All About me – Page 33 – a hippie with a minivan

French/english school…

Yesterday I went to Xavier’s daycare because it was their picture day and it wasn’t a day that he goes to daycare…
While I was waiting a mom there heard me speak in English to Xavier and asked me if I was going to send him to “Harold Sheppard” the only english school in the region… I told her that I didn’t think so because I didn’t hear good things about it … and just before I told her that I was going to be homeschooling anyways she told me how she had heard that it was a great school and that is why she is sending her kids there… I told her about what I had heard….It is an English school in which the teachers are french, french is spoken in the school and the level of english is seemingly appalling… She interupted me again saying that she didn’t find that and she even had to fight with the teachers to speak french with her daughter because her daughter didn’t know a word of english and it wasn’t fair for her, and that she even though of taking her out of the school because she is there to learn english, “afterall we are in Quebec” so they should speak french…. ARGGGHHHH …
First I I looked at this mom like she had a second head… and then I couldn’t help it… So I told her… See, THAT’s why I don’t want to send me kids there… when there are is large majority of the kids that don’t speak english at all, never have and then the parents tell the teachers to speak in french also, I can’t imagine the level of english is near standard, and if the kids are just learning how to speak english the entire time, when do they learn all of the other stuff?… I then told her that I was going to homeschool anyways…
It is an ENGLISH SCHOOL!!! I understand that people want their kids to learn english but why does it have to sacrifice education… I called the school yesterday after this incident and asked them about their school… yes most of the teachers are bilingual but with french as their first language and out of the 80 families that have kids in the school only 3 are english…
I am glad that I am going to Homeschool… I have always wanted it and more and more there is no other alternative…

My first loaf of sourdough….

Today I made my first loaf of sourdough bread with the starter that I was given yesterday… It is amazing… I don’t think I could ever go back to store bought bread ever again…
A little while back I choose to really go towards whole foods. I have always wanted this and now I feel like I have reached the point that it is now a habit and a good one… I did crave things at the beginning but that has past and now I think about certain processed foods and it turns my stomach…
I am proud of what I am feeding my family now and I don’t feel guilty at all when we go for fast food once in a while….
Another thing is that I have always been very sensitive to smells and I am very sensetive to the smeel of someones house… Now, I am also proud of the smell of my house, it smells inviting and warm, today it smells like fresh baked bread and fresh baked Apple Crumble… what cuold be more inviting!

Building my Village….

One of the moms that I volunteer with (breastfeeding peer councelor) wanted to buy a wrap from me so I went to see her today… I really didn’t think that I would be there long… I have only seen her a handful of times and only within the group setting.. I didn’t even really know her name but I did know that she was mom of 5 kids and is due with#6 in 2-3 weeks.. So, I decided this morning when I got up that I was going to make her a loaf of bread….
I got to her house and was enthralled… her home is a dream home for me… a century old home at the end of a long lane filled with trees (all golden at the moment) Her front yard is full of trees and looks over the playground of the school that her kids attend… litterally the playground of the shcool is the front yard of the house.. on the side of the house is a barn and in back a yard full of trees, a playground of their own and they even have rabbits and I think they have chickens (not sure about that one though)…
I went in a handed her the bread and I knew that I had made a new friend…. we started talking and she is an amazing woman and an amazing mom…. Her oldest (a girl) is almost 12, then 3 boys (10,8,6) and a wild haired 3 yo daughter…. We talked over tea and continued talking until her kids came home for lunch and I got to meet them all… then we kept on talking until it was time for me to leave… It was amazing to see Colin with all of the other kids… he dealt with her 3 yo like he deals with his brother but when the other kids cam in he was in love! The 12 year old adopted him for the hour she was home and Colin started to go to her to get picked up…. he even snuggled into her shoulder as she walked with him….
I think that this a friend that I would love to get to know even more… we share many of the same values and it was just fun….
She and the kids loved the bread and I left with some sourdough starter from the bread that shee makes…

Xavier is gone for the night….

Xavier is spending the night at my mom’s tonight… this is the first time that he has stayed the night with mom just for the enjoyment of doing so… He spent the night the night after Colin was born because we were at the birthing center and we had no idea how the night would go and we were exausted.. and then 2 1/2 weeks later he spent the night again when Colin was in the hospital for 5 days and I stayed there the whole time so Simon was alone with Xavier and needed a little break for night….but besides that he has never slept away…
So, I just drove and hour to Montreal and dropped him off at my mom’s… they are going to have a sleepover and then Tomorrow she is bringing him to Disney on Ice: 100 years of Magic… I think he is going to have so much fun… and he was excited to see Woody and Buzz for ‘real’…. it is just weird though that he is starting to have his own life and experiences without me… I feel a bit left out, but I also am proud that he becoming such a “big boy”…
On the way back home I saw a hitchhiker and I thought she looked really interesting and thought about stopping but it wasn’t a good place to stop… I thought about her a few more times on the road… about half way home I saw her again and decided to stop… It isn’t something that I have ever done but she just reminded me on two people that I really love… I was right.. she is a organic farmer, working at apple picking while she is on unemployment and was on the way to a poetry festival…. We had a nice conversation and I drove a little further to get her to the ferry so that she could get to where she was going in time….
I hitchiked a lot as a little girl with my mom and there is something about it that I remember… there was always a great conversation…

about a friendship…

I made a friend a little while back and we hit it off right away… we don’t see each other often because of all different kinds of circumstances but we both really want to… It makes me realize though when we talk that I really miss having a close friend. I haven’t had a great mutual friendship in a long time. Sure, there are people that I love to talk to, that I love to get together with but we are not at the same place in our lives, and it just isn’t the same. With this new friend however, we have the same goals, the same ideologies (breastfeeding, co-sleeping, positive parenting, whole foods etc) and we just hit it off from the moment that we met… she is someone that I know will never judge me and she is someone that I miss when we go without talking for a while. And the great thing is that she calls me too and she also really shows me that she feels the same…
I often think about moving back to BC but today when I thought about it I realized how much she meant to me because it pained me to think that moving away would mean putting this friendship on hold…
Isn’t a friendship powerful….