Make a Smilebox scrapbook

"Reading"

Matias can “read” the above logos, along with a long list of other words. He has been able to do this for a few months now. The interesting thing is that although I highly doubt he is reading the words in a sound-it-out phonetic way, he does recognize the words beyond their colours and distinctive fonts. One day when he was drinking from a plastic cup, he noticed the imprint on the bottom and told me that the cup was from Ikea. The lettering was not “Sweden” yellow, but green like the cup from which he was drinking. I think the words exist as whole chunks for him and not as groups of letters. Probably not anything to get excited about, but I can’t help being a little bit proud that he can “read”. Thank goodness he can read the Vancouver Public Library sign; otherwise his words would consist almost entirely of all the stores where I shop…
On another note, Pentti was cutting an apple a few weeks ago. I asked Matias whether he could have half, daddy could have half and I could have half. He informed me that there can only be two halves in one apple :)
He is also picking up English at his preschool. His word order is a little off, but it’s surprising how well he has adjusted. For awhile I was regretting our choice to teach him Finnish only at home, but I think we made the right choice after all. I think that in order to learn a language that is not the predominant one outside the walls of your home, you need to make it the only one in the home. Matias is surrounded by English. It is inevitable that he will learn to speak it. Not only that, but having a really strong base in his mother tongue and a rich vocabulary in Finnish will actually help him learn English. I have seen so many ESL kids who don’t learn English properly because they have never learned their mother tongue properly first. Anyway….Matias’ latest thing is when he misbehaves, he looks at me and says , “Sorry Annika”. I don’t know how he thought of saying that, but it made me laugh. So naturally, now he says it every time he misbehaves. I can’t help it; it’s kind of funny and it makes me laugh.

Life

Sometimes life sucks. A lot. This would be one of those times. I have no camera to post any pictures because both of our good digital cameras got stolen when our home was broken into this week. We came home to find all the doors open on the middle floor. The drawers in our bedroom had been rifled through, my jewelry box, and who knows what else. It is such a creepy feeling to know that someone has been in your house and looked through your stuff. I don't care that much about what they took (although they did get my wedding ring among others). Stuff is so material, I can always buy more. But the creepy feeling is the worst part, along with the fear that they might come back.
To add insult to injury, or in this case, injury to insult, this morning, as I was carrying Joonas down the stairs, I slipped on a toy and fell all the way down the stairs with Joonas. ARGH. We went to the doctor and Joonas appears to be fine. I had to go for some xrays and for those I don't have the results yet. But I hurt, all over. I can't step on my left heel at all and my right knee is shot.
Anyway, that's been my life. They say that bad things happen in 3s (well old Finnish ladies do anyway). So, the company Pentti works for continues to be in financial crisis. We got robbed and now I fell down the stairs. Could that be the "three"? This dark cloud of gloom and misery can pass onto someone else now; I have had enough.

Christmas

I am starting to get into the Christmas spirit, even though it is only the middle of November. I know, it's early, but this fall has been extremely stressful in our family.Looking forward to Christmas sort of helps me forget all that. However, I don't want to pull out the tree yet, or put up the wreaths on the doors, so I am doing little things, without going overboard. I know that Christmas is totally commercialized, but that's not why I love it. I don't care about the presents. I hate the crowded shopping and circling around and around for parking. It drives me crazy that Costco gets their Christmas stuff out in August every year. That's sick.

But, I love the songs. I love the lights everywhere and all the candles. I love the smell of the baking. The food is so yummy. I love buying presents for people, especially when I find something that I think they will really love. My brother and his wife are coming home for Christmas, so my whole family will be together. The anticipation of Christmas is the best part. And of course, with two little boys in the house, I get to relive Christmas through the excited eyes of a child.

So, today I pulled out the Christmas candelabra. It's beautiful without being full-on Christmassy. During the next couple of weeks, I will pull out a couple more festive (subtle) decorations. But at the end of November, watch out...there will be no holding me back!

Cooking

I have a new resolution to try at least one new recipe every week. It gets pretty boring making the same things all the time, so at the risk of making some truly bad tasting new things, I am experimenting in the hopes of discovering some new gems. A few weeks ago I made classic lemon loaf. It turned out well, especially the second time when I added extra lemon icing. Yum. This past weekend, I tried to make eggs benedict. Not so yummy. They weren't exactly bad, but they sure weren't my new favourite either :(
The reason I decided to start this recipe experimentation (besides the rote repetitiveness of always making the same things) was that I have a bad habit of ripping recipes out of magazines and adding them to my pile. I have one kitchen drawer FULL of untested recipes. So, I developed a system. I choose a recipe to try. After I have made it, if we both agree that it's terrible, the recipe goes in the garbage, and my pile is one recipe lighter. If the recipe is okay, but not stellar, I give it another try, perhaps tweaking something (like adding extra lemon icing on the loaf). After the second try (if a recipe gets a second chance), the recipe either goes in the garbage (if it still isn't great), or then I copy it into my "black book" of recipes, which holds only my tried and true recipes. Of course recipes that are awesome from the start go straight into my black book. Unfortunately, the eggs benedict did not even warrant a second try, that recipe is now in the trash.

PS. The lemon loaf actually turned out exactly like the picture, which is definitely something to consider when rating new recipes.

Ugh.

A few months ago, I wrote about what a "good" baby Joonas was. Well, I have changed my mind. The last few weeks (months) have been horrible and continue to get progressively worse! First of all, he is teething. Three teeth are either partially out or on their way. Second, he absolutely hates his crib. When you take him NEAR the crib, he starts screaming. We've tried everything. Maybe he's cold. Maybe he's hot. Maybe he needs music. Maybe white noise would help. Maybe he's hungry. But nothing helps. Crying it out is not an option since he is not just quietly crying, he is crying so hard that he starts to puke. Nice, huh?! Anyway, I am sure (?) that it's just a phase that will pass, but until then, I am exhausted.
ps. Angelic picture with the big blue eyes, eh?! DO NOT BE FOOLED.

Autumn

This is the view from my kitchen window. I love the fall. Even though there are things that I like about the summer, I am never sorry when fall shows up. I love the changing colours of the leaves and the crisp air. I love the darkness and the rain (guess I live in the right place...). I love being inside snuggled up with a good book and a cup of tea. I love pulling out my sweaters and being able to wear tweed/wool again. I love pumpkin pie and Thanksgiving. I love burning candles. To me, fall signifies new beginnings more than January and the new year. I guess that could be related to my profession....lol.