Wicked

My family took me to Denny's for Mother's day. I'd like to say that the decor was beautiful and that the food was delicious... The carnation the hostess handed me when I walked in ended up smeared in egg yolk. I still took it home but it never made it out of the car. I discovered it (the rotting egg smell lead me to it) under my driver's seat, a few days ago.

The Denny's setting was picked primarily for the novelty (some good friends of ours were going there with their young daughter and asked us to tag along) and secondarily, because we knew that we could take Makena and not lose too much sleep over her trashing the place. Of course, bucking convention, Makena sat politely the entire meal and only left her seat once. She didn't scream or throw her food about. She quietly dunked grapes in jelly, wiped her hands and colored on a sheet of paper. Go figure. She gave me the gift of good behavior. Jack made me a beautiful card and coupons that were good for: cleaning his room, laughing at my jokes, 20% off his allowance (for a limited time only!) and a breakfast in bed. EM gave me tickets to see Wicked. Wicked! And then as I was mucking the horse corral later that morning, thinking my special day was over, EM reminded me that he was taking me to a Phil Lesh concert. I was psyched. Not because I was a Dead head (I'm a Dead Head's wife,) but because it meant an evening out. As I was getting ready, I was instructed to go easy on the make-up. I think EM didn't want me stick out among the aging hippie crowd. Of course I didn't listen to him and slapped on some security eye-liner and self-esteem mascara and left the house feeling good about myself. The shower also helped.(Me, before the make-over.)

We had so much fun.

Moreover since the writing of this post began, we went to see Wicked at the Pantages in Los Angeles. It was AWESOME. We took Jack with us and he was blown away by the show. I felt bad that we had waited until he was almost ten years old to expose him to musical theater, until then his only reference had been the few school plays he had acted in. His mouth was open the entire time. I don't think he knew anything like this was possible. We had ridiculously amazing seats which helped him connect. I do know that he will probably look back on that evening with us as the starting point in his love affair with the stage. He has already asked us to take him to another musical so I will keep my eyes peeled on the calendar section of our paper and hopefully select a show that will keep him engaged and excited.

What an amazing Mother's Day--that stretched into a Mother's Month. And to think it all started at Denny's over a breakfast of Country fried steak. Now if I could only get rid the stench from my car everything would be perfect.

Is- a loved
PS Don't forget the children in China. www.halfthesky.org

Astrocamp

Jack, and ninety-five percent of his school's fourth grade, left for a three-day field trip to Astrocamp in the San Bernardino mountains. It was an amazing experience for him and his friends, filled with days of science, star gazing and rocket launching fun.

Jack was so excited in the days leading up to this adventure. He took great care in planning what he was going to pack and wear for the road trip. He asked me about fifty times if his cow alarm clock had made it into his suitcase. He was in charge of waking up his bunk mates and thought that the sound of a cow "mooing" would be the right mood setter.

Jack is not good at saying his goodbyes and would have preferred that I make a rolling stop so that he could jump out of the car and pretend that I didn't exist. I would have obliged him but he had too many cumbersome bags to tote. Some were simply too big to throw out a window. And besides, there were a very large number of (caring) parents hanging out with their children who would have been a witness to this. So after I parked and unloaded everything, he insisted on lugging all of his belongings to the drop-off (in a show of independence). Kissing him goodbye was out of the question. I did that while were still at home in the driveway.

I did, however, set my foot down and made him pose with two of his classmates (Sophie and Skyler) before taking off. I have blogging obligations, after all.

I know that "mother of the year" points were deducted off my score sheet for leaving before the buses had even arrived but I had very specific instructions from my nine-year old and I followed them to the letter. EM stayed at home with Makena who was still asleep when it was time for us to leave.

Jack had a blast. We all missed him while he was gone. He was so exhausted when he returned that he mistakenly allowed me to hug him in public without protesting.

I was thrilled.

Isabelle

PS Please consider making a donation to Half the Sky to help the young victims of the Sichuan earthquake.

Shaken

I didn't sleep last night. I woke up at three in the morning and stayed awake for the next hour and a half. My thoughts kept straying to Chengdu and Chongqing and Sichuan and all the people who lost their lives in the earthquake. I worried that Makena's orphanage had been hit. I started wondering about where her biological family might live and whether they had been in harms way. It felt very depressing and hopeless.

The worst was reading about the schools that collapsed like houses of cards and finding out that as many as eight hundred kids in one school alone might have perished. I thought about the one child policy. I thought about all the families who had lost their only child and who might have (at one time) had a second child but been forced to leave him, or her, somewhere to be found (and hopefully adopted). I thought of them and how now they had none. Their hopes and dreams lost in a matter of seconds.

Insomnia thrived on my worries.

I woke up this morning to read e-mails telling me that Qianjiang had been spared and that help was on its way to orphanages in the Sichuan province. I felt relieved but the fate of the victims out there still haunts me.

If you are inclined to help in a small or great way, please visit the Half the Sky site. They have a trusty infrastructure operating n China and have been authorized to set up a relief fund to help all the children that have now been affected by this act of God. The money will pay for food, medical assistance, short and long term fostering and many other things. And not just for the children in the Half the Sky programs.

A little will go a long way.

You can donate to the fund by calling Half the Sky (+1 510 525 3377) or at
one of two dedicated sites online:
Global Giving: http://www.globalgiving.com/pr/2100/proj2086a.html
or
Half the Sky website:
http://give.halfthesky.org/prostores/servlet/Categories?category=Children's+Earthquake+Fund

If you would like a Canadian tax receipt, please donate at
http://www.canadahelps.org/CharityProfilePage.aspx?CharityID=s86248

Thanks.

Isabelle

Paris

The last leg on our whirlwind "mommy and me" adventure was an afternoon spent in Paris to connect with my jet-setting girlfriend Dominique and her cousin, Caroline. Dominique flew into into Paris (from Montreal) for the weekend to celebrate her birthday. The girls met us at the Montparnasse train station and helped me with my bags, stroller and child, as we navigated the streets headed for the Luxembourg Gardens, where our hotel was situated. The Euro being what it was, arriving in the afternoon with only a few shopping hours left, was the safest thing I could do for my pocket book. Traveling with Makena also curtailed any spending.(Dominique, holding Makena, and Caroline at Cafe St-Sulpice.)

(Dominique and Makena in Seattle, the first time they met.)

I cut my daughter loose in the Luxembourg Gardens for an hour and a half of pigeon chasing and pebble collecting, which left her spent enough to hang out with us at an outdoor cafe for an additional hour (the apple juice and Pixter helped.) We had fun sipping wine and studying the Yves St-Laurent storefront from afar. Later, we found a little Italian place in the sixth where we sat down for dinner. Makena ate a huge bowl of pasta and then hung out with a street cat -- the feline variety, not the beret toting, Gitane smoking, art student -- until we headed home around 11PM.

Rising at the crack of dawn to get to the airport in time was brutal but we made it and I was lucky enough to get seated on the (11 hour) return flight next to a man who had four children. None of whom were traveling with him. Needless to say, he was very understanding about Makena and even laughed when she took to screaming for no reason -- other than because she knew it was flipping me out. I fed her bonbons.

EM met us at the airport and Jack returned from school shortly after we got home. He made me dinner! He cooked it all by himself. Apparently, while I was gone, EM taught him how to cook eggs, omelets, bacon and pasta. I was so proud of him. (Why couldn't I think of that?) He made me a pasta scramble with noodles, cheese, avocado, sausage and roast beef. It was delicious. We ate the whole bowl and then I headed off to bed and left Makena with them so that they could spend some quality time with her.

The rest is a blur.

Au revoir et a bientot.

Is - in need of a vacation

Training

Papi saw us off at the train station for the next leg of our trip, visiting a girlfriend and her family near La Rochelle (halfway up to Paris) on the Atlantic coast.

Makena has always enjoyed the Thomas shows on TV and one of her most favorite books is "Chugga Chugga Choo Choo," so she was excited to go on a train ride until she actually saw it pull into the station. I could tell that the sight of it impressed her and terrified her because she got very quiet and wouldn't take her eyes off it.
Nevertheless, Makena boarded without resistance and smiled seeing Papi wave goodbye to her. I have to admit that I was relieved to leave Pau with my clothes still fitting me. The amount of food, namely cheese and foie gras and wine that I ingested was nauseating (because I have no self-control). I can't believe my liver stood up to the assault but it did (thank you, mon petit foie). Makena on the other hand, having no say in this traveling adventure, decided to reclaim control by NOT eating (and not sleeping). She's not into bread so baguette meant nothing. She had yogurt, bottles of milk and strawberries, with the occasional cracker as sustenance. But the "piece de resistance" were these drinkable packs of apple sauce. The most brilliant packaging of mess-free kid food I have yet to come across. Why do we not have these in the States? Why, I ask?
Probably because the little yellow cap might be considered a chocking hazard... Still, I think the cleanliness outweighs the health risk.
The portable DVD (with the additional eight-hour battery pack) and a Pixter were my babysitters.
And then we finally arrived at my girlfriend's vacation home and it was paradise. The grounds were spectacular. The wine was refreshing and the souffle was light and fluffy.
They train the branches of their apple trees to grow straight along a wall -- which makes it easier to pick when it bears fruit.
Makena only had eyes for Diego. Partly because he was so charming and partly because she could say his name from watching the Go Diego, go shows.
She let Ines stick flowers in her hair.
But left to her own devices, Makena preferred her hoody, bottle and glasses. (Future rap star?) Chic, chick.

Is - a - looking for Spandex