Rooster Pox and Happy Solstice to all!

Well, what a week. Or two. Aloka came down with chicken pox last Friday, or "rooster pox" as she likes to call it. In fact, a couple days ago she said "mama, do chickens get human pox?". She's very curious about the whole chicken connection to it all.
She's been handling it pretty well, actually. She only had a low fever for a few days, and she's barely scratching anything. She only had one night of somewhat restless sleep due to discomfort. I'm posting this video only because my blog settings are private and not open to the public. But it was just such a funny one! And you can see the good spirits she's been in through the whole thing.

And this one was just when she was starting to break out:


Her pox are now starting to crust over and heal and she's definitely over the worst of it, which wasn't even so bad.
I've never had chicken pox as far as I know, if you can believe it. So I've actually lived my whole life in fear of getting them as an adult. I even had a blood test many years ago which confirmed that I never got it.
I often thought that because I had been exposed to it many times as a child, I perhaps just got a mild case or something, but no such luck. But, now that we're here in the feared and dreaded Chicken Pox land, I have very little concern. I feel strong, healthy, and I'll just deal with it if I get it.
We were both exposed to it on the 19th, and she got her first pox on the 22nd. I'm still going strong so I'm wondering and hoping that maybe I'm one of those folks that has a natural immunity.

Luckily, we celebrate the Solstice so we didn't miss any holiday activities, seeing as on Xmas day we were all in quite a different space than most.

We had a very nice Children's Day as it's called in my Buddhist upbringing.
We set up a beautiful Children's Day shrine with a King and Queen at the top. They symbolize the King and Queen of the kingdom of Shambhala, an enlightened society.


Aloka loves the King and Queen! When we put them up, she said "mama, are they always meditating?" and "mama, are they always Japanese?"
While she was at school on Solstice (Thursday), the King and Queen brought her some gifts, and some treats were place on the shrine. She was so excited when she came home! It was so magical.

Here's a picture of the giant rainbow silk that we gave Aloka for her Children's Day present.


She is such a "delayed gratification" type of personality. She nibbles a little bit of chocolate, and then hides it in her fort. Believe it or not, the chocolate is still in there today! Occasionally, she asks me if she can have a little nibble even though she's sick. She definitely did NOT get that from me!! My chocolate is gone before I even realize I ate it!

On Thursday evening, we had Melissa, Nick and Nile over for french onion soup that Josh made (so YUM!) and a nice salad. We had a great time. Melissa has some nice pics on her latest blog entry too. Here's a great one of Aloka and Nile that Melissa took below! Melissa made an awesome shirt for Aloka as a gift, with the word "Authentic" on it. I really want to see her sell these, they're great!

And lastly, here are a couple pictures that Melissa took of Aloka and I with our Tribal Belly dance turbans on!
























I still have yet to post about the lovely advent spiral we did with Aloka's school plus the Waldorf Xmas faire, so next time!

Our reindeer visit

A few weeks ago, Josh was up really late at night and heard a loud crunching and chewing outside his office window. His window is up high, maybe 8 feet above the ground. There is a large bush just outside the window and he kept hearing it whacking against the glass.
Suddenly a huge pair of lips was staring right at him through the window! He jumped up and came into the bedroom to wake me up. He said "sweetie, i think there's a moose outside my window!" By the time i got to waking up and coming out to look Josh told me it wasn't actually a moose after all, but in fact 10 or so HUGE elk! There were babies too. It was so cool! I had no idea how enormous elk are, wow!!
I wish i could have gotten some better photos, but as it goes, it was late and our flash kind of spooked them.

Mbira night

We have been attending an "mbira night" every Tuesday evening. Mbira nights usually start with a potluck dinner at 5pm, and then we move on the the jamming! There were 10 or so people at this gathering, and there have been two more now as well.
The mbira sits inside a large calabash gourd, also called "deze", which amplifies the mbira.
The shakers are called "hosho" and are the heartbeat of the music. We had so much fun, and Aloka just loves mbira nights! She is constantly amazing me at how musical and rhythmic she is!
The person in this video below that I'm sitting next to is Kris, my awesome mbira teacher. He is a talented percussionist and musician. He is also the one with the yellow deze.
In case anyone is wondering what happened to the belly dance post, i removed it because of privacy issues with the dancers not wanting to be on the internet, which i completely understand!
So here are some videos of mbira night!


and here's one more of the same song, which is called "mbavarira" or (she takes me away) and I'm posting it because it's longer so you can hear more of the song, which has become one of my favorites. I often just sit up at night and get lost in it, playing it for a long time and unaware of how much time is passing. It's such a beautiful one.
A friend is lending me one of the most beautiful mbira on this earth and I've been playing it constantly. It has a very watery quality, and I think it sounds like mermaids singing underwater, or perhaps what the sirens must have sounded like in Odysseus. It's incredibly hypnotic and mesmerizing.


Ok, here's one of the bellydance videos that i can still put up here. This is the video of the beautiful tribal belly dancers and then the contrasting style just after them. Josh and were joking that the latter kind of reminds us of the Laker girls "eastern" style or something!

Cute little girl!

Dancing at a Xmas faire

Aloka sure does love dancing! That elderly man got a kick out of her too. This is the same faire that the picture of Melissa and Nile is from down below this post.

My dear friend Melissa!

I just love this photo of Melissa and her little boy Nile! This was taken in the kitchen of a Christmas Craft Faire. Melissa was selling some of her delicious goodies there.

Mimi and Baba

That's what Aloka calls her Grandparents (Josh's mom and dad). My last post had a few snippits of Jim outside with us, but I have many more photos!
We had a great time, and Aloka was on cloud 9. They brought her a giant heap of beautiful clothes from Europe when they were there last July, which was so incredible. The clothes there are just so well made and beautiful!

Every morning she would wake up and then wake me up saying "mama , mama, mama can I go out to see Mimi and Baba? And of course we'd mumble in our sleep, "No, they're still sleeping". Then she'd tiptoe over to the door and peek out to see if she could hear them. If she did, she'd get so excited and come tell me "they're awake!!" And then go out to see them, at first feeling shy, and then as soon as they greeted her with open arms, she'd crawl into their bed (This is what she did, based on what she'd tell me later. Josh and I were always taking the blissful opportunity to sleep in!)

We didn't really do much for American Thanksgiving, but if you can call Indian food celebrating, we sure did that! We went to a nice little Indian restaurant Josh and I had never been to before (called "Baba's", ha! Aloka especially found that funny) and it was so yummy! Josh and I are definitely going back soon! We also went to a nice but freezing cold Christmas craft faire. It was held in the hockey arena so they had put a temporary floor on the ice, and it was freezing!! I felt so sorry for the vendors. Last year this same faire was in a really nice place where the ambiance and the temperature was much warmer. I looked at the paper that weekend and there were 9 craft faires!! Then 5 more the next weekend, and still more this weekend. Nelson and the surrounding areas are so rich with arts and crafts!
Then on Sunday the 26th we celebrated Josh's 32nd birthday! In the morning while we were still sleeping, Jim, Lynn and Aloka
hung streamers and balloons up all over the place. When we got up, I made a pancake breakfast and Josh opened his presents.
What fun!

On the day they left, Aloka said goodbye to them in the morning, and then went to school. She was so so sad about them leaving.

I took a couple pictures of Aloka (the one on the left) and the other children coming out of Dena's house (where the playgroup is), I just love icicles! We have some huge ones at our house too, it's been so snowy here this past week!
We have a lot of fun Waldorfy types of events coming up in the next week. We'll be doing an "advent spiral" which I'll post about afterwards, and there is also the famous (in the Waldorf ciruit) "Waldorf Winter Faire", where you can find all sorts of beautiful handmade crafts, furniture, toys, you name it. You can imagine what it's like in a town like Nelson; there's an abundance of beautiful wares!

Here is also a photo just after I picked her up from school, and she's talking to Josh on my (new) cell phone.









So, I have so many more photos I'm just going to put them here at the bottom!

Aloka and Mimi doing some caterpillar crafts

Our budding photographer took this

And this...

Josh and Jim wearing matching hats. It was Aloka's idea to go get her matching one too.

In case you're wondering, Aloka insisted on getting a "scary" tattoo. It's some kind of biker tattoo from a vending machine. She was determined.

At a "burger joint" for lunch


Josh and his Dad (the family resemblance amuses me. I realized in a photo I didn't post, that they have identical noses!)


A special moment with Mimi

Let the winter games begin!

Josh's parents are out visiting right now, and Aloka is having a blast.

We just had a first really huge snow storm last night and today, and Aloka couldn't wait to get outside and play in it!









We actually had tried to go out to eat for lunch but Jim and Lynn's car got completely stuck before we could even get to the road. So we threw in the towel and came back. Aloka was eager to get outside and go tobogganing down our driveway, and even though Josh had just shoveled it an hour ago, there was already enough snow to sled down!


As Aloka was sliding down the hill, I heard her say "I'm having SO much fun!!!" These two photos are just after they skidded to a halt.


























Then she decided to try going down by herself, what a thrill!

Balloon hat

This is just a funny hat Josh made a few weeks ago (pre-haircut)!

Lantern walk

Last weekend Aloka's Waldorf playgroup did a lantern walk to celebrate the changing of the seasons. The concept is to bring light to the darkness of the longer nights.
The children made lanterns, and then last thursday evening all the families and children got together for chili and cornbread, and then we went outside and sang songs around a little bonfire.

Then we went on our beautiful lantern walk singing uplifting songs throughout the neighborhood.
It was so fun to see faces peeking out of the windows, looking at our magical lanterns lighting up the night, and the songs filling the air.


Dena had decorated the entire outside of her house with little paper bag lanterns. They were everywhere; brown paper bags filled with sand and a tea light candle, lining the sidewalk, stairs and the trail to the back of the house. It was such a magical sight to see when we pulled up.
I'm so glad Aloka gets to experience this! It's so much more than just a playgroup or a preschool. It's a community, and the parents we're meeting all have a like minded approach to raising their children, honouring their creativity, play, and imaginations. And valuing the importance of rituals in life. Waldorf very much emphasizes celebrations, festivals, gatherings and community in regards to raising our children.

SO, after the lantern walk, and after most everyone went home, Josh was still talking with Dena's husband Noah, while Aloka, Reya and Tillian (Dena's and Noah's children) played some music. Here are a couple cute video's of that!

And here's some funny photos of it too. Dena's son Tillian also has an electric guitar and Aloka seems to be a natural musician.

Canadian Beauty, eh?

I have no idea why I'm posting this! I just thought it was kinda funny, so here it is:

mmmm, cake. No wait... brownies!

Aloka and I made cookies last week. When I wasn't looking, she decided to get her little baking set, and add some ingredients herself including: maple syrup, safflower oil, a few chocolate chips and of course a whole lotta sprinkles. I took the cookies out of the oven and turned it off, turned my back for a second and lo and behold there was her little loaf pan full of "cake batter" in the oven. I decided to let it stay for a bit for her amusement. Amused she was not, however, because she wanted to see it rise and actually bake, silly me.
So, I told her there's no flour in the batter and a cake needs to have flour. I start washing the dishes with my back to the oven, and again, I turn around after a few minutes, and there in the oven sits her little loaf pan full of batter, and one perfectly rounded tablespoon scoop of flour!

I told Aloka that we should probably mix in the flour so that is just what we did (and I added some baking powder and more flour while I was at it!). We put it back in, and turned the oven on to bake.
Aloka watched the cake with intensity. It rose beautifully and Aloka was beside herself. It was exactly what she wanted to see her little cake do. Then within 10 or so minutes, the cake plummeted back down to a flat little pancake. "Oh NOOOOO" Aloka shouted. She was so bummed. I told her sometimes that happens and that she actually made amazing brownies! She immediately felt better and we pulled them out of the oven to cool. They weren't bad and boy did she love them!

Saying funny things

Aloka (with her new haircut)!

Going to the Co-op grocery store has been challenging lately with Aloka. Every time I go there, there is a struggle between she and I about her getting Sundrops, a "healthy" (organic) version of M&M's basically, but still pure chocolate. Inevitably she gets her Sundrops, and I trudge out of the store silently swearing off the managers who put everything delicious at toddler level.
Anyway, as i was parking the car yesterday Aloka says "mama, this time don't put me in the cart." "But Aloka, I know you're going to get Sundrops if I don't put you in the cart!" I look at her in her car seat, and she has this huge grin on her face, which suddenly changes to a fury, and she says "Don't know my trick, mama!" Boy, i couldn't help but laugh.
And then a couple nights ago, she decided she wanted do some ballet in the living room. Now, she has only seen a ballet class a couple times as far as her exposure to the dance form. So I turn on some J.S. Bach and she starts to dance, but a few seconds into it, she screams "WHERE'S THE BEAT??" So we turned on our "other" music (one of my faves right now is a belly dancing CD) and she's dancing along doing spins and the occasional belly roll and hip shimmy!

And then last week I was sitting on the couch with her and I noticed a moth in our window outside caught in a spider web and struggling to get free. I said something about it, and Aloka was fascinated. I wasn't sure how much to explain to her because we haven't talked to her too much about death yet, and she's very sensitive. We told her that spiders eat moths and that's what they need to live. She became very concerned about the moth. Then she said to us in a worried voice "Is it sensitive?" Josh and I were speechless. Josh get teary, Aloka was so concerned, and I was not sure what to say to her. She knows about death and impermanence already, but in a childlike abstract way.
Later that night when I was putting her to bed, she told me she's worried that an animal is going to eat her. She said "mama, will you keep me safe?" After I reassured her I would, she said "And will Dada keep you safe?" Awwwww, how cute! I thought it was so sweet and amazing how children are aware of the hierarchy of the family. So cool and primal.

Ok, and one last thing because our daughter is such an engineer: We have a huge hula hoop we got at a festival over the summer. Aloka was trying to get Josh to hold it in the air, upright, so she could stand on the inside of the hoop (like you're trying to get a dog to jump through it). She gets lifted up (not very high off the ground) and Josh is holding it from the top with one hand and Aloka's hand with the other. Quite a trick! But the hoop starts to sag with her weight. So she takes a look at the situation, and she tells Josh "Hold it from the bottom Dada, it's stronger!" What?? Josh and I look at each other like "since when does she know the physics of a Hula Hoop?"

a few more pics from Halloween

Melissa and I actually didn't get photos together of our final gypsy attire, alas. But Josh took one of me before Aloka and I went out for the evening:

Josh's "Pug-kin" that he carved. It's an image of Melissa and Nick's pug named "Poppy":

Here's also a funny self portrait of Aloka (yes, she took this by herself!):


And on of me that Josh took:

And some silly ones of Aloka and Josh on the couch: