Shimmery Pink

Today Lara did something for the first time yet. Dani and Paul had gone to get a couple groceries, I was getting supper ready, and I noticed her going in and out of the balcony, carrying some objects with her. Curiosity got the better of me and one of the times she was indoors I quickly peeked outside and saw a neat arrangement consisting of two bottles of nail polish, a small bowl of water, some spiffy hairclips, a brush, and two flasks of  princess cologne which had never seen the light of day.

I quickly went back in again and resumed my supper preparations as if I had seen nothing. Out she went again after a while. This time she stayed out, and I could hear her humming to herself happily.

After some minutes, she came into the kitchen with a beautiful headband on her dampened and somewhat frazzled hair, poking her fingers out stiffly in front of her, beaming proudly, eyes shining.

I caught my breath a bit, because suddenly I realised this was quite a milestone for my little girl - my girl continually immersed in a book, jumping on the trampoline, drawing and painting feverishly, and making up stories - there she was, toenails and fingernails painted a shimmery pink, and to top it off, swathed in a heady combination of two perfumes.


I exclaimed over her pretty appearance and rolled my eyes at how good she smelled, while she squirmed with pleasure and did her little "happy dance" that has become such a part of her. She begged me to let her do my toe and fingernails as well, so on this balmy evening afternoon I forgot all about supper preparations and sat down with her on the warm balcony floor. She warbled a happy tune as she painted my fingernails, brushed my hair, attached a bright turquoise flower on it, and doused me thoroughly in Cinderella cologne.

It was a priceless, precious mother and daughter moment in my day. I will always treasure it. And somehow I know she will as well, because while we were having supper later on we shared a Secret Smile and I felt my arm tightly squeezed...

Snapshots of a Week

These are the moments I want to keep alive in my mind - let me share some of them with you.

Oblivious to everything but the shimmering glow on the water and the warmth at my back

On a quest

One thousand sensations

Discovering joy together

New friends

This is how you make dreadlocks

Journey

Far away in time and space

First art attempt

HOUSEWIFE SURVIVAL TIPS

My ample experience in homemaking has allowed me to develop some state-of-the art tips for those other housewives foundering in never-ending tasks and becoming desperate for some free time and rest. Here go the first two.


How to keep ironing to a minimum.

1.Hang the clothes out to dry.


2. Let them remain on the line until it rains.


3. Allow the clothes to become soaking wet.


4. Leave clothes on the line until they are dry again.


5. Repeat step 2 as many times as necessary.


6. Remove clothes from line, which by now will be as smooth as lake on a summer day, fold, and put away.


7. Enjoy a cup of tea and a magazine.





Management of leftovers and tupperwares.


1.Place leftovers in a tupperware. Do not worry if the amount is smaller than one serving - keep it anyway, just in case.


2. Insert tupperware in fridge, preferably towards the top and back.


3. Peer into tupperware occasionally, sniffing contents suspiciously if necessary.


4. When the amount of mold growing over the contents is satisfactory, dispose of contents and wash container - or,


4b. Place container back into fridge for several more weeks. When contents are too gross to manipulate, toss the tupperware and its contents into the garbage.


5. When this process has been repeated several times, enjoy the thrill of buying a new tupperware set. You can also go to the cosmetics department and buy some lipstick, handcream, and that expensive gold powder shampoo you've secretly coveted for a long time.

I don't want to forget... from the month of April.

Sam is pointing at everything now. He strains against me, his whole body reaching out to what he's seen, little index finger stoutly pointing, every fiber of his being riveted on the object of his attention. The bear! Those three portraits. They had been Lara's when she was a baby. Now as I'm getting him dressed he repeats his solemn "ohs" over and over as he gets a glimpse of them over my shoulder. The bear finding the three eggs and showing them to the hedgehog. "Oh". The bear jumping into the water, splash!! and sending the poor fish into a backward summersault. "Oh, oh." Point, point. The bear swimming in the water - look! There are the three ducks. One, two, three. "Oh." Point. Smiling. He loves that bear. And the three owls too. The green one, the purple one and the blue one. "Oooh." He pats the box the owls are painted on, and they stare back at him in a rather friendly way with yellow unblinking eyes.


This week has brought new second hand bikes for the older children. Paul's red bike was getting hopelessly small for him and Lara, although her biking stlye is, shall we say, a little more serene than Paul's, also needed an upgrade. She is growing fast and her long legs were almost reaching her chin!


Paul has entered into a new biking dimension now - with his double suspension and 7 speeds, he controls the bike remarkably well for his age, and will grow into it soon. He hops around on one foot while he tries to sit on the seat now, and then he's off - who knows when his feet will touch the ground again.

Today was Father's Day - it has been beautiful. We had pancakes for breakfast with letter pancakes spelling out Papa for Dani, complete with Nocilla, sprinkles and whipped cream. We had a special lunch of hamburgers with all the toppings and French fries. The children presented Dani the cards they had made - Lara's a funny story about her as a baby and choosing her father, and Paul's with big letters complete with glitter. Lara read out the poem I wrote for Dani, and it was a general success - we all felt the love going around.

Early evening

Mmmmm... It's half past eight and the babies are sleeping... What am I going to do with so much time in my hands before dropping into bed?

Dani is making supper. Hamburgers and chips. Something fast and easy. And then a niiiice warm shower. I'm already blogging, so that's taken care of. :-)

Anecdote of the day: Paul sucked his fist the whole time he was in the bathtub, oblivious to his hair being shampooed and Lara throwing cupfuls of water on his tummy.

As you can see, I'm not too inspired today. But I thought I'd leave today's footprint for posterity... a normal, nothing-real-interesting-has-happened day.

Oh, yes. We went to Parc Catalunya and took Lara for a ride on the bike. We took turns, being with Paul in the pram (not in with him, pushing him around, of course) and riding the bike. Lara enjoyed it immensely!

WHAM

That's what my head is going to do - wham - when it hits the pillow. Mmmmm, can't wait. So, this is going to be a short one!

Anecdote of the day: Dani prayed as usual before starting breakfast, and when he was done, Lara wouldn't let go our hands and said, quite rebuckingly, "Food!!". Dani had prayed and given thanks for pretty much everything except... the food. We were quite tickled that our little tot had to remind us.

A few recent pictures:

Lara playing with Tiet Roger's blocks

Happy Paul

Morning scene

Family dinner

Whew!! All went well. We were over 30 people (we ate at a restaurant in Barcelona), all descendants of my father-in-law, Martín Valcárcel, and his siblings, plus extended family. It was funny because most of us didn't know each other... especially in-laws with other in-laws!

Paul slept most of the time (he actually pulled a 6-hour on me) and Lara amused herself with her books while adult conversation droned on. I had "Boeuf Bourguignon", not sure about the spelling - a delicious French stew with bull's meat (proper name for that?). I saw it on the menu and thought I would try it because they made a great deal about it in the movie "Julie and Julia", which I watched a couple of days ago... By the way, it's a great movie. I killed myself laughing. Meryl does a wonderful job, as usual.

Anecdote of the day: Lara woke up at 10:30 am today... she slept 14 hours straight!! What a luxury. She woke up all bright eyed and bushy tailed with her usual "Firerruck!! Indian ride!!" expletives.

I shall go now and read a book. Something I haven't done for ages.