In The Neighborhood

I grew up happily bouncing between my grandparents' small farming village and my parents' small town in East Germany and among my many wonderful memories is a feeling of community.  The mail carrier knew you by name as did the clerks at the small grocery stores.  We invited neighbors to our birthday parties and lent a hand to those in need.  If you were doing something you weren't supposed to do, you could be pretty sure that it was going to come to your parents' attention one way or another and if you were out and about as a kid, it was not uncommon for a neighbor to give you a piece of fruit or candy to sustain you in your childhood adventures.

I have missed this feeling of community since moving to the US, but in our current neighborhood, I am getting more of it than in any other place we had lived previously.

For example, when our lawn care person had to cut hours due to long-term illness toward the end of the mowing season and our yard was slowly overgrowing, a neighborhood teen showed up and mowed it for us.  When Ella went to visit our semi-retired neighbors to meet their new kitten, she came home with a huge box of fancy chocolates in fall shapes (leaves, acorns, pumpkins, etc.) and instructions to share them with her siblings.

In late summer, we watered a neighbor family's flowers and tomatoes while they were on vacation and we shared our enormous basil harvest with several neighborhood friends.

In mid-October I started the "Boo" and then excitedly watched the signs spring up on our street's front doors as the tradition was paid forward until we were booed ourselves.

When another neighbor found out that Ella likes Frida Kahlo and was going to dress up as the Mexican artist for Halloween, she appeared at our door right around that time with a piece of Frida-inspired art for Ella's room.

And when I mentioned in passing to a neighbor that we have an outpatient surgery on the calendar for one of our family members later this month, she immediately offered to bring us dinner the day of the surgery.

I remember quite well the sadness I felt when we moved from our dream home to this house in order to get closer to the services our children need.  The house is still not my favorite though we have made many improvements (more on that in another post maybe), but one of the unexpected silver linings has been this colorful assortment of neighbors of all ages and from many different backgrounds who are trying their best not to let closed doors and electronic screens stand in the way of real community.  And for that, I am thankful.

IAC 471 & 472 Results

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 471 which was held on August 8, 2019:

1) Dutch dossier from March 2013 referred a male child aged 4 years and 7 months with features in health status

2) Italian dossier from September 2014 referred a male child aged 8 years and 9 months with features in health status

3) Italian dossier from November 2015 referred a male child aged 4 years and 2 months with features in health status and a family history

4) Italian dossier from November 2015 referred a child - no additional info provided

5) US dossier from February 2016 referred a female child aged 1 year and 6 months with features in health status and a family history

6) Belgian dossier from January 2017 referred a male child aged 1 year and 1 month with features in health status and a family history

7) Italian dossier from April 2018 referred sisters aged 7 years and 5 months & 9 years and 10 months

8) Italian dossier from June 2019 referred a waiting child

9) US dossier from July 2019 referred a waiting child

10) US dossier from August 2019 referred a waiting child

11) US dossier from August 2019 referred a waiting child

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 472 which was held on August 15, 2019:

1) French dossier from October 2014 referred a female child aged 5 years and 3 months with features in health status

2) French dossier from October 2014 referred two brothers aged 6 years and 3 months & 7 years and 8 months

3) US dossier from December 2015 referred a female child aged 2 years with features in health status

4) Norwegian dossier from June 2016 referred a male child aged 1 year and 11 months with features in health status

5) Italian dossier from June 2018 referred a female child aged 11 years and 7 months

Blue Joy

For the last few months, Emilia has been asking us for blue hair.  We tried to put it off, thinking she would change her mind or forget, but she never did.  Every couple of days or so she reiterated her request.  Finally, we gave in and made her an appointment with our trusted Miss Kelly and earlier this week it was time for the magic to happen.

While Kelly worked on Emilia's hair, she asked her, "Why blue hair?" and much to our surprise - because she had never really told us the reason and I guess we never asked - Emilia answered confidently, "To be like Joy in the movie."  In that moment it all made sense to Craig and me.  Emilia has been watching the movie Inside Out a lot and the character that represents the emotion of joy has blue hair.  Knowing that the desire to emulate this particular character was the inspiration behind Emilia's request erased any lingering doubt that I may have had about the blue hair and got me fully on board with Emilia's decision to choose joy for herself. 

It served also as an important reminder to presume competence for my sweet girl who certainly does far more complex thinking and intentional decision-making than what she may be able to express verbally and than what we may give her credit for at any given time.

Mirror, mirror on the wall...
You're the most joyful one of all.

Farm Fresh

From mid-May to mid-October our family is part of a local CSA, receiving a box full of seasonal goodness once a week.  We know our Farmer Nancy personally, we see her at farmers' markets or when she brings our produce to the door, and we have been to her farm and toured the fields and greenhouses.  We enjoy our weekly delivery from Nancy and before the last one of the season, we added on a half bushel of mixed apples, just for eating and for making apple butter.

But now the local CSA is closed for the winter and I was mulling on how to best get fruits and vegetables over the next six or seven months.  I don't particularly enjoy shopping for produce at the store because it's pretty tedious, but I do usually get a culinary kick out of having a box of semi-random ingredients dropped into my lap and then seeing what I can create from it.  So enter Misfit Market, a delivery service of organic produce from US and some foreign farms.  I've seen their ads and then a friend got started and was happy with the quality and quantity of the produce, so I signed up, too.  On Friday, we received our first box.

I quickly adjusted Saturday's dinner to be a roasted fennel and pumpkin soup along with roasted pumpkin seeds (from a cooking pumpkin we still had hanging around from Farmer Nancy's last box) and an apple cream cake for Sunday brunch.  For this week I plan on chocolate muffins with beet puree in the batter as well as a greens and potato soup.  The bell peppers and celery will be eaten raw for snacks and in salads. Add a couple of cups of tea with lemon (just FYI, Misfit Market, you stole my heart by adding lemons) and the box should be just about used up.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Misfit Market will bring us throughout the winter season and what delectable meals we can conjure up.

Slow & Steady

When the school year began for my two younger children in mid-August, I started a new tradition.  Right after they board the bus, I begin a 15 minute walk that, at the end, crosses paths with their school bus again as it finishes its loops through nearby neighborhoods.  There's a big oak tree and I stand near it to wave to Rex and Emilia once more while they make their way to school.  It took Emilia just a few days to figure out that I was going to be there and wave back to me, but Rex didn't seem to notice me for weeks.

But then one magical morning at the beginning of this month Rex saw me there and his face lit up and he blew me a kiss unlike any before.  My heart skipped a beat and I was filled with joy.  And I realized again that while my sweet boy does not always keep pace with his companions, when he eventually gets it (whatever it is), he is all in and in for good.  Since that morning, when the bus slows to a stop at the three-way by the oak tree, Rex's face is turned to where he knows I will be standing and he flashes me his biggest, happiest smile every single time, reminding me that I am one lucky, lucky mama to be loved so wholly and unconditionally by my son who marches to the beat of a different drummer.

From The Mouth Of Babes

Child, "Mama, you know the two things you always say all the time?"
Mom, "I say a lot of things on any given day."
Child, "Yeah, but here's the two things you say ALL THE TIME."
Mom ... ... ...
Child, "What am I doing and where is my phone."

#mylifeinanutshell

Picture Of The Day

When you have some time to burn before an afternoon appointment... daddy daughter dessert perfection.