Friday, September 25, 2009

Eight Weeks Old!


The smiles have started....and they're infectious!


Have a happy smiley day wherever you are!

Robynx

ps/Infectious, yes, but much better for our health than 'Gripe A/H1N1 flu.' Catch them today!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

French Films

When I was growing up, whenever someone mentioned French cinema I thought of dark, quite seedy, films that were full of overly heavy symbols and neurotic storylines. Arriving in France, I kept that impression and stayed away from watching such stuff. Then, over the last 7 years, I've kept up the habit of zapping away from French TV films as they seem to be full of ludicrous situations and unsympathetic characters that rush around busy-bodying in each other's lives.


When I started my maternity leave, though, a dear friend brought over a whole stack of DVDs of recent French films and tried to convince me that they were worth watching by extoling the virtues of their stories and of the worth of their actors. Not really convinced I would like them, I put them on the shelf and got on with other things.

Well, you know what, a good number of the films are simply excellent:


Two Days to Kill: A man with the quintessential happy family is watched as he accepts a birthday present from a strange woman and then returns home to his wife and children to insult and eventually leave them... so he can travel to see his estranged father, who is living in Ireland. It's a grand film I first saw over Ben's shoulder in a plane. I started the film in the middle but waited for it to loop back round again so I could see the beginning and so was ever so chuffed when my friend brought me her copy.


Dialogue with my Gardener: A painter from Paris returns to his childhood home in the country to recharge his batteries and falls into conversation with his gardener. The film is the continuation of that conversation, as they discover that there lives are interlinked and important. 'Dialogue' is by the same director as 'Two days,' Jean Becker, and so it's no surprise that having liked one I liked the other!

Want to see them? In English? Click here!

Un Secret: A jewish boy lives with his imaginary brother...and so discovers that his imaginary brother is not just a figment of his imagination but really part of his flesh and jewish blood.

Fauteuils D'orchestre: Cecile de France is the lead actress in Un Secret.. and also stars in 'Fauteuils' as a young waitress serving in a café opposite 2 theatres and 1 auction. During the films she encounters the actors and actresses, rich men and poor men who are involved in making such businesses work. Her challenge is to make her own life work... and as she weaves her own life stronger, we really get drawn into all of their lives.

But, I'd best stop now... as Jack's awakening from his siesta and Emma smells suspicious....
Hoping whatever films you're watching, you're enjoying them!

love n hugs,
Robyn
ps/If I have time, I'll come back and tell you about Avril, Detrompez Vous, and La Môme!

Seven Weeks


After a little more than seven weeks as a 'real family,' things are still going well... but when people ask 'are you doing okay with a baby that cries and stays awake at night?' my first reaction is 'Emma's fine.. it's Jack that's doing all the crying!'

Yep, in reality, Emma is still very gentle and easy while Jack is worn out by all the changes.
Things at school are going better (now that he's completed the grand total of 4 mornings) but it's tiring for him. He has both a French and a German teacher, with classes in French one morning and then in German the next morning. I asked him yesterday what language Petra, his Greman teacher, spoke. He looked confused for a moment and then smiled: ja. His way, I guess, of expressing the idea that she says things differently. There are, of course, Arabic kids in the class and so he'll hear their langauge as well... and then this morning I realised that one of the cartoons he was watching was trying to teach him how to say 'Dinasaur' in Chinese. Given that he still thinks most dinasaurs are crocodiles, I think we've still a long road of us.....


Hoping that whatever language you do or don't speak, you're doing well!

hugs,

Robynxxx

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Six Weeks Old Today!


Here's our little monkey growing into a big monkey.
She was born weighing 2.8kgs (6.17lbs) but now wieghs 4.2kgs (9.2lbs) and she has grown from 47cms to become 52cms long.
Such dramatic changes are very reassuring for me, as there is just more of her to handle and less of her to break. I have to say, though, that she's being a very 'easy baby' so far as she continues to eat and sleep and generally be happy about her little life. Ask her how she feels and she'll say 'heureux,' *which means happy in French.* And me how I feel, and I'll say much the same as she hasn't yet given us one real moment of concern and we haven't yet walked the floor boards at night to help her to sleep.
As, no doubt, that will change... I plan to celebrate the moment and not to worry about the future (tears and worries and nightly floorboard walking).
And so, whereever you are, I hope you are celebrating the moment and not worrying about the future!
much love,
Robynxxx
* Okay, so she more likely say 'urrrr' but one can imagine that she's saying 'heureux'
**Though, of course, we really need to teach her to say 'heureuse' which is the feminine form of the word! That'll come later... much later!

Je n'aime pas l'école!


Jack started 'maternelle' yesterday, the French equivalent of preschool. Here he is with his school bag and labelled clothes. Here he is before he sat down on the classroom floor crying, 'I want to go home. Don't leave Mum. I want to go home.' That while all the other children were playing happily. Here he is before he tugged at my heartstrings, making me want to pick him up and make everything alright. Here he is, happy, before Ben and I and Emma left him and went home.
And Emma? Yes, okay that was THE mistake, I thought it would be cute for us all to go to the school together. It wasn't cute: it was torture for Jack who, I think, felt he was being abandoned so that rest of us could go home and be together without him.
Today was Jack's second day at school. Ben took him along while I stayed at home with Emma. They arrived earlier than yesterday so there were fewer kids in the classroom and so Jack was less intimidated. And Ben reassured him that I would come and pick him up, without Emma, at the end of the session. Which I did...so that he and I could go eat chocolate icecream together. Walking home with me he told me peacefully about how he'd played and sung and danced. Ouf.
Seems like he might like school, afterall.

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Hello there!


Just another daft photo to make you smile :-)