The Noughties - 20 Things that Forever Changed Childhood

The technology of the next decade will shape our two youngsters. What will it bring? Well, here's a review of the past 10 years and the forces that played out on kids.

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/digital-decade?utm_source=newsletter12.22.09&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=feature1

This princess ain't waiting for a prince

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was Medieval Times!!!

As many of you know, knights - and now carefully selected princesses - play a big role in our household. We have a helmet and swords, a shield and a tunic. We have "chainmail", gowns and crowns. We have figurines and catapaults. We have a charger stallion and a campfire. We have books galore - poetry, non-fiction, tales short and long.

So it was with great excitement that Sebastian and Sophie were given tickets to Toronto's on-going "Medieval Times" show for Christmas http://www.medievaltimes.com/friends_and_foes/knights.php

It comes highly recommended by adult and child friends. So while not exactly my cup of tea - it seems to be a cross between the World Wrestling Entertainment (with big booming voices, strobe lights and dry ice) and a Lipizzaner show, all set in the 11th century - it was all that a 3 year old and 6 year old could possibly hope for - and a chicken dinner thrown in too!

Auntie Roberta had prepped Sebastian by watching Lipizzaners strut their equine stuff on youtube. Lorraine's wonderful capes and jewels came in handy too. Being George, they had the upgraded seats in the front, the special photo and banners to wave for "their" knight during the jousting tournament.


The royal guests


The prince and princess in costume


Gallant Sir Sebastian


"Their knight"


The Lipizzaners

Being me, I have hauled out the fantastic book of short tales about all the other child characters in the Medieval Ages - i.e. the serf's daughter, the trainee blacksmith, the apothecary's messenger, etc. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! There were/are a heck of a lot of people making the knight/princess' life easy! Got to get a little balance and perspective here.

Speaking of carefully selected princesses, we are very eager to hear suggestions of princesses who are brave, clever, witty, original, anything but "pink". So please, step right up and tell us the name of any such girls/young women from any culture. At this stage, she needs to have "princess" attached to her name. We have found a wonderful source in the Enchanted Forest series. We have Princess Smartypants (thanks to my trousered aunt Dorothy's foresight). We talk about Joan of Arc as a cross-over knight/princess figure, even though she wasn't royalty.

Help us!! There is too much talk of damsels and inconsequential princesses in this household.

Boxing Day traditions - new and old

This year, Sebastian was interested in the servant/master traditions behind Boxing Day. That didn't stop us from having the two male servants take care of the offspring and cook up a big turkey meal, while we ladies lunched and shopped with the masses. (Thankfully, we didn't witness a fight over a parking space at the shopping mall this time).


Seb worked on his volcano from the A-cubed cousins


and on his math book. He sat down and did 9 pages straight....


The children await the Boxing Day feast.


Not sure what I did but the photo does a great fairy world impression. And I should point out the wine bottle is full. This artistry is not due to any alcohol consumption.

Still "go Christmas"

More snaps from our Christmas Day - mostly at the beautiful Old Mill Inn where they lay on the yummiest spread.


Seb places a call to his Nannie Gen to thank her for the swellegant outfit.


Happy, Happy Grandparents


Father and son sporting ties and all. (It used to be the only day of the year that M wore a tie).


Sophie shares a drink with her Gramps


You crack me up.


Nana takes the young ones to the dessert table.


Who is more excited to have spotted Father Christmas?


Santa recalled the house where the eldest child had thoughtfully laid out cherry tomatoes and baby carrots to accompany the standard milk and cookies.


Roberta in conversation


Sophie sports a tie.


Auntie Roberta and her nephlets


Seb cracks open his box of magic.

Go? Christmas!

What a wonderful day and a delicious one! Thank you to everyone who sent gifts to make the day so abundant and to George and Lorraine for getting up very very early in the cold, dark New Brunswick morning to come and share your special day with us.

PLEASE start at the bottom of the post to get the flow of events.


While mum stays up to put away the haul (check out the clothes again!!!) and dad works on finishing up those annual movies...


Off to bed in his new robe.


Grandmother and granddaughter play dolls.


Sophie - with post-3 hour nap!!! hair - opens her spiral craft toy from the Geneva cousins.


Sophie (swathed in her new dressing gown) has some dollies for her dollhouse.


Child Power!!! Capes and wristbands made by Nana (inspired from a booth at the One of a Kind Show) from Value Village curtains.


Is it a royal robe, a child power cape, a magician's cloak?


Cool science and nature combine in one kit.


Une tire-lire (piggy bank) and un pot (a pouring pot) de Marite. And nothing broke/rien a casse!!! Merci, Michel, Marite et Mamie Suzanne.


Mirror, mirror...


I love that they are so pleased with being all dressed up, with being siblings, with being themselves!


Yes, she is brushing her hair with a BRAND-NEW dish brush.

Say it ain't so.

Cheeky monkey and her Nana (who looks so alert despite having awoken at 3 a.m.; she was excited about Santa, even though she pretends that she was just worried about missing the crack of dawn flight to her grandkiddies)

George's traditional bubble bread (the gooey treacle is bubbling away in the pot on the stove)

M nipped off very early to get a shower and get dressed. He was tired of looking scruffy in the Xmas photos! I come off looking pretty fine in my pjs and sororal dressing gown from Vietnam.

The sleds! But we have no snow......... No prizes for guessing whose is whose.


Some stocking stuffers. The past two years Santa hasn't been able to haul everything up the stairs (old age, you know). There is a small stocking waiting at the foot of each bed, but then there is "overflow" (wink, wink) and Santa's big gift (sleds this year) downstairs which we just happen to open when G&L arrive. The kids aren't allowed to come downstairs until 10 mins after G&L's arrival (picture us madly opening boxes and and stuffing stockings in the sitting room with eager munchkins bouncing around their bedroom)

Ready? Set?

The preparations for Christmas...

Auntie Roberta telling stories

Carrie doing crafts. (Oh, I just realised that that this was when they were doing "slime" experiments. I promise that no one got slime in their stocking!)

None of M baking but some of him doing what he does best (and seemingly endlessly) in the days leading up to the 25th - making the annual kids' movie!

Order yours here... Just send $99.99 to moi and then only $19.99 for the next 11 monthly installments. You will be all paid up by the time the 2010 edition is ready. Funny how I organised that.

Who is afraid of big, bad Grandma?

Grandmothers come in all shapes, sizes and roles in children's literature. We have finally got around to explaining little red riding hood to the kids (well, Sophie does have the cloak); there is a magnificently awful grandmother in George's Marvellous Medicine which we know on cd but have started reading today.

But we are also getting to know a wonderful Quebecoise writer and illustrator - Marie-Louise Gay. Grandmothers don't really appear in her work, except....

Back in the autumn, during someone's "quiet time", I read Gay's bestseller "Stella".




Here's some of the exchange:



Sophie: Grandma?



Me: Their Grandma



Sophie: I have a Grandma too.



Me: Yes, you do. Do you love your Grandma?



Sophie: Yes.



Me: Why do you love Grandma?



Sophie: Because she laughs.