Taking Shameless Advantage . . .

. . . to show off how cute they were at bathtime on an otherwise extremely challenging day:

Where We Live Now

I like it here. It's designed around families. It's green, safe, welcoming, and full of interesting things for children to do, with a minimal amount of parental involvement. (not that I'm lazy, but, ya know).

There are lots of playgrounds in the complex:


And all the roads through the complex are pedestrian, so the kids are free to run around as they please:

Shoot Me Now

Yeah, we're sick again. With the mother of all cold/flu viruses, this one combining sinus and bronchial congestion with a sore throat, ear trouble, and just to round it out, tummy trouble as well. The only thing worse than parenting sick kids is trying to do it when you yourself are sick.

Blech.

Goodbye, Sweet Baby's Breath

The other night, Alec single-handedly polished off every sliver of garlic remaining in the pan after dinner. The next morning I awoke to . . . garlic breath! Coming out of my two-year-old! Sometimes being a foodie has its price . . .

Why I'm Not Writing About Law School

Because I'm not in law school yet, of course! I feel like this blog is all about the kids, but trust me that will change - once I'm doing anything that isn't all about kids.

Hair Saga

Caveat: only read this if you actually want to hear all about my hair.

You know how sometimes we make ridiculous, insane hair decisions? Well, last September I got my hair permed because a friend of mine had done so, and I loved her hair. Except, of course, that my friend is Japanese, and so has totally different hair than I do. Despite my insistance upon a loose, ringlet-style curl, using large rollers (note: I know almost nothing about hair styling, and probably was asking for something impossible), my stylist insisted that she knew what she was doing and used little tiny rollers. So, I ended up with a tight kinky wave. Almost like crimped hair. And super, super frizzy. Oh, and the first 2.5 inches of hair, from the scalp down, didn't take the curl because it was new growth after my last colour. And the stuff that *did* take the curl turned a brassy colour after the perm.

Yeah. I went through many months of carefully attempting to fix my hair every day, with mixed results. I cut my hair once in that time - I wanted to cut off most of the curl, but I knew that if my hair was short, what was left with curl would turn me into a puff-ball. I did colour a couple of times, to tone down the brassiness. By the end of it all, the last few inches of my hair was ugly and dry. Then there was the fact that the perm relaxed unevenly, meaning I had portions of stick-straight hair, lots of frizzy-but-not-curly hair, and areas of beautiful wave. Blech.

So yesterday I went and got my hair cut. It's still got a bit of wave to it, and now it's a sort of long bob, or pageboy cut. Of course, I made the dreadful error of not asking the hairdresser the price of the cut ahead of time, and so shelled out $27 for a cut I had to fix up with fingernail scissors later, at home.

So, to sum up: never, ever, ever perm your hair. Also, don't assume a haircut will be cheap just because the hairdresser works in a dive and gives shoddy haircuts. And, finally, remember that time heals all haircuts.

Don't Even Think It . . .

. . . should be the catchphrase of every parent. For instance, last night after a long day of playing, eating out, and little napping, I thought, "well, they'll drop like flies tonight!"

Never, ever think that. Not even deep down in the secret recesses of your heart. Bedtime last night was a whole lot of fighting, crying, yelling (on their parts, not ours), and general nastiness, that left us staring glassy-eyed at the wall once it was over.

OCD, or just normal preschoolers?

Alec can't handle broken food. As in, heaven help you if you break a granola bar in half. This morning he tore his toast, and insisted that I repair it before he could continue eating.

Joffre has to close every open gate we encounter while out walking. Last night at the restaurant, he went around to every unoccupied table, pushing in the chairs so they were even. It's like living with a pint-sized Monk, with less crime-solving.

Our House

This is our student family residence:




I'm not leaving till they kick us out.

Food, Glorious Food

We went out, with the kids, to celebrate our eighth anniversary last night. We went to the Chinese restaurant in the University Village, and had peking duck. They loved it. Every time Joffre took a bite of lettuce wrap, his eyes rolled back in his head in delight. Alec was dipping duck fat in hoisin sauce like a trooper. Joffre insisted on raw green onion in his mushu pancakes.

I'm so glad they're foodies!

This Can't Have Happened . . .

Last night Alec kept pointing at his sippy cup and saying something unintelligible. I looked at the cartoon picture on the cup and said, "si! Es un leon!" To which he replied, "no es leon, es diboo-hoh!" I said, "es dibujo?" "Siiii!"

Translated, the conversation went like this: "yes! That's a lion!" "No a lion, a drawing!" "A drawing?" "Yeeees!"

My two-year-old didn't just tell me a cartoon lion was not a lion, but a drawing . . . did he??

Mondays Suck

I know, it's Tuesday, but yesterday was a holiday so it counts as a Monday. And preschoolers don't understand about Mondays. By the time the weekend is over, they've forgotten that Daddy ever had a job, so they wake up begging for Daddy and furiously betrayed when they find that he is gone. And it just goes downhill rapidly from there.

What the Kids are Like

I don't know, somehow I feel like giving a little profile, a little sketch of each of the children . . .

Joffre, age 4
Has a seemingly limitless need for cuddles and affection.
Tends to be distracted almost as a default condition.
Tunes out the rest of the world at the drop of a hat.
Loves mazes, puzzles, numbers, and maps.
Can do basic addition and subtraction, and independently began exploring multiplication ("Mom, how much is three eights?")
Asks existential questions, like "Mom, are we real?"
Speaks to Alec almost exclusively in Spanish.

Alec, age 2
Loves to sing, putting wild dynamics into his songs.
Scolds and lectures in babble.
Loves to draw.
Has a huge vocabulary in English and in Spanish.
Lately begins every sentence with "maybe, quizas."
Asks "why?" all the time.
Tends to bite unexpectedly.
Flirts impishly when trying to get away with murder.

Like any kids, they could probably live on waffles, cereal, and hot dogs, but unlike most kids they're game to eat almost anything. Joffre still won't eat fruit, and Alec doesn't like raw vegetables, but they are both addicted to olives, sushi, dim sum, fried onions, and every kind of sauce, dressing, or topping available.

Today's Moment of White-Hot Pride

Joffre can read!! Well, not really. But there I was, reading my book, and he leaned in over my shoulder and said, "Mom, I can see two 'ofs' in your book." And, sure enough, the word 'of' appeared twice on the page! Then he spotted 'up' as well. So, maybe I should redouble my efforts to teach him to read.

He has also taken to telling his younger brother little stories he makes up, which is pretty sweet.

Back on the Wet Coast

Well, we got here Monday. I have a cold, so as the plane landed in Vancouver, my ability to hear dwindled to almost nothing. It's getting better, but still not good. Several weeks - months? - of exhaustion fell on my head as soon as stepped through the door of my new, permanent home (well, as permanent as makes no nevermind), and I'm just now beginning to emerge from under that, as well.

I love the apartment. It's really a two-storey house, with a decent kitchen, small dining room, big living room, 1.5 baths, and 3 good-sized bedrooms. Storage is reasonable, especially because we have a large storage room immediately adjacent to our door. We also have a nice patio that looks out onto a green space, and we inherited a barbecue from the previous residents. Once our furniture and the bulk of our possessions come from Peru and Manitoba, we will have a real grown-up home.

Of course, it was sunny for the first few days we were here, but now it is gloomy and rainy. But I don't mind. I'm taking it pretty easy for now, getting my bearings, getting the kids settled in, and looking forward to summer. The wonderful thing about how we've timed all of this is that we've gone from South American summer to Canadian spring, and now we're heading right back into summer.

Man, winter's going to be a blow.

A Perfect Example of the Title of this Blog . . .

. . . suddenly, we are cat-owners-by-proxy. Which is to say, our housekeeper's son took in a stray kitten, and I've taken some responsibility for it, dealing with vet care and so on, and letting it stay at our house during the day, when there's nobody home at their house. But these things snowball (guess what Joffre named the kitten?), and I have a feeling the shift of ownership is going to be inevitable. The kids are totally smitten, and it's heartwarming to see how loving and caring they are with the little guy.

But we can't take a kitty back to Canada with us.

I want a kitty.

sigh . . .

Uighur Nan Recipe

This is a bread I truly love. You have to cook it on a pizza stone or on the back of a cookie sheet in the oven at the highest heat you have - around 500 degrees.

Ingredients:
1.25 cups warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp yeast
1/2 Tbsp salt
3.5 cups (approx) white flour

Garnish:
rock salt
chopped green onion
caraway seeds
cumin seeds

Mix the sugar with the water and sprinkle the yeast overtop. Once the yeast is nice and foamy, add the salt and flour and mix and knead till you have a nice elastic dough. Cover, but don't oil, and leave to rise for about an hour in a warm place.

Punch dough down, knead briefly, and let rise again for about a 1/2 hour.

Have a bowl of water handy for the next bit.

Roll dough out into a long snake and cut into eight equal pieces. Put the pizza stone or cookie sheet in the oven, and turn it on to 500 degrees. Shape pieces of dough into balls and roll out into 8-inch rounds (note: I cannot for the life of me make these rounds round). Using a fork, punch many many holes in the centre of the rounds. The idea is to leave the edges to puff up while the middle is flat and cracker-like. Wash a bit of the water over the surface of the round, sprinkle with rock salt, and toss a bit of green onion and spices over the centre. Place as many nans on the pizza stone as will easily fit without touching, and let bake until puffy and golden. When the nan comes out of the oven, brush it with a bit of melted butter while still hot.

Serve with curries, kebabs, Middle Eastern salads - - - anything you like, really.

Vague Nod at Food Category

I used to post recipes occasionally in my old blog, and I think I'll start doing it again. I'm lousy at recipes generally, since I usually just cook by instinct, but there is the odd recipe that is worth talking about:

Mediterranean Lamb Stew
Ingredients:
5-6 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp hot pepper sauce
2 tsps cumin
1 tsp cardamom (optional)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp ginger powder or small amount grated fresh ginger
1 tsp salt
3-4 lamb chops (neck)
1/2 chicken boullion cube or 1/2 tsp bouillion powder
4 large carrots
1.5 cups chopped zucchini, eggplant, or other squash
1 diced onion
1 cup fava or garbanzo beans, or substitute chopped green beans
1 large handful diced parsley or fresh coriander
juice of 1 small lemon
1 cup of green olives (or figs, or apricots, or raisins)

In a food processor or blender, combine everything before "lamb chops" (or just crush garlic and mix thoroughly with the rest). Coat chops with this mixture and let sit for 20 minutes or so. Put chops in a deep pot on the stove over a very low heat, and heat for ten or 15 minutes. Add water to cover, carrots, squash, onions and beans, cover, and let simmer over extremely low heat for 2 hours. Feel free to adjust quantities to taste.

Once lamb is well cooked, remove from stew and bring remaining ingredients to a boil, to thicken and reduce liquid. Cool lamb slightly and strip meat from bones. If you like, you can put the meat under the broiler at this point to crisp it and brown it a bit. When stew is nearly ready, reduce heat and add lemon juice, coriander or parsley, meat, and olives or fruit. Cook until olives or fruit are thoroughly heated.

Serve with steamed rice, couscous, or quinoa and fresh bread with butter.

Serves 4, or two really hungry people. ;)

What I've Been Waiting For

I got an email last night telling me that I'd been accepted at UBC. Only two days earlier, I'd received word that they finally had my LSAT score and had forwarded my application on for review.

It feels so wonderful to have this over with, and just be looking forward to the next step. I feel like looking into picking up textbooks ahead of time so I can get studying before the school year starts. That's gotta be a good sign!

Oh, the Glitches . . .

So, I finally followed up on the file status issue. It turns out that they were under the impression that my LSAT was not to be taken until February. I cringe when I think of the office staff rolling their eyes at the twit who wants to know if her file is complete, when she hasn't even written the test yet . . .

So I emailed with my score and my LSAC ID number, but got no response. For five days. So I phoned and talked with an administrator who was very sweet and friendly but not at all helpful - basically she told me not to worry, and that my file was not complete but that everything would be fine.

Today I called the woman with whom I'd been emailing, directly, and asked her about it. She said that when they try to get my score from LSAC, they get a "results unavailable, future test date" message, or something to that effect. So, it looks as though the problem is on LSAC's end, not mine (as in, mistake on application), or on the university's. So, I guess that's good? She said she would look into it, took my SIN and LSAC ID again, and said she'd let me know what she digs up.

At least I'm on their radar now, right?