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Designer … everything

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It’s a sunny and beautiful Sunday, 1st of November. After a rainy and chilly Hallowen evening, now the sun and the good weather have made a lot of families went out for a walk. The park is full, in a way it was never full before the Covid-19 pandemy.

My daughter is making mud “meatballs”, there is plenty mud after the last day rains. I prefer to stay on a bench and enjoy the sun, along with her father. On the alley in front of the bench we stay on, walks a father with two daughters, one my daughter’s age and the other one around 9-10 yo. They wear protective masks, all three of them. The oldest daughter is having a very passionate dialog with her father.

A “SHE” person thinks that Gucci is a better brand than Balenciaga, even though she had explained her that is not true! Balenciaga is a more calitative brand than Gucci, everybody knows that! But maybe the “SHE” person they are talking about doesn’t have any Balenciaga clothes and that’s why she thinks that! The father doesn’t respond anything ( what can he responds after all?) but touch her blonde and curly long hair as they move along on the alley.

I laugh, a rude and almost nervous laugh. And then my daughter comes with her mud meatballs, that she is serving us with some “salad” from a green bush she found. She is happy, as always, with her hands all dirty from the “mud kitchen” and her hair all messed up by the wind. Her sneakers have some mud also on them. We thanks her for the treats and she goes back to her play.

I’m having a strong feeling I’m not a good mother at all! She doesn’t know who Gucci or Balenciaga is. Well, until a decade ago I didn’t knew who they were. What if she goes to school with a fashion expert like the girl that just walked by and then my precious girl will become the “SHE” person in some other girl’s story? I mean, I can be the “SHE” person, I don’t have any Balenciaga clothes. Or Gucci… I had a fantasy with a LV backpack for a while, but since you can get a “better than original” made in China copy, I let it go.

And one more thing: Gucci, Prada, Louis, why don’t you make some designer protective masks? I mean, come on now, the girl was wearing a simple blue mask. God only knows who designed it!

The smallest book and the bravest princess of all

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“You Ronald look like a real prince, but you are a bum!”

The Paper Bag Princess

Story by Robert Munch

Art by Michael Martchenko

Annick Press Toronto , 2020

This is indeed the smallest book I’ve ever seen! It fits in my palm and for some time now my daughter take it with her in the backpack every time we go on a trip. She even took it to school, well tacked in her pencil box.

My only fear is that we will lose it, it is so small…. that it will be a big lost, for sure!

If you give a mouse a cookie by Laura Numeroff

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Book review

I had this book, in fact the whole “If you give…” series by Laura Numeroff, on my children books’s wishlist since my daughter was 2 or 3 years old.

The years passed, she was almost 5 and other books had priority. Until the last november at Bookfest, when I saw it as a new release from ones of the biggest publishing house here in Romania, Arthur.

And, because I coudn’t go myself to the Bookfest, I sent her godfather, who was going, a list with the books I wanted for her. Since the holiday season was approaching and then her birthday he wanted to buy her also some books from the list. One of them was this. And so we got to finally met this lovely character that soon became a favourite of my daughter.

Don’t get me wrong, I do not like mice. In our culture they are pets, in my grandparents house there were traps and poison for them all over the place. And when a field mouse would enter the summer house or the main one, it would be a very bad day for everyone!

Not even the romanian children books or folk stories don’t have them as characters. There are dogs and cats and chickens and goats and pigs. Even the big bad old wolf is. But no mice. So imagine my surprise when I started buying international children books and I found them all over.

But let’s get back to our book …

This little mouse has a lot of demands and adventures and I get why the kids may feel like they could have the same experiences. Because sometimes they do. All experiences from the book, except a haircut or moping the floor ( which will be very helpful) but the rest, oh yes!

If you want to read or to buy this book, you can find it here:

And, at the end of a day, you will also feel exhausted, just like the little boy in the book is. But the goog news is that, if you have just a little bit of energy left in your body after you finish reading the book, you can take part at the Greatest race of cookies!

And who wins gets all the cookies in the house! And then asks for a glass of milk and then…

Then you get to play with your best friend and to eat an extra cookie before going to bed. Which we did.

And what about you? Have you ever gave a mouse a cookie?

The big race with cookies

School in time of Covid-19

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We’re back in online now. And, beside all the tehnicalities that can go wrong (and sometimes they sure do) there are a lot of other aspects that can’t be ignored.

For instance, if you are a parent of 2 or more children, you must possess the following:

1. a big house, with a number of rooms, equiped with table,desk and chairs, bigger then the number of children attending online courses. And the rooms must not be too close, in order that the online classes can be held properly; the teacher and the students will talk loud.

2. a number of electronic devices on wich the lessons can be watched equal or bigger then the number of children. A spair one would be a plus, if a battery wears out or something goes wrong on one of the devices.

3. two sets of hands, heads and bodies entirely, to be fair. If the children are preschoolers or first graders, they will need some asistance on their online courses. And since the classes are generaly in the morning, if you can’t double yourself, find a helper. Or own the fact that you are serious limiting your children rights to a free mandatory education. If they attend a public preschool or school. If not, save some money for later therapy sesions, it will be needed!

4. if you are a teacher yourself, that could be a really big challenge. The biggest of all I assume. In one room of the house your kid is having his online classes, in the other you are holding yours. Top that!

5. money to pay your electricity, heating and cable bills. Imagine having online classes in a house without electricity, cable or heat. As a lot of the houses in rural Romania are.

I heard today at “radio gossip” that the Romanian Minister of Education, when asked how can the online courses can be held in a house without electricity, she replied that the children can watch the lessons on TV. I sure hope it was a misunderstanding and that the history will remember her for something else, bigger then all of that.

Books about bears – preschool edition

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So, we really like bears … small bears, big bears, brown bears, white bears. Funny silly bears or big serious ones. All sorts of them.

The first bear my daughter met 5 years ago, when she was a baby, was Corduroy. It was love at first site, pardon read. He remained one of her favourites for a long time. Then came Winnie the Puf, how she calls it, even though she knows is Puh. Then is was Paddington’s turn to move in our library. We loved all it’s silly adventures, we also saw the movies and now she is watching cartoons with Mr. Brown, the bear from the Darkest Peru that loves eating marmelade sandwiches.

Then Little bear come, with his little books and his little friends. And the list goes on.

The latest love is the little bear from Goldilocks and the three bears. She even padded it on the page where he asks Goldilocks if she wants more porrindge.

And of course, the bear from Leaves by Davis Ezra Stein, who loves leaves so much that he doesn’t want them to fall out of the trees.

But, enough talking, let me show you our collection of bears books. I wonder, what is your favourite?

Books about bears

Ziua Educatiei

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Pentru ca astazi este Ziua internationala a Educatiei, am vrut sa omagiem educatorii de pretutindeni. Multi dintre noi, parinti sau nu, suntem sau am fost candva educatorii cuiva. Unii au facut scoli inalte pentru a deveni educatori de prestigiu; altii au avut un talent deosebit si o daruire remarcabila pentru a ii invata pe ceilalti. Cu blandete si rabdare si cu multa empatie. Ori folosind vorbe urate si metode gresite si mult prea autoritare de predare. Unii au adus aceasta meserie la stadiul de arta. Altii nici nu si-au dorit asta, pentru ei fiind doar o slujba.

Cu totii am avut un domn Trandafir in viata noastra. Si marii autori de carti pentru copii au avut unul sau daca nu, l-au inventat.

Iata mai jos o mica galerie a educatorilor pe care i-am cunoscut din cartile citite pana acum, la cei aproape 6 ani ai fiicei mele. Cand va mai creste va afla si despre peripetiile altor dascali celebri. Pana atunci insa, premiul I in clasamentul nostru il primeste Miss Margareta, profesoara de muzica a indragitei Crizantema. Il poate imparti cu Miss Honey, profesoara Matildei sau cu Miss Stacy, profesoara lui Anne of Green Gables. La polul opus o gasim pe doamna Miss ce le are in grija pe Madlen si celelalte 11 colege ale ei.

To be or not to be a fan

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I take her from kindergarden. She is happy today, when the teacher announce her that I came to take her home, she screams in a super excited voice: mama!, then forgets to take her backpack and comes running to me: mama, you came! She hug me and in the exciting of the moment kisses my mask. Then we go to the car. She climbs all by herself in the carseat, she puts the belt on and then we go. The radio is playing an old Take That song. She likes it and asks me who is the singer.

⁃ Robbie Williams is singing, he is a friend of mine! I like it too, this song!

⁃ Mama, is this Wiliams your real friend? You play with him in the park? You know him? He invites you to his house for Hallowen? No mama, he doesn’t! I don’t know him, I don’t see him in our home, he is not your friend! He makes music and he has concerts and you can go to his concerts. You are a FAN mama, his fan! You are not his friend! You are just his fan!

The big old Moon

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– When I’ll grow up, I will be a pilot and I will take you to the moon, mama!
– And back?
– Of course! What a silly question! Grown ups can’t live on the moon!
Silly of course, because I don’t know yet which version I like more. The mermaid story or the astronaut one. What if I upset her on our journey and she leaves me there, all alone on the Moon?!
I have to remind myself to buy only books about appropiate occupations, like superheroes, or fairies or … mermaids.