the boy | matching tracksuits

Using What You’ve Got

Tuesday 14 January 2014 | 0 Comments

I arrive home and the Boy is in the backyard with Babcia, and he absolutely, positively doesn't want to come in. He's rediscovered the simplest toy, a found toy: a big pile of dirt. Add a couple of sticks, and he's positively in a daze of joy.

He digs a little hole, moves to a new spot, digs a little hole, moves to a new spot, digs, moves, digs, moves, digs -- a circle that seems endless.

Soon L stops illustrating the driveway with chalk sketches abstract and traditional and joins us in our digging. Soon, she has an idea: a stick forest.

E and I head deeper into the wild of the backyard to find more sticks. He tugs at exposed roots, drags sticks until something else attracts his attention, looks up trees until he loses his balance, picks up rocks and tosses them, and together, the three of us spend almost an hour together laughing, exploring, and playing completely toy-free.

The common regret of modern life: we're so spoiled that we're ruining ourselves. Imagination in kids today sometimes seems to be as illusive as quicksilver, but hopefully not in our children, and today, some evidence.

A stick forest.

Not a bad idea. Progress.

41

Monday 13 January 2014 | 0 Comments

New Park, New Experiences

After the cold, after the rain, after the dark, it was time yesterday finally to take the whole family out somewhere -- anywhere -- and do something. And so we packed the Girl's bike, the Boy's four-wheeler, some snacks, the camera, and Babcia and headed to a new park near Nana's and Papa's place. The boy has been doing circles in our house with his four-wheeler, but it's a route filled with sharp turns and short straightaways. Yesterday he was able finally to rev his vehicle up to its full potential. At times I found myself trotting beside him thinking, "Perhaps we should put a helmet on him."

We explored, took some pictures, chatted -- just what we needed.

Moo

Sunday 12 January 2014 | 0 Comments

New Fan

Friday 03 January 2014 | 0 Comments

Over the Christmas break, E has become an official and devoted fan of Thomas and Friends. At least half a dozen times a day, he runs to the TV, pointing and saying "Choo choo! Choo choo!"

Playing Cards

Thursday 02 January 2014 | 0 Comments

Singing Kids’ Songs

Tuesday 31 December 2013 | 0 Comments

One of the unexpected results of having kids in the house is the tendency I have of late to start whistling, humming, or even singing “The Wheels on the Bus” or similar songs out of the blue, walking down the hall at school, cooking lunch for the kids, driving to have my oil changed…

Cheese Cake

Friday 27 December 2013 | 0 Comments

The Boy has discovered sernik, Polish-style cheese cake. And now we’re listening to Dexter Gordon’s “Cheese Cake” as accompaniment.

Wigilia 2013

Tuesday 24 December 2013 | 0 Comments

"You girls got to play all day yesterday; today, you'll be helping out a lot." Thus began the day, and thus the girls began their day of helping, much of which was more spiritual than physical. Still, transferring the clean dishes from the dishwasher and moving the dirty breakfast dishes from the table to the dishwasher was a good start

And so for a change, every year's is not the same, at least at the start. The girls all chip in throughout the morning, taking care of the Boy as he horses about,

or cutting veggies for the Christmas morning breakfast. (How odd I used to find it that a Polish breakfast might include a salad of some sort or other; how odd I now find it that I used to find it odd.)

It's always amusing to me how a little Tom Sawyering can turn anything into a game for kids this age. At one point, one of the girls suggested they go up L's room to play. "No," the other two replied, "we want to help."

As the day turned to afternoon, though, the Girls' help became more spiritual, less physical. T took out her holiday music and began playing for the Girls as they sang carols.

They began with "Angels We Have Heard on High,"

and followed it with "Go Tell It on the Mountain," to which E added some avant garde accompaniment.

As we continued cutting, chopping, boiling, spicing, setting the table,

and whining, the girls performed "Silent Night,"

and moved quickly to a very interesting arrangement of "Jingle Bells."

Of course the girls wouldn't be The Girls if they didn't add something silly to the mix. T sat this one out, but C and L had great fun recording their version of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

By this time, though, it was time to stop with the silliness and get started on the main courses for the evening. I went out to fire up the grill and the Girls all transformed. The Boy waited though. "He's still wiping his nose on his sleeve," K explained. "We'll wait with him." And so picture-perfect girls bounded about the house while I grilled salmon, fried an improvised invention (oyster and crab cakes, which I think I'll try again), and Babcia looked on with a smile.

Once Nana and Papa arrived, the rest of the evening went by in a blur. We began as always: Papa read from the Gospel of St. Luke, chapter 2.

I scooted about, taking pictures, directing L to stop messing with E and listen to Papa, and generally worrying that the crab/oyster cakes might not be as tasty as I imagined.

The dinner itself went by in a blur, which is always the case, and I always find it somewhat tragic. So much time spent preparing barszcz z uszkami, crab/oyster cakes, mushroom soup (where did those mushrooms come from? surely not Poland!), cabbage and mushroom pierogis, salmon, potatoes, and salad, cheese cake, Polish sweets, and a million other delicacies and it's gone in about an hour. We try to slow down; we all comment on the tragedy of it all; and every single year, we all inhale it. This year was no different, which is both a complement to the chefs and a sad illustration of how quickly we all tend eat.

For the kids, though, it was normal: there was only one thing on their minds. The presents.