Engineering Camp

The best of Connor's wonderful creations from the Engineer It! camp at Imaginosity, Dublin's Children's Museum.

He was very happy at this camp. So of course, I was very happy, too.

Leonardo DaVinci wings.

Replica of a Roman aqueduct.

Marshmallow-launching catapult (after the marshmallow had been eaten, of course).

Functional water wheel.

Summer Update

A short while ago, I posted my thoughts on child rearing and how my time here as influenced me, resulting in my decision not to put Connor into tons of camps, and to stay home together instead.

So, how is it going?

Well, we're two weeks into it and all in all, all right. There have been a few unforeseen benefits, namely having Connor face the fact that he has a little baby brother. He had to get used to being told to wait his turn, no I can't play with you now, and I'm sorry I need to interrupt our playtime to go take care of the fussy baby. Not only did Connor realize that he's second or third in line at times, but he also had to grapple with strangers doting on Ronan.

This was a challenge at first: Connor was quite clingy to me that first week home. Mommy, Mommy, Mommy...be with me, keep me company, can I be with you, can you be with me? It was constant. And energy draining, I must say.

But now we're into a flow. Just today I told him, "I like to say things once." So those incessant questions about "Can I have ___? Why not? But can't we just ____?" are over. I am getting better and better at sticking with my answer once it's made, and now I am gaining ground with not wasting my breath saying that answer over and over again. "I like to say things once." Of course, that pairs with "I like to be with children who cooperate." It's a good combo.

We have relaxed our morning routine and our TV rules for summertime. In the mornings, Connor and I snuggle in bed and I read to him. It is a wonderfully cozy and fun thing to do that we never get the chance for during the school year. And we now have screen time at 4pm most days. Although some days I just say, "No TV today."

It is a little more diffcult doing all this considering that everyone on the street are older "pensioners," as they are sometimes called here. So there's very few children about. The one exception are our next door neighbors. They sometimes care for their nieces and nephew. Connor was able to go over and play with them one day last week. Other than that, it's either me and Connor or Connor going solo.

Adding to the challenge has been our poor weather. This week yielded only one totally dry day. Last week, we had one sunny day in which we went out to a playground for most of the afternoon. (This is one great playground! Check out the awesome climbing structure. And can you see how far Connor made it?)



I did sign Connor up for one camp for next week, however. It's a bit of a drive, but I think he's really going to like it. It's run by Imaginosity, Dublin's new children's museum and it's titled "Engineer It!" . They're going to made all sorts of cool creations and play on the floor of the museum. They'll make paper parachutes, learn about Leonardo Da Vinci, build an aquaduct, solar oven, and some other cool things. I'll do another post all about that. But for now, I think my favorite part about that so far is how we wound up almost cancelling the camp.

You see, it is for children ages 6-8. And Connor is still 5. He will be until December. Well, lots of people here lie about their children's ages for the sake of getting them into camps. And they tell their children that for the week of camp, they're 6 years old should anyone ask. Well, I tried that with Connor. And the response I got was, "Mom, this is the first time you've told me to lie....I cannot participate in that." Oh boy. What lesson was I teaching here? So I said, "That's so sad you won't be able to participate." His response? "I know...but we'll just have to wait until I'm 6."

So this morning I called to cancel his enrollment and within his earshot, confessed to the administrator the reason for us dropping out. Then I asked, "He'll be 6 soon enough, though. Is there any wiggle room on the age requirement?" And she told us there was!! So now, not only does Connor get to go to the camp, but we all also learned that sometimes being upfront and honest is the best way of all.

Another highlight was witnessing Ronan's first laugh. It was Connor who got him to do it by rough-housing with him. I couldn't believe it! They're already developing this great brotherly bond. At least I see it that that way. To see that video, click here.

Somehow, we don't do much during the day, but before you know it, it's time to get ready for bed. It's a slower kind of pace. If anything, I'm less motivated to do things. Usually rushing around with a longer checklist is enough for me to get motivated to get things done. With all this ease and looseness, I find myself reading more, playing around on the computer, and doing a better job of cooking.

I also have to face the fact that now I'm loading up two kids in the car to go places. (Now that we have a second car to go places, that is.) It's reason enough to use the food we have in the cupboard and put off grocery shopping until we really have to go.

Pretty soon, we'll be into August, and only have 4 weeks left. I might still put him in a sports camp, since I haven't really gotten him outside to run and play much. We'll see.

Till next time,
Nicole

Ronan's Christening

Now that Ronan is three months old, I'd better get caught up on my blog posts from when he was two months old. :)

Here are the photos from his Christening. It was wonderful having a full house full of family and lots of kids running around.

In an effort to decorate the house in a child-friendly way, I decided to make several huge posters of Ronan and put them up around the downstairs. Alan was a little nervous about it being too showy, but when have I ever been worried about that sort of thing? ;)

Ronan wore a very special Christening gown. It's a treasured, hand-made heirloom that's been passed down from my grandmother Dahleen. I asked Alan to iron it, because I certainly didn't trust myself to do it.

I was curious about the dress's background, so I emailed Munna (my nickname for Dahleen) to get more details about it. She sent this to me:

About the Christening Dress (and the bonnet) -- my Mother made it for your Dad.

We were still in the Air Force, and living in San Bernardino, CA, and she came out to be with me, as she did when each of our babies was born. It was in Nov. 1945 and I'm sure she came early, but don't really remember details. She bought the Swiss organdy that had an elaborately embroidered border, attached plain organdy for the top, then did embroidery around the sleeves & neck. Later, I embroidered the initials of each child that has used it in the scallops around the bottom. (Haven't finished those.) It has been used by each of our babies, then Jason, Ryan, Molly (Stephen was too big!) Connor & Ronan.

There was no time for her to make a slip, so we used one I'd made & added to it to make it longer. So I made the slip.

The war was still going strong when we were in CA, & it was very hard to find nice fabric...

Needless to say, it's a gorgeous set. You'll see a closeup down below...

Walking the 1.5 blocks to the church, St. John Vianney.

Fr. Bobby performed the Baptism. He was a dear friend to Ambrose, Alan's father, too. It was nice having a priest with a strong family connection.

The Godparents, Joseph (Alan's eldest sibling) and Kathleen McCall.

There's an interesting tradition here about the Baptismal candle: it's saved and when the child gets his Confirmation (a sacrament in which a child becomes an adult in the eyes of the Church), the candle is reused as part of the ceremony. It's a lovely ritual, and Ronan's godparents were kind enough to give Ronan his candle.

Note how Alan is holding on to Connor, making sure he's still, quiet, and behaving...

And this is Connor after the Baptism, finally free!

Signing Ronan into the church registry.

I love Alan's tender expression in this photo.

Classic.

Dad made a wonderful little speech to Ronan, finishing with "Céad míle fáilte Rónán, Rónán." which means "A hundred thousand welcomes Rónán, Rónán."

Connor's First Movie

Alan and I wanted to give Connor a special day out, just by ourselves. David and Grainne were gracious enough to watch Ronan for us, and we headed out.

Connor didn't know where we were going. We just told him it was going to be a fun adventure. But then we showed up to the movie theater, and he started getting excited. He still didn't really know what we were all about, but his smiles got bigger. Then, when we said "Yes" to the popcorn and 7-up (!!!), he was even more excited.

We arrived to our designated theater, and had him read the title, "Kung Fu Panda 2." Then he really lit up.
As it turns out, we had the ENTIRE theater to ourselves. So I'd say that the next time we go to the theater, it'll be another new experience to have other people in the theater with us!

Afterwards, we took him to Eddie Rockets, an American-style diner. Alan ordered a Knickerbocker Glory, the dessert he ordered when he was a child. Connor ordered a strawberry shake, and I got a vanilla malt (reminiscing my Bostonian childhood). It was a fun afternoon.

Pics of Ambrose's House

I've finally done this oft-requested post! Please excuse me, though, because all these photos are out of date. Some of them were taken before we arrived, and the rest were taken the first few weeks we were here. Hopefully, things are a little more neat nowadays. ;)

The view from across the street.

143 Ardlea Rd

Connor's Room

Our bedroom

The "back" bedroom. Ambrose's room is the only one not here. I forgot to include it because we're no one has slept there yet.

The "front" room downstairs. This is one of two adjoining receiving rooms. It's actually a bit cleaner nowadays. (Thank goodness!)

The "back" room, or TV room, also downstairs.

The kitchen. It has two comfy chairs and a circular table you can't see in the photos.

Connor and I had a picnic one day after school. I included this photo to show you the large backyard and rear view of the house.

Well, that's it. Please come visit us! We'd love to have you. And even though Connor's school schedule and having Ronan around might prevent us from taking you all over, we have good maps. :))

Ronan's First Laugh

After a few hours of trying to imbed a video here to no avail, I've decided to upload our home videos to You Tube. And of course, I need to learn a lot more about You Tube. But for now, I think this link will bring you to some footage of Ronan's first laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCR_o4N-Lq0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lk7QKgRmGA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_lw9TRVtyU

Enjoy!

More Shopping In Ireland

One section of the department stores here that I love to look at is the hats and accessories section. The hat-wearing tradition here is similar to what I imagine is the tradition in the South. Gorgeous hats, in all colors to match your beautiful outfits for weddings, graduations, 21st birthdays, Holy Communions, or any other special event.

Nowadays it seems that hats have given way to fanciful headbands.

My dad and I went shopping downtown. He needed to find a good pair of dress shoes for his hard-to-fit feet. Once I heard what he needed, I knew we should go to Arnotts. It's the Irish version of Nordstrom. Totally beautiful fashion. Great service. And the best place to buy lingerie. There is one big difference, however, with department stores here vs. at home: the labels lease out their sections within the store. So, whereas Nordstrom as sections based on styles (conservative clothes for older ladies, business-like styles in Studio 121, juniors in Brass Plum...), Arnotts has leased out one area to Calvin Klein, another to GAP, etc. It's an interesting business difference.

Anyhow, we were walking by the accessories section, and like being hit by a tractor beam, I was helpless against its power. I had to go over and look closer. And then of course I had to try on a few headbands. And when my dad offered to take some photos, I new my second Shopping In Ireland post was born. ;) That's good, too. It saved me at least €200.

Shopping In Ireland

In my last posting, I promised to show you closeups of the craziest cake I'd ever seen. Connor and I found it in the grocery store. But unlike in the States, our local grocery store has shelves dedicated to Celebration Cakes. Now, mind you, these are not in the bakery section. These are on shelves, next to the decadent bars of chocolate they sell here. I'm told that this is a relatively new invention in Ireland.

With the introduction of the supermarkets, all your little neighborhood bakers started closing. (And butchers, fish mongers, etc.) So while you used to be able to run down the street to your family bakery and get a celebration cake, now they are packaged and shelved in the supermarkets.

Of course there are still bakery sections in the supermarkets and they might have some refrigerated cakes (one Irish chain called Superquinn has a gorgeous selection of breads, cream cakes and desserts), but not as many as the choices on the shelf in our now-owned-by-an English-company supermarket.

When Connor spotted this cake, I couldn't believe my eyes. I was partly scared to feed it to him. The preservatives that it must have had, the crazy amounts of sugary toppings, and the way-too-big size of it were all good reasons I could have said "No." But I knew that it was such a spectacular sight, that I had to buy it. And take pictures of it. And turn it into this blog posting. What a life! ;)

Papa's "Welcome To Ireland" Party

I can't believe how fast time has travelled by! My dad, "Papa", came for a two week visit, and he's been and gone already. We had a fabulous time while he was here. God bless him, he took all the nighttime feedings, too!

After Papa adjusted to the time zone, we threw him a "Welcome To Ireland" party, complete with the craziest cake I've ever seen. (More photos of that in my upcoming "Shopping in Ireland" post.)

For me, the highlight of the party was playing Uno. Connor has all the rules memorized, and does a great job with all the teasing- or "slagging", as they say here- we give each other while we play.

For Alan, I'd say his highlight was receiving a special bottle of Bushmills whiskey for Ronan's Christening.