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M & K

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Meera and Kyle have their own brother-sister bond. Their relationship is totally different than the relationship between Owen and Meera. Kyle does not like to hold Meera very often — he never has — he’s too afraid he’ll hurt her. But he has a special way of connecting with Meera that is all his own. While Owen connects with Meera so physically, Kyle connects with her verbally and emotionally. He tells her stories and “reads” her books. Since he has most books memorized, word-for-word, his “reading” to Meera is actually exactly as if he really were reading to her since he’s reciting the pages perfectly almost all the time. In the photo above he’s “reading” her The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein… Kyle’s current favorite book. My favorite Kyle-Meera thing, though, is this: At random times throughout the day Kyle will take a quick break, from whatever it is he’s doing, to run up to Meera, wherever she is. And in the briefest of a moment, he’ll quickly nuzzle his face very close to hers, squint his eyes very tight, and he’ll whisper to her. There are only two things he says and he fluctuates between them; he whispers the same two things to her each and every time. This has been going on for several weeks now. I don’t know why he says these things, or how exactly he came to fixate on these two little whispers from him to her. Sometimes he says, “Rumpelstiltskin!” The other times he says, “Magic in the treetops!” And then, just as quickly as he stopped to whisper to his sister, he’s off and running back to whatever it was he was doing. And Meera is left with a halfway-wondering-and-halfway-adoring smile on her face and a huge glittery sparkle in her eye.

M & O

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Meera is teething. She cut her first tooth about a week ago. Over the past couple of days the second tooth has popped through. Two bottom teeth for our little sweet baby. I hate to see the teeth poking through, I hate to feel them breaking through her gum, because I just hate to have to see her grow up. Why can’t she stay my tiny baby forever??? Why? Why? Why? Oh, she is pure sweetness and, oh, how I wish she’d never be more than 5 months old. Ba ha waaaa. Anyhoo… enough about that. The poor baby is teething. And if she can get her hands on it, it is in her mouth rubbing up against her sore little gums. It really does seem like teething toys were made for this girl. As though they were invented for her. Adding insult to injury, she’s also been struggling this past week with Daylight Savings Time. We switched the clocks back a solid week ago now, but still Little Miss still insists on going to bed at her old bedtime (6:00ish which is now 5:00ish). She’s kind of cramping our style in terms of Family Dinner. Really, who goes to bed for the night at 5:00???? But what can we say? This is a girl who loves her sleep. Despite her teething and her excessive sleeping, she’s a bundle of baby love. Gurgling, squealing, drooling, everything-in-the-mouth, cuddly-baby-bundle-of-love. Even as she’s been cutting these two teeth and revolting against Daylight Savings, Little Miss Meera remains the happiest, most mellow, most happy-go-lucky baby I’ve ever encountered. For real. What I really want to post about, though, is the special bond that is in full swing right now between Meera and Owen. This is a girl who loves her Owen almost as much as she loves her sleep and her teething toys. She loves Kyle too, don’t get me wrong. But there’s something special right now between M & O. Owen spends a lot of time holding Meera. He asks to hold her multiple times a day. And when he holds her he’ll sit and cuddle with her for long extended periods (that is, long for an active 4-year-old boy). They hang out together a lot. And that is what it is with them — they hang out. They just hang out together in a way that I have to think must be unusual for a 4.5 year old and a 5 month old. They are pretty interesting to watch. Oh, and there is no one– no one– who can make Meera laugh like Owen can.

Haiti Stuff for the Under 5 Set

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Nikki left a comment on the post below asking for tips for fun Haiti-related stuff for young kids.
My favorite is a Haiti Coloring Book called Bel Peyi Mwen: A Children’s Coloring Book of Haiti.
Click here for the amazon.com link

There are some good children’s books out there that pay tribute to Haiti. I have found, however, that they aren’t generally geared to very young children. And the truth is that the ones we have are still sitting on the upper shelf waiting for when K & O are a bit older. We have a great book that they love, though, that is not focused on Haiti per se, but is still terrific for Haitian kids. It is Caribbean Dream by Rachel Isadora. Awesome illustrations!
Click here for the amazon link

Another great tip from us to you is Haitian musical instruments, art (paintings, crafts, etc.), and jewelry. Some of this can be great for young kids. We have a bunch of instruments from Haiti that K & O love. And they like to look at jewelry, etc. that we have from Haiti. And we have art/crafts from Haiti on the walls and shelves all over our house. Look for places online that sell Haitian-made stuff. Just start googling and searching and you’ll eventually start finding things. One site I love is “Konny’s Korner” —
Click here for the link

Let us know if you find great Haitian stuff for young kids too!!! :) HBJ

"cleaning"

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I put ‘cleaning’ in “QUOTES” because the cleaning (not in quotes) required to clean up their “cleaning” is a lot more cleaning than the “cleaning” itself. But man, do they love “cleaning”! Leave ’em alone unoccupied for a few minutes and next thing you know they’re “cleaning” — they’ve gotten themselves into the Cleaning Closet in the laundry room… and all *heck* has broken loose! “Cleaning” “cleaning” craze craze craze. A tornado-like frenzy of frenetic “cleaning”-spraying-squirting-swooshing-mopping-scrubbing-“cleaning.” Usually it starts in the bathroom and then gradually moves into the kitchen. “Real men clean boys! Real men clean!” I cheer, as I dart back and forth re-directing a spray nozzle here (so it doesn’t go straight into an eye) and re-positioning a mop there (so it doesn’t slam-dent the baseboard). If it is left to go on long enough they’ll move through the whole house, with me gently guiding them (until I lose my patience and it turns into not-so-gentle-guidance at which point the fun of it usually ceases for them pretty quickly and they run off to other things leaving me in peace to clean up the “clean up.”) I’ve been trying to roll with it, though, calling up all the patience I have within me, and just grinning-and-bearing the follow-up cleaning required, because I figure that what I’m going through now is well worth it for the THANKS AND PRAISE I’ll be receiving someday down the road from their future life-partners. I imagine it now: proud me, as a sixty-something-year-old, my cup runneth over with gratitude from my lovely daughters-or-sons-in-laws (I just have to believe –or else I’ll cry– that we’ll have legalized marriage for all consenting adult partners by then). Anyway, I can deal with delayed gratification. Oh, yes I can. They’ll be thanking me someday for these modern men. And I’m putting it out there to the universe now: whoever you are, you out there, you who will be my boys’ life-partners someday…. YOU OWE ME BIG TIME FOR THIS!!!!!!! BIG TIME!!!! đŸ˜‰

Mazes

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Owen and Kyle love mazes. Owen was really the first to start this love-affair, but Kyle quickly caught on to it too. And now they are equally enamored. They’ve been loving doing mazes for about a year now. They’ve gone through many books of mazes– some simple and some more complex. We are currently in a phase where the boys do mazes almost every morning before school. My mind sometimes wanders while I’m watching them do mazes. The symbolism of mazes– as an analogy to life– captures my thinking and I find myself pondering where we’ve been, and wondering where we’re going.

BARACKO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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the J-M 3 this morning,
watching a re-run of Obama’s historic victory speech in Grant Park last night
***
The boys slept together last night in Owen’s bed. They were sleeping soundly in there as Braydon and I watched the television, astounded and teary, as Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election fair and square. My thoughts were all over the map, but kept coming back to my boys. Words cannot describe what it means to a black boy’s mother as we watch this unfold. The significance that Barack Obama’s mother was white is also not lost on us here in the J-M household. After nursing Meera around 2:30am, I checked in on my boys. They were both lying on their backs, fully outstretched, with their arms wrapped around each other’s. I stared and tried to pour the message into their little minds through the universe in the night: ‘He won my babies, he won. You will wake up to a new day.’ This morning Kyle was quick to ask, “Who winned Papi?! Who winned?!” ‘Guess what guys?!!! Barack Obama is our president!! PRESIDENT OBAMA!!!” They (Kyle especially) literally jumped for joy. They were concerned about McCain. They were worried he was sad. We talked about what it means to win –and lose– fair and square. And what it means to concede. Then they ran to tell Meera, just waking up in her crib. “BarackO winned Meera! He winned as president!!!” We turned on the t.v. in the kitchen for the second day in a row. This time to watch BarackO as President Elect, and to get glimpses of the next First Lady and two little girls with “beautiful brown skin just like us.” These images are so powerful. To say that this is profound is an understatement. At three different moments this morning I held each of my children in my arms and whispered to them, for the first time ever, what I now actually do believe to be true: “My baby, you can be anything. The sky’s the limit now. You can be anything you want to be.” The barrier has been broken. It is not all peaches and cream. There is struggle to come. There is a long road ahead. But we have turned a corner. Today is a new day.

Voting

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Our voting place is within walking distance of our house, so we all strolled down there this afternoon to cast our votes for BarackO. Kyle voted with me in one booth and Owen voted with Braydon in another booth (while Meera kept watch to make sure nobody was peeking– see photo below!). They had a “Kids Voting USA” station set up next door. It was a great thing. So, K & O got to officially vote for BarackO themselves— which was way cool. A good time was had by all (including all the lookers-on… we were quite a scene). NBC news just called Pennsylvania for Obama, and just like everyone else in the world Braydon and I will be glued to the t.v. all night long waiting to see how this turns out.

Election 2008

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Growing up my parents had a big burlap banner that hung on the wall of the cottage we lived in all summer at the camp my parents ran. The banner said, “Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.” I can’t look at the three photos below (taken this morning) without thinking of that banner.

The boys are sporting their “BarackO” shirts today and have a pretty decent grasp of the basics of a big presidential election. Here’s what they know: a) the president is the “boss of the whole country,” b) the country we live in is the United States of America, c) we elect our presidents here by voting, d) voting means you choose which person you want to be president, e) voting is important, f) not every country designates their leaders this way, g) here in the U.S. people 18 and older can vote [they are –understandably so– very perturbed that children can’t vote], h) today we are choosing between Barack Obama and John McCain, i) our family wants BarackO, j) it is very exciting and Mommy and Papi are all revved up about it. If only it were all that simple. There’s a lot more for them to learn in the years to come… obviously. The magnitude of this historic moment in our country’s past-present-future is pretty much lost on them. But I hope that someday they’ll ‘get it.’ In the meantime, they are pretty pumped up about the parts of it they do ‘get.’ And they know ‘it’ must be huge because we actually turned the t.v. on this morning and had the news on while we got ready for breakfast (the t.v. is basically never on while the boys are awake). Later today we’ll be bringing them with us to vote so that: a) they can see it in action, and b) so that we can always tell them that they came with us to vote in that monumental election when –*HOPE*FULL*Y*– BarackO became president and a corner was turned in our nation’s history. BARACK THE VOTE PEOPLE! OBAMA FOR CHANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the J-M 3 watching the election coverage closely

Big Huge Giant Play-Date

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I’ve been meaning to blog about this, and unfortunately it is one of the many things that has fallen through the cracks this past month. But I just don’t want to leave it out entirely because it was a really big deal for the boys that I don’t want to be forgotten along the way. One day in early October when we were driving home from school Owen started talking about how he wanted to have a play date. Since the boys are in separate classrooms I thought it would be a great idea to have each of them pick a friend to have over after school one day. I asked them who they wanted to each choose from their classrooms. This launched them into a lengthy and vibrant discussion that basically centered on each of them listing off all of the kids in their classes. We talked about it and talked about it the whole ride home, but neither of them could narrow their choices down to just one friend each. Eventually Kyle said, “I have an idea! Let’s have a big huge giant play date!!!” Owen jumped right on it. “Yes! Yes! We can invite everyone!!!!” At first I thought, “No way!!!” but then I thought, “Hmmm… why not?!” So we made the invitation over that weekend (the boys dictated to me as I typed it up on the computer), they helped me get the invitations all set (Owen water-color painted the envelopes and Kyle stapled directions to our house to all of the invites), and we put them in everyone’s mailboxes the following Monday morning. The RSVP’s poured in that week, and that Friday we had 25 kids over to play after school! It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon. I bought cookies and cider and bottled water and made a pot of coffee for the parents. It was a crazy crazy big, huge, giant play-date and it was a lot of fun. Kyle and Owen were in heaven.

the invite

Monday morning, ready to bring all the invitations to school
ready for the play-date
fun!

Kyle with his best friend from school, Edmund

holding Meera was definitely a big hit with all the girls, especially these twin girls who are good friends with K & O

the back yard

at one point I counted 16 kids on the trampoline… K & O were in their glory!