We took a little relaxation from the Advent business on Monday and Tuesday, partly owing to a mid-season melt down I had on Monday morning after sending Silas off to school. So, after some tears and comfort, I finished all the hot cocoa powder making and Silas and I snuggled down to homey activities like making gifts for his classmates (limit 50 cents per student!!!) and reading a delightful new treasure of a Christmas book, Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales.
This is truly an outstanding little gem, full of detailed, slightly askew and very colorful imagery, extremely funny turns of phrase, incredibly evocative language, and really pretty illustrations. The book very beautifully immortalizes a childhood full of an active and very vivid imagination, lots of friends, and a balance between a cozy and predictible home life (complete with an extended and slightly wacky family) and free range exploration of the coastal topography and town he obviously cherished. This is a book to be enjoyed for many years since Silas and I found different parts funny and engaging based on our various understandings of context and language. This one will grow with us.
I wanted to extend our holiday book collection this year and turned to online recommendation lists, including this one from the Huffington Post. So, Silas is soon to be introduced to Cops and Robbers and Horrible Christmas, as well as A Child's Christmas in Wales. I also scored an excellent used edition of The Nutcracker (the version illustrated by Maurice Sendak) in honor of our inauguration into the ballet this year.
I know that one day Silas may outgrow being read holiday stories and picture books in general, so I am savoring every moment we spend with Jan Brett (Home for Christmas; Christmas Trolls), Cynthia Rylant (Christmas in the Country), How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Elsa Beskow's Ollie's Ski Trip, Jane Yolen's Owl Moon among many, many others we've amassed. I have to put a big plug in for Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel. This is the very first book Silas asks us to read when we bring down the Christmas stuff from the attic and unpack the beloved box of holiday books. It has just the right combination of creepiness and heart to soothe a 6-year-old's spirit.
And as for all those school gifts? A rustic little jingle bell ornament is my alternative to the Dollar Store schlock, plastic doodads made in China, stickers, 150th pencil or erasers...that have arrived home with Silas over the past couple of years. Don't all kids like jingle bells? This one involves six bells, a yard or so of jute twine, a little ring and ornament hanger and a grosgrain ribbon. All it took was time, and I have the sore thumbs to prove it! Now I just have to individually wrap them. Yikes. Couldn't we just do a $10 gift and have them pick one decent thing? Oh, well. It is what it is. I continue to have my dislike of the United States (and Texas') public school institutions, no offense intended to all the well-meaning and child-loving people who work in Silas school's specifically, and public schools in general.
December 7 ::: Watch Frosty the Snowman, Make Cookie Dough for Party (& for mommy, elving)
The king-sized bed doubles as a work surface. It's the best I can do, since my sewing machine is in a cabinet in our capacious master BR.
Various sets of these note cards, each unique from 100% post-consumer recycled paper and the fabric scrap bag, are underway for certain friends who write notes...
December 8 ::: Bake cookies for party and attend the Bayou Village Waldorf-Inspired School Winter Faire (& later, dinner with adults at home while Silas attends an evening out with his friends).
A puppet play about the four seasons and the ability of all the contribute, no matter how small.
My favorite thing was the "Crystal Cave" with beautiful treasures and sweets for the children inside.
Below, Silas loves his ribbon ring.
Preparing a warm atmosphere for conversation and sharing.
The last day of Kindergarten ::: ever! (Here is the 1st day of school!)
How to amuse 12 kids while awaiting the Space Shuttle!
There it is!
The Shuttle Explorer
There it goes! On to Space Center Houston, the official visitors' center for the NASA Johnson Space Center.
Random musings...
1 ::: Our current reality includes public school. Ahem. I'm not at peace about that decision, yet I can embrace the kindness, good intentions, and positive outlook of the teachers and a few good friends Silas is making.
2 ::: We watched "The Wizard of Oz" in two installments these last two Friday nights (our "movie night"). I hesitated to introduce it to Silas at his young age because I was fairly traumatized by one part of it when I was 5 (Spoiler Alert ::: I was so afraid Dorothy wouldn't get home when the balloon took off, I couldn't watch the rest of the movie). But I also remember looking forward to the annual viewing of this film. We watched it now because he was shown clips in music class at school and he knows the songs from bedtime singing, and, frankly, I didn't want him to see it elsewhere. I wanted it to be a family experience/memory. We had to stop the movie when the witch instructed her minions to go and get Dorothy because Silas got quite scared. I am proud of how we handled it. He made the choice to continue after reassurances that Dorothy's friends were coming to help her. At the end he said, "Mommy, it was all a dream!).
Remember when you couldn't watch anything "on demand"? The anticipation of that annual viewing of "The Wizard of Oz", "The Sound of Music", "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", etc., was delicous. He has friends who have seen all the Star Wars movies over and over, among other things. We won't let him watch them until he can understand the hero's journey better. Sometimes I feel like such a freak and I worry we might turn him into one.
I wish we had more friends who resisted media saturation (iPod, iTouch, iPad, Wii, movies, tv shows, computer games all included), truly embraced imaginative and outdoor play, and protected their children's innocence more fully. When I watch my boy play with his friends, the scripts they enact come from movies and video games. Silas plays along and is drawn into the power play of guns and missles and aliens and zombies, all second hand. Somehow it seems worse here in the suburbs. Is it? I find little to embrace in 24-7 media/entertainment culture. I find it appalling that this is "normal."
What's to embrace? When you truly want to see something, you can do it at your convenience (I like watching "The Daily Show" when I want to, for example). Also, you can stop "The Wizard of Oz" DVD when your child gets scared, rather than pressing on and leaving an indelible fear-filled memory. Social media can help you reclaim people lost to changing life circumstances, some of which are beyond your control (like being forced to move towns when you are young).
3 ::: We are looking forward to a "mommy date" this week. I am taking Silas out of school early every now and then to enjoy some alternative education/fun experiences and a break from routine.
4 ::: I appreciate the chance to practice and teach yoga with my friends. I benefit so much from the discipline and preparation and I enjoy sharing a little of what I know. I value the increased intimacy and view into each other's lives that happens with the accompanying conversation.
5 ::: Healing is ongoing and I can use all my power to help it along. What amazing beings we are!
6 ::: Order and beauty are so underrated! Even a little clearing out and cleaning up elevates my spirit and makes room for more (ideas, creativity, productivity, ease).
7 ::: I'm embracing the principles and practice of compassionate communication and I'm grateful to my practice group for their willingness to learn together. It's amazing how my view of situations changes when I ask myself what needs I and the other(s) are trying to meet in a given situation. It's such a simple thing, but so important in easing the way.
8 ::: I'm looking for some fun!
Have a great day.
What does Silas want to do after his after school art class? Make art, of course. The class he takes is offered by the University of Houston Clear Lake right in his school. One hour, once a week for eight weeks. The theme ::: Scotland. This week's topic: Castles.
Completely at his direction, I drew the draw bridge and doors. Everything else in this picture is conceived and executed by Silas. It was all sketched in pencil and then colored in (I helped color the castle). We sat at our kitchen table. He was so excited and engaged the entire time, choosing which shade of green for the grass (out of the 5 or 6 in his 64-color crayon box), comparing shades of gray and brown for the bridge, doors and castle, and carefully making three suns, in three different colors (Can't you see that the one on the right is setting?) and making good use of that "sky blue" crayon. The flags were designed to represent the "good" and the "evil" sides of the castle (if you look carefully there is a dividing line left of the door). The cannon balls are trying to destroy the evil side.
Silas has two after school activities. One is gymnastics, where he works with such determination and vigor for 75 minutes once a week). The other is this art class. We chose art over all the other offerings (soccer, karate, Spanish, piano) because he was so enthusiastic about the 8 weekly sessions he attended at the UHCL campus last summer (Theme ::: City Architecture). Every day he asked, "Do I have art class today?"
Yes, my son, you do if you want to--it meets in the kitchen.
