Button's Family Day!!!

December 31, 2007, was the day Button joined our family. It has been a year filled with learning, laughter, and love. From not wanting to spend much time with me he has turned into a little boy who loves his Mommy very much, likes to hug and snuggle me, and wants Mommy to be around as much as possible.

Button then:

... and now...

We celebrated on Monday night (the last night Laolao and Laoye were with us) but going out for Chinese food.


Yep, Chinese. We’ve had Ethiopian a few times recently and Laoye didn’t want to eat injera again (tsk, tsk, Laoye!). But it’s been some time since we’ve gone out for Chinese, and Button likes it, too, so that’s where we went. We discovered that our favourite Chinese restaurant is closed on Mondays (I think we’ve discovered that before, but it doesn’t seem to stick!) so we went across the street to a Vietnamese fusion restaurant and very much enjoyed it. Then drove downtown, parked, and walked around to see the Christmas lights.




Here is a bit of a look back. I started writing the following lists in January 2008. I had originally meant it to be a post on the first two weeks. Then three. Then four. Then one month back in Canada (Feb 16, 2008). Then two months. Then three… Well, here it is, one year later… Two kids keep you busy!

A little bit of the “Me-me” game, for the three of us.

Button (since he’s the newest)

1. His favourite colour is yellow. Pink, red, and orange are close seconds.
2. He is stubborn.
3. He has perseverance - sometimes. When learning to skate (Jan 2008), he didn’t let the falling stop him. He would get up again and again and again and keep doggedly trying. He saw the other boys - some about his own age - skating effortlessly, handling their sticks and shooting the puck, and he wanted to do it to. Our friends gave him a little stick and he would shoot his own puck, shuffle across the ice to it, and shoot it again. He found his balance fairly easily (using his sister’s out-grown pink figure skates) but has yet to figure out the push and glide part. But when we tried him with some friends’ out-grown hockey skates, he didn’t like them – harder to balance on.
4. He knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to say it. Okay. But when he doesn’t get his own way, he tends to sulk. Or scream. [Dec 2008: The screaming is now rare. The sulking has improved a lot, too.]
5. He is very into things with buttons, switches, dials, knobs… He has to press them, turn them, click them… He wants to figure out how things work – and generally can, fairly quickly (as long as the machine being operated is not so complex as to be beyond his cognitive capacity as a four-year-old!). Yesterday in the car, I drew his attention to the windshield wipers and fluid on the back window. His question: “Ma, window wash, which one button? (i.e. which button do you press to clean the window?)
6. He is half vegetarian. Or at least not a fan of most kinds of meat. But a great lover of fruit and most vegetables, dry cereals, potatoes, rice and noodles. Oh, and injera. He will call pancakes injera, though they’re not quite the same!
7. He has an Ethiopian accent. (For now.) We noticed, when there, that people usually would add an extra vowel between certain consonant groups, and before the plural s after a consonant at the end of a word. So “six” is pronounced “sickis” and “chips” would be “chipis.” He also pronounces “this” and “that” as “zis” and ‘zatSeeing as his first English teaches were fellow Ethiopians, it makes sense, but he’ll have to unlearn that! I took him to McDonalds one day for lunch. He’d already been with Laolao and Laoye, and he asked me for “chiss.” I took this to mean “cheese,” so I asked him “cheeseburger?” and he said yes. Given #6 above, I couldn’t really see him eating a cheeseburger, so I ordered French fries, chicken nuggets, and apple slices, despite his saying “chicken yucky, French fries yucky.” When he saw the fries, he said “yum, chiss!” Oh, you mean “chips!” So we spent a few minutes practicing the word “chips.” I have also had him practice “coat” and “cat” which sounded very similar when he said them. And we’re working on the proper “th” sounds for “this,” “that” and “mouth” (rather than “zis,” “zat” and “mouse”). His latest phrase, picked up from his sister and practiced extensively a few days ago: “What the heck!” [Dec ’08: His speech is, of course, much, much improved. Gone is the extra vowel as in “chipis” and “sickis.” But he still does tend to miss the “th” sometimes, though it’s now usually “dis” and “dat.”]
8. He loves cars, trucks, airplanes, and any kind of toy vehicle. And he can really kick a ball!
9. He also wants to play with his sister’s My Little Ponies. But she says they’re “mine!” and he is not to touch, so she’s had me put them in inaccessible locations where he can’t get at them. When he got a new big truck on Friday, he had me do the same with it. Hmmm, how can we get over the “mine, mine” syndrome? [Dec ’08: The My Little Ponies came out of hiding a few months ago, and there isn’t too too much of the “mine” – on either side. Thank goodness!]
10. He can recite the alphabet and count fairly accurately from 1 to 20. But present him with a letter or number in isolation and he can’t always recognize it. Though he does know M (his letter), T (his sister’s), R (mine), as well as A, B and C, and he’s learned S (for snake). Like many kids, he hasn’t yet figured out the difference between M and W. [Dec ’08: Significant improvement here. He knows all the letters, pretty much, and numbers, too, though generally skips 15 when counting from 1 to 20! He can write most letters, though some are not as neat as others, and can do simple math. His kindergarten teacher says he’ll be ready for Grade 1 for sure. I think he’s generally more academically inclined than Mustang.]

Mustang

1. Her favourite colours are purple, blue, and pink. Followed by white and red. Oh, and yellow, green and orange.
2. She is stubborn.
3. She is creative. She likes drawing, colouring, painting, and most anything artsy. (When reading through the Grade 1 curriculum documents last year, I thought the only subjects she was likely to get an A in were the arts. I was right.) She’s come up with some very interesting Lego creations – yesterday she built a “model” of my office building, complete with tall tower, park benches, flower garden, and pathways. She’s built lots of little Lego animals. On the beach, she’s a paragon of sand-castle building industry.
4. She likes to be in control. More than she is capable of being, as a 7-year-old. The end result is often a loss of temper. (Hers, mine, or both.) [Dec ’08: Some progress here, thank goodness.]
5. She LOVES horses. She has a half dozen horse stuffies, about 50 or 60 plastic horses of varying sizes, multiple horse books, horse pictures. All that’s lacking is the real thing. A friend did take her for a pony ride once, and she was in seventh heaven. Last year she attended the rodeo in western Canada with Laolao and Laoye, and they were camped right next to the horse pasture. She would go over and feed the horses (grasses she picked) as often as she could. Last summer, Laolao found a set of matched mother and baby horses at Value Village. She had to read one book to earn a mother and baby. She tore through the books like nobody’s business, she wanted those little horses so bad! She now keeps them in a little music box decorated with horses, given to her by an observant friend for her 7th birthday. [Dec ’08: In spring she started Horsemanship lessons and did a second round in fall. This involves learning about tack, grooming the horses, and learning to saddle and bridle a horse. In Nov-Dec she did a first round of horse riding lessons and very much enjoyed it. We’ll take a break over winter and she’ll start again in spring.]
6. She loves animals of all kinds. At the library, in addition to the usual storybooks, she likes to take out books about different kinds of animals and have me read them to her. She knows the names of many different breeds of dogs and their characteristics, different kinds of horses and what they do. She is an expert butterfly catcher, and last summer caught a dragonfly and a praying mantis. She has caught multiple frogs, and found a rabbit nest (with eight very young baby bunnies) in a neighbour’s yard last spring. When she grows up, she wants to be a Wild Girl in western Canada and help look after hurt animals.
7. She has an excellent memory for things that interest her. She remembers the details about the animal books we’ve read, places she’s been and things she’s seen.
8. She has a keen interest in the natural world. Animals in particular, but also bugs, plants, flowers, and more recently planets, stars and space. I try to feed this interest and keep alive her love of learning.
9. She is NOT into academics. The “core subjects” – reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic – are not her forte. Where she does much better is in the “applied” subjects – social studies, science, health, gym, and of course the arts. (I call them “applied” because that’s where the core skills are applied in a way that results in learning things of substance.) Of course, in order to continue to make progress in the “applied” subjects she will need to attain a certain mastery of the core subjects. I just hope that school doesn’t kill her love of learning before she gets there. [Dec ’08: She has made great strides in reading. Still stumbles and requires assistance; still somewhat below expected grade level, but much, much better. She read 26 chapter books over the summer!!! (with Mommy’s assistance and pushing) and has continued with more in the fall. Now we need to work more on math, too.]
10. She loves stories. When we’re in the car travelling somewhere or sitting at the dinner table starting dessert, her opening line often is “Mommy, tell me a story.” She then proceeds to tell me which characters should be in it (usually animals), how they should interact, and the main plotline. I am to furnish the details, the drama, and the descriptive language. As the story progresses, she furnishes further plot. But I have to retell what she’s told me to say, preferably adding description and drama - if I simply take what she’s said as part of the story and try to move on, she will often get upset. To date, the most common story theme has been animals meeting, mating, and producing babies. (It is of little import whether this involves two dogs or, say, a cat and an elephant…) I sometimes try to get her to tell me a story but she usually resists. Though I’ve had some success at doing a rotating story (i.e. we take turns adding a sentence). But she can tell a pretty good story herself. On Christmas Eve (2007), we has Christmas story time. I read the Bible account from Mark 2, Laolao read an Ethiopian Christmas story, and Mustang told the Biblical Christmas story in great detail and with expression (and without any prompting), all the way from the angel’s announcement to Mary to the family’s flight to Egypt.

Mama

1. My favourite colour is green. Followed by orange and yellow. The more smashing, the better.
2. I am stubborn.
3. Language and writing are my things. (In case you hadn’t noticed, all you eye-candy-hungry blog readers out there…) I have had several short stories and some poems published in various Canadian literary magazines. But nothing in the last ten years or so. Got too busy at work, and lately with adoptions and parenting. This skill has, however, proven useful in responding to Giggles’ story requests, though my strength is in story-writing not telling. Given her penchant for ordering the story and the single-theme focus, the story-telling results are not stellar literary accomplishments. In three years of story-telling, I have come up with two stories that I have thought could actually be good ones if written down. But I didn’t do so. One (about cats, aliens, and rubber bands) I might be able to recreate, the other (about camels, a crocodile, and an oasis) is so far past it’s mostly lost in the depths of memory. You will note that neither story involves meeting, mating, and producing babies. I think she gave me more free reign with these two…
4. I enjoy photography and in my early teens even toyed with the idea of becoming a photographer. (Something you eye-candy-hungry blog readers may find hard to believe!!! But the shortage of photos has more to do with the fact I still use ancient technology that require filling a film and taking it to a store for processing, and the fact that we spent a month in Ethiopia, where they gave me a CD with upside-down photos on it, than anything else.) I have produced a few decent photos in my time, and still enjoy trying to get an artistic shot. Though most of the photography these days is to record the lives, antics and accomplishments of two little munchkins. [Dec ’08: As you have seen recently, the newly acquired digital camera has resulted in a great proliferation of eye-candy. Hope you like some of my attempts at artistic shots, too.]
5. I have generally thought I had a great deal of patience with people (if not with things). Life with two munchkins is testing that. I find I have less patience than I thought I did (though still a pretty reasonable amount, I hope) and get angry faster than I thought I did. But the big thing – and it is the BIG thing – is controlling one’s anger, not doing anything rash, and NOT staying angry. At one of the adoption parenting seminars I attended, the mantra the speaker gave us was “Stay connected to your child.” That has stuck in my mind and it is my touchstone. I am still building connections to Button, but Mustang and I are well connected and any occasions where temper arises end quickly and with hugs and kisses. [Dec ’08: I still find it somewhat easier to connect to Mustang, likely because Button tends to shut down when upset, whereas Mustang is a talker. But the Button connections are real and continuing to deepen.]
   
   [The following points were added in Dec ’08, as this is the point where I ran out of steam last winter.]
6. I love to travel. I wish I didn’t have to work but could take my kids all over the place – Canada, the world! Our western vacation was a testament to that. Next summer will be more local holidays, since I hope to take them to China in 2010.
7. I have rheumatoid arthritis. It is in many ways not a huge factor in parenting, though in others it is. I don’t participate in athletics, so my kids take skating and skiing lessons rather than have me teach them. When we go sledding I stand and watch and cheer them on. I don’t even ride bike – I used to, but my knees don’t bend enough (haven’t for the past 25 years) so I count on friends to take the kids for bike rides. Mustang, when we’re out walking on icy streets or on forest paths, is very good at taking care of her Mommy and giving me a hand.
8. I have no siblings, so – since they don’t have a dad – my kids don’t have any aunts, uncles, or cousins. I’m trying to give my kids a sense of the larger extended family (seeing as I have about 25 uncles and aunts and close to 40 cousins) but it’s hard for them to really get to know the family since we live so far away and rarely see them. Members of our church have become our extended family.
9. I’m very organized and a bit of a neat-freak. Not clean – things can get dirty and it doesn’t bother me – but I like things neat. (Button is fairly tidy and organized by nature, too, though not Mustang, at least not regularly. Her teachers say she keeps her desk tidy and well-organized. Huh? Is that my kid you’re talking about?!!?)
10. I love being a mom.

Bye-bye, Laolao and Laoye

We took Laolao and Laoye to the airport this morning to catch their 8:20 flight home. We will all miss them a lot. Life has been a lot easier with them around – even having a Nanny isn’t the same as having Laolao and Laoye. (Especially seeing as Nanny really hasn’t connected to the kids, as far as I can tell.)

I’m just hoping that I won’t see more acting up behaviour with them gone and the kids missing them (and missing the after-school presence of somebody who really cares about them and does a good job of behaviour management…). Say a little prayer for us.

Our Christmas

Finally, the big day..
.

Emptying the stockings (gifts to each other were given over the previous four Advent Sundays).

My haul from Santa:

The three of us all got slippers!

Mustang's favourite new game (guess why!).

Food

Friends and Family

Magical Monday

Food Friday: Yemiser Selatta (Lentil Salad)

Ingredients

• 250g dried lentils (you could also used canned lentils, drained and rinsed)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1–2 hot chilli peppers, seeded and minced (jalapeño or other)
• 45ml red wine vinegar (3 T)
• 45ml olive oil (3 T)
• 1 tsp salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. Put lentils in a pot and cover with plenty of water. Cook until soft but not mushy (about 20-30 minutes).
2. While lentils are cooking chop the garlic and chilli pepper. Place in a bowl with remaining ingredients.
3. When lentils are done, drain and rinse well. Add to the bowl with the other ingredients. Toss well. Let stand for at least half an hour for flavours to blend before serving.

Christmas magic

When the song of the angel is still,

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their sheep,

The work of Christmas begins:

to find the lost,to heal the broken,

to feed the hungry,

to release the prisoner,

to rebuild the nations,

to bring peace among people,

to make music in the heart.

- Howard Thurman

The Angel Comes to Joseph
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this way: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”

Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child,
and shall bring forth a son,
and they shall call his name Imman'u-el,
which being interpreted is, God with us.

Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

The Trip to Bethlehem
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (This taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) All went to be taxed, every one into his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem (because he was of the house and lineage of David,) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. Whe brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels
Now there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid.

The angel said unto them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”

Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace,
good will toward men.

As the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. They came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. When they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. All they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

The Wise Men
Now there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. They said unto him, “In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
art not the least among the princes of Judah:
for out of thee shall come a Governor,
that shall rule my people Israel.”

Then Herod, when he had privately called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.”

When they had heard the king, they departed; and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. Then when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

Being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

The Slaying of the Infants
When they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”

When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt: and was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt have I called my son.”

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying,
In Ramah was there a voice heard,
lamentation and weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
and would not be comforted,
because they are not.

But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life.” And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.

- taken from Matthew 1 and 2, Luke 2, King James Version of the Bible

Love Advent presents

On the fourth Sunday of Advent, the Love Sunday, these are the presents we all gave and received.

Here are Laolao and Laoye with the rugs Mustang and Button made for them. We took fleece, cut it into 3" strips, and the kids braided the strips into a long, long braid. Then they hand-sewed them into a coil rug using upholstery thread. I found the instructions on the Internet while looking for patterns for fleece hats and thought it would be a good project for the kids. I've been dying to post pictures and tell about all their hard work, but Laolao sometimes reads this blog so I new I had to keep it hush-hush!! Amost every Saturday morning before breakfast Mustang and Button have spent an hour or so first braiding, then sewing, while I worked on other projects. I gave them very little assistance with the whole thing, just guidance and a bit of patching of holes or tightening loose spots right at the end (and sewing together the stips while braiding, and cutting the strips at the very beginnining - that's it!).

Button's treasures included a quilt from Mommy, a Franklin book, and some paper for folding airplanes as well as a movie and another small book.

Mustang also got a quilt from Mommy, a bag with a horse decoration on it, a CD with four Magic Tree House books, and a set of toy horses she'd seen at Mrs. Tiggy Winkles and just adored.

I got a bookon face painting and a small mask from Ten Thousand Villages.

The horses close up.

And here is our Amaryllis, just starting to bloom out nicely in time for Christmas!

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Camera play

While we were at the ski resort last week, I managed to spend some quality time with my camera. There is still lots I need to learn, but I’ve gone a bit beyond the basics now. Here are a few results of my experimenting with what it can do.

These two pictures show the same objects shot with “vivid colours” and sepia tones.

Here is a series of pictures of the same objects shot with “vivid colours,” “neutral,” “positive film,” and black and white.





This is a trio of objects shot with “vivid red,” “vivid green,” and “vivid blue.” (Can’t say I notice a huge difference among the shots, but perhaps I should be comparing it to a “normal” shot, which I didn’t take.)




Experimenting with the difference between optical and digital macro shots (and another "vivid red" thrown in.

Magical Monday