Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Tots N Toddlers
Several of you have asked about what my regular day to day life is like at home with Brooks. We have a fairly low-key week while Eric is working with few things on the calendar. I like it that way, actually, and am glad that we're not yet too "scheduled" as a family - I'm sure soccer games, homework, youth group and choir practice are coming soon enough. However, one thing that we do look forward each week is HTB's Tots N Toddlers. It's billed as "friendship and fun for you and your little one" and it has been a great way to meet other moms at church and give Brooks a chance to run around and play with other kiddos. Not at all like Park's Moms' Groups, it's less a small group bible study and more an exercise in mass controlled chaos - a large room full of toys, babies and kids, and of course moms - each wrangling their child, enjoying biscuits and tea or "proper coffee" while trying to engage in some real conversation at all the same time.
For several weeks this spring, Brooks seemed a bit overwhelmed by the chaos... There is always quite a lot of chaos. Fifty moms/nannies plus their children can make quite a noise and Brooks seemed to get flustered by the older kids zooming by him when he was still on his hands and knees. However the last two times, since he's been confidently walking, he's jumped right in and done great! Last time, I had such fun showing him what to do with playdough. Why did it take me so long to introduce him to this fun activity?! It won't kill him if he tries to lick it off his fingers (right?!) And this past week, he just ran around finding things that could be kitchen tools and brought them back to me to bang them about and play "cooking". It was so fun to watch him at the beginnings of imaginative play.
At the end of the session, one of the church workers leads a music time. She plays several songs over the stereo and we gather the kids to sing and dance along. This is where we learned the classic British children's rhyme, Jelly on a Plate. Too funny. Ask me and Brooks to give you a demonstration on that one sometime.
Generally we jump on the bus or tube and ride home after saying goodbye. Last week it was absolutely beautiful outside and I loved strolling through the park with my neighbor friend and her daughter. Brooks passed out on the way home, so when we got there, I just wheeled him into our bedroom and he slept for a couple of hours in the stroller. All that play time really tuckers a little guy out!
Here are a few photos that I snapped over the last two visits. All the balloons and stuff you see in the last photos were from last week - They hosted a tea-party in honor of the first week of spring term, so things was a bit more, um, ... festive (read: insane!) Brooks took a balloon home and practically loved it to death!
Learning about puzzles...
Lots of nannies come with their charges, but lots of moms too. It's harder to get to know the nannies, as they usually bring a nanny friend with them.
Gathering for music time
So serious, trying to figure out if we know this song or not...
Oh, we do!! Let's get up front and dance!!
The tea party was a huge success, so many new people!
These photos show only part of the room. Well more than 70 people were there last week!
Anke, I love you. Will you marry me and always sing these great songs to me!?
This balloon is so fun! If only I could get it in my mouth!!!
For several weeks this spring, Brooks seemed a bit overwhelmed by the chaos... There is always quite a lot of chaos. Fifty moms/nannies plus their children can make quite a noise and Brooks seemed to get flustered by the older kids zooming by him when he was still on his hands and knees. However the last two times, since he's been confidently walking, he's jumped right in and done great! Last time, I had such fun showing him what to do with playdough. Why did it take me so long to introduce him to this fun activity?! It won't kill him if he tries to lick it off his fingers (right?!) And this past week, he just ran around finding things that could be kitchen tools and brought them back to me to bang them about and play "cooking". It was so fun to watch him at the beginnings of imaginative play.
At the end of the session, one of the church workers leads a music time. She plays several songs over the stereo and we gather the kids to sing and dance along. This is where we learned the classic British children's rhyme, Jelly on a Plate. Too funny. Ask me and Brooks to give you a demonstration on that one sometime.
Generally we jump on the bus or tube and ride home after saying goodbye. Last week it was absolutely beautiful outside and I loved strolling through the park with my neighbor friend and her daughter. Brooks passed out on the way home, so when we got there, I just wheeled him into our bedroom and he slept for a couple of hours in the stroller. All that play time really tuckers a little guy out!
Here are a few photos that I snapped over the last two visits. All the balloons and stuff you see in the last photos were from last week - They hosted a tea-party in honor of the first week of spring term, so things was a bit more, um, ... festive (read: insane!) Brooks took a balloon home and practically loved it to death!
Learning about puzzles...
Lots of nannies come with their charges, but lots of moms too. It's harder to get to know the nannies, as they usually bring a nanny friend with them.
Gathering for music time
So serious, trying to figure out if we know this song or not...
Oh, we do!! Let's get up front and dance!!
The tea party was a huge success, so many new people!
These photos show only part of the room. Well more than 70 people were there last week!
Anke, I love you. Will you marry me and always sing these great songs to me!?
This balloon is so fun! If only I could get it in my mouth!!!
On the road again...
Hurray! We're back in the States... the native land! :) We'll be in the US until May 5th and are looking forward to time with family and friends, just soaking up all things familiar that we miss so much back in London.
Brooks and I arrived in Nashville on Monday night, exhausted but still smiling. We left home at 7:45am Monday, GMT and arrived at Mom and Dad's around 4:45pm Monday, CST. That's fifteen hours of straight travel time, on planes, trains, and automobiles. During all of that, Brooks slept a grand total of 45 minutes. Seriously, he napped less than an hour during the first flight, just as the plane was taking off.
While it certainly wasn't the most restful trip, and I found myself checking the trip clock and flight map just about every 15 minutes, I am so glad that it was relatively uneventful. I'd been more anxious about this flight than normal, in part because Eric would not be with us, and Brooks is now definitely more mobile and more opinionated than the last time we flew over the ocean.
I'm so glad that we're becoming more experienced in trans-atlantic travel with a small child. It CAN be survived, and it makes home seem so much closer when we're back in the UK.
Brooks and I arrived in Nashville on Monday night, exhausted but still smiling. We left home at 7:45am Monday, GMT and arrived at Mom and Dad's around 4:45pm Monday, CST. That's fifteen hours of straight travel time, on planes, trains, and automobiles. During all of that, Brooks slept a grand total of 45 minutes. Seriously, he napped less than an hour during the first flight, just as the plane was taking off.
While it certainly wasn't the most restful trip, and I found myself checking the trip clock and flight map just about every 15 minutes, I am so glad that it was relatively uneventful. I'd been more anxious about this flight than normal, in part because Eric would not be with us, and Brooks is now definitely more mobile and more opinionated than the last time we flew over the ocean.
I'm so glad that we're becoming more experienced in trans-atlantic travel with a small child. It CAN be survived, and it makes home seem so much closer when we're back in the UK.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Van Gogh
When we were in Amsterdam this weekend, we visited the Van Gogh museum and saw a beautiful painting that Van Gogh dedicated to his brother Theo's newborn son. It's entitled "Blossoming Almond Tree" and I just loved it. Sadly, he painted it less than six months before he committed suicide.
The next day we spent several hours at the world's largest and most beautiful spring bulb garden, and I snapped this previous photo of another blossoming tree that reminded me of Vincent's. I can certainly understand why he was inspired by spring and flowers in the sunshine. The beauty of both the painting and the tree we saw made my heart sing.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Guitar Lessons
I have no idea why Wednesday seems to be my blogging day of the week, but 90% of my posts either go online or are started on Wednesday... who knows?
So I have been taking a 10 week guitar class since January. Very very beginner guitar. The class is held in a tiny basement room in the HTB church house and it's been an incredible experience. A lot of credit goes to my teacher. He's a professional musician who does session work and plays out and gives private lessons. He also leads worship at one of HTB's church plants. He's got the vibe of an older cousin or young uncle that's just really quirky and cool. He's quite a good teacher, accepting any and all (stupid) questions, pacing the class well, and adding to the fun with a quote of the week and the occasional (fantastically played) classic 70s rock song sample. Another thing I enjoy is the class mixture. The class has incredible ethnic diversity, with everyone between 20 and 35 years old... We chat on the way to the Tube after class and I have actually had one of them over to our house to practice during an off week. I also really like the fact that I've had a bit of a head start with some of it, due to all the music theory I absorbed while singing and in years of piano lessons. It makes me feel like a quick learner, even if I'm already at a huge advantage!
I've told friends over the last several years that a guitar player *is* somewhere inside of me, trying to break free. Growing up in Nashville and spending hours around very talented music people in high school and college, it always seemed a shame to me that I could only lend a voice to the music, and not my own guitar. I'm certainly not ready to subject the world to my playing yet, but I can accompany myself singing about 15 or 20 worship songs and have some of the basics down.
And Eric has helped so much - meeting me early each week to take Brooks home, feed him supper and put him to bed while I'm at class. He's also listened to my (very rough) early practice sessions and found several nice ways to tell me that he doesn't have a clue what song I'm playing... :) I do hope that it's something that I can keep getting better at. I'm so proud of myself for doing this! Now I just have to practice, practice, practice.
So I have been taking a 10 week guitar class since January. Very very beginner guitar. The class is held in a tiny basement room in the HTB church house and it's been an incredible experience. A lot of credit goes to my teacher. He's a professional musician who does session work and plays out and gives private lessons. He also leads worship at one of HTB's church plants. He's got the vibe of an older cousin or young uncle that's just really quirky and cool. He's quite a good teacher, accepting any and all (stupid) questions, pacing the class well, and adding to the fun with a quote of the week and the occasional (fantastically played) classic 70s rock song sample. Another thing I enjoy is the class mixture. The class has incredible ethnic diversity, with everyone between 20 and 35 years old... We chat on the way to the Tube after class and I have actually had one of them over to our house to practice during an off week. I also really like the fact that I've had a bit of a head start with some of it, due to all the music theory I absorbed while singing and in years of piano lessons. It makes me feel like a quick learner, even if I'm already at a huge advantage!
I've told friends over the last several years that a guitar player *is* somewhere inside of me, trying to break free. Growing up in Nashville and spending hours around very talented music people in high school and college, it always seemed a shame to me that I could only lend a voice to the music, and not my own guitar. I'm certainly not ready to subject the world to my playing yet, but I can accompany myself singing about 15 or 20 worship songs and have some of the basics down.
And Eric has helped so much - meeting me early each week to take Brooks home, feed him supper and put him to bed while I'm at class. He's also listened to my (very rough) early practice sessions and found several nice ways to tell me that he doesn't have a clue what song I'm playing... :) I do hope that it's something that I can keep getting better at. I'm so proud of myself for doing this! Now I just have to practice, practice, practice.
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