Merry Christmas

Last year for Jack's school halloween parade I was a sushi roll. My friend, Jill, showed up as a ginger bread cookie. After I was asked how my pilates classes were coming along I was determined to be something more flattering in 2008. I announced that I would be a "sexy" Christmas tree. I had a whole year to figure it out and, of course, put it off to the last minute. Nevertheless, I felt like I achieved my goal in a Project Runway sort of way. Jill was at a loss as to what to be so I made her "present" costume and we paraded around the school as a team. It was pretty funny. I had battery operated Christmas lights (that you can't really see in the picture) and the star on my head actually blinked. This all came in handy when we went trick-or-treating later that night. Everyone could see me coming a mile away.
Makena was a Flamenco dancer. She wore my authentic Spanish dress! My father (the pack rat) kept it for me all these years and then mailed it to me when we came home with Makena. It fit her perfectly. She thought she was a princess.

Jack was a surfer eaten by a shark. We were going to bloody him up but he was concerned that he might scare the Kindergarteners. He later ditched the shark costume and went out in a bathing suit and rash guard because he could cover more ground in his quest for chocolate.

This was Mak's first real Halloween going door-to-door and being handed candy. She lasted all of four houses before falling asleep in the golf cart between stretches of houses. EM and grandpa drove her around while we proceeded on foot. She woke up the next morning made a b-line for the pillow case and dove into the candy before anyone noticed and could stop her. When we found her, her eyes were pinwheels. She was hooked. She was vibrating from the sugar rush and she had a whopper of a tantrum when we cut her off. She not only ate a third of the bag she actually hoarded some of the chocolate away. I found some under our sheets, under her bed and under the couch. She must have known that this was too good to be true. It was. The candy spent 48 hours in the house before we donated it back to our school, who then gave it away to some local nursing homes. Seniors deserve every opportunity to be jacked on sugar, after all.

Is-a-happy Halloween

Tang Soo Panda

Jack finally tested for, and received, his red belt in Tang Soo Do karate. He is pictured breaking a board with a side kick. EM almost didn't get the shot because Jack broke through on his second try!

Jack is now officially one color away from black. If he applies himself, he could be invited to test for the black belt by the time he enters middle school. This is huge. I know he does it because of my insistence (it teaches him coordination, discipline, mental focus and self-defense). I told him that if he really felt strongly about stopping, that he could quit the sport once he received his second degree black belt. So he plugs away at it week in, week out, wax on, wax off.


No sooner was his belt singed around his waist did he point his finger at me and order me to start taking classes, because of a silly little promise promise I made him about a year and a half ago (to keep him motivated) that I would start as soon as he hit red.

Okay, so I am now a Tang Soo newbie with two classes under my white belt (no pun intended.) If I apply myself, in a year, I could be taking classes with Jack -- which would be cool because we would have that to do together (AKA quality time) and because he would essentially be my (gulp) coach.

On a related matter, we took Makena to see her first movie in a theater. It was Kung Fu Panda. She sat on my lap for most of it until she couldn't take it any longer and jumped off. She spent the rest of the movie either punching Jack and me or kicking us in the shins.

EM was waiting for us when we got out of the theater and she ran out and kicked him in the knee.

Needless to say, Makena will soon be taking karate classes too.

Is a karate mom

Freeze Bobos

We had freakish weather over Memorial Day. A blizzard in May. Snow came down so hard and so fast that I had to pack chains to get up the mountain. Nevertheless, I persevered and we made it to the lake house safely. The foul weather was followed by a blanket of fog.Once it lifted, the sun came out and the snow melted but the weather was still biting cold. That didn't stop us from getting out on the lake for some fishing.

The only thing we caught was a picture of the four of us in the same frame.

A prize catch! I'm going to stuff it and mount it on the wall.

Isabelle

The Mei Meis

If you ask Makena what her name is, she will respond "Mei Mei." Until now, we have never referred to her that way. She has always been Makena, Mak, Kiki or La Diabla. Her Chinese name is Li Han. The reason I am slightly amazed is because the term happens to mean "little sister" in Mandarin. So I wonder if the diminutive is just a coincidence or if she has some memories of Chinese and is calling herself that because she might have been referred to as "Mei Mei," in her foster home or at the orphanage. The bottom line is, she is now called Mei Mei about 80% of the time.

Willa and Ruby, two little mei mei friends of Makena's came over to the house for our her first official play date. It was a challenging social experiment for our two-year old and she passed with flying colors. Until then, most of Makena's social/play activities had been centered around going to the park and interacting with children she met there, or while attending dance or music classes. This time she was the host and was subjected to having to share her toys and her space with two curious, lovely and charming three-year old girls.

We started the date off with an art session which really kept them focused for a long time and then we had the girls run around the yard looking for Rommel (pictured above,) petting the horses and trying to catch the chickens. The only emotional distress occurred at lunch time and was centered around having to share the (one) princess cup. Until then, Makena had graciously tolerated the assault on her toys and the trashing of her room but she drew the line at her Cinderella goblet. That was off-limits. For the safety and well-being of her guests, we let her win that battle.

The girls really drew Makena out of her shell and by the time they had to leave (for their naps,) she was interacting with them and bossing them around to follow her along on her cavalcades. It made me feel happy and very proud.

I can't wait to get the mei meis back together again soon.

Isabelle

Secret Identity

A phone call from Sears took me for a bit of a tailspin last Thursday. A woman called me from the store to ask if I had added anyone to my list of authorized users on my Sears card. I hadn't. She went on to say that a woman had purchased over five thousand dollars in goods at two store. This was done in person and giving enough of my personal information to get away with it until someone became suspicious and called me. I can't believe I actually picked up the phone. I'm a screener.

I spent Friday on the phone with the fraud department for all my credit cards, we established new passwords and checked my credit report (apparently, your mother's maiden name is part of the public record). I am now waiting to fill out a dossier they will be sending me shortly. I have to get it notarized.I have to include a police report. I have to go to my local sheriff and report it. Ugh.

I opened my mailbox on Saturday to discover a letter from the doctor's office (where I had my mammogram last week). I immediately assumed that since he hadn't sent me a purple postcard telling me that everything was fine, then the letter meant that he had something more ominous to share with me. I was right, except I was wrong.

A woman posing as a driver for a messenger company the doctor's office uses for their billing, stole all the personal billing records of the patients who had been examined the day I was there. We're talking: Social Security, driver's license, home address, birthday, etc. That's how my identity was stolen! They haven't caught her yet. They weren't able to nab the woman who had a shopping spree on my good credit either (maybe they are one and the same.) Why she couldn't steal my attention deficit or my procrastination or the little voice inside my head that encourages me to have an extra bite of cake when I shouldn't have any, really gets my goat. I might have let her shop a little bit longer out of sheer gratitude. I'm done.

I had to get that off my chest.

Is- not shopping

A thousand words

This is Makena. She is 2.5 years old and leaping off a diving board in the deep end of her swim teacher's pool. She can't swim, although thinks she can. She moves her body through the water like a dolphin and holds her breath until we fish her out for a breath of air.

I'm so glad we don't have a pool at home.

Is- staying dry... so far.

Proof

(Makena,discovering the joys of spelunking through a narrow box.)


(Jack investigating Makena's recycled wonderland.)



(The result: A half hour of impromptu sibling Co-play.)

This is proof that a brother and sister (seven years apart in age) can find commonality in cardboard and that with a little imagination and enough packaging to go around, fun can be free. Of course whatever was in the boxes cost us an arm and a leg. But that is beside the point. Or is it?

Isabelle

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.

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

Peace

For as long as I have had Makena in my life, I have been haunted by not knowing where exactly my mother's ashes were finally laid to rest. I needed a visual to bring me some closure and peace of mind and I finally got it. Although I traveled all the way to France with one suitcase, I had a cargo load full of emotional baggage I had dragged along with me for the ride and it was truly psychically exhausting. The day after we landed in Pau, Papi, Mimes and Francois (my cousin's husband) took Makena and me on a pilgrimage to Bizes, in the Pyrenees. I purchased flowers along the way and we had lunch at another cousin's home.

Makena fell asleep shortly after lunch, Papi passed out on a bench and I stood there twiddling my thumbs for a bit wondering whether I should wake either of them to accompany me and then I decided that this should be private.I was scared. I really didn't know how this expedition was going to play itself out so it was with some trepidation that I made my way over to this very old cemetery. When I finally located her plot it was almost anticlimactic. I laid the flowers on her patch of eternity and stood there for a moment, crying.

In the distance I could see the snow swept mountains, the pastures of grazing sheep and the old tombstones and it was perfect. Mom was home, where she ultimately wanted to be, surrounded in death as in life by what she treasured: beauty and family.

When I returned to the house, Makena was still asleep. I laid down next to her and held her.

Is - looking to the future

Rats

Our friend Joan took on the job of hosting the Chinese New Year festivities this year and we had a blast. I scoured a couple of stores looking for celebratory goodies and came upon some gems in the Halloween sale bins: Rodent noses!
The masquerade lasted all of five minutes but I did manage to snap a few pictures of Jack and his beauties: Makena, Lulu, Alice and Sally. He was really sweet and played with them without complaining. He even allowed them to chase him with swords, wands and fairy wings all evening.
Sally and Makena stole themselves away and took a minute to discover the candy I had added to the goody bags. I'll rethink that next year. Before I knew it, Makena had eaten her entire bag (and most of Jack's) and did not fall asleep on the car ride home at nine o'clock at night -- because she was "jacked" on sugar!

Thank you Joan (and family) for allowing us to trash your house. (I mean celebrate with you.) But then that should be expected since you invited a bunch of rats over for dinner...

Is - awake

Papi

Papi (Mak and Jack's grandpa) finally made the journey to meet his granddaughter for the first time. As is the case in my family, the trip was ripe with drama. The plane took off from Montreal for a stop-over in Chicago before heading onto L.A. when one of the doors threatened to blow off at thirty-five thousand feet. The plane was redirected to Ottawa where it made an emergency landing. Then all the passengers were put on a return flight to Montreal and then reassigned flights to the destinations they were headed to in the first place. Papi then elected to fly to Vancouver to grab a connecting flight south. My eighty-three year old father finally stumbled out of the Los Angeles terminal around eleven PM - twelve hours later than he was supposed to arrive and about twenty-three hours since he had last gone to sleep.

I was at first worried for him and then relieved that he hadn't aborted his plans because we hardly ever get to see him. He spends half the year in Canada (the cold months) and the other half in Spain (the hot months) so we only get two windows of time during the year when he is able to visit us.

I was concerned about how Makena would react to him and I was ready with cautions and warnings, telling my dad that I had to hold her, that he couldn't just pick her up whenever he wanted because it might freak her out and not to be concerned if at first she ignored him (or drop-kicked him) -- as Makena sometimes does when she meets new people. In typical Papi fashion, he didn't hear a word I said. (He's deaf and refuses to get fitted with a hearing aid!) And before I knew it he had scooped her up and was kissing and tickling her. I was stunned when she didn't wiggle out of his grasp or smack him. She giggled. A few hours later, I was getting dinner ready and I caught her drinking her bottle cuddled on his lap, watching Barney! I couldn't believe it. We took him to visit grandpa and grandma -- they hadn't seen each other since EM and I got married (fifteen years, two months and eight days ago) and then we journeyed on to San Diego and hooked up with another one of Makena's China cousins, Mea, along with her mother and older sister, Ashley. We met at Sea World and Jack convinced Papi to take a ride on Atlantis while I headed off to the polar bear exhibit. I hooked up with them a half-hour later to find them soaked. Jack was grumbling something about Papi having embarrassed him (welcome to the club.) He apparently attempted to wipe down the wet seat with a few of his MacDonald paper napkins (he tends to carry around with him.) Makena spent the day with Mea and the girls had a great time running left and right all over the place. After we returned home, Papi helped Jack construct his Spanish mission for his 4th grade Social Studies class. It took several days to accomplish and they worked really well together. After I saw how Papi was dressed for the endeavor, I insisted that the project be completed indoors. (we have a recessive "style" gene on my side of the family.) I was mortified that the neighbors might catch site of him in his paint splattered swim trunks and sweater vest and have him arrested by the fashion police.

Makena spent the rest of Papi's two week visit calling after him and bossing him around to chase her or sit and watch a program or drink from her tea set. He always obliged or indulged her with attention and hugs and he had a great time reconnecting with Jack, playing board games and telling him stories. We were really sad to see him go and are now contemplating a trip to Spain to go visit him because we just don't travel enough in this family.

We miss you Papi and hope to see you soon!

Is-a-frequent flyer