I like to do research. That shouldn’t be surprising given my educational and professional choices. As I was becoming a mother I did a LOT of research so I could feel more informed. One thing I remember learning is that teaching young kids academic topics like letters and counting isn’t nearly as valuable as teaching them social skills, naming emotions, following directions, etc. A kindergarten teacher can easily teach kids letters, but teaching them to stay in their seat to LEARN about those letters is really a core skill they need to actually get to the letter learning part. I’ve really taken this to heart. We work a lot on these social-emotional skills. And, well, it seems to be paying off. Every quarter Moriarty’s school has an award ceremony where the teachers nominate their students for awards like the Life Skills of Leadership or Flexibility, etc. Moriarty has won a few awards before, but this was the first time Pip and I knew in advance. Of the 5 kids in my son’s class that won awards, Moriarty won the Life Skill of Responsibility. He really demonstrates this at home too. A couple nights ago Lorelei woke up vomiting and Moriarty jumped up, without being asked got her water and woke me up to help. Part of me wants to be falsely modest but no, I paved the way for him to excel at this. I read the damn books. I taught Pip what I’d learned. We parented as a team and focused on these core skills. We expect them to do chores and clean as part of the family, not for money. I did this. And while we’re bragging about these skills, Lorelei knocked one out of the park too. Moriarty was upset that I was unavailable and he wanted me, M: “I want mama!!!”. L: “I want mama too, but I can wait”. Yep. She’s 4.5. I will accept my Fruits of my Labor award now. :-)
This is the holiday season and we have holidayed. We typically do halloween with Pip’s sister’s family, but they had Covid in the house so we went with one of Moriarty’s school friends instead. Moriarty is currently obsessed with Zelda so he went as Link (the main character, Zelda is the princess). Lorelei was a rainbow butterfly, which was honestly not that different from her regular clothes. They got absurd amounts of candy and got bored with it quickly. I have helped them eat their candy. Lisandro helped the kids carve pumpkins and do decorations all over the house.
Then we had Thanksgiving! Lorelei and Sofia put on a dress-up fashion show using materials from my mother’s old performance trunk. She used those props when singing storybook songs with kids at concerts. I lugged a trunk of those props all over Paris. We have quite a connection so watching my baby and her cousin giggle as pirates or a princess with her royal guard. But since we all know Thanksgiving is really about food, Lorelei helped me make pie, mostly by watching for when the whipped cream formed stiff peaks, and licking all the bowls/spatulas. It was very fun. Not too overwhelming. We played a lot of cards with Pam, a staple of a Johnson visit. We hoped Lisandro would join for his first Thanksgiving but he slept all day. Oh well. Cultural exchange fail. He is now seeing his first live Christmas tree, currently wrapped in the living room but we’ll decorate it tonight. In Argentina they all use plastic trees.
Another big theme right now is art, primarily for Moriarty. I often walk in to find cut up cardboard, or paper, or wads of tape, and he happily making a sword, or fake rupees, or drawing a Pikachu. If he finds something rigid, with the help of blue tape he will make it into a weapon. And if he finds something flat, it becomes a shield. We are 100% ready for the blue tape zombie apocalypse. (him repurposing an anti-fatigue mat as a truck ramp)
Quick updates. We lost 2 more chickens to a bobcat attack. It ripped open the metal chicken wire. We have 2 left and will get some babies in the spring. It was sad, but we’re getting used to this circle of life stuff. And Lorelei went to her first birthday party that she was directly invited to. Until now it’s been family or Moriarty’s friends’ parties. But now, she is in school and her friends are inviting her personally.
Recent pictures are here, pass mal
Note: I finished writing this post about 1.5 weeks ago so it’s missing the recent Xmas stuff. That’ll come soon.
Quotes:
Lorelei to Lisa: "Doctor Mommy. You're a doctor, but not a proper doctor"
Lorelei was admiring my dangly pink sparkly earrings and asked if she can have them when I'm dead. Now, for context, we had been talking about Papa Kent’s possessions and who inherited what.
L: [Scratching scab on her face] "It's like it's been here forever."
Pip: "It hasn't been that long only about 3 days."
L: "Three days is a really long time."
– This one really gets me because Pip and I often talk about how a month or year to a young kid is an enormous fraction of their lives. It seemed here that Lorelei gets that.
Videos:
Lorelei playing in a giant pile of scarves
Moriarty doing a taekwondo routine (poomse) - he’s center in the mask