Deja vu! Yes, you read the title correctly. We're going back to Kansas City in August, likely for 2 years while Ben works on his M.Mus. in Theory. He'll actually work on it, but the subject matter is music theory. ;) Hahaha. I'm so funny.
Although Ben didn't get a job this year, he did have one interview and he was told that he was high on the list for a 1 year position (they didn't interview for that one, just offered it out and apparently the first person accepted it). Given that we put out applications for about 8 jobs, that's not bad.
The downside to returning to the US to add another M.Mus. degree is that Ben is not technically allowed to complete his doctorate until he finishes with the masters program due to silly immigration rules. We really think that he's going to need the theory degree anyhow though, so it's not that big a deal. A lot of the jobs that have been posted indicate that they would prefer someone who is qualified in more than one area. Also, when Ben called to check on the status of several of the jobs, he asked and was told directly that it would definitely have helped to see more academic qualifications.
We'll leave London mid-to-late August even though the house doesn't close until September 8th. That's a whole 'nother story in itself. It involves bargaining, stupidity, and typical behaviour from a culture that shall remain nameless since I don't want to appear discriminatory on the world wide web. Feel free to e-mail for further details if you're truly curious. ;)
Rachel is already registered at Beth Shalom's preschool for the fall, and we're flying down on Monday morning (without Rachel!) to find a place to live.
We could stay here, but we'd never get ahead and we'd spend the rest of our life working evenings & weekends while wishing we could cut back on the after-school hours and actually get to see the kids. So we're giving it 5 years or so. If Ben doesn't have an academic job by that time, you may see us back in London yet. I somehow doubt it though. I'm choosing to remain optimistic that something will work out career-wise and that I too will be able to do something professional in addition to parenting the two cutest little girls on the planet!
Rachel: "Your name is Mom!"
Me: *thinks that once upon a time my name was Jane*
Rachel: "M-O-M. That's how to spell your name."
Me: *thinks that their childhood will be short and I'll regret it if we don't make an effort to get things organized so that we can afford to live decently and still raise our kids ourselves*
(Please note that I am not slamming daycare. It's not an option that we'd like to use for our children, that's all. Besides, if anyone remembers the insanity of BK [before kids, NOT Burger King!], you'll recall that 3-9pm and weekends made up the bulk of our crazy schedules. I'm really not enthusiastic about seeing my children for a couple of hours in the morning and then not at all until possibly after bedtime. Yes, I could homeschool and it's not off the table yet - did I mention that my 4yo reads at a Gr.1 or 2 level!?! - but we've thought long and hard about this, and so we're moving back to the US for a bit.)
Saturday, June 28, 2008
I'd forgotten...
Rachel is at Grandma Karen & John's for a few days followed by a visit at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Although we aren't leaving on our trip until Monday morning, logistically it was easier to drop Rachel off in St. Catharines yesterday.
It's so quiet. I'd forgotten how peaceful life could be with just one small baby. I know a lot of people who didn't enjoy the baby stage at all. While I didn't enjoy Anna's first couple of months as much as I remember enjoying it with Rachel, I do like the fact that she is small and cute and QUIET a lot of the time!
We love Rachel very dearly. Really, we do. But she never stops talking. She will get up in the morning and immediately continue a conversation that we were having the night before. It's comical, but also very tiring. Ben told me that he thought Rachel was going through a phase of talking all the time. I had to break it to him that she's female - it's likely not a phase!
Anna is currently napping in her crib. I'm not counting on her staying asleep while Ben and I enjoy some fresh fruit and a strawberry brie puff pastry from M&M, but we're going to at least attempt it.
It's so quiet. I'd forgotten how peaceful life could be with just one small baby. I know a lot of people who didn't enjoy the baby stage at all. While I didn't enjoy Anna's first couple of months as much as I remember enjoying it with Rachel, I do like the fact that she is small and cute and QUIET a lot of the time!
We love Rachel very dearly. Really, we do. But she never stops talking. She will get up in the morning and immediately continue a conversation that we were having the night before. It's comical, but also very tiring. Ben told me that he thought Rachel was going through a phase of talking all the time. I had to break it to him that she's female - it's likely not a phase!
Anna is currently napping in her crib. I'm not counting on her staying asleep while Ben and I enjoy some fresh fruit and a strawberry brie puff pastry from M&M, but we're going to at least attempt it.
Monday, June 23, 2008
My girls are funny.
Rachel first crawled when she was exactly 10 months old. Of course she couldn't reach this milestone at home. Instead, she waited until we were in Payless Shoes at the Birchwood Mall in Port Huron. I was shopping with a friend. We were looking at shoes for her daughter, and I decided to take Rachel out of the stroller while we looked. I set her down on the floor, not worrying about her since I knew she'd stay put... a minute later, I turned around to find that she'd crawled over to the shoes and was reaching for them!
Today we were up in Bayfield (about an hour north of here, along the shores of Lake Huron). I needed to change Anna, and the nice lady in the bookstore said that I could use her washroom as long as I took the diaper with me. I told her that I use cloth diapers so that wouldn't be an issue!
I set Anna down on her blanket (because I seem to have accidentally left her change pad mat somewhere else, most likely in Chapters since that's the last public place I remember changing her. Grr.) and was getting out a new diaper when she rolled onto her side. I decided to wait and see what she'd do. A moment later, she rolled over from her back onto her tummy! Her arm was still stuck underneath her, but then she figured it out and ended up on her tummy looking very proud of herself!
I think that most babies roll first from tummy to back, but I have to admit that with Anna's spit-up tendencies, she has had very little tummy time. So she rolled from back to front on the floor of the bookstore washroom!
Crawling for shoes and rolling for books... my funny girls. Coincidentally, Anna's first roll happened 13 days later than Rachel's. I still think that Anna will be an early crawler though. She seems much more motivated to want to get places. I guess that time will tell!
Today we were up in Bayfield (about an hour north of here, along the shores of Lake Huron). I needed to change Anna, and the nice lady in the bookstore said that I could use her washroom as long as I took the diaper with me. I told her that I use cloth diapers so that wouldn't be an issue!
I set Anna down on her blanket (because I seem to have accidentally left her change pad mat somewhere else, most likely in Chapters since that's the last public place I remember changing her. Grr.) and was getting out a new diaper when she rolled onto her side. I decided to wait and see what she'd do. A moment later, she rolled over from her back onto her tummy! Her arm was still stuck underneath her, but then she figured it out and ended up on her tummy looking very proud of herself!
I think that most babies roll first from tummy to back, but I have to admit that with Anna's spit-up tendencies, she has had very little tummy time. So she rolled from back to front on the floor of the bookstore washroom!
Crawling for shoes and rolling for books... my funny girls. Coincidentally, Anna's first roll happened 13 days later than Rachel's. I still think that Anna will be an early crawler though. She seems much more motivated to want to get places. I guess that time will tell!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
A rant against Americentric society
I would like to preface this by saying something. I AM CANADIAN. Yet even though I am Canadian, I allow for the possibility that others may not be. Heck, probably over 50% of my blog readership is not Canadian and should know not to take this post personally. ;)
I just registered Rachel on www.bookadventure.com - sorry, I don't know how to make that a clickable link. Anyway, I heard about it in Good Housekeeping (I think?) and thought I'd give it a try. It's a website with book recommendations for kids from kindergarten to Grade Something (can't remember what, too lazy to look). You can enter your child's grade level and ask it for books that are either at, below or above grade level on a variety of topics.
After you read the books, you can take quizzes online about the books to earn points. I signed Rachel up last night and she has already taken 10 or 11 quizzes. We went to the library today in search of animal books that we looked up yesterday.
Once you have a certain number of points, you can redeem them for prizes. Although the registration allows for people from other countries, it seems that many of the prizes are only available to US addresses. We're hoping that the 6 months Highlights magazine subscription will be available to us here. Rachel has 1100 points and only needs 2000 in order to get it!
I actually think this website is a great idea. Rachel has been very motivated to read the books on her own, and she is reading and navigating through the quizzes by herself. She does tend to look at me and say "What?" if she doesn't know the answer to a question, but we've talked about problem solving and now she goes back to look in the book to see if she can figure it out.
Part of me is impressed by my 4 year old's ability to surf the net, and part of me is just plain astonished at how things have changed since I was 4 years old. Internet, online and email were certainly not words in my (extensive) vocabulary back in 1979!
Are you wondering when I am going to get to the reason for my title? When I registered Rachel, I had to put in my information with a valid email address. I entered our primary email address: festivo_strings@yahoo.CA. Ah, I can hear you exclaim knowingly. We've gone down this road before.
"Please enter a valid email extension."
So I re-entered it: festivo_strings@yahoo.CA
"Please enter a valid email extension."
.CA IS A VALID EMAIL EXTENSION!!!!!! CA is for Canada. Just like AU is for Australia and NZ is for New Zealand and DE is for Germany (Deutschland if you're unsure), etc, etc, etc.
I feel like writing some web administrator somewhere and pointing out that there are many valid email extensions out there, not just .com. For that matter, does anyone else think it's funny that there's no .US extension?
One day when I'm really bored I'll get around to blogging about all of my difficulties with the .CA extension and the inability of others to understand it. But not tonight. I need to sleep. Anna doesn't care about email extensions. She just cares about availability of food and a warm body to snuggle. Maybe we should all be more like her.
I just registered Rachel on www.bookadventure.com - sorry, I don't know how to make that a clickable link. Anyway, I heard about it in Good Housekeeping (I think?) and thought I'd give it a try. It's a website with book recommendations for kids from kindergarten to Grade Something (can't remember what, too lazy to look). You can enter your child's grade level and ask it for books that are either at, below or above grade level on a variety of topics.
After you read the books, you can take quizzes online about the books to earn points. I signed Rachel up last night and she has already taken 10 or 11 quizzes. We went to the library today in search of animal books that we looked up yesterday.
Once you have a certain number of points, you can redeem them for prizes. Although the registration allows for people from other countries, it seems that many of the prizes are only available to US addresses. We're hoping that the 6 months Highlights magazine subscription will be available to us here. Rachel has 1100 points and only needs 2000 in order to get it!
I actually think this website is a great idea. Rachel has been very motivated to read the books on her own, and she is reading and navigating through the quizzes by herself. She does tend to look at me and say "What?" if she doesn't know the answer to a question, but we've talked about problem solving and now she goes back to look in the book to see if she can figure it out.
Part of me is impressed by my 4 year old's ability to surf the net, and part of me is just plain astonished at how things have changed since I was 4 years old. Internet, online and email were certainly not words in my (extensive) vocabulary back in 1979!
Are you wondering when I am going to get to the reason for my title? When I registered Rachel, I had to put in my information with a valid email address. I entered our primary email address: festivo_strings@yahoo.CA. Ah, I can hear you exclaim knowingly. We've gone down this road before.
"Please enter a valid email extension."
So I re-entered it: festivo_strings@yahoo.CA
"Please enter a valid email extension."
.CA IS A VALID EMAIL EXTENSION!!!!!! CA is for Canada. Just like AU is for Australia and NZ is for New Zealand and DE is for Germany (Deutschland if you're unsure), etc, etc, etc.
I feel like writing some web administrator somewhere and pointing out that there are many valid email extensions out there, not just .com. For that matter, does anyone else think it's funny that there's no .US extension?
One day when I'm really bored I'll get around to blogging about all of my difficulties with the .CA extension and the inability of others to understand it. But not tonight. I need to sleep. Anna doesn't care about email extensions. She just cares about availability of food and a warm body to snuggle. Maybe we should all be more like her.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
That was one rockin' Canon!
There are a lot of caterpillars at the London Hunt Club. No, actually, there is a gosselope of caterpillars at the London Hunt Club.
We had an outdoor wedding there today. While it was a nice thought that the staff put up their little pop-up tent for us (not secured to the ground and not really securing us all that much shade, but it did the job!), the caterpillars seemed to think that the tent was for them.
During the prelude, all three of us experienced the joy of knocking caterpillars off of various body and instrument parts. But that was nothing compared to the processional.
We began to play the ubiquitous Canon by Pachelbel. Out came the bridesmaids... one.... two.... "WHAT THE @$#&*#$( JUST FLEW INTO MY GLASSES LENS?!!??!"
No, I didn't actually say that, but it's sure what I was thinking. I could see that some sort of bug had flown onto the inside of my lens (ie. the side closest to my EYE!) and was wildly flying about in there having a grand old time while I began what must have been a rather entertaining version of head-banging in a futile attempt to knock it out. A few seconds later, it was clear that the bug was not keen on going anywhere, so I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and yelled out "Count the bridesmaids!" Ben claims that would have been fine except that he never heard me tell him exactly how many bridesmaids there were!
In the end, Heather stopped playing for a couple of seconds, expertly flicked the bug out of my glasses and we carried on without having missed a beat.
Just another day in the life of Festivo Strings.
Bugs, burning flowers, falling flowers, falling trees, falling people into holy water... boutonniere attaching, broken glass clean-up, angry grooms, rings in the grass... random cats, dogs as ring bearers, cows mooing, bees up the bride's dress... we've seen it all. And soon, we'll write the book.
We had an outdoor wedding there today. While it was a nice thought that the staff put up their little pop-up tent for us (not secured to the ground and not really securing us all that much shade, but it did the job!), the caterpillars seemed to think that the tent was for them.
During the prelude, all three of us experienced the joy of knocking caterpillars off of various body and instrument parts. But that was nothing compared to the processional.
We began to play the ubiquitous Canon by Pachelbel. Out came the bridesmaids... one.... two.... "WHAT THE @$#&*#$( JUST FLEW INTO MY GLASSES LENS?!!??!"
No, I didn't actually say that, but it's sure what I was thinking. I could see that some sort of bug had flown onto the inside of my lens (ie. the side closest to my EYE!) and was wildly flying about in there having a grand old time while I began what must have been a rather entertaining version of head-banging in a futile attempt to knock it out. A few seconds later, it was clear that the bug was not keen on going anywhere, so I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and yelled out "Count the bridesmaids!" Ben claims that would have been fine except that he never heard me tell him exactly how many bridesmaids there were!
In the end, Heather stopped playing for a couple of seconds, expertly flicked the bug out of my glasses and we carried on without having missed a beat.
Just another day in the life of Festivo Strings.
Bugs, burning flowers, falling flowers, falling trees, falling people into holy water... boutonniere attaching, broken glass clean-up, angry grooms, rings in the grass... random cats, dogs as ring bearers, cows mooing, bees up the bride's dress... we've seen it all. And soon, we'll write the book.
Friday, June 13, 2008
As promised...
Rachel is really into drawing chalk pictures on the driveway lately. She likes to draw princesses and has recently branched out to elephants. But after the trip to the dairy farm, cows were fresh on her mind.
Matching dresses!
I don't know how long Rachel will let me get away with buying the girls matching outfits, so I plan to enjoy this while it lasts!
Anne Geddes meet Jane Eady
I've never been a huge fan of those baby-in-a-flower-pot pictures, but baby in a dinner pot is a whole 'nother story!
Art Camp
Since April, Rachel has been going to a weekly parent-child art class at ArtVenture, an art studio literally around the corner from us. Although she loves the class and the teacher, she has indicated many times that she wouldn't want to do it without us.
Her last day of preschool was today, and I was really hoping to convince her to try at least one activity *without* us this summer. The art studio is running half-day camps for several weeks during the summer, and I have been trying to talk it up to Rachel without much success.
This week, she changed her mind and told me that she wants to go to art camp! We talked about how it would be just like pre-school in that I would drop her off and pick her up, but grown-ups didn't get to come in and have all the fun, only the kids did. We said that we would call the art studio and find out exactly what would happen at art camp, and who the teachers would be.
Today Ben called and got lots of information. Rachel is so excited, it's ridiculous. Art camp would terrify me, but not Rachel!
We're tentatively registering her for afternoons (1-4pm) the first week of camp which is also the same week that Ben and I teach at a local music camp. Any grandparents reading this blog can thank us at any time for ensuring that they won't be responsible for watching a 4-year-old and a baby all day!
They're going to let Rachel try it out the first day and if she likes it, she'll continue all week. I'm not telling Rachel that though. She thinks she's already signed up to go all week. The art teacher has also offered to continue on with one-on-one art lessons over the summer. (Her group class has 4 kids registered but she's been the only one there for the past 2 weeks & she's loved it!)
When I asked Rachel about one-on-one art lessons, she said it sounded fun but she's decided to go to art camp for all 3 weeks! I told her we'd take it one week at a time. I hope she does end up enjoying it. We purposely picked the afternoon session because there are currently only 6 kids enrolled as opposed to the 12 kids in the morning session.
Her last day of preschool was today, and I was really hoping to convince her to try at least one activity *without* us this summer. The art studio is running half-day camps for several weeks during the summer, and I have been trying to talk it up to Rachel without much success.
This week, she changed her mind and told me that she wants to go to art camp! We talked about how it would be just like pre-school in that I would drop her off and pick her up, but grown-ups didn't get to come in and have all the fun, only the kids did. We said that we would call the art studio and find out exactly what would happen at art camp, and who the teachers would be.
Today Ben called and got lots of information. Rachel is so excited, it's ridiculous. Art camp would terrify me, but not Rachel!
We're tentatively registering her for afternoons (1-4pm) the first week of camp which is also the same week that Ben and I teach at a local music camp. Any grandparents reading this blog can thank us at any time for ensuring that they won't be responsible for watching a 4-year-old and a baby all day!
They're going to let Rachel try it out the first day and if she likes it, she'll continue all week. I'm not telling Rachel that though. She thinks she's already signed up to go all week. The art teacher has also offered to continue on with one-on-one art lessons over the summer. (Her group class has 4 kids registered but she's been the only one there for the past 2 weeks & she's loved it!)
When I asked Rachel about one-on-one art lessons, she said it sounded fun but she's decided to go to art camp for all 3 weeks! I told her we'd take it one week at a time. I hope she does end up enjoying it. We purposely picked the afternoon session because there are currently only 6 kids enrolled as opposed to the 12 kids in the morning session.
A Canadian Tantrum
When Rachel gets upset and doesn't want to do something, her tantrums often start like this:
"No, SORRY, I can't do that! I don't want to do that! Sorry, I will not!"
Etc, etc.
It cracks me up.
"No, SORRY, I can't do that! I don't want to do that! Sorry, I will not!"
Etc, etc.
It cracks me up.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Wow.
Here's the breakdown of Anna's laundry for the past 4 days:
6 dresses
9 pairs of pants/shorts/capris
2 pairs of overalls
11 sleepers
20 onesies
3 t-shirts
If we hadn't also used 6 "waterproof" bibs, I'm sure the onesie count would have been even higher. The word waterproof is in quotes because nothing is immune to Anna's spit-up!
And I thought 17 sleepers and 11 onesies in 3 days was bad...
6 dresses
9 pairs of pants/shorts/capris
2 pairs of overalls
11 sleepers
20 onesies
3 t-shirts
If we hadn't also used 6 "waterproof" bibs, I'm sure the onesie count would have been even higher. The word waterproof is in quotes because nothing is immune to Anna's spit-up!
And I thought 17 sleepers and 11 onesies in 3 days was bad...
A comparison of my big babies
Birth:
Rachel 9lbs 9oz
Anna 9lbs 5.6oz
1 month:
Rachel 11-13
2.5 months:
Rachel 15-6, 25"
3 months, 3.5 weeks:
Anna 15-8
4.5 months:
Rachel 19 pounds!!
6.5 months:
Rachel 21 pounds!!
I'll come back and fill in some more of Anna's stats later (ie. when I find them) but I'm amused that she isn't quite as big as Rachel was. I know that breastfed babies tend to gain slower, and I have often thought that Anna is smaller than Rachel was, but everyone that sees her thinks she's so big!
Rachel 9lbs 9oz
Anna 9lbs 5.6oz
1 month:
Rachel 11-13
2.5 months:
Rachel 15-6, 25"
3 months, 3.5 weeks:
Anna 15-8
4.5 months:
Rachel 19 pounds!!
6.5 months:
Rachel 21 pounds!!
I'll come back and fill in some more of Anna's stats later (ie. when I find them) but I'm amused that she isn't quite as big as Rachel was. I know that breastfed babies tend to gain slower, and I have often thought that Anna is smaller than Rachel was, but everyone that sees her thinks she's so big!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Rachel's concert experience
Last night Ben and I had our joint concert for the adult and kids string orchestra programs that we've been running all year. I decided to just leave Anna with our sitter so that I could bring Rachel along with us.
We dropped Ben off to teach Kindermusik just after 5 p.m. I then proceeded to drag a 4-year-old, almost-4-month-old in a stroller, and a shopping cart through the Superstore to pick up pop, cookies & a veggie tray for the after-concert reception. Rachel helped me set the cookies out on the trays (and only ate 1, I think!) and then we picked up our sitter and went home briefly to get Anna settled.
When we got back to the church, Ben was rehearsing with the orchestra while we set up a few more things. Rachel was very concerned about where she would sit, so I told her that I would reserve her a seat. We made a paper sign that said "Reserved" on it, and Rachel placed it on the chair she wanted. (Incidentally, her chosen seat was the 3rd chair in the front row.)
We headed out to pick up the pizzas (and garlic sticks for Rachel, the kid who won't touch pizza!). When we got back, Rachel insisted on sitting in her "reserved" chair to wait for her food to cool down.
She sat quietly through the whole concert even though neither of us was with her. I don't think she knew the people on either side of her and it didn't seem to phase her at all!
At the end of the concert, I was up at the front talking when Rachel interrupted me:
"Excuse me, are you done yet? I have a question!"
*cue audience laughter*
"I liked the Nitalian Trumpeter best. That's because it sounded like an elephant!"
(Italian Trumpeter, but she was pretty close!)
She paid close attention to everything. Ben, Heather & I played Golliwog's Cake-Walk at the very end of the program. Afterwards, Rachel asked if our piece was about cake. She also told me that she liked the high parts and it would be good if I played it at home for her so that she could dance to it.
We got home to a sleeping baby. All in all, it was a great night!
(We'll discuss the pending offer on our house later.)
We dropped Ben off to teach Kindermusik just after 5 p.m. I then proceeded to drag a 4-year-old, almost-4-month-old in a stroller, and a shopping cart through the Superstore to pick up pop, cookies & a veggie tray for the after-concert reception. Rachel helped me set the cookies out on the trays (and only ate 1, I think!) and then we picked up our sitter and went home briefly to get Anna settled.
When we got back to the church, Ben was rehearsing with the orchestra while we set up a few more things. Rachel was very concerned about where she would sit, so I told her that I would reserve her a seat. We made a paper sign that said "Reserved" on it, and Rachel placed it on the chair she wanted. (Incidentally, her chosen seat was the 3rd chair in the front row.)
We headed out to pick up the pizzas (and garlic sticks for Rachel, the kid who won't touch pizza!). When we got back, Rachel insisted on sitting in her "reserved" chair to wait for her food to cool down.
She sat quietly through the whole concert even though neither of us was with her. I don't think she knew the people on either side of her and it didn't seem to phase her at all!
At the end of the concert, I was up at the front talking when Rachel interrupted me:
"Excuse me, are you done yet? I have a question!"
*cue audience laughter*
"I liked the Nitalian Trumpeter best. That's because it sounded like an elephant!"
(Italian Trumpeter, but she was pretty close!)
She paid close attention to everything. Ben, Heather & I played Golliwog's Cake-Walk at the very end of the program. Afterwards, Rachel asked if our piece was about cake. She also told me that she liked the high parts and it would be good if I played it at home for her so that she could dance to it.
We got home to a sleeping baby. All in all, it was a great night!
(We'll discuss the pending offer on our house later.)
She cracks me up
Rachel has been drawing a lot of pictures lately. When she heard that Ben had asked the families in one of his Kindermusik classes to make drums for the next class, she immediately volunteered to help him make some too! She drew a bunch of circles on pieces of paper, added smiley faces to them, and drew sticks beside them. Apparently you are supposed to cut them out and then play with them. She told this very seriously to our babysitter last night.
When we were in Toronto over the weekend, Grandma Fern read Rachel some poems from Shel Silverstein's "Where the Sidewalk Ends" - if you don't have this book, you should! There was one poem that talked about drawing invisible things. So Rachel has been drawing invisible animal pictures this morning and asking us to label them for her. She drew a circle on each sheet of paper and told us which invisible animal was inside.
When we were in Toronto over the weekend, Grandma Fern read Rachel some poems from Shel Silverstein's "Where the Sidewalk Ends" - if you don't have this book, you should! There was one poem that talked about drawing invisible things. So Rachel has been drawing invisible animal pictures this morning and asking us to label them for her. She drew a circle on each sheet of paper and told us which invisible animal was inside.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
A Gosselope of Cows
My mother-in-law has been after me to blog about Rachel's invented word "gosselope" and the opportunity came up today on our trip to the dairy farm. Rachel's preschool class had a trip arranged since it's almost Shavuot and they have been learning all about how it's traditional to eat dairy at that time.
This morning we saw a gosselope of cows. What is a gosselope, you ask? Apparently a few weeks ago Rachel was reading a dictionary to her grandparents. This in itself is not really an unusual act since Rachel loves dictionaries. (She's also addicted to game shows. Her current favourites are Wheel of Fortune and Family Feud!) As she was going through the dictionary, she decided to invent her own word and that word was gosselope.
According to Rachel, a gosselope is a very large number of something. Specifically, it refers to a large number of the same thing that all live outside. So you could have a gosselope of trees, but not rocks.
The girl at the dairy farm told us that they have 1800 cows. This is apparently enough to qualify for gosselope status. The barn was open to the outside, so I can see why Rachel decided to use her term.
There was a brand new baby calf and Rachel got right in there to pet it with the rest of the kids. Here are some of her choice quotes about the whole experience:
"Mom, you missed something silly! Morah Lu (one of the teachers) got her hand licked by one of the cows! I didn't want my hand licked because then I would have cow spit on it."
When discussing how it was only a cow farm and there were no other animals:
"They don't even have a chicken to wake them up!"
My personal favourite occurred tonight when Rachel was outside doing chalk drawings on the driveway. I had suggested turning one of the drawings into a cow. Just as we were heading in for the night, she ran back out with a piece of chalk, exclaiming that "I forgot to put on the milking parts!" Sure enough, she added a lovely udder with four teats. I will upload a picture as soon as I can find the cord to transfer pictures from camera to computer!
This morning we saw a gosselope of cows. What is a gosselope, you ask? Apparently a few weeks ago Rachel was reading a dictionary to her grandparents. This in itself is not really an unusual act since Rachel loves dictionaries. (She's also addicted to game shows. Her current favourites are Wheel of Fortune and Family Feud!) As she was going through the dictionary, she decided to invent her own word and that word was gosselope.
According to Rachel, a gosselope is a very large number of something. Specifically, it refers to a large number of the same thing that all live outside. So you could have a gosselope of trees, but not rocks.
The girl at the dairy farm told us that they have 1800 cows. This is apparently enough to qualify for gosselope status. The barn was open to the outside, so I can see why Rachel decided to use her term.
There was a brand new baby calf and Rachel got right in there to pet it with the rest of the kids. Here are some of her choice quotes about the whole experience:
"Mom, you missed something silly! Morah Lu (one of the teachers) got her hand licked by one of the cows! I didn't want my hand licked because then I would have cow spit on it."
When discussing how it was only a cow farm and there were no other animals:
"They don't even have a chicken to wake them up!"
My personal favourite occurred tonight when Rachel was outside doing chalk drawings on the driveway. I had suggested turning one of the drawings into a cow. Just as we were heading in for the night, she ran back out with a piece of chalk, exclaiming that "I forgot to put on the milking parts!" Sure enough, she added a lovely udder with four teats. I will upload a picture as soon as I can find the cord to transfer pictures from camera to computer!
What a year...
Ben's grandfather's funeral was yesterday. Although his death was something that I think was not entirely unexpected, that doesn't necessarily make it any easier to cope with now that it's a reality. It's been a hard year for a lot of people. Too many deaths too close to home.
I've always been fascinated with the Jewish custom of sitting shiva (not shitting shiva as my father-in-law apparently said by mistake this morning! Yes, Lance, I will edit that out if you would like me to.). Judaism forces mourners to step back and take a break from life, so to speak. Time to reflect, think, remember and also time to pick up the pieces and carry on. Work is forbidden for the first week. Family & friends come together to bring meals and ensure that the mourners are taken care of and not alone during this time. Kaddish is said.
I will admit to not having gotten to know Ben's grandfather as well as I perhaps would have liked to. However, I saw him as a strong man who had not only a great sense of humour, but also a great ability to draw people close and forge relationships with them. (Is that paradoxical of me to say since I just admitted to not thinking I knew him that well?)
I'm sad that Anna will not have the chance to personally know her Zadie (or her Bubbie Rae for that matter) - I suppose she'll learn about them through the memories of others. Rachel has some memories of her Bubbie Rae, and only 1 or 2 of her Zadie. Whether or not her memories are real or from seeing photos and hearing stories, I don't know. I do know that she enjoyed the time that she spent with Zadie playing ball.
Rachel didn't ask much at all yesterday. This is the 3rd funeral that Ben has been to this year, and the 2nd for the rest of us. I guess that Rachel is just accepting it in the innocent way that only children can. She made flower pots for her cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma, grandpa & Bubbie to make them feel better - I had explained to her that people would be sad at the funeral but that perhaps she could cheer them up. She took this role very seriously and we worked hard together to make the flowers for the pots.
I've always been fascinated with the Jewish custom of sitting shiva (not shitting shiva as my father-in-law apparently said by mistake this morning! Yes, Lance, I will edit that out if you would like me to.). Judaism forces mourners to step back and take a break from life, so to speak. Time to reflect, think, remember and also time to pick up the pieces and carry on. Work is forbidden for the first week. Family & friends come together to bring meals and ensure that the mourners are taken care of and not alone during this time. Kaddish is said.
I will admit to not having gotten to know Ben's grandfather as well as I perhaps would have liked to. However, I saw him as a strong man who had not only a great sense of humour, but also a great ability to draw people close and forge relationships with them. (Is that paradoxical of me to say since I just admitted to not thinking I knew him that well?)
I'm sad that Anna will not have the chance to personally know her Zadie (or her Bubbie Rae for that matter) - I suppose she'll learn about them through the memories of others. Rachel has some memories of her Bubbie Rae, and only 1 or 2 of her Zadie. Whether or not her memories are real or from seeing photos and hearing stories, I don't know. I do know that she enjoyed the time that she spent with Zadie playing ball.
Rachel didn't ask much at all yesterday. This is the 3rd funeral that Ben has been to this year, and the 2nd for the rest of us. I guess that Rachel is just accepting it in the innocent way that only children can. She made flower pots for her cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma, grandpa & Bubbie to make them feel better - I had explained to her that people would be sad at the funeral but that perhaps she could cheer them up. She took this role very seriously and we worked hard together to make the flowers for the pots.
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