2006 – Page 12 – a hippie with a minivan

2 years old…

It is hard to believe… Colin turned two last weekend…

We had a quiet weekend, just us and a good friend and had a small party… not much… a few balloons, Foods that Colin likes and a cake…

Colin is so different than Xavier… his language skills are so much better at the same age and he is already talking in sentences often. He is completely in the two’s… saying no, making trouble, hitting Xavier over the head with toys and everything else a little brother can do to bug his big brother… (of course, Xavier doesn’t make it easy for him)

Colin loves to sing songs, and loves music and dancing… His favourite songs are the ABC song, Twinkle Twinkle and loves singing “Elmo’s World”… Simon put a bunch of kids songs and theme songs on his Ipod and he has special requests when he is in the car..This of course is the complete opposite of Xavier who used to cry and scream as a baby when you tried to sing to him and still sings a few notes only when he thinks that no one can hear him…

Colin is a little jokester, he loves to make us laugh. He has this face that he does where he scrunches up his nose so much that his eyes are almost closed and smiles showing all of his teeth… the kind of face that you can’t help but laugh, pick him up and kiss him…

About 2 months ago we went shopping and I found a little plush Max and a Ruby from the TV show… He fell in love with them at the store and they have remained his favourites since.. when he is tired he goes into his room, gets them both and comes have Maju to take a nap… at night the same… he must have both…

Some days, often when we are in the car we get back and both of them have soaked ears from where he sucks the tips of their ears…

Colin is also my little cuddle monster. He loves to be in our arms, loves to get worn in the Ergo on Simon’s back, loves to sit down next to me on the couch, under the blankets and watch TV or look at a book.. Again, very different than Xavier.

He also has a great appetite. He eats all day and is always in the fridge looking for food… the first thing that he says in the morning is what he wants to eat… Croissants, Apples, eggs, pancakes, Sushi, Avocados, black olives, Bananas, grapes, pizza, spaghetti, yogourt and Cereal are just a few of his favourites…

I could just go on and on about him…

I can’t believe that my little babe is 2!
Which of course also brings the 2 year anniversary of Tandem Nursing 🙂

Here are a few pics 🙂

Serious Colin

Riding a Sheep

Opening his presents

Looking at one of his new toys

A silly face

Look at him now….

I am a big Raffi fan… as a child I listened to his music and now the boys love him too and recognize his songs and his voice…

I knew that he was for child rights and was an amazing spokeperson for children and now, I respect him even more…

Look at this… A Covenant for Honouring Children

The words of A Covenant for Honouring Children suggest nine guiding principles for living. Taken together, they offer a holistic way of restoring natural and human communities, thus brightening the outlook for the world we share. They form the basis for a multi-faith consensus on societal renewal.

Respectful Love

is key. It speaks to the need to respect children as whole people and to encourage them to know their own voices. Children need the kind of love that sees them as legitimate beings, persons in their own right. Respectful love instills self-worth; itâ€™s the prime nutrient in human development. Children need this not only from parents and caregivers, but from the whole community.

Diversity

is about abundance: of human dreams, intelligences, cultures, and cosmologies; of earthly splendours and ecosystems. Introducing children to biodiversity and human diversity at an early age builds on their innate curiosity. Thereâ€™s a world of natural wonders to discover, and a wealth of cultures, of ways to be human. Comforted by how much we share, weâ€™re able to delight in our differences.

Caring Community

refers to the â€œvillageâ€ it takes to raise a child. The community can positively affect the lives of its children. Child-friendly shopkeepers, family resource centres, green schoolyards, bicycle lanes, and pesticide-free parks are some of the ways a community can support its young.

Conscious Parenting

can be taught from an early age; it begins with empathy for newborns. Elementary and secondary schools could teach nurturant parenting (neither permissive nor oppressive) and provide insight into the child-rearing process. Such knowledge helps to deter teen pregnancies and unwanted children. Emotionally aware parents are much less likely to perpetuate abuse or neglect.

Emotional Intelligence

sums up what early life is about: a time for exploring emotions in a safe setting, learning about feelings and how to express them. Those who feel loved are most able to learn and to show compassion for others. Emotional management builds character and is more important to later success than IQ. Cooperation, play, and creativity all foster the â€œEQâ€ needed for a joyful life.

Nonviolence

is central to emotional maturity, to family relations, to community values, and to the character of societies that aspire to live in peace. It means more than the absence of aggression; it means living with compassion. Regarding children, it means no corporal punishment, no humiliation, no coercion. â€œFirst do no harm,â€ the physiciansâ€™ oath, must now apply to all our relations; it can become a mantra for our times. A culture of peace begins in a nonviolent heart, and a loving home.

Safe Environments

foster a childâ€™s feeling of security and belonging. The very young need protection from the toxic influences that permeate modern life-from domestic neglect and maltreatment, to the corporate manipulations of their minds, to the poisonous chemicals entering their bodies. The first years are when children are most impressionable and vulnerable; they need safeguarding.

Sustainability

refers not merely to conservation of resources, renewable energy development, and anti-pollution laws. To be sustainable, societies need to build social capacity by investing in their young citizens, harnessing the productive power of a contented heart. The loving potential of every young child is a potent source for good in the world.

Ethical Commerce

is fundamental to a child-honouring world. It includes a revolution in the design, manufacture and sale of goods; corporate reform; â€œtriple bottom lineâ€ business; full-cost accounting; tax and subsidy shifts; political and economic cycles that reward long-term thinking. Ethical commerce would enable a restorative economy devoted to the well being of the very young.

I am going to be following him more closely now and I would love to get my hand on the book and CD for us “Beluga-Grads” 🙂

Resisto Dancing, Songs of a Compassionate Revolution, the musical expression of Raffiâ€™s Child Honouring philosophy…

Lost tooth…

I had a volunteer meeting tonight… I got back and DH had a worried look on his face and said in a weird voice that something happened… both kids were running around when I walked in so I didn’t know at all what to expect and Simon just said that I had to go see something…. I walked into the bathroom where he was and he put Xavier on the counter… Xavier smiled showing a big gap… Just after I had left he was playing and fell and had knocked his tooth out… … Dh called the CLSC (nurses line) and we have to make an appt at the Dentist tommorow.. Simon said that he didn’t bleed much andhe did a great job at making him feel OK about the loss… (really proud of the way that he handled things)

I am wondering a bit what to expect… His gum is pretty knocked up and bruised and the space was already pretty small and his other tooth is a bit wobboly (both front teeth have been wobboly for a while) I know that thus is a bit petty… but I am really mourning his smile …

Birthing choices…

A post on MDC got me thinking about the way that birth is thought about by UCer’s vs the Mainstream.

Many people on each side many believe that the other is putting themselves and their child in danger by making the birth choices that they are choosing. Personally I can see where each is coming from but of course I would more easily side with the extreme UCer.

On a post asking that was talking about the need of others to put UCer’s down because of the choices that they are making a poster said that it has to do in part with the lack of trust in others.

I read this and thought about it…

I think that the lack of trust in others is part of it but I do not think that it is the initial problem. The problem in not in the lack of trust in other people but the lack of trust in one’s self…

I see the problem being that women just don’t have the experiences of seeing how things are naturally done… in birth, breastfeeding and all of the other things that used to be taught by seeing (seeing sisters, mothers, cousins, friends, aunts etc) and trusting instinct…

Now most women seem to turn to books and “experts”… they have lost touch with the way things were and have lost touch with the confidence that comes with seeing these things throughout a lifetime, and instead have gained confidence in trusting others (books, doctors etc)

Some Women seem to have lost touch so much that they no longer trust their instincts at all and learn to put them aside and ignore them. They have lost touch completely with their selves in favour of listening to others… As a consequence they become helpless in a way… not uneducated really because they believe that the “expert” knows it all and will tell them what they need to know and they do internet searches or book searches and find the same information from other “experts”. (Though there are still some very uneducated women I believe that make very uninformed choices in pregnancy and birth) The next logical step in the slippery slope after losing that confidence in self, it is then to look for permission from the experts on most things (or for experts to “give” permission with use of certain language without giving the impression that they are taking that confidence away)

When things become normalized in a society then trust shifts… Until very recently trust within the realm of birth, breastfeeding, the raising of children was in the hands of women. Women of the community, women of the family and in the woman herself. When the shift started, and the trust was handed off to men and “experts” then not only did the trust shift but whole views shifted also. Knowledge that as once passed down from generation to generation was lost, knowledge that was once an integral part of womanhood was lost. The only way to normalize these things again is for women to regain trust in themselves and regain trust in other women that trust themselves.

At this moment I can not see it happening soon. Many women seem to not understand not trusting the “experts” on everything. Some women seem threatened by it. They have been taught, have learned from the people around them, and have learned from the women around them that the experts are to be trusted… it becomes what is normal, what it comfortable, what is to be done…

I do believe that there are some aspects of birth and health that are best handled by some experts. Though I don’t agree that we have the best experts in our society…

Our “experts” are products of the same society that puts all their trust in them. Such as many women seem to have lost touch with confidence in them selves and put all of their trust in doctors, those same doctors believe that they have all of the answers, should not be second guessed and expect the women to have little or no say in their care. This shows when women seem to be scared to talk to their “expert” doctors about doubts they have and why some doctors will be so insulted when woman goes against or second guesses their point of view (as seen by women who are “fired” by their OB’s for refusing tests, or families that are “fired” by the pediatricians for refusing vaxes)

In some places in the world premature babies are not kept in incubators, sterile environments with wires and monitors and tubes etc and deprived of human contact except for when an “expert” gives permission… Instead, they are released with their parents who are taught how to feed them and keep them warm by utilizing Kangaroo care 24 hours a day for weeks and months on end. Instead of being placed on oxygen to help them breathe they are places on their parent’s chest, instead of having monitors and machines to control heart rate, they are placed in their parents arms.

We have to start trusting nature, trusting our bodies and trusting ourselves again… when we do, I believe that birth will start seeing the shift it needs.

x-posted in my pregnancy journal

A cool little coincidence…

For the last few years I have been lurking on the Quebec homeschooling Association page and about two months ago I had responded to a message from a mom looking for homeschoolers in the area, I got a PM from one mom, sent her a PM and then didn’t hear back right away and then went on the site a few times after that to see if there had been more responses hadn’t been one yet…

With the vaccation time and summer I had just not went back to the site for a while… So when I went back last week there was two month old PM’s waiting for me, one from the mom that had pm’d me before asking to get together in the near future…one from a mom telling me where she lived (about 2-3 min away from me by car) and asking me how old my kids where …. I answered both of them…

A day or two after I got an e-mail from the second mom… she said she realized soon after my message that we already knew eachother… and then went on to explain that she is a breastfeeding volunteer also (we saw each other once though) and that we had met at the grocery store when she asked me if I was the one that sold wrap and slings…. and then while talking to someone and talking about babywearing stuff she clicked on my user name…

I had found her really cool when I had seen her at the grocery store but had forgotten that she was just starting out as a volunteer…

What is really cool is that she said that homeschooling is already a big part of her life even though her daughter is only 4 1/2… So now I will have someone local that I will be able to talk to about homeschooling and has an interest in babywearing and breastfeeding and has a child about Xavier’s age…

Now, if only her # wasn’t busy each time I tried to call her 🙂