The Gallery: Eyes

This week's theme on The Gallery is Eyes.

This is my youngest daughter Grace who has amazing eyes, this photo was taken quite a while ago but now she has these huge, and I mean huge eyelashes, that a supermodel would be envious of and a little speckle of brown around the iris, as does her mother.  

Pop over to the Gallery to see more!

The Gallery: 8pm

This week on The Gallery, the theme is 8pm.  What do you do at 8pm?

In our house generally it is bedtime, not for me, (although sometimes it could be!) but for my two girls.  Although 8pm can also on occasions be dinner time, if we are running late or its the weekend or holidays!     

Come and what others do at 8pm on The Gallery.

Silent Sunday

Silent Sunday

Three week pyjama party

When I was in hospital for a few days in the beginning of the month, my daughters slept in my bed, so when I came home and needed to recuperate, it was easier to bring our daughter or at least her mattress into our room! And so for the last 3 weeks she has stayed in our room, all 4 of us sleeping together in one room!! We have a three bedroom house and we all sleep in one room!

So today was the day to return to 'normal', we gave her room a good tidy as it had been used as a 'play room' for the last 3 weeks and was sooooo messy. And tonight the pyjama party ends and life returns to something that resembles 'normal' in my home, but the thing is, it makes me a little sad!  I have liked having both my children so close and being together more!

Silent Sunday

Being a memory maker

As a parent one of the things we give our children are memories, these memories can have a big impact on the future of that child when they become a grown-up and can help shape the person they become and also the parent they become.  This is a very important thing for me as a parent, wanting to give my children good memories of their childhood that they will look back on fondly.

My childhood was ok, it had its events and its moments, my parents give me a good upbringing but now the landscape of parenting has changed and a parents role is different, parenting has different expectations than it did when my parents were doing it.

My parents were good parents, but there were some things I feel lacked that I want to give my children, through no fault of theirs, just different generation and a different way of doing things.  The things we do with our children create the memory of us to them for the rest of their life, it is not something to take lightly and should be considered as is every action as a parent.  We are 'memory makers' everyday and with almost any action.

Interview with a 5 and 3/4 year old!

A few weeks ago I did an Interview with an Expat Mum, this time I thought it might to nice to get a different view on the world, so I had a chat with my oldest, here's what she thinks......

Whats your name?  Sophie Agate Gomes Amorim

Where do you live?  Conceicao, Tavira

How old are you?  Five and 3/4


How old will you be on your next birthday? Shows me six fingers

Who is your best friend? All of them!

What do you want to be when you grow up?  A princess and a ballerina

Where is Daddy?  In Porto

What does Daddy do?  Works on a boat!

How old is Daddy and Mummy?  Daddy is four and mummy is three (dad - 40, mum -33)

Who's your favourite person in world?  Mummy, daddy and Grace (in that order)


What's your favourite thing to do?  Buy candy 


BTW - I dont stuff my child with sweets or spend every day buying sweets!  So there's a glimpse inside the mind of my almost 6 year old, which apparently is full of sweets, princesses and ballerinas.  There are far worse things to fill your head with :-)

When one becomes two...

When I had my second child, I always knew it would be harder work than having one, for the obvious things, an extra person to cloth and bath and entertain etc, etc, but there were some things which I have found surprising and a little unexpected,

Firstly, the learning to share, I have found came much earlier than with my first, as soon as she could move actually and that in a way, I had to teach the older one all over again, now there was this new person 'in their home' rather than someone at nursery or a friend who came and went.

The extra tidying, to be expected but Im still surprised how much mess two small people can make, my youngest is terrible for pulling things out as soon I tidy up, much more than my eldest does/did.

You need eyes in the back of your head and two extra arms, to watch two small people doing two different things in different places (oh no, i've lost one, what is she doing? before she pulls all my shoes out the wardrobe).

You get used to your first child's habits and ways but then this new, completely different person comes along and does everything differently, sometimes in a good way, sometimes not so good!  Expect the unexpected always!

Copying and imitation, with three and a half years between them, their skill set is pretty wide, yet the smaller still thinking she can do as the bigger, leading to mummy having a heartache on a regular basis and having to stop bigger throwing herself around for fear of smaller copying, which she will try!

Teaching a new kind of 'responsibilty' to the older in terms of the above, and a sneaky way of mum stopping her sofa, bed etc being ruined by bouncing children.

Sibling rivalry, know I knew this was coming, always does but what surprised me is how early it came and how it has now evolved.  The younger is more clingy and protective (?) even though she has always had to 'share' me than the older who had me to herself for 3 and a half years and now has to share!

 

Why is it so difficult to let our children growup?

On the one hand you have the big debate about children growing up too fast and being exposed to 'sexualisation' too early with fashions and media and on the other you have parents, especially mothers who seemingly have trouble seeing their children grow-up and develop onto the next stage of their life. 

At this time of year particularly, many parents struggle with that known feeling that your children are growing and changing and somehow you are losing something.  And in a way, we are but, this is a change that should be celebrated as a step of development and hopefully accomplishment for them.  But yet, most of us feel a moment of loss.

This week saw the end of Sophie's life in kindergarten, she has been there since we arrived in Portugal, 3 years ago and although her teachers have changed each year, this year she had some great and caring teachers who we will miss.  She will move onto pre-school, ready to start primary school next year.  It also marks the start of 5 day schooling, from the part-time of kindergarten.  And although this is a great step for her, it makes me sad, she is no longer my little girl somehow and also the flexibility of our time will be gone, reducing our time together to holidays and weekends. 

Today is my baby girl Grace's second birthday, marking another change, my baby is definately no longer a baby, she walks, she talks (kind of) and shows independence in choice.  I should be happy for her and her new found skills with age but it just makes me sad, that my baby is not my baby anymore and probably there will be no more babies for me.     

But life goes on and time passes, it is our job to make the most of that time we have we our precious gifts, that are our children and to help them grow into strong, responsible and successful people.  Unfortunately we cannot stop time, much as sometimes we would like and keep our children as they are, but we have to let them grow up.

Attention-seeking behaviour

I have a couple, well a few friends who are currently struggling with attention seeking behaviour in their children and it got me to thinking what could be behind it.  Im no child psychologist, but what makes some children feel the need to 'play up' in certain ways to get attention?  In these situations that my friends are encountering there is no one factor that could be applied to all, although all the mums are stay at home mums and have two children but the children are all different ages.  In the youngest one, who is almost three, he is pushing children in his playschool, being the most prominent behaviour.  In the others who are older, there are several patterns of behaviour, the most common being, always demanding something and continously asking (even if they have been told yes) to ensure they are dealt with first and shouting. 

But is this behaviour simply caused by the parents not giving the child enough attention (or at least positive attention) or does the child just have a demanding personality, is that even possible at a young age?  It is a problem that I have never really had with my children, not on the scale as these mothers are dealing with, of course, they have their days and their moments when it feels they wont leave me alone.

I would really like to help my friends, but am not sure where the root of the behaviour comes from, what do you think?  Have you ever dealt with this kind of thing with your child?