Hana hits 8!

My Hana is 8 years old! A veritable "tween"...

She rolls her eyes when Manolee wants to watch Barbie DVDs - she prefers Hannah Montana or Cory in the House.

She sighs when I show her a new top I bought for her, then patiently explains, "mama, just because YOU like orange does not mean that I like orange too" - then walks out of the room.

She has stopped talking about or telling me about boys in her class.

She goes to the bathroom at restaurants BY HERSELF.

I look at pictures of Hana as a baby and my heart just breaks! Such a big girl now! And getting bigger by the day... and so pretty... mine is certainly not the first heart she will be breaking, that is for sure.

Happy Birthday, sweet Hanaya!

Misbehaving Manolee, Part II

Yesterday we were leaving my MIL's house - Hana was packing up her Nintendo and started to panick that she could not find her little pouch of game cartridges. We started to help her look and indeed, it was nowhere to be found. Now, this is no "little" pouch - it contained about 8 different cartridges - probably at retail value of 320 euros or so.  

PeeWee started scolding her about not taking care of her things and Hana started to cry at the gravity of the situation and I continued to turn the place upside down in search of this little pouch. We asked Manolee if she's seen it, but she said no, sat in a corner and sang to herself.

We had to leave, so we asked my MIL to continue the search and got in the car. PeeWee was now getting really upset and yelled at Hana all the way back home. Hana was now inconsolable, and I glanced back at Manolee to see how she is handling all the yelling and crying. She just looked back at me and shrugged her shoulders.

We got home and we called our friend L., who had taken Hana to McDonalds the day before - Hana took the Nintendo with her to play with her son afterwards. She said she would go back to McDonalds to check. 

Hana was teary practically the entire night as PeeWee swore never to buy her another Nintendo game.

Next morning on the way to school, Hana got all teary again and asked whether her grandma would find the pouch, or whether it would be L. who would find it at McDonalds, though she swore that she did not take the pouch out of the car when she went there. I told her not to worry during the day, we won't know till we won't know.

Before school ended, my MIL called to say she looked everywhere but it is nowhere to be found. L. also called to say that it was not in her car nor at McDonalds... she was really sympathetic to Hana's plight.

I picked up the girls from school and Manolee asked whether her grandma found Hana's pouch. I sadly shook my head. Then we went to pick up Hana and she immediately asked for an update. I said that I have bad news, that it seemed to have disappeared and we cannot find it anywhere. She started to cry again. I really felt bad for her. When we got home, Hana was practically wailing and I happened to glance over at Manolee and she had this smirk on her face. I had an 'a-ha' moment. Right there in the building lobby, I asked her - Manolee, do you know where Hana's Nintendo pouch is? She shook her head, but smiled at the corner of her lips. She has been known to hide Hana's things under the bed or under the couch in the past, so I pursued this line of questioning. She kept on denying it and proceeded to go up the stairs. Then Hana got wind of the situation and asked too, and added, if you tell me the truth I will give you ten marbles. Manolee held up her right hand with five outstretched fingers and asked, "like this many?" Hana said yes. I asked again. She denied it. I asked yet again this time really firm, "you know, when Papa comes home and finds out that grandma and L. did not find it, he's gonna really yell at Hana a lot and a lot and a lot. He's going to be so angry." She looked up at me and asked, "if I tell you, you won't get mad?" Hana and I both swore that we would not be bad. Manolee asked again, "if I tell you, you won't tell Papa?" - Hana and I both swore we would not tell PeeWee. Manolee then asked "Hanaya, you still give me this many marbles?" - Hana said she would. Manolee wanted to confirm again, "you won't be mad?" - we said we would not.

Then she spilled it out. She said she hid it at her grandma's house. We asked where. She specified, "in the basket next to the room upstairs where we keep shoes and slippers". 

We hurried upstairs, ran in the apartment and called my MIL. And what do you know - the pouch was exactly where Manolee said it was.

Because we promised, we could not get angry at Manolee.  Hana and I were both relieved to have found it anyway. But can you believe? She is only 3, but her ability to deceive and scheme - and keep her mouth shut while witnessing her big sister cry and wail for a whole day? It's quite extraordinary, no? 

Should I be worried??

Poisson d'Avril

Yup, April Fish Day - Poisson d'avril, which is French for April Fool's Day. Why Fish Day? Good question - maybe some biblical significance, but nobody around me could explain it. Anyway, here is the thing. April Fish Day is equivalent to April Fool's Day, meaning, it is for pranks and jokes and all that. However, the big difference is that in France, there is only ONE prank. THE joke to pull on others - it is limited to cutting out a paper sign in the form of a fish and putting it on others' backs. I know, knee-slapping funny, right? But I swear, as far as I can tell, this is what the French do to one another - year after year. No creative pranks allowed, as far as I can tell. Maybe it's funny that first time when you are four years old. Maybe the French like to relive that innocent funny moment - over and over again. How else to explain this strange un-innovative creativity-vacuum of a custom?

The one thing that brightened my day was seeing the countless boulangeries selling tarts and cakes and chocolates in the form of ... yes, a fish! Very cute - picture above courtesy of a blog called "les jardins d'eve".

Happy Fish Day to You! 

French Cowboys

So we went to this "Foire" in the local exposition area - it was a hybrid of a flea market/ local trade show (there is absolutely nothing to do on Sundays here and it was raining, so we were desperate for some action) - and we ran into something absolutely bizarre: a bunch of French cowboys line-dancing! I was stopped in my tracks - there was a stage set up and there were about 40 men and women, all dressed to the nines in their cowboy hats, cowboy boots, the whole ensemble, and all moving in synchronized dance - it was quite a sight, and one I never expected to find outside, say, Texas.

Apparently, the "West Country" is a huge group that organizes "Line-Dancing" events throughout France and in general celebrates what they see as the quintessential Western American culture. One flyer I picked up talk about the Harley motorcycles, horse parades, barrel racing, pole bending (?) and line dancing, as well as showcasing Indian villages, gold miner's camps and rodeo shows! According to their website (I could not resist) they organize "camps" where one can sample the Far West living - complete with re-creations of street duels (they rent you cowboy costumes, rifles and guns!)

Who knew there would be such an interest in France that organizations like this can exist and thrive? Ha, they like to look down on America as a culture vacuum on one hand, and on the other hand, line dancing and rodeos? I have to admit, the line dancing did look like a lot of fun!

Doctor in the House

PeeWee's office is officially inaugurated!

Actually he's been "official" since mid-January, but tonight was the party - lots of local doctors, lab technicians, medical sales people - in short, loads of fun.

No, really, it was great to see him with his colleagues in this esteemed profession and the kids had a good time playing with all the germ-laden toys in the waiting room while the adults mingled, gobbled up hors-d'oeuvres and champagne.

So here we are! Officially established!

Easter Bells!

I was pleasantly surprised to see in all the supermarkets that they sell chocolate eggs for Easter egg hunts. They are not very creative though - they don't sell empty plastic eggs so that you can stuff them with something other than chocolate - and thereby prevent ginormous sugar highs reminiscent of Halloween.

Anyway besides the eggs and the bunnies, all the supermarkets carried a huge selection of chocolate bells. Bells, you say? Yes, bells - les cloches. Nobody could explain to me why bells - though one friend did try, something about bells going to Rome and bringing back chocolate eggs. No, I don't think anything was lost in translation. Maybe I am provincial, growing up in mostly Jewish and Asian neighborhoods of NYC and all, but I have never heard of bells bringing Easter chocolates from Rome? (This does remind me of my freshman year at NYU when on one Spring day I kept on seeing people with ashes on their foreheads. After a while, I was convinced that a building had collapsed somewhere - only later that day did I learn that it was Ash Wednesday!)

Happy Easter!

Operation Looming

Manolee for some time has had trouble breathing through her nose - she has been breathing through her mouth so loud at times that she is at a severe disadvantage when playing hide and seek - her breathing immediately gives her away!

The ENT we saw today took one look in her nose and then another brief look into her mouth and declared that she needed to get her "amygdales" removed.  I had never heard the term before so I was alarmed - I mean, not that I am medically trained or anything but most words I can trace back to some sort of English words or a familiar root - but amygdales just stumped me and convinced me that he was proposing some very rare and complicated operation (I asked PeeWee in the consultation room but he just dismissed me as he continued his doctor talk with the ENT guy and said, oh I'll draw you a picture later - I know, helpful, right?)

I took her back to school and announced gravely to the teacher that she needed her amygdales removed. The teacher did not look alarmed, no gasps, no oh-la-la's, so it calmed me down somewhat. Then I got home and googled the term - ok so it's a tonsilitis. Tonsilitis are quite common, right? I remember when Marcia Brady got them and that was like in the 70s, and even then she came home just fine and ate lots of ice cream and anyway medical technology must have advanced quite a bit by now, right?

She will be going under general anesthesia and that part is somewhat nerve-wrecking... but hopefully this will put an end to her labored breathing/ disturbed sleeping/ coughing-till-throwing-up/ waking up grouchiness/ etc and etc.

Manolee has no idea what is to come... but we told Hana and she is not one to hold her tongue, so I guess I have to think up a toddler-appropriate explanation soon!