I’m visiting my family in Poland at the moment so I’ll be taking a short break from blogging. I hope to be back to writing in May. Above are a few shots from my lovely village in Poland. Speak to you soon. Alicja x
Postcards from Poland
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BEYOND THE PRICE TAG, THERE’S LIFE
There is not a single day when I don’t think about how to bring up my son, what example to set, what values to instil, what interests and talents to nourish. My choices will affect him. My choices are affecting him already.
I’m giving him a lot of freedom and I see a very curious and independent boy developing before my eyes. I talk a lot to him and I see a willing communicator emerging. I cook for him and as he stirs the pots and smells the food on the stoves I can tell that the love of cooking has been awakened in him. But I also see a boy who finds it hard to fall asleep without one of his parents next to him (because making him fall asleep in the cot was just too hard for us), a boy who demands Peppa Pig just after his dinner (because it’s much easier for his parents to clean up when the computer is on), a boy who doesn’t always take no as an answer and is very willing to explain his reasons for doing things and negotiate his rights (and he’s not even two yet… oh, long disputes before us). So I am observing and I am wondering about the future… about the years that I have with my child… about those often fleeting hours during which I can make a difference to how he sees the world… to how he understands it… to how he engages with it.
Often I get overwhelmed and confused at what I should be doing, often I just want to leave things to take their own course and just simply go about our daily life and most often this is the best option but not always… not always.
There are things that need to be shown to our children. There are things that must be experienced and made tangible. There are values that we must impress upon them and we must make an effort to do it. There are habits that we must develop. This is what parental guidance is. Parental guidance is not only about the cuddles before the sleep, it’s also about attending to the much hated habit of brushing teeth after dinner, it’s about saying no when the need arises, it’s about teaching “I’m sorry” and “Thank you” and it’s about switching off the TV after 20 minutes because it’s time for bed. It’s about those small things.. and the big ones too like hard-work, tolerance, patience, caring, perseverance, love. This is how we secure their future… by attending to seemingly insignificant details in life, to their values and to their characters.
When adults talk about securing their children future, they mean money. They always do, as if money was the ultimate gift – the antidote to insecurities, the best problem-solving tool. I feel sorry for the child for whom this is actually the truth as that means that they got themselves into debt while still playing in the sandpit…. gambling with stones, the bucket and the spade, I imagine.
Children don’t need money in their sandpits. They already have the tools and skills to feel secure. Let’s not push money and stuff down their throats telling them that they need goods to feel happy, to engage with the world and to solve their problems. The world is theirs already. The grass. The trees. The bread. The honey. The sea. It is theirs.
I want to go deeper than the price tag. Not to ignore it but to see beyond it. Because there is life beyond the price tag. Real people that touch the Earth and its gifts and creations, tangible processes and experiences, hands that work, knees that bend, heads that drop, eyes that inspect, fingers that pick. For there is life beyond the price tag, real people that touch the Earth.
Honey is not only something that can be bought for £4.15 a jar in a local supermarket. I want my son to have the awareness of this, of how it’s made and where it comes from. I want him to get the story behind the jar. To see busy bees on flowers, beehives, honeycombs, and the bee-keepers and their veiled hats. It is my duty as a parent to help my son to see and understand this. To sow the grass with him. To plant the tree with him. To make bread together and to show him a beehive. To take him to the seaside, to see a boat, fish, nets and the fisherman. For this is life.
Security comes from a firm standing on the ground, from a firm understanding of who we are and where we belong to… and we belong here – to this world, to this Earth. I want my son to touch it. To see it. To live with it. To understand that the Earth is his and that he is its.
Back to writing earlier than expected. :) Hope you’ve enjoyed this post. x
Nothing New: Repair
It’s just a matter of days now… soon the little man and I will be in Cyprus. I am hectically trying to tick off items on our travelling checklist and it is actually quite a thing if you consider that I have pledged that nothing new will be bought this year. The fact that we’ll be jumping seasons makes it even more interesting… clothes-wise and shoe-wise.
My wardrobe has very little to show for itself. I keep on wearing the same pairs of trousers ever since my son was born and those trousers are looking really sad now. They are frayed and damaged and have been in need of repair for almost three months now … so today I eventually organised myself to take them to a tailor. I couldn’t mend them myself – the damage was far too extensive – a professional was needed.
I also had a few items to repair for my son like his trainers and shorts but these I decided to fix myself as the repair cost far exceeded the purchase cost of these items. It was just about simple sewing anyway and my box of threads and needles proved to be sufficient for bringing those items back to their original look and function.
In the corner of my wardrobe there’s a bag of items of clothing and accessories that need repair. We all have them, don’t we? Often they are not bags only but attics and garages that store those items in need of fixing. Those things make me really uncomfortable. I feel that I should be doing something about them and so I am now. I decided to take the bull by the horns and I’ve created a list on my desk of all the things to fix and I’ll slowly work my way through them this year… just because the time seems right for this and I feel like giving them a second life. At the end of the day, repairing is part of caring, is it not?
So I gave myself a promise to fix at least one item per month before they clutter our house further or end up in landfill. Are there any items that need repair in your house too? Do you think you could also try to fix some of them this year?
Would you like to learn more about Nothing New Project? Visit Inked in Colour.
Observing Your Toddler: Creating a Record of Today
Photography is only one way of capturing the growth of our children. Writing memories, diaries and stories down is another wonderful way of storing these precious-but-fleeting moments. However, parenthood is busy and so sometimes you just want to jot some facts down in your calendar and perhaps repeat it later on to see your child’s development and changes in taste. This list might help you. I did it yesterday for my son. At the end is an empty one for you to copy and fill in if you’d like to do it too. It’s a really enjoyable process that will give you many smiles. If you want to, you may also give it to your partner to fill in just to check if there are differences in the way in which you see your child. :) Enjoy!
My child today:
Doing: walking long distances, sliding, exploring the garden, lying down on the grass, turning and giggling
Watching: people on the bus, Curious George, Mickey Mouse, Peppa Pig
Listening to: his father singing to him Italian nursery rhymes
Pointing to: children
Repeating: beka, keba (no meaning) to, ta (this, that in Polish), heya, croco (short for crocodile)
Commenting on: everything, everywhere to everyone
Making: a soup in his cup
Looking at: food being prepared, trees, children
Playing with: wallets and purses, water and containers, broomstick and vacuum cleaner
Creating: a mess
Picking up: leaves, sticks and stones, bits of threads from the carpet
Drawing: lines and doodles and preferably on the desk not on paper while biting on rubbers and pencil tips
Reading: people’s business cards
Likes to be read: Pulcino Pio (Italian book), Pinocchio
Eating: porridge and pears, pasta, sweetcorn
Drinking: water, milk, orange juice
Exercising with: his tricycle, balls
Cuddling: Koko (his monkey), a pillow before he goes to sleep
Pulling: toilet handle, internet connection cable, his zip in his jacket
Pushing: food away when he has finished; computer power button
Climbing: onto a dishwasher’s door when open; any ladder or slide; onto his toy chest to open the door
Caring for: an old tiny teddy bear without an arm
Dancing to: Cztery Slonie (a Polish children song) and everything else that he hears on the radio
When sad: a cuddle, a friend, a song, a dance
Sharing: food, laughs
My child today:
Doing:
Watching:
Listening to:
Pointing to:
Repeating:
Commenting on:
Making:
Looking at:
Playing with:
Creating:
Picking up:
Drawing:
Reading:
To be read:
Eating:
Drinking:
Exercising with:
Cuddling:
Pulling:
Pushing:
Climbing:
Caring for:
Dancing to:
When sad:
Sharing:
This taking stock list was adapted from Pip’s Taking Stock list at https://meetmeatmikes.com/ Pop over to her blog to see what she’s up to. :)
Poppy-seed Cake Recipe
Ingredients:
3 eggs
150g butter (chop it into small cubes)
1/2 cup of caster sugar
1/4 cup of milk
300g plain white cake flour
3/4 cup of poppy-seeds
1.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda (if you are using self-raising flour, this is not needed)
3 tsps cream of tartar (if you are using self-raising flour, this is not needed)
1 to 2 tsps of icing
Preparation
1. Separate the white of egg from the yolks. Put the white of egg to the fridge (it is easier to whisk when cold)
2. Combine the egg yolks with the sugar and the butter until the butter appears melted and you have a good and fairly runny consistency. (If your butter is too hard, you can add a little bit of warm water to make it melt and mix quicker)
3. Add flour, milk and poppy seeds, cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda. Mix everything thoroughly. Start warming up the oven – set it to 175°C.
4. When the oven is heating up, take the white of egg out of the fridge and in a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks into a firm foam. Pour the foam into the cake mixture and gently fold it into the cake mix. Do it until the whole mixture is well combined and little bubbles appear in it. (At this stage you can also add some flour if you think that you cake is too runny).
5. Butter your cake tin (or fill it up with greaseproof paper), pour in the cake mix and put it to the heated oven for about 55-65 minutes. If you put a knife into your cake and the blade comes clean that means the cake is ready. If your mixture was quite wet or you have used a different cake tin, it might take a bit longer to bake.
6. When the cake cools, you can decorate it with some icing powder. I use my small tea leaf holder for this purpose. It helps me to sprinkle the powder evenly on the cake:)
Share and Enjoy!
Postcards Without Stamps 