For some reason, this picture reminds me of when Johnny Carson used to do that thing with the envelopes and randomly list off three things and then open the envelope and it was some hilarious related topic:
Here’s Kale with a gift from his Uncle Erik, and Andrea and Liam – a cloth book called “Where is My Bone?” and a little bone on a string that you get to put in different things, like in the mountains, in the water, etc. Kale thought this book was most tasty. I’m starting to think that Mooki is emo.
Posted by Jen | Under Daily, Jen, Kale
Friday Dec 5, 2008
We’ve been struggling with sleep this past week. Kale has been fighting tooth and nail to not sleep and we aren’t sure if its teething, gas, distraction, or what. When he finally gets to sleep, he is sleeping better than he ever has – for longer stretches and with less wakeups. But getting him there? Ugh. At one point I found myself holding down his hands while he protested because he kept bonking himself in the face and waking himself up. I am terrified of having a child that I have to perform a complicated ritual to get to sleep every night, one that involves a certain number of minutes of patting, a certain number of minutes of cooing, a certain number of minutes of whatever. I want desperately for him to be able to sleep easily and happily and its really frustrating watching him go through this because I realize that sleep is a learned skill and I feel a bit pressured because it’s up to us to help him learn.
I would like to think he’s learning to put himself to sleep right now, and so our constant ministrations that used to work like a sleep-inducing charm are now keeping him awake but at the same time, he hasn’t quite mastered bunking down himself. It’s a crappy no man’s land to be in these days, but as all things, this will pass.
I introduced Kale to rice cereal earlier this week(post- sleeping issues commencement) and I am taking that v-e-r-y slowly, so while we struggle with the sleeping, I will likely put the rice cereal on hold.
BUT! he also started putting his arms around my neck when I pick him up, so honestly, Kale could cry all day and do that just once and I would totally melt anyway.
So! Ross and I are having an open house this weekend and as we prepare for our open house (banana bread is in the oven, baby poop is getting washed out of the tub, etc), Kale got his first Christmas card yesterday – it was from his Nana.
And I started decorating the house. I know my post re: Santa may have given you all the impression I hate Christmas but NO, I actually ADORE Christmas. I just hate Mall Santa and all that he stands for. I even made stockings this year, and patchworked the front (first attempt at quilting and whoa! Seriously? Quilters? Mad props to you for the freakin’ PATIENCE required, man, that sucked!).
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, yo:
Now that I have a kid, I can’t just be all “pft, whatev, Santa sucks butt, commercialist propaganda, mutter mutter” because there is a whole lifetime of believing (and behaving) to be done before the bubble is burst and Kale finds out that Santa is what Santa is. I have long believed that Santa is, in part, a behavioural modification tool that parents use and abuse at Christmas time to deal with behaviour they find abhorrent while justifying overspending on plastic toys-du-jour. However, I do have to take into consideration that there is another parent who has their own opinions on Santa, and above all, being a united front as parents tops my list of important parenting qualities.
As much as my critical thinking and skeptical side would like to inform Kale right from Christmas 1 that Santa is just an “idea”, perpetuated by everyone because wink wink nudge nudge it’s about the spirit of Christmas and let’s just keep this between us, okay? I realize that its going to be very very difficult to carry this out, never mind the fact that I have already been informed that it would be a complete “shame” if I “ruined” Christmas for Kale so early. Because being honest about make-believe fat men who break into your house, well… I guess that makes me the most horrible parent in the world.
So in acquiescence to those who feel that no child’s Christmas is complete without a visit to Santa, and no grandparent’s/auntie’s/uncle’s/etc Christmas card is complete without photographic evidence of said visit, but still mindful of my “I won’t go into a mall past December 1st” resolution I made 5 years ago and trying to find the happy medium between what Ross believes and what I believe, I did some research and found Father Christmas at the Burnaby Village Museum, who is willing to listen to children’s wishes and you can take your own photos. Huzzah.
Father Christmas is the pre-Santa, the Beta-Santa, if you will. He’s a kindly old thin dude, with a long beard and robe – sort of Gandalf type of dude - and was around way before Toys R Us and the Sears Wish Book and iPods and Wii’s were, and is more of a Sinterklaas than a product of a good marketing department at Coca-Cola.
It’s all about happy mediums, right? So our happy family is headed to see Father Christmas on Wednesday, in the afternoon, to try and beat some of the crowds of people.
Ross and I were out walking Mooki and Kale the other night, talking about this. He then brought up The Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. I didn’t even think about them. Man. I’ve never thought about all this before. What is with all the made-up bearers of gifts? Is it possible to raise children without all these fictions?
How do you, readers who are parents, deal with Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny?
With December right around the corner, its time to think about Christmas shopping. I’m one of those people who you love to hate – I’m generally done shopping before December even rolls around and this past few years I am also one of those people who actually takes Martha Stewart’s suggestion and wraps the gifts as soon as I walk in the door from acquiring said gift. With the addition of a child this year, however, I can’t say with my usual smugness that I am “done” per se, although the list of things left to pick up is really small and if I could just find a local retailer who has the four or five things on my list, I’d be set. I could easily knock them off in about 30 seconds (barring the 30 minutes to find parking) at Metrotown, but I’m really hoping to find these few things here in New West, or at least at a small retail shop.
Bree over at Tenth to the Fraser has an excellent suggestion about shopping local and it’s something Ross and I have been trying to do for years, not just for Christmas. It’s hard though, when you live in a city poised on the verge of greatness but still stuck in stasis in the planning stages of the impending greatness with no less than eleventy-billion dollar stores and a high number of “antique” stores trying to pass off crap as valuables by calling it “vintage” or “shabby chic” . Ross and I also put a caveat on our gifting last year that items needed to be handmade by us or by another person, further complicating and making it more of a (fun) challenge to find that perfect gift for each other. Its about effort, not price.
I spend a lot of time on Etsy looking for gifts from local crafty folk and also, admittedly, looking for ideas to steal for myself. I used to spend a great deal of time on Craftster but I don’t like their search functionality and I really don’t like the huge amount of well… emo-based crafts that seem to be posted. One can only look at so many sarcastic Nintendo inspired belt buckles. Blog reader Gillian has an Etsy shop (buy some slings and stuff!) and, actually, so do I, although there is nothing there at the moment. Soon there will be some goodies up for sale if I can find time in between the current list of crafty gift projects and the needs of a 5 month old noisy wee beast to complete the items you shall soon be able to purchase.
I’m volunteering at the West Coast Christmas Craft and Pet Fair in Cloverdale this weekend, and will be working the No Puppy Mills Canada booth, one of the few animal-related volunteering I do now that I have Kale (the other three groups being Greater Vancouver Street Cat Society, Vancouver Shiba, and New Westminster Emergency Pet Services.) I’m hoping to find some good stocking stuffers for the animal lovers and non-animal lovers in my life and getting out and about in disguise as a non-mom is always fun.
Today the weather is rainy and piss, but I will be bundling Mr. Kale up in fleece and headed uptown to Cartwright Jewelers which is not only where Ross and I had our wedding rings made at, but is also a great place to get jewelry repaired. I have a bracelet that I like that the little catch chain is broken, and ideally it will be repaired before I head off to my staff Christmas party.
So tell me, dear readers, do you have your Christmas gift shopping complete and do you have any amazing items to share?
Posted by Jen | Under Daily, Jen, Kale
Monday Nov 10, 2008
It is November 10th and I am SO EXCITED for Christmas this year. Not because I care about presents or anything, but because this is Kale’s first Christmas and Ross and I have elected to stay home as a family for the first time and really enjoy each other’s company. I have a huge 6 foot tree. Yes, its fake, and yes, its made out of plastic but the fake tree versus real tree argument is long and this fake plastic one was given to us used for free and would have gone in the landfill had we not taken it and I intend to use it for a number of years, so to me, that’s the eco-choice. Anyway, so I can’t wait to decorate this tree and make it all festive in here. I’m excited to see what Kale thinks of all the glitter.
Last year Ross and I challenged one another to try and give gifts that met two criteria: 1) handcrafted by someone, and 2) under $50. It was really hard, but we managed to find gifts for one another that we both really loved. This year, we are continuing that tradition but have changed a few of the conditions and are allowing a bit more dollars (it was really hard to stick to $50).
It’s hard not to shop like a fiend for Kale – but he’ll never actually remember it so its more about the experience of Christmas rather than the gifts.
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As some of you know, Ross and I participated in a documentary during my pregnancy, and filming has wrapped on that. The producers have recently emailed asking for some family shots so I’ve been having fun taking lots of pictures. Here’s one from today that I really like:
People Are Talkin’