noisy cookie

this goes out to all of my former roomates

I think I need this.

Clocky: The Run Away Alarm Clock

paris: day one

We arrived at CDG airport in Paris early on Sunday morning. It took CS and me a while to find Sara P., but we were finally reunited in T2, after several transatlantic calls and a sleepless night for Dad, and we made our way to the apartment we are renting near the Louvre. We ventured out to find some groceries, and we stumbled upon this inviting courtyard/park. We didn't know where we were at the time, but it turns out it was the galleries of the Palais Royal. Celso enjoyed the sandbox and the pigeon-chasing, and we were happy to find such a pretty spot so close to our homebase.

We didn't have the wherewithall to do much else that day, but we did manage to summon the energy to get out for an overpriced meal in our neighborhood, and of course a lot of hugging.

paperbox friends

I just stumbled across this site while looking for something else. Paperbox World has free downloadable files to create little animals, machines, and cars that look like this:

Looks like a good rainy day activity to me!

one chair, two chair

This weekend I spent a day sanding and painting some new chairs for CS. My parents have two little red chairs at their house that are the perfect size for CS and his cousin, E. They were a gift from a friend when we were children, and they play a role in many happy memories. The last time we were in New York, CS spent the entire visit carrying one of those chairs from place to place, sitting when he felt the urge, or swinging it over his head when he was feeling his oats. Instead of giving him a time out when he did that (and thus rewarding him by letting him sit in the little red chair), we would just give the chair a time out.

Minus those forlorn half-hour stretches, my enduring image of Thanksgiving 2007 will be of CS on a little red chair, sitting at the "snack table", with a teddy bear shaped pb&j sandwich in one hand and a puzzle piece in the other. Since then, I have been on the lookout for a similar chair. I finally found something at the unfinished furniture shop in the historic district. At 12 euros a pop, I decided to go for two. When asked what color we should paint the chairs, CS said 'aaazzzuuuuuul!' and ran off to find his blue crayons. Since I couldn't quite let go of my l.r.c. image, I decided to do one in each color.

Based on the number of 15 second intervals spent in each chair per day and the on-going conversation about the relative merits of the blue chair, and the red chair, and there is a blue chair, and oh! a red chair too! - I would say that the chairs are an unqualified success. He can't tuck one up under his arm quite as handily as he can the chairs at his grandparents' house, but we've gotten pretty close. And we got the final stamp of approval this afternoon when Kaboomers Kitty claimed his spot.

e zines

I am really enjoying all of the e-zines that are popping up these days. As a former print magazine addict, I think these are a great idea. Environmentally friendly, inexpensive to produce, and easy to distribute. Here are a couple I have run across recently for parents.

I just discovered LMNOP, a new e-zine out of Australia. It is full of recommendations for handmade toys, books, and clothes. There is also a DIY section for kid crafts, with crafts that look like they were actually done by kids. Click here to download the latest issue.

Small has been around a little bit longer. From their website: "Small is a magazine of creative work on a small scale and for the small sized. Although primarily for children’s products and designs it is also about small-scale productions.' This e-zine is mainly pictorial, and it is really beautifully done. Click here to go to their Spring 08 issue.

blank walls

Almost a year and a half after we moved into our apartment, we still have almost nothing hung on the (bright! white!) walls. In a fit of industry one day, I hung the four framed pictures we own, plus a small row of hooks for CS to hang his jackets. That was two months ago, and the rock hammer that I co-opted for the task is again collecting dust as I contemplate the situation. I have decided to tackle CS's room and play area first. He is the one most likely to be truly delighted by having something colorful on the walls, and also the least discerning about what that something is. I have been putting some thought into both of these areas already, as CS is now to the age where he will spend time playing by himself, and he seems to like to do it in his own space.

For one of the walls in the bedroom, I think I will get some stretched canvases from the local Pier-1 type store called Casa. I think that they go for about 2 euros apiece. I am going to experiment with these and maybe turn it into a toddler craft project. I will paint the canvases with wide stripes or solid blocks, then do some sort of collage on top. As I type it, it sounds kind of ugly, but in my head I think it might work out. I have a lot of the dustjackets that I have removed from C.Sam's books, so maybe I can cut out the favorite characters and incorporate them in some way. If I had access to a good thrift store, I would go looking for old wallpaper or something to use as the background, but alas I do not know where the thrifty Spanish go for their finds.

The play area is a bit of a challenge because on one side is a curved wall/alcove made of frosted glass from floor to ceiling. Great for letting in light, but hard to hang anything on. The other side is a wall with four doors and a shallow nook. I have been looking at wall decals for this area. Below are some of my favorites.

These are from Blik Surface Graphics. On the left are some the of the designs from the Wee Gallery, which has bold black and white animals with colored accents. On the right is an alphabet design from the Threadless bunch. We have a heightened interest in letters and numbers lately, and paired with animals, how can you go wrong for a two year-old?

These skyline decals are from Zuuz. I like the chalkboard idea, but I would love to have one in a color other than black. These buildings are modeled after Amsterdam. It would be fun to design one of these for our own skyline - these guys do custom designs, though they are a little out of the current budget.

I think these alphabet decals from Wonderwall are my favorites right now:

I think the "elefont" is adorable, and the "a,b,tree" would look great on one of those frosted windows. I wish there were more font animals, but it's probably for the best, as I can't sink the whole college fund into wall decals. Right now I'm thinking I'll get the tree for the play alcove, and the elefont for the other bedroom wall, paired with some numbers from Zuuz to make it look like he's spraying them out of his trunk.

Zuuz and Wonderwall links via Bloesem Kids.

pelitos locos

Lately, it has been politely mentioned to us, by various parties, that it might be about time to get someone a haircut.

So today we went for a trim. I was hoping to get my hair done at the same time, but the toddlerness of the toddler this afternoon made it clear that we would be lucky to get out with one haircut. Or one hair cut. In the end, Mila, our lovely hair cuttist, prevailed, and even got a smile and a thank you out of CS before it was all over. I'm not sure what he thinks of his new haircut - it seems that the jury may still be out.

But I love it.

This weekend a friend from the village gave my mother-in-law some beautiful huevocitos (little eggs) from their miniature hens.

I am thinking about making tortilla de patatas for dinner, with a big salad and fresh bread. Mmm. Spanish tortilla is sort of like a sturdier fritatta or a taller omelette. The classic tortilla consists of eggs, potatoes, onions, salt and olive oil. Sometimes people throw in red peppers, chorizo, mushrooms, or ham. Tortilla was my best friend when I moved here, because it is served everywhere and is almost always pretty good. When menu choices were undecipherable by me, or just seemed a little dicey to my unadjusted palate, I always knew I could count on tortilla to get me through. And now that CS will eat it without even pulling a brow furrow, we can eat almost anywhere in Spain without me having to tuck a sandwich and yogurt in my purse. In short, I heart tortilla.

I don't have a recipe of my own to post, or any pictures - though tasty, my tortillas tend to be on the un-photogenic side. However, there is a good tortilla recipe with pictures posted here at Smitten Kitchen. Minus the chicken stock, this is more or less how I have witnessed tortilla being made in local kitchens.

sprung

Spring has come to Galicia a little bit early this year. All of the bulbs that my sister-in-law brought from the Netherlands and planted a few years ago are pushing up out of the ground. It's really fun to check out what is blooming with CS - he even knows the names of some of the flowers now. After living in Texas for so long, where everything had to be coaxed and tended, it is a wonder to see these little faces popping up almost by the minute around here. If you look closely, I swear that you can see them vibrating.

It has been a crazy winter, with hardly any of the gale-force-wind blowing, sideways-driven-rain throwing north Atlantic storms that we expect from early November to late February. Temperatures have been climbing up into the 20s C (70s F) some days in the past couple of weeks. I can't deny that I love waking up to a balmy spring day in the middle of February, with it's watery light and cloud shadows chasing each other down the sidewalk. Even if it makes me a little bit uneasy. The sad truth is that the sideways flying raindrops provide the water for the rest of the year around here, so I guess I am actually hoping that March goes out more like a lion than a lamb(y).

In the meantime, however, I have been trying to capitalize on the nice weather to get out with our boy, and also with my camera. The other day, I blocked off a couple of hours to go shoot some pictures of the greenery and blossoms that are sprouting out all over the place here. Normally at this time of year, the hillsides are covered with gold from the mimosa trees, which are always winterblooming, and from understory shrubs and late winter crops that bloom a bright yellow. This year, the fruit trees and magnolias have sprung into action ahead of schedule. So far the pear and apple, crabapple and peach trees are the most lively.

Since they bloom before they leaf out, the blossoms look like they are suspended in mid-air when the light hits them right. From a distance, the landscape can look like there are big rabbles of butterflies* cruising between the drifts of yellow above and below. It just glows.

So. I couldn't wait to get out and get it on film. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I took hundreds of pictures. Hundreds of bright, blurry, overexposed pictures. Gah! I still haven't put my finger on what went wrong, but I have tried to salvage a few pictures to post here. Hopefully I can get out again before all of the petals have fallen off the trees. I have surely missed the magnolias, as their blooms come and go very quickly, but I know the cherry trees are still sleeping, so all is not lost.

* By the way, I had to look up the name for a group of butterflies. I went with rabble, since swarm sounded too ominous.

flowers, coffee and teddy bears

Today someone brought me flowers. And then we sat down for some "coffee" and teddy bears. All in all, it was a very nice morning.