And trust me, that's exciting in these parts. All those Japanese flyers are tough to read, you know. This was a perfect little package made for sweet little us with love - from Nicole and Lena! I was totally stoked to find something in there for me too, a sewing tutorial!
I'm a total novice when it comes to sewing (like I just pick something and go at it, youtube as I go). I'd love to take a proper course or class some day when I'm in the 'Big City' and opportunity presents, but in the meantime, I'm happy enough to muddle my way through and see what turns up. It takes me a while to figure out the lingo and get the project going (all that cutting and ironing?!) but once I do, I feel pretty smug. This tutorial is for a 'Entirely Impractical Purse', as Nicole calls it, but i'm super excited to use some of the fabric from the vintage kimono I scored a few weeks ago (more on that in another post).
Szerafina received a Cafe Alphabet game. It's really versatile and can be worked on in so many ways. It began as a cutting extravaganza, then morphed into matching the first letter of the pictured word with the upper case alphabet letter. The activity also comes with the lower case letters, so we worked on matching the 'big' and 'little' letters, because 'They're not all the same!' don't ya know. It was good practice since Szerafina doesn't recognise all the lower case letters yet. In the future, we could use the letters to spell out the words attached to the picture. She (this daughter of mine) was also eager to create the 'healthy!' version of the cafe game, where we draw or cut out our own whole foods. I like it!
Here I run the risk of veering off into tangent land (because we mentioned the topic of food...and you know, i'm kinda into that). Especially food and children. If I haven't said it before, i'll confess it now, we're kinda food snobs around here. We like to eat local, seasonal, whole-from-scratch and organic when humanly possible grub. My day revolves around what I cook for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Add in the time to eat and do dishes...and well, that's a fair chunk of my day. I believe in it, we live it and it won't likely change. HOWEVER. We love to travel, try foods from all over the world and would never turn something down made with love and soul. Just the other night we had a hankering for Japanese noodles and these delectable dumplings called Gyoza...and it was the night before our organic delivery box, so fridge scraps were running bare. What am I saying? That we do keep an open mind and open heart and don't 'shut in' to live an idealistic life in a bubble. I think it's all about perspective and thinking 'big picture'.
Another example (because you asked, right?) is that I accompany Szerafina to a parent and child Japanese preschool two mornings a week. It's fabulous, she loves it undeniably and blows me away with her ability to interact and pick up the Japanese language like it's nobody's business. The kids, teacher and social interaction (for both of us) is desperately needed. The catch? Snack time. The worst possible cookies, cakes, donuts and crackers are served. I spent the first two months in quiet anxiety as my 'perfect' girl gobbled it up and everyone wondered if I fed her at all. I've been able to make some peace with the idea that...a few sugary treats will not spoil my loin fruit. And the reality is, she eats so darn well at home that the occasional 'fall off the wagon' or 'real life eating' may eliminate later food issues in life related to what's 'good' and what's 'bad'. All this to say...that the cafe game is based on sweet treats :) But we love it and it's great for play, a wonderful teaching tool and a reminder to keep it 'real'.
A big THANK-YOU to our girls Nicole and Lena!! We will have so much fun returning the activity love real soon.
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