May 26, 2009

Puzzle Prodigy

For the past couple of weeks, Caleb has been putting together an old wooden puzzle

of the world's countries (from the 80s). It was a gift from his grandparents, which I had put

away for later, because obviously it will have to wait for when he's older.

But he found it one day and started playing with it.

I marvelled when I noticed that he knew where most of the pieces fit...

Grandmom got wind of Caleb's talent

(also pointing out that his father was able to do the same at this age)

and so today, Caleb was the happy recipient of a gift -

a wooden puzzle of the USA with the sound of state names and capitals!

Daddy took the puzzle out and Caleb eagerly began to work at it.

I am not even kidding, the child knew where to fit about 70% of the pieces.

Just like that. On first try.

And by the time I realized what I was seeing, stopped the wild cheering, and grabbed my

video camera, he was almost finished and was messing with the last few pieces.

When you are not even 2 and a half,

yet you are putting together a puzzle that was designed for ages 5+

and quite well too, for the very first time -

it is time to announce to the world that you are, what appears to be,

a Puzzle Prodigy.

PS. LOVE the way he mutters to himself - yeah, no...

PSS. Thanks Grandmom!!!

May 22, 2009

Lake love


Lake love
Photo of the Week
2009 Week 19

He loves the lake. He has loved it since he was 6 months old,

but now he actually asks to go to the LAKE,

to play on the private little hideaway beach

that is ours alone every time we go there,

and wade into the cool water with his friends.

It is his mother's dream to live on a lake,

where the freshwater waves lap at one's backyard grasses

and a swim can be had each day from May through October,

so this apple has not fallen too far from the tree.





May 18, 2009

Swine Flu - man-made?


There's been a lot in the media lately about Swine Flu (though its sensation is now waning) and we've heard much fearmongering from our elected officials, and health officials at the CDC and WHO about the pandemic that is coming. The pharmaceutical companies are more than happy to be reap massive financial gains by producing a swine flu vaccine and we're quickly headed down the road to repeat the mistakes of the 1976 swine flu scare. In 1976 only 1 person died from swine flu at Fort Dix, and it never did spread to the general population. On the other hand, the mass inoculation campaign with the swine flu vaccine that followed killed 25 and disabled hundreds with GBS (a paralysing disorder) - thus making the vaccine more deadly than the virus.

There's a lot more to be said on this issue, including a new report you probably haven't heard about, from a respected virologist with 39 years of experience, who has analyzed the genetic makeup of the swine flu virus and now believes that it is man-made and came from a laboratory (he conservatively calls it "human error") as it combines viruses of human, pig, and bird origin not naturally occurring and mutating at an unnaturally fast rate, suggesting it mutated outside of a pig. That it might be man-made is not surprising to anyone who has done any research on vaccines and knows that viruses in vaccine development are indeed cultured on chick embryos (eggs), monkey kidneys, bovine serum, mice brain, guinea pigs, etc. with not only animal DNA being transmitted from these animals to humans through vaccines, but potentially undetected/unknown viruses as well (as was the case with the SV40 virus from monkeys, which was found in the polio vaccine).

But it is surprising that a respected scientist is actually brave enough to come out and say that this looks like "human error," and face all of the career repurcussions that may follow his admission. (Then again, he's retired now, so he has not much to lose.)

The powers that be will of course deny any suggestion of man's hand in this "pandemic," as it is not in their best interest to be viewed as the infector of mankind, but the saviour of mankind with their curing medicines and vaccines.

Here's one of the best articles I've found from Natural News on what's missing from the media stories about Swine Flu - a conveniently omitted mention of nature's numerous antiviral medicines, available to anyone to treat any kind of viral/bacterial infection - even man-made. It's worth a read.





What's Missing from Every Media Story About H1N1 Influenza



Saturday, May 02, 2009 by: Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor



(From NaturalNews) If you read the stories on H1N1 influenza written by the mainstream media, you might incorrectly think there's only one anti-viral drug in the world. It's name is Tamiflu and it's in short supply.



That's astonishing to hear because the world is full of anti-viral medicine found in tens of thousands of different plants. Culinary herbs like thyme, sage and rosemary are anti-viral. Berries and sprouts are anti-viral. Garlic, ginger and onions are anti-viral. You can't walk through a grocery store without walking past a hundred or more anti-viral medicines made by Mother Nature.



And yet how many does the mainstream media mention? Zero.



The totality of influenza preparedness is defined by the mainstream media as the number of doses of Tamiflu a nation has stockpiled. You see it in stories like this one at the Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124...




Tamiflu comes from an herb



To live in a world that's saturated with natural anti-viral medicine and then not even acknowledge it in the media is beyond bizarre. It's Twilight Zone-like. It's like we've been teleported to an alternate universe where anti-viral plants have disappeared... or at least everyone is pretending they have.



Where do you think Tamiflu comes from, by the way?It's extracted from the Traditional Chinese Medicine herb called Star Anise. It's one of hundreds of different anti-viral herbs found in Chinese Medicine, not to even mention anti-viral herbs from South America, North America, Australia, Africa and other regions.I find it downright comedic that Big Pharma and the world's health authorities extract their "champion" anti-viral drug Tamiflu from a Chinese Medicine herb, and then they go out of their way to announce to people that herbs and natural remedies are useless against influenza. If that's the case then why are they using herbs to make their own medicine?



How many stories have you read that bother to tell you Tamiflu is made from the star anise herb that's been used for over 5,000 years in Traditional Chinese Medicine? Virtually none. The powers that be don't want anybody to know they could actually grow their own medicine in a garden or a windowsill. If you can grow cilantro, you can grow medicine. If everybody figured that out, Big Pharma wouldn't be reaping the enormous profits it's making right now from Tamiflu sales, and the governments of the world wouldn't be able to scare and control people by promising to distribute Tamiflu (but only if you behave).




The Tamiflu scam is global



H1N1 influenza is not a hoax. But the way it's being reported by health authorities and the mainstream media certainly is. The scam in all this is what they leave out of the stories -- the fact that human beings live among a huge natural medicine chest of anti-viral drugs found in every city park, every forest, every swamp and every open field.



You cannot walk across any patch of natural land in America and NOT find anti-viral medicine. It's everywhere! It's in the weeds growing in the cracks in the sidewalks; it's in weeds on the side of the stream; and it's growing in the small patch of dirt left remaining in the median between highway lanes.



In the deserts of the American Southwest, you can't even drive to work without passing mile after mile of abundant anti-viral medicine grown by Mother Nature and just waiting for humans to wake up and be smart enough to recognize it.



I have a sobering prediction about H1N1 influenza (formerly "swine flu"): If it does become a global pandemic, many of those people who refuse to recognize the anti-viral medicine provided by Mother Nature will die. Their misplaced faith in Big Pharma will literally cost them their lives. In contrast, those who have the wisdom to get their medicine from Mother Nature will not only survive the pandemic, they'll thrive even as others around them are dying. It is those who embrace Mother Nature's powerful, synergistic and living medicines who will weather any pandemic storm, and they will emerge as the DNA holders of the future of human civilization. Chemical worshippers, in other words, have no future on our planet. But those who seek the wisdom of nature have healthy potential for long-term survival.



How the masses are de-educated



If aliens could see us now, and if they could witness the mass-brainwashing of the world's consumers who have been drained of knowledge and implanted with the stupid idea that there's only one anti-viral medicine in the world, they'd laugh their little gray heads off. "How can people who are OF the Earth have been so easily brainwashed to DISMISS the Earth?" they might ask.



The answer, of course, is the mainstream media. With journalists who are painfully ignorant about the natural world around them, the media has managed to de-educate the people on numerous topics, draining away knowledge, wisdom and common sense like a blood-sucking corporate vampire bat. Those consumers who plug in to the media lose intelligence by the week, it seems. And before long, they are left as little more than reactive, do-as-you're-told sheeple who believe anything they're told, even if it violates the laws of the natural world from which they emerged at birth.



Mainstream news reporting on H1N1 influenza (or any pandemic) isn't about educating people; it's about stripping away their knowledge. It's about eliminating complexity and simplifying all actions to a single, reactive element that just happens to be controlled by powerful corporations or bloated governments. It's about stripping away your options, eliminating free choice and framing it all in the false context of "caring for you."



This is how freedoms are ultimately stolen away from the People. They aren't always taken at gunpoint or by force. They're stolen through campaigns of seductive disinformation that teach people to surrender their own freedoms in exchange for the illusion of security or safety. In the middle of a pandemic outbreak, will people submit to Martial Law if it means they get some Tamiflu?



Of course they will. That's the whole point.



God forbid what might happen if people actually began to think for themselves, or grow their own medicine, or treat viral infections using plants rather than prescriptions. What might happen if people learned there are not simply one or two anti-viral medicines in the world, but thousands! (And they don't need a prescription.)



Imagine the economic chaos if people realized they could cure cancer, eliminate heart disease, reverse diabetes and beat influenza using herbs and plants they could grow themselves! Such explosions of freedom simply cannot be allowed in our corporate-controlled world. Thus, the whole system reminds you to disown any knowledge of herbal medicine and worship only Tamiflu, your chemical savior. Do not question the authorities on these matters, my friends. Chemicals are the true answer to protecting life on our planet. Can't you tell? We've been using chemicals for nearly a hundred years and the population is larger than ever! Who can argue with that?

May 17, 2009

Laughter in the kitchen


We're making a dinner of lamb chops. Ron says, "Maybe we should season it differently tonight." (Our usual is garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil.)

Ten minutes later, it's time to season the lamb. I absentmindedly grab the cinnamon, and am ready to sprinkle just as Ron walks into the kitchen.

He says, "What's that?"
"Garlic." - I glance at it. "Oh no, it's cinnamon."
"I asked for different, not crazy."

***

I'm washing dishes. Ron walks into the kitchen excitedly exclaiming:
"You found grease and I found turkey!"
"Huh?"

My mind is in the kitchen. I try to piece together the story. He just came from the living room... and he's reporting that there's grease there AND turkey?
Grease, okay, we do have a 2-year-old, but... turkey??? When was the last time we ate turkey?!
Thanksgiving turkey?!!?

At last, he provides the context I am missing:
"Caleb's puzzle. You found Greece. And I just found Turkey. The missing pieces?"
"Oh."
***

May 16, 2009

"Fut and Walk"


It is Friday evening, the end of a long day and an even longer week. My toddler stands next to me, endlessly repeating the phrase "Fut and walk!" (run and walk), letting me know just what he wants to do as he charmingly mixes the two languages he knows. It is so darn charming, even after I am forced to listen to it over and over again, repeated about 50 times, and watch his eyes gaze pointedly at the deck door, beckoning me to lead him outside. Each time, my repeated answer is a variation of "No, not today, sweetie, Mommy is very tired." It has been a very long day. Repeating the same answer 50 times isn't helping.

He doesn't seem to comprehend my negative answer. He is not used to being refused on this simple, easily executable request, to go play in the backyard. I am not used to denying him this basic childhood need/wish to go outdoors once a day and exercise his limbs. My resolve to deny his request wanes; he is quickly wearing me down. Mommy guilt is kicking in. My mind cries, I just cannot.

His 51st request grants him his wish.

With resignation I give in at last, asking: "You really want to go outside?" His brightening face and elated reply is my reward: "Yeah! Fut and walk!"

Before we head out, I make it clear that this time, Mommy is neither going to fut, nor walk. She is going to sit under the deck with a book and watch Caleb do all the running and walking. He is fine with that: "Okay, Mommy." He grabs his own book. I try telling him that he will not need that for the running and walking he'll be doing, but he insists.

When the running and walking is all done and he's gotten some kind of yucky worms on his toy truck he threw into the wheelbarrow that filled up with rain in last night's thunderstorm, which wormy things also somehow got crushed on his truck, but not before they tried to crawl all over me... he is all ready to go back inside.

I carry the wormy toy truck with two careful fingers upstairs and spend the next ten minutes washing it. Then spend the next twenty minutes washing Caleb. After the bath, he quickly, contentedly falls asleep. And then, blissfully, so does his mother.

The End.


Tell me, who could refuse this face?

And who could deny this one?

Ten!


Ten!
Photo of the Week
2009 Week 18

Tired of Play-Doh ducks, snakes, balls, cars, and trains
we ventured into new territory:
personal adornment.
As in Caleb was the lucky guy, who got adorned
with the most colorful of rings, bracelets, and anklets.
If I'm lucky, I may get away with this kind of entertainment
for another year
or two.



Going ALL OUT!

May 13, 2009

Mother's Day Weekend



A hike with friends. Candlelight dinner for three. An hour at the park.
The season's first cherries. Sunny Saturday at the lake. Celebration at church.
Sweet kisses and hugs from the boys. The creation of the triple kiss.
"Happy Mother's Day" wishes.


This was our Mother's Day weekend, peppered with some work to keep it real.
Here are the pictures we took.



















May 12, 2009

May 10, 2009

ABCs and 123s

I've been remiss with video recording lately

(read: the past 4 months),

but tonight as Caleb and I sat eating our green beans and sweet potato,

singing the ABC song and others,

it occurred to me that maybe I should grab my video camera

to record a few minutes of what this child is now capable of

(and has been for approximately 4 months):

counting to 10 in both English and Hungarian

and singing the Alphabet Song -

though this is not his best performance of that song by far,

being that his mouth was full of green beans at the time.

(I should have waited until he finished eating.)

This one is a BONUS for you -

singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider song.

May 8, 2009

30 weeks down, 10 more to go


We are at 30 weeks, three-quarters of the way there. As Caleb would say: "Wow!" Which is his exact response every time he feels or sees the baby kick inside my belly. He's even gotten a couple of nudges to his face while snuggling with the baby. To keep it real, earlier today as my stomach made a loud, deep growling sound, I playfully said to him: "Hear the baby?" and with an astonished look on his face, he totally ran off to tell his father about how the baby can growl now.

I had a midwife visit this week, during which she admired my beautiful belly skin for not having a single stretch-mark. I've been lucky with that through both of my pregnancies and it must be genetics, because it's not like I'm doing anything special to prevent them. I do own a little bottle of Mama Belly Oil from BabyBearShop, but I use it only occasionally for its lovely scent of lavender, chamomile, and red mandarin whenever I want to be pampered. (With my usual 5-minute showers, this isn't often.) I try to be careful with what I put on my body, especially my belly, during pregnancy, as everything gets absorbed through the skin. I love their products at BabyBearShop, because they are 99% organic, 100% natural ingredients without any artificial colors, fragrances, or preservatives. I think it's just as important to be mindful of pollutants entering my body through the skin as watching what I eat, so I can provide an optimal growing environment for the tiny little life I'm incubating.

Which little life isn't so tiny anymore at approximately 3 pounds. She is definitely powerful enough and has a way of jolting me without warning, so as to make me grab my stomach involuntarily. The most accurate way to describe her sudden, sharp kicks is it feels like an alien is loose in my belly. An incredibly erratic alien.

So, we have 10 weeks to go and although I've been "nesting" for much of this pregnancy, due to my busy work schedule, it's been nesting only in my head, where an ambitious list resides of what I need to accomplish around the house before the baby gets here. (Not because I am doing anything for the baby, specifically, but because I know that any projects I have been planning to do around the house will realistically sit and wait at least a year, if not two after baby.) But with only 10 weeks to go I've begun writing a detailed list of things that must get done in the upcoming weeks. (Whether or not I'll get to them, is another thing. It is a very ambitious list.) Thankfully, I will have my family here a few weeks before the birth, and though I'd love to have everything done by the time they get here, I know that I can count on them to help me scramble at the last minute, if need be, to finish some of the things on my list.

Caleb came to me while I was writing this post and asked to see the baby, then let out the deepest dinosaur growl I've ever heard from him, proudly showing me his knowledge of what the baby sounds like.

Hmm, I think I've just inadvertently created his first misconception about his baby sister.


May 6, 2009

Outdoor Enthusiast

Outdoor Enthusiast
Photo of the Week
2009 Week 17

Recurring themes in Caleb's expression of joy

every time he's outdoors:

mouth wide, eyes alight, screaming, singing, dancing, laughing

RUNNING,

discovering.

No, I could not express this in less than 10 photographs.









May 4, 2009

No one will say she lacked clothes




As you can see, it appears that I may have gone a little overboard with the baby girl clothes shopping. These clothes were all bought within a few weeks of finding out that we're expecting a girl, in hopes of bringing some feminine style to her hand-me-down wardrobe. And I am not quite done yet. Though I probably should be, for there are enough clothes here to keep her covered for the first 12 months of her life. Not to mention plenty of gender neutral clothes from Caleb's baby days. And although there are a few pricier items among these, as I enjoy Internet shopping for unique things a little too much, a number of these beautiful pieces came from the local second-hand baby clothes store. I bet you can't guess which ones?

I never thought I'd be such a fan of that store, as I never frequent second-hand shops, but their baby clothes are high quality, beautiful, they all look brand new, and are dirt cheap. Of course, everyone knows that babies outgrow things in the blink of an eye, so it's no wonder the clothes look like new - most of them were worn only a few times.

Beauty coupled with frugality - now that's a combination that definitely works for me.

May 1, 2009

Brotherly love



Brotherly love

Photo of the Week

2009 Week 16

I know that this is not the best quality picture (for ex. the lamp seems to be growing out of Caleb's head). It was an awkward angle as I had to reach back with the camera while the belly starring in these photos remained attached to me.

Yet, it made Photo of the Week, because it captures one of the most surprisingly tender aspects of Caleb's personality these days - the way he relates to his unborn baby sister.

Many times a day, he demands to kiss and hug, or see the baby. Most of the time, his way of affectionately greeting her (after the kiss and hug) is to put his hands on my bare tummy and move all his ten fingers in a kind of tickle-caress. (This is how he greeted his baby cousin Natalia too, a couple of months ago.)

Most of the time, he pulls my shirt up to kiss the baby through my bare tummy.

Sometimes, he'll bring a toy to show her, saying "see the car?" and

other times, he'll stick around to play with her.



When he is finished, he says "kész" (finished) and pulls my shirt back down.


He also understands that the baby is going to come out of my tummy, it will lay on his lap or on the floor, it will cry (he does the cutest imitation with his head twisting from side to side), and that he will be able to kiss and hug the baby for real.

To us, all of this is an amazing display of brotherly love.

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