My kids

My kids.

Wanda. So big already. So clever, intelligent. Loves to learn. Can already read in Polish and in English, but the latter is quite tricky for her. She can write and she writes. Her homeworks in English and just for fun in Polish. She has written in my notebook, I love you the most mommy in Polish. Tears in my eyes. She wants to be nice, to be kind, to please me and my husband, but of course she fights with her little brother. Obvious. But she loves him so so much and to be true she forgives him quite a lot. I love to watch them play together, discuss stuff, make deals, agree or disagree, but eventually get to the point. She still continues her book of short stories. It goes like last year. She tells the story and I write it down, without my corrections, just how she likes to have it. After we are done, she makes a picture. Creative. I don't know if this is this age, this development stage, but she loves rules and fairness. Everything must be fair. "It's not fair!" Is her favorite exclamation recently. And also recently she agreed voluntarily to the rule she would only watch and play on iPad or watch movies on the weekends. And it is so good for all of us. Since that rule was established we read much more, she draw much more and plays and do different interesting things.
Tomek. Changing a lot every day. Now almost without a diaper. Big step to becoming a boy not a baby anymore, big step to independence. Oh yes, he loves being independent, do things by himself. He is talking a lot and he can really speak quite good already. Full sentences, describing what someone or something is doing, what he wish do do or have, what are we going to do etc. He loves to emulate his sister, but also he likes to bother her. He is such a smart boy, playing games with us, making funny jokes and pretending. 

Enjoying life - again

How do I feel today? My happy little life (this is also a title of a lovely blog I subscribe to). Yes, my little happy events, my little happy moments, so precious, so sweet. Moments with my kids. Best kids! I love them so much. For the last few days both of them are so sweet, well behaved, smiley. I'm so proud of them. Recently I had an parent-teacher appointment in Wanda's day care. And I've heard all the best things ever about my little daughter. How smart she is, how independent and confident, what a good friend she is and has very strong bonds with her friends (which I know, but it looks like it is something quite unusual at this age). How good she is in focusing on a subject or task, how good are they language skills and writing and interest in learning new stuff. Wow, a lot of great news. And while I was sitting there and listening to all those praises my beloved baby boy was playing next to me on a mat not interrupting at all. And today we had a date - me and my husband. And we took a babysitter for the kids. Big step for us! And everything went just excellent. Tomek was such a good baby not crying at all and Wanda had a good time playing with the girl. We are going to do this time to time. And the date itself? It would be perfect if not for the fact that the movie we went to see was mostly in French! It wasn't a French movie though. We wouldn't choose one. It was an American movie made by an American director "To the wonder" with Ben Affleck playing a main character, so we really didn't expect other spoken language than English. So, it was quite funny or annoying that we  didn't understand the words, but on the other hand the movie is made in such a picturesque way with not that many dialogues, so you can find out what's going on. And Ben Affleck wasn't very talkative. The movie was about emotions, not words. So it saved the situation. Well, I'm going to read the plot on Wikipedia... It was good to have a glass of champagne and to sit on Esplanadi and watch the summer crowd. I like Helsinki again. Anyway, did I share the weather forecast already? No? I should have! We have SUMMER. It is beautiful, sunny, warm, so warm that you look for some shade. It was like 25C and no clouds and no wind. And it is suppose to be so nice for the next few days. Hurray! Moods up! 

Rankings

My dear cousin just reminded me what a wonderful place on earth I chose to live. Finland so far wins or is in the top 3 or top 5 or at worst top 10 best (whatever aspect of life you take) country in the world. So, let's start from the most recent ranking. Finland is the best country for being mother. In top 10 are all the Scandinavian countries, Holland, Germany, Spain, Australia. And yes, this is something I really appreciate every day. I knew it already while deciding for Finland. I knew that my life as a mother will be nice and easy. And so it is indeed. Jumping to the next ranking "Newsweek" ranked Finland "best country in the world". Wow! Here is why. And if you think Finns are gloomy, pessimistic, sad and depressive you are wrong again. Finland ranks third most happy country in the world. And it was based on self-satisfaction. And of course there is education - a top one product of Finland (next to Nokia and Angry Birds). About Finnish school system talks everyone in any country and everyone asks over and over again - what is the magic bullet why Finnish schools are doing so well? Read the whole article I linked, but here is an excerpt: "The [Finnish] curricula are very much focused on critical thinking and problem solving, project-based learning, and learning to learn," she said. "There is a lot of collaboration in the classroom."
In his lecture, Sahlberg discussed three key areas: equality in education, time management and perception of teachers as professionals, topics also covered in his recent book, Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland? To all those rankings I would like to add my own one: we have best winters in the world! just kidding! ;)

Fulfillment

Last Saturday while sitting with my parents, my husband and the kids in Kappeli cafe in the Esplanadi Park I had suddenly those thoughts. I'm done with pregnancies. I don't have to plan another child and when would be the right time for that and how to organize everything and how many more years I do have to make a baby etc. I already have my complete family and there won't be any more morning sickness, no more growing belly, no more all the other not that great symptoms of being pregnant. And that was a relief. That was such a nice, calming feeling. Why in that cafe? Because I remember being there with my sister who came to help me in late February (while I was struggling with the morning sickness and horrible mood) and we went there to celebrate my birthday. And I remember that I still didn't feel well and was not in a mood. And later I was there with my sister and my cousin and after I ate a cake I felt so horribly full and big. And than again in May I was there with my mom and with my quite a big belly. But than suddenly last Saturday I felt so well, my baby was asleep in his stroller and my daughter was happy eating her piece of cake and I felt like "I don't have to do anything more". That's a beautiful feeling. Now I only have to lose those couple of kilograms, but that's a piece of cake. Well, maybe better without that piece of cake ;) anyway...

It's different

In any sense of those words it is different. When I compare how were my feelings towards Wanda after she was born and how are they now. With Wanda I was in a euphoric state, my state of mind was pure happiness, I felt like I was not walking any more but flying overwhelmed with total joy. But soon after came stress about everything I was doing with her - what does that crying mean, should I do this or that - and to find answers I was rushing to my books like "The happiest baby on the block" or on the other pole of the scale Tracy Hogg Baby Book. And I was frustrated because my baby didn't work like babies in the books. And now is different. I'm so totally calm and relaxed so far. I trust myself, my intuition and my love. I don't rush to any books. I'm enjoying the moments having my baby on my belly. I just follow him and myself. And it makes me feel good. But also I don't have that euphoria. It doesn't mean my joy and love is any less than with Wanda. No, it is just very different. I feel so peaceful. I feel that our family is so complete now. I love this tiny creature - this tiny miracle of life. I enjoy every minute with him. I'm so happy but in a calm and peaceful way. Different are also the objective conditions. The standard of life we have here comparing to the one in the States. It makes a huge difference. When our daughter was born it was mid July in New Jersey. If any of you is familiar with the weather conditions out there knows that it is usually 35C and very humid and no wind and no clouds at all. And we had a poor AC so in our apartment was hot and unpleasant. The AC working full time made that horrible noise. It was impossible to take the baby outside cause any later than 6 AM it was too hot already. So for the first month I was literary stuck in our bedroom. And now we have very nice and comfy apartment, the weather is like you can see - cool, but it's October already. I have everything I need for me and the baby, my husband has two weeks of paternal leave and he's relaxed too. So, anyway it's just this good feeling that everything is all right and right on time and in a right place.