An Urban Girl

The past two weeks have been mostly about sitting around the house and making sure that our cargo can be carried safely as long as needed.  Thank goodness for the twinkle lights, and the beautiful tree and the lovely smelling wreaths around the house, which make sitting on the couch for long long periods of time tolerable.  But more than anything, thank goodness for my mother (via phone and skype), Mr. Urban and our girl.  They have been the most loyal and kind and interesting companions.  I can't tell you the number of times I have texted Mr. Urban with "One last list" of items to pick up or look into on the way home... they could be anything... gifts to be mailed out to family, long term and short term groceries and supplies, dinner, dessert,  home gym equipment...     An activity I secretly know he is not a big fan of, but not because he has ever let on. And our girl...  well, I am amazed.  She has spent hours on end at home sitting or snuggling up next to me.

I can't tell you how much sugar we have consumed recently.  As you know the more sugar you consume, the more sugar you crave.  And I am finding Sugar to have cocaine like effects on the compact bodies of four year-olds.  My girl has been searching for diplomatic ways to plug in more and more sugar into all and every meal.  This morning when I made her a slice of toast with almond butter, she started flapping her arms and nearly hyper-ventilated on the kitchen floor .    "I wanted a HEALTHY waffle with SYRUP".  "I NEED IT". "Honey, you ..." I was about to pontificate on the powers of a healthy balanced sugar free breakfast, but I was interrupted with more flapping hands/wings.  Pupils Dilated. "NO, no Honey Mama! Maple Syrup" It was time for quick intervention.  "Well, I was also going to give you a Candy Cane for breakfast this morning".  And just like that I had gained ground.  My girl loves candy canes and has bee

This morning my girl brought over a book from the guest bedroom nightstand and asked me to read it for her.  Just a pretty little book with a pink cover that Mr. Urban had given me as a Valentines gift years ago, that serves us very well as guest bedroom decoration.  Tao of Love, a compilation of ancient Chinese Taoisms.  I flipped through the book and landed on a random page... " How can we be sure that we are instilling the right values in our children, who are being brought up in such unsettling times?" Unsettling times.  It's been a sad, heartbreaking weekend with every thing in the news.  I can't stop thinking about all the guns, all the people suffering from mental health issues, all the single mothers struggling with balance in raising a family... But then as I was cuddling my girl in bed, I thought of unsettling statistics I had read just days ago that in America 24 people (mostly women) were victims of rape and domestic abuse (that is by someone they

Yesterday I woke up very early and very rested. Early in the day, I learned of the loss of yet another close family friend to the bad ugly C.  A gentle mannered, soft spoken man, who always wore a kind smile and who left us way, way before his time. In the early dark morning hours, with nothing much to do with a heavy heart, I decided that the day's Advent will be dedicated to a Mom and Daughter day. When the Urban Little Girl, finally awoke and ran to check the box for December Fourth, she found a note from me.  Telling her how much I love her.  And how much I would love to spend the entire day doing only what she likes to do.  I wasn't sure how a note, and one with a face value of time with mama would compare to little toy treasures that she had recovered from the Advent boxes the past three days. But she was thrilled and gave me a hug so big, that it burst the lump in my throat a little bit. And my girl, being a task master, didn't waste a second.  She

When you are regularly greeting ants and spiders over your cup of morning Jo, as you do with everyone else that lives in your home.  And your generally squeamish little girl has no problem picking up spiders from her floor and walls to gently dispose of...   And when visitors ask what will you do with your ants and spiders, you reply "we've agreed to co-exist".    When you trade your fancy loafers for knee-high rubber boots...  (which I must say, look pretty hot!) When during a rain storm, instead of cozying up to your book and your cup of tea, you frequently roam your hillside for floods... When you get regular visits from Roodolph, with his magnificent antlers and all... and you stop and watch in awe,  even though you were SUPER LATE  FOR SOMETHING a second before... And when you wake up to one of your old redwood trees laying down across your front yard, when just yesterday it was standing up majestically.  Living closer to nature does put our e

I love every last morsel of anticipation in coming of a special event. And so, I like advent calendars.  What I don't like is all the cheap chocolate you mostly get from them as a prize for twenty four days.  But last week when Mr. Urban and I made a quick run to Ikea (so super quick that we entered from the exit side, grabbed a closet organizer for baby Lemon that we had picked out online, and dashed in to the long checkout line), I was thrilled to find a bin filled with Fill-It-Yourself Advent calendars also waiting at the check out line.  For the past week, I have been preoccupied with what to place inside the little boxes for our little excited girl.  One morning I ventured out to our local village toy store and picked up some tiny trinkets: thumb size purse, sparkly bracelet, jingle bell ring, wind-up Santa, finger puppet.... in total eight completely forgettable and useless items which cost $50!  I was shocked, I had assumed each item would cost mere pennies... not