the sandbar was like sinking your feet into cream cheese. the sand was so white and so fine! Claire, who wasn't too crazy about all the sand sticking on her feet while playing on the beach, adored the sand at the sandbar. she would crawl on it, walk on it, and even eat it! because the trek out to it was so long, we put the girls on an inflatable mattress and pulled them out. the best part of the sandbar? we felt like we were the only humans on the earth! when they said Andros has few tourists, they meant DESOLATE. i felt a little guilty at times, i mean, are we really the only people enjoying such luxurious sand and ocean? and Skye could collect as many sea shells and sand dollars as she wanted. there were so many of them as there was no one else to compete with Skye.
Phil and Skye and Claire tried their hand at fishing. they are standing on a cement island that was in the water at the beach behind the house. during high tide, most of the cement was underwater. it attracted lots of fish, so they tried fishing, but unfortunately caught nothing. during high tide, i did snorkel and saw lots of fish around the cement block. Andros is known for bone fishing, so while there aren't many tourists, there are people who come for fishing. too bad we didn't catch any! we did, however, eat some really good local fish and even picked up several conch on our trek to and from the sandbar. the first batch we picked up, the local people laughed at - you call that conch, they too small! but they cracked open the shells for us to get the conch out. the next batch we got met with approval. we had some fantastic conch fritters made by Cathy, a local woman who runs and bar & grill.
Skye loved becoming a mermaid at the sandbar:
Skye the mermaid from slkim on Vimeo.
so here we are on our way back to the house from the sandbar. the inflatable mattress was usually laden with shells and conch and snorkel gear. snorkeling wasn't all that great, but more on that later.
on one of our trips to the sandbar, we stopped dead in our tracks. i saw a stingray gliding by just a few feet away from us! and then we saw several more - a whole family of stingrays! i couldn't quite believe it because i've only seen them when snorkeling in deeper waters. and then we saw stingrays from the beach by the house. i couldn't believe they came so close to us and in such shallow water. i wondered if perhaps they were curious about us?
here we are in front of the house. it was great except for one thing: the bathroom. for some reason, the rooms and kitchen were upstairs and the bathroom was downstairs. it made middle of the night toilet runs with Skye difficult. we ran up and down many times throughout the day with Claire's potty. and we had to get used to well water. the smell was actually quite bad - as Skye said, it's stinky water! other than that, we loved how we could run down the stairs straight onto the beach. we loved falling asleep to the sound of the waves and coconut trees rustling in the wind. we ate lots of pawpaw (papaya) and coconut.
Claire bundled up after splashing in the ocean.
Skye with Zephyr. we met Zephyr and his mum a few days after we arrived in Andros. they were staying a few houses down from us and i think were quite happy to meet some other people, especially since Skye and Zephyr are the same age. here, we are at Mars Bay where there is a blue hole. you can see in the photo, the blue hole is behind the children off to the right. once the tide goes out, there would be no water around the blue hole, just sand and then this pool of water. i learned that a blue hole has no bottom. there are many blue holes around the island and they are all connected and there are lots of sea creatures that live in them. apparently people dive in blue holes. kind of freaked me out. nevertheless, i did snorkel in the blue hole, but stayed away from the deep centre! i saw lots of fish, but unfortunately, the water was really murky that day and i couldn't see as much as i maybe could have on a clear, still day. oh well, but at least i got to snorkel in a blue hole!
one of Claire's favourite activities was walking under the coconut trees and picking up all the coconuts that fell on the ground. here she is holding onto a small coconut.
here is how much the girls enjoyed Andros:
Tuckered Out! from slkim on Vimeo.
we had all gotten so used to walking barefooted it felt very strange to put our socks and shoes back on when we returned to Madison! and what a winter we have returned to! this weekend, temperatures dropped down to the negative at night and during the day, only rose up to 4 or 7 F.
we set off, happy to be escaping the snow and the cold. and of course, our dear Claire, our little reluctant walker, decides to take her first independent steps in the middle of a busy airport! she still prefers to walk holding our hand, but we do know she can do it on her own.
Walking at last! from slkim on Vimeo.
we arrived in Andros to warmth and gentle breeze! the sun felt delicious on our skin.
we couldn't quite believe it, but the beach was literally the backyard of the house. here are Skye and Claire playing in the sand.
here we are at the sandbar. almost every day we were in Andros, we would trek out to the sandbar when the tide went out in the afternoon. it was a long trek, at least a half hour walk, but the reward was great. stepping onto the sandbar was like sinking your feet into cream cheese. the sand was so white and so fine! Claire, who wasn't too crazy about all the sand sticking on her feet while playing on the beach, adored the sand at the sandbar. she would crawl on it, walk on it, and even eat it! because the trek out to it was so long, we put the girls on an inflatable mattress and pulled them out. the best part of the sandbar? we felt like we were the only humans on the earth! when they said Andros has few tourists, they meant DESOLATE. i felt a little guilty at times, i mean, are we really the only people enjoying such luxurious sand and ocean? and Skye could collect as many sea shells and sand dollars as she wanted. there were so many of them as there was no one else to compete with Skye.
Phil and Skye and Claire tried their hand at fishing. they are standing on a cement island that was in the water at the beach behind the house. during high tide, most of the cement was underwater. it attracted lots of fish, so they tried fishing, but unfortunately caught nothing. during high tide, i did snorkel and saw lots of fish around the cement block. Andros is known for bone fishing, so while there aren't many tourists, there are people who come for fishing. too bad we didn't catch any! we did, however, eat some really good local fish and even picked up several conch on our trek to and from the sandbar. the first batch we picked up, the local people laughed at - you call that conch, they too small! but they cracked open the shells for us to get the conch out. the next batch we got met with approval. we had some fantastic conch fritters made by Cathy, a local woman who runs and bar & grill.
Skye loved becoming a mermaid at the sandbar:
Skye the mermaid from slkim on Vimeo.
so here we are on our way back to the house from the sandbar. the inflatable mattress was usually laden with shells and conch and snorkel gear. snorkeling wasn't all that great, but more on that later.
on one of our trips to the sandbar, we stopped dead in our tracks. i saw a stingray gliding by just a few feet away from us! and then we saw several more - a whole family of stingrays! i couldn't quite believe it because i've only seen them when snorkeling in deeper waters. and then we saw stingrays from the beach by the house. i couldn't believe they came so close to us and in such shallow water. i wondered if perhaps they were curious about us?
here we are in front of the house. it was great except for one thing: the bathroom. for some reason, the rooms and kitchen were upstairs and the bathroom was downstairs. it made middle of the night toilet runs with Skye difficult. we ran up and down many times throughout the day with Claire's potty. and we had to get used to well water. the smell was actually quite bad - as Skye said, it's stinky water! other than that, we loved how we could run down the stairs straight onto the beach. we loved falling asleep to the sound of the waves and coconut trees rustling in the wind. we ate lots of pawpaw (papaya) and coconut.
Claire bundled up after splashing in the ocean.
Skye with Zephyr. we met Zephyr and his mum a few days after we arrived in Andros. they were staying a few houses down from us and i think were quite happy to meet some other people, especially since Skye and Zephyr are the same age. here, we are at Mars Bay where there is a blue hole. you can see in the photo, the blue hole is behind the children off to the right. once the tide goes out, there would be no water around the blue hole, just sand and then this pool of water. i learned that a blue hole has no bottom. there are many blue holes around the island and they are all connected and there are lots of sea creatures that live in them. apparently people dive in blue holes. kind of freaked me out. nevertheless, i did snorkel in the blue hole, but stayed away from the deep centre! i saw lots of fish, but unfortunately, the water was really murky that day and i couldn't see as much as i maybe could have on a clear, still day. oh well, but at least i got to snorkel in a blue hole!
one of Claire's favourite activities was walking under the coconut trees and picking up all the coconuts that fell on the ground. here she is holding onto a small coconut.
here is how much the girls enjoyed Andros:
Tuckered Out! from slkim on Vimeo.
we had all gotten so used to walking barefooted it felt very strange to put our socks and shoes back on when we returned to Madison! and what a winter we have returned to! this weekend, temperatures dropped down to the negative at night and during the day, only rose up to 4 or 7 F.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Winter migration
our family is headed to a little island in the Bahamas called Andros. after last year's winter, i had made Phil promise to take us somewhere warm this winter. Andros is an island with very few tourists, so we are staying at a house instead of a resort. we'll let you know how that works out! anyways, there's no internet access on the island, so you won't hear from me for a week. aaaah, i am looking forward to being cut off from the rest of the world. we'll be back next week with photos and news from Andros.
Elections at home and abroad
i've done a poor job of keeping up with all the candidates running for president, but i did manage to get a glimpse the other day of some of the candidates when Phil had the TV on. what strikes me the most is the "variety" of candidates. of course, always this early on in the campaigns, there are all sorts of characters in the race, but i think there's quite a variety in the serious contenders. from the youthful to the elderly, both female and male, African-American, and even a candidate named Huckabee. and i'm grateful for the comedy that comes with it all, that these people can run the race without the fear of uprisings or bloodshed. i have been saddened by all the violence surrounding elections in the rest of the world - the assassination of Bhutto, the massacre that is still continuing in Kenya. i'm glad Obama and Clinton are forging new roads for the future and i'm relieved that no blood has to be shed for those new roads.
my hope for Kenya, being my childhood home, is that the violence will end soon. that the rest of the world will intervene quickly to help to that end.
my hope for Kenya, being my childhood home, is that the violence will end soon. that the rest of the world will intervene quickly to help to that end.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Teaching your children to eat
i read an interesting article today titled "Bringing Up Bebe: two moms - one American, one French - exchange notes on raising toddlers."
it focused primarily on how the two mums feed their toddlers differently and how the values of their cultures were clearly apparent even in this very basic human function. as i thought about the French who won't let their children eat "adult" food until the children have mastered the art of using cutlery, i thought about Skye who is trying to learn how to use her chopsticks and consequently spills much of her food on the table. and of Claire who once her hunger has been satisfied, will be busy squashing her food between her fingers or tries to make holes with her pointing finger. do they create a mess? YES, but in the end, i'm glad to see them trying. they are both good eaters and quite willing to try new foods. and the art of using chopsticks (especially the thin metal ones we Koreans prefer) certainly require discipline, but i think there's really room for both. both discipline and experimentation, no?
it focused primarily on how the two mums feed their toddlers differently and how the values of their cultures were clearly apparent even in this very basic human function. as i thought about the French who won't let their children eat "adult" food until the children have mastered the art of using cutlery, i thought about Skye who is trying to learn how to use her chopsticks and consequently spills much of her food on the table. and of Claire who once her hunger has been satisfied, will be busy squashing her food between her fingers or tries to make holes with her pointing finger. do they create a mess? YES, but in the end, i'm glad to see them trying. they are both good eaters and quite willing to try new foods. and the art of using chopsticks (especially the thin metal ones we Koreans prefer) certainly require discipline, but i think there's really room for both. both discipline and experimentation, no?
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
The Three Musketeers
yes, that's what my girls and i are these days. i leave the room, Skye is right behind me and Claire is usually not far behind Skye or is yelling for me to come back and get her (how dare you leave me behind!).
we went to our neighbour's house on new year's day for a neighbourhood party and each of the children got little books from our hosts. Skye got a book titled, "Little Miss Giggles" and Claire got one titled "Mr. Strong." yes, indeed, Claire is our little miss strong. she pushes her walker around the house bent over, daring anything to stop her. i'd forgotten what a sweet stage she is in. she babbles alot and is extremely playful. makes us want to eat her up.
when Phil was going through some memory chips from our camera, we discovered an old movie of Skye we hadn't downloaded. it was so much fun to see our big girl again as a little one. here she is. i believe she is around 2.
Blow the baby diaper! from slkim on Vimeo.
we went to our neighbour's house on new year's day for a neighbourhood party and each of the children got little books from our hosts. Skye got a book titled, "Little Miss Giggles" and Claire got one titled "Mr. Strong." yes, indeed, Claire is our little miss strong. she pushes her walker around the house bent over, daring anything to stop her. i'd forgotten what a sweet stage she is in. she babbles alot and is extremely playful. makes us want to eat her up.
when Phil was going through some memory chips from our camera, we discovered an old movie of Skye we hadn't downloaded. it was so much fun to see our big girl again as a little one. here she is. i believe she is around 2.
Blow the baby diaper! from slkim on Vimeo.
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