When the sun is setting, between dusk and darkness, there is a moment when the light turns blue. And the world stops for a heartbeat.
I was listening to Alanna read her homework chapter to Stuart tonight. I was surprised how well Stuart was able to catch all the little mistakes, whether she mixed up letters (which can change the meaning of a word) or got the endings wrong.
Considering that he probably didn’t even understand what all the words meant, it is quite a feat.
Definitely requires a lot more concentration from him than from me.
It’s a guaranteed rabbit hole in any conversation with fellow parents: how many chores should kids do?
We are still at a pretty basic level. We expect the girls to clean up after themselves: to tidy their rooms (and whatever else they have scattered around the house), take their plates away, put their laundry in the basket and clean up the kitchen after making their own snacks or breakfasts.
For bigger jobs, such as raking leaves or cleaning up the garden, we expect them to pitch in for a few hours.
I think the girls are soon ready to take on more responsibility around the house. In fact, we’d probably have insisted on it already, if getting them to do their chores weren’t such an enormous chore for Stuart and me.
Stuart, Alanna and Kiara took me out for dinner to celebrate my birthday.
Over the years, Stuart and I have perfected the art of maximising the number of dishes you can taste in a restaurant. We never order the same dish, and often go half-and-half on starters, sometimes even on mains.
The girls complicate the maths, as they are just as keen to taste everything. With you have half a starter to start with, sharing it with two other people tends to leave you with very little.
When the dish is very small – or exceptionally good – we claim it is super spicy. But even that doesn’t always work anymore.
There was a kids’ comic book fair in Helsinki today. If not for a friend who sent us a note, we never would’ve known about it. And unfortunately, based on how few people there were, not everyone has such a clued-up friend.
I often wonder how much cool stuff we miss, just because we never see the ads.
But we made it to this one. The best activity was designing their own characters for a comic graveyard. Alanna’s two-tailed cat zombie laughed out loud while scaring others and swinging. Kiara’s 10,000-year-old worm was actually not dead. He was too stubborn to die – but liked hanging out with the dead. But then again, he was bad at math, so who knows how old he really was…
Now we wait to see if either of these characters makes the cut for the actual comic book.
Alanna started a comic school this fall. She is beyond excited. Comics are her obsession. And more than just reading them, they are also her preferred way of expressing herself. Alanna has a very observant drawing style, and she tells a story with every image she draws.
The course also goes through the basics of animation. This has been a totally new discovery for Alanna, and it has been interesting to see how she has already learned to adjust her drawing style. Her animations are – by necessity – much simpler than her other drawings.
Where are the beginner comic book courses for adults?
I am old enough to admit I love puzzles. I always have. According to my mum, I loved them so much as a 2-year-old that my nursery teachers got worried.
The problem is that when I start one, I get totally obsessed. For two days (sometimes three, if it is during the work week), my fingers constantly itch to get back to it.
Until it’s done, and I am left wanting to start a new one (and resisting because… well… I have a life).
The girls see this and want to be involved. Alanna sits next to me and tells me the story of every character, flower and house in the puzzle. Kiara sits across the table and obsesses over her own puzzles.
Finns are not very good at building neighborhood communities. In general, Finns are not very good at casual socializing. Having lived in our current house for five years, only now – through Scouts – have I realized there is actually any community activity at all.
So today was a Soukka Neighborhood Day. The girls participated in a Scouts skill trail, which rewarded participants with a free crepe and jam.
Grassroots participation.
Somewhat by accident Alanna, Kiara and I ended up in Design Week’s kids’ workshop.
The girls got to design fashionable outfits, new houses and a – best of all – a mascot that they could then program to make sounds, flash lights, or show images.
An accident to repeat.
With the start of school, homework is back. The girls have been complaining about how much more there is this year. There can be homework from TWO subjects! The same day!
It’ll be a long road to graduation.
Alanna and Kiara started extra lessons in English as a native language this year. The classes are held in another school, so we have been practicing taking the bus.
The have almost mastered it. Now they just need to remember to keep on eye on where they are going.
