Family
Doing our kids’ homework
Don’t worry – we don’t really do our kids’ homework. They do their own. But there are times that we feel like we have more homework from their school than they do!
Oh yes, you know that we’re finishing up language studies, taking trips as we decide where to move to, we’re getting ready to move to Mexico City (Lord willing in a few weeks), and all kinds of minor stuff like that. But we’re also being kept busy by surprise tasks that Hannah and Nathanael bring home from Colegio del Bosque from time to time. Sometime there’s a day notice, sometimes even a week. (You may recall one or two of our earlier experiences with the school – read here about Kids at school and vine sheets)
Well, the circular we got in March did give us more notice than that, at least in one case. Around the same time Hannah and Nathanael brought home two different letters about costumes.
There was the spring party, coming up quick, and they were supposed to both come as something "springy", and have decorated Easter baskets. Oh, and chocolate eggs. And cascarones.
We didn’t have baskets (never mind decorated ones), costumes, or anything else, so off to the market I went. We got baskets, decorated them, made costumes (Shari’s handiwork), got chocolate eggs and cascarones.
But about the same time we got the notice about Mother’s Day (10th of May). The children would be practising for a special program. And they needed more costumes.
Ready for this?
For Mother’s Day, Hannah needs a red satin dress, made to exact specifications, and certain shoes. Nathanael will be dressed up as a Greek, with a toga, gold sandals, a gold belt, and a laurel crown (with laurel leaves) on his head.
Shari wasn’t sure she was reading this right – she went and talked to the teacher. "Oh yes, this will be the easiest costume ever!" the teacher exclaimed, referring to the toga. As if in previous years they had forced the poor mothers to create costumes far more complicated. For Mother’s Day.
So this week we’re still working on getting these elaborate costumes ready for next month. Meanwhile, you guessed it – more "circulars" came home.
(Rough translation from the Spanish) This is to inform you that we’ll be having a Recyclable Toy Contest, and so you need to bring a toy on Wednesday the 23rd of April, with the following characteristics: (instructions followed).
On the same day, Hannah got special instructions to draw a huge picture of the family on bristol board (which, of course, we had to go buy because we didn’t have any on hand).
So, picture out of the way we decided on and created two recyclable toys, one for each kid (this time they helped us – *phew*).
 Nathanael and his Bullroar; Hannah plays her tin-can bass |
Nathanael and I made a Bullroar, a traditional Australian instrument. Hannah and I made a tin-can bass. There they are in the picture.
Tomorrow night Hannah and Mom will go out to work on the red dress with another family from the school.
What other circulars will be coming home, and what new and wild things will they have us buy/find/create? That’s just a taste of the last month or so. It’s been an interesting year as a whole, and we’ve learnt a lot! Don’t get me wrong – it’s an excellent school, and we’ll be sorry to leave it. (Actually, it’s in its last year – no one will be able to go next year).
Anyway, I’d better run. Nathanael got a note along with his homework today that we’re supposed to bring some cooked [some word in Spanish we don’t understand] for his cooking class on Friday.
What? Nathanael has a cooking class?
Flintstone Vitamins
Did you have Flintstone vitamins when you were a child? I did. They’re still around, of course.
In Mexico, the Flintstones are still in reruns and are known as Los Picapiedra, starring Pedro and Vilma (Fred and Wilma). Not too long ago, Shari bought some Flintstone vitamins for Hannah and Nathanael.
 Pictured: Non-spicy Flintstone Vitamins |
Now, let’s back up a little. Nathanael and Hannah have a tendency to call anything with a strong flavour "pica". Pica or picante means spicy-hot.
Now our kids sometimes eat things that are spicy-hot, and sometimes don’t. Depends on their mood, I guess. But they also sometimes don’t like to eat things that simply have a strong flavour. Lately Nathanael seems more sensitive to things like that – not sure why.
So, back to the Flintstones. These were new vitamins for them, and they complained that they were pica. No, we told them, they’re not "pica". Eventually we found Nathanael just wouldn’t eat them, but Hannah did, so they got all used up except one.
By mistake Shari had bought vitamins that were supposed to be taken in 2s (it was a mistake because these are quite a bit more expensive). So with only 1 vitamin left, I volunteered to eat it so that they could move on to the new vitamins that are taken in 1s.
You guessed it. They really were spicy hot. Not just a little, either. It was pretty obvious.
That’s Mexico for you – pica tacos, pica candy, pica chewing gum… and pica children’s chewable vitamins.
Maybe I should start taking Flintstone vitamins again…
A Mexican Easter Tradition
And now, we’re proud to present Nathanael and Hannah in this edition of “Easter Traditions”…
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In case you’re still not clear, here’s a summary of what cascarones are…
School Spring Party
Here are a few shots of the spring party that Hannah and Nathanael had at Colegio del Bosque today – the last day of school before the spring break.
(Note: this is a fairly short video, but a fairly large file, so it may take a while to buffer on your computer).