We Got Mail!

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.

Bored to Creativity.

Konichiwa! From Japan, in case you hadn't guessed.  I'm pleased to make it to the pages of this blog, as a way to share Mama stories and adventures in crafting, food, and the little things that string together to make up our life.

Right now, my husband and 3 year old daughter and I live in a small city in north eastern Japan.  He coaches hockey, which takes him on the road for long stretches of time.  I do my best to remain positive and upbeat, but you'll get an honest glimpse into what life is like as a 'single mom' in a very foreign place.  We are on day 9 of a 16 day separation, and here's how i've planned to keep my girl and myself engaged.

*  A friend of mine shared an idea called 'strewing' which involves casually setting up an activity for your child to notice and work with on their own.  No instructions given.  Some examples are a tray with clay and small tools (pipe cleaners, child scissors, tooth picks), stickers and paper, sensory bin, etc.  I've been doing this before I go to bed at night, so that when we come downstairs in the morning, instead of asking me to play with her right away she finds an activity for solo time.  It has been working quite well, some activities more than others. It gives me about 15-20 minutes of quiet time to make tea and prepare breakfast.  It's a smooth start to our day.

*  I've organised a shelf with bins and envelopes of prepared activities.  Some of these things are origami paper, markers and a journal, felt story books that we made, letters for tracing, doll dresses, small animal toys, stamps and stamp pad.  In this way, she can direct herself to an activity if she wants to (although it doesn't happen that often), or ideas are at the ready for me to suggest we do.  It really prevents the 'what do we do now?' and 'can I watch a show?' when we both get tired and bored.

* A whole area in her room dedicated to dress up play. She loves it so much, so I thought it deserved it's own space, away from the already over crowded and small living room.  She even goes up on her own to change outfits, which shows me that she's slowly getting ready for more independent play if I set it up right.

* At night, I make sure I set aside at least 45 minutes before bed to decompress, meditate (even if it's just 5 minutes!) and journal 3 pages, including thoughts on how our day went and what tomorrow could look like.  This is SO helpful as an outlet. It also makes the days run smoother, as i've set an intention.

* I commit to one out-of-the-house activity per day. It can be as small as a walk around the block, to a morning at a nearby museum.  We do it before lunch, and reserve the afternoon for crafting and dinner making.

* I have small goals for myself, that include knitting projects, beginner sewing activities, and new ones, like embroidery.  Having something at the fingertips during the day helps to unwind and feel like i've accomplished something tangible.

Now if I can get it together enough to find the charger to my camera and document some of our projects, I'll be sure to share through photos as well as words. 

The Rhythm of our Days

I left my glasses in the bedroom when I put Lena to sleep, so my screen is mega magnified and making me feel old. Did you know that your eyes hit their peak in your early 20s, and then decline? And did you know that for some women pregnancy can make the eyes worse? And that if you happen to get pregnant in your mid 20's, when your eyes may slowly be beginning to decline, that they may decline sharply and not quite recover? True story. For the first time in my life I actually feel I need my glasses and if I don't have them I feel fuzzy. I forgot them the other day when we went out of town and by the end of the day I was exhausted! Probably didn't help that we were at the national gallery and I was peering mole-like at paintings.

What the heck does my declining vision have to do with the rhythm of our days? Nothing whatsoever, except to point out that I have a lot of time to think about things like this.

If the standard big city rhythm is that of an african drummer pounding for an enthusiastic dancer, the rhythm in our little apartment is more like a babbling brook occasionally pushing a pebble. In particular, the last month has been molasses-like.

Between the intense snowstorm that buried everything, and a chest cold making the rounds, and no really pressing reason to leave the house- we rarely do. We try to get out for a little bit each day, longer now that everyone's chests are clear of virus. We've done the requisite snowman building, snow angels, rolling around in snow etc, but it's only fun for so long when you are 2 1/2, bundled up and can't walk because the snow is literally as deep as you are tall. For a few weeks the snow was too fluffy even for a sled! All this sounds like excuses, and maybe it is- but I intend for it to be more of a prelude into the quiet of our days. The quiet madness?

Each night we tell ourselves that we will get up earlier the next day- and most days we lazily cuddle and giggle until 8am. It's so difficult to get out from under a warm quilt and away from a warm baby to go write in a cold kitchen or do yoga. I'm always glad when I manage, but that doesn't make it any easier. We usually spend at least an hour on breakfast, taking the time to prepare a delicious and nutritious meal to share as we watch people scraping ice off their cars, fat bunchy squirrels running around, and teenagers trudging to the high school up the road.  After that, one of us tries to be productive, and this is where we've been struggling. We each work one or two days a week, so most of the time we are all here. You would think we'd get a lot done, or at least one of us would, but in fact some days it feels like neither of us gets a single thing accomplished.
Our mornings are usually for drawing, reading, tidying, baking and we try to get outside- at the very least so our poor Roscoe can get out!
Lena naps most days and that is a funny time. As she falls asleep, I have a list of all the things I'd like to do- but I know I must choose: yoga? write? clean? cook? sew? blog? study? waste time on the internet (HA)? We eat lunch all together again- often watching the same teens walking to school at the end of their lunch break. In the afternoons- more drawing, a lot of pretend play, maybe a short video or two (usually either live ballet, or some animated shorts of www.nfb.ca, OR a little game on pbs.org), sometimes a more 'official' activity. Then we start thinking about dinner, because we most often spend a chunk of time soaking baking or preparing something. We know our effort was worth it when Lena says "mmmmm, mom, you make the best ___ I've NEVER EVER SEEN!!!" or "Who needs dessert after THIS?" or "mmmm.... I just love it. It's pretty good".

Bedtime is looong- usually a lot of books read by Dad and a lot of cuddling with Mom- a lot of processing the day. It's such a great time to go over the positives and negatives throughout the day, to encourage one another to keep trying a little harder every day, to acknowledge and maybe apologize for the occasional short tempers, to firm up memories of fun and learning and love. I cherish those moments wherein we are forced to slow down, even stop, and just exist in this moment with this child- it's more effective than meditation for me! After Lena is asleep, I tiptoe out to do some of the activities I skipped during nap time- including burning my old lady eyeballs writing a blog post!

Oh well- tonight I will get to bed early because tomorrow is most definitely the day I get up at 630am to make pumpkin waffles and write. Smiley face.