MTM - Childrens Lit

If you're looking for the Save One Mammy post, it's here.

Like I said last week, I'm really excited about this theme. I love books, especially childrens books. Click here to see what everyone else came up with.

Froglet and I picked Star Seeker as our book. It's actually on loan from a friend but we love it so much we're definitely going to buy a copy. We love the poetry, the illustrations and the explanations about the Solar System in the back. It's a great book for any kid interested in outer space.

Click on the photo to get a closer look... I think... Anyway clockwise from right we have:

Cookies on Venus = a gingerbread rocket
Mars, the red planet = bread roll covered in tomato paste
Fireworks on Pluto = yoghurt and raspberries with sprinkles
Moons and asteroids = cheese and pickled onions
Saturn = Pineapple rings and gold-wrapped chocolate
The Milky Way = frothy whipped cream with a gingerbread Bear and a pinwheel, representing the page you can see open (my favourite).

In case you can't read it, it says:

I'll spin like a pinwheel
Through the Milky Way's froth
Take a ride on the Great Bear
And never fall off

Can you guess why cookies for Venus and fireworks for Pluto? :-)

The Law vs logic

Today I'm posting about something not relating to crafts, gardening or food! Amazing!
Actually the law has been an interest of mine for a long time - at one time I seriously considered becoming a lawyer - and the story of a friend of mine has jolted me back into that line of thinking.

Now let's imagine for a moment that you are separated from your partner, the parent of your children. And that you have custody. Is it right that your ex-partner should get to decide where your child (and you) will live?

Secondly let's suppose that you are British and your ex is Irish. Each of you wants to live in your own country. You are currently living in Britain. We have two possibilities here.

1/ The ex moves back to IE, you remain put with child, they have visiting rights at weekends. This is fine.

2/ The ex takes your child back to IE against your will (you have custody, remember). You are still in the UK. This is known as kidnap. Is it ok legally? Nope. Will your child be returned to you by the Irish courts? Um, maybe. Maybe not. Last year there were 46 new cases of this sort in court in Ireland. It is a signatory to the Hague convention, which means that Ireland should send the child back, but in several cases they did not. Some legal experts are even complaining that Ireland is becoming a safe haven for "abductor parents".

Now - humour me for a moment - let's suppose it's the other way round. You both want to live in your own countries, but you're in Ireland. You still have custody though. Because you want to move away with the child, your ex needs to give official permission.

1/ The ex gives permission. Yay! You make sure they get very frequent visits. This is all wonderful.

2/ The ex does not give permission, even though you offer him a great deal. Your child is living in Ireland against your will, and you are stuck in Ireland against your will. Held hostage. Because if you leave, you will have to relinquish custody. And if you leave with the child, you will be charged with kidnap. Meanwhile as you stay you gradually become ill with the stress, loneliness, and worry.

Is this legal? Oddly enough, yes. Is it logical that it should be legal?
I think not. Surely when the courts grant custody of a child, they must pick the parent they think is better suited to look after that child and look out for its best interests. How is kidnap illegal, but holding someone hostage not?

Then again, who says the law has to be logical, or even fair? Well technically it's the courts that are unfair:

"Where parents cannot agree the Court can make a decision which might permit one parent to move away subject to rights of access in favour of the other parent."

They can. But evidently they don't. Even when the rights of access mentioned have been promised and would even be better than the rights of access the other parent currently receives. It seems the courts think living in Ireland is the best thing for a child regardless of whether they have been kidnapped or whether it is affecting the wellbeing of their main caregiver. I'm sure Ireland is a lovely place. But probably not that lovely, eh?

This situation has been real life for several years for the star of the Save One Mammy campaign, whose story you can read more about here. We hope and pray that in her case it will be resolved happily. But she's not alone. There are many other women out there - and perhaps some men too - who are going through this, and the number will only increase as globalisation leads to more international marriages. Hopefully by blogging about this we can raise awareness so the law will be changed. It shouldn't be all that hard for lawmakers to draft a clause that would state that where rights of access for the non-custodial parent are going to improve as a result of the move abroad, permission should be granted by the courts.

This post is part of the Save One Mammy campaign. Mammy is fighting for the permission to leave Ireland together with her English-born daughter and return home to England; something her estranged husband is trying to prevent by all means and for seemingly egotistical reasons only. Parental alienation, unfair hearings and a clear and blatant violation of every EU citizen’s right to free movement are just a few of the hurdles she has to overcome. Please help us to raise awareness and visit her blog to support her in her campaign.

Sources:
http://www.international-divorce.com/ireland_child_abduction.htm
http://www.rdj.ie/_fileupload/File/Child%20Abuse%20Feb%2009.pdf

Sweet seven-months

Nutmeg turned seven months last week. She celebrated by being incredibly grouchy all week, possibly a combination of teething and a cold coming on. Now she is happy again but suffering from a blocked nose. The night before last she woke five times where normally she would sleep through. But even when grumpy she is still the loveliest baby in the world.

This week you have started crawling.

You would rather be walking.
So you push your little bottom up into the air with your legs all straight like Mowgli, and advance like a caterpillar.
Our (second) little Frog!

I am trying to baby proof the house and you are trying to follow me wherever I go.

Usually you get tired before moving more than a couple of feet.

Then you lie down and suck your thumb, or else flail your arms and cry loudly.

You also try to move objects out of your way by headbutting them.
So determined.

You adore your brother and try to follow him about when he's around.
Nothing he can say or do will stop you smiling sweetly at him.
Even when he throws a screaming fit.
No wonder he loves you so much.

Today he offered you a choice of two new rattles.
You chose the pink one.
My little girly girl.

You love solid food, and have only turned one thing down so far.
Banana.
The one thing all babies are supposed to like.

You cry when you want the potty, and then cry more if it's too late.
But if you were already naked you splash your feet in it and laugh.
And I don't even mind cleaning it up, because you're so sweet.

I could probably go on writing all night, because there are so many things I love about you.
And then Daddy could take over and write all day tomorrow.
We are so happy God gave you to us,
our lovely, wonderful daughter.

OEA - bean mosaics/collage

We're still on the mosaics, and you can check out what everyone else did here. (The button has changed and looks complicated so I'm waiting to be sure how it works before using it).

After I showed Froglet how to fill in a drawing he decided to do a flower (we sometimes make flowers with smarties so he knows about that already). He got frustrated with trying to get the petals in a nice circle - here is the conversation that ensued:

M: It's much easier if you start in the middle with flowers.
F: That is how God made them.
(...)
M: Those are borlotti beans.
F: Autumn beans, because it's turning to start to be autumn and the leaves are turning brown. This is a long long sonneblueme [sunflower].
(...)
F: Puddles and long grass and raindrops raindrops raindrops, and a long sonneblueme and some leaves that have fallen down. And lentils.

And the result:



On the left is the one his comments above refer to. The second one also has a sunflower and a rainbow (which he got me to draw for him). The small white beans are raindrops.

I should have used split peas because then I could have made pea soup. Any good recipes using dried beans? Will they germinate if I plant them?

Future projects

In no particular order, here are some of the things I've found around the blogosphere and want to try with Froglet:

Make your own CD case
Felted Christmas baubles
Curly plate Christmas trees
Cornstarch colour mixing
Ice jewels
Salt Crystal paint
Pottery
Natural Easter Egg dyes
Drinking Straw Truck
Blow painting
Bathtime paints

Also Wee Folk Art has some cute patterns for dolls and gnomes and autumn-y things, like this mini pumpkin patch

And insteadoftv.com has lots of ideas to replace TV during TV turnoff week... which is next week already!

Crawling and commenting

Froglet didn't express any interest in crawling at all until he was nine months. I think it was due to our tiled floors - not good for gripping with your sleepsuit-clad knees. As soon as we got a rug he was off like a shot. So I wasn't sure if Nutmeg would wait that long or not. And she hasn't. Today she crawled her own length (falling over once or twice and complaining vigorously all the way through). Then she looked at me and started to cry as if to say "look I've got this far, can't you just carry me the rest?" So I did. I'm so proud of my baby!

Meanwhile Froglet is developing a great sense of humour. At the weekend we went out with some friends, and as he walked along behind me with their small daughter I could hear him commenting on my clothes: "R, do you like Mummy's skirt? And her black boots? And her new socks - they come right up to here." On recounting this to The Engineer later I remarked that I felt like a fashion model, upon which Froglet immediately turned round and said matter-of-factly: "Well, you're not."

His father creased himself laughing.

OEA - paper mosaics/collage

Last weeks Open ended Art topic was paper. You can see what everyone else did by clicking on the button (which I forgot to include in last weeks post, oops):

We started off by playing a bit with a tangram.

Froglet wasn't quite sure what to do with it but we had fun making a goose together and then putting its head in different positions. Next I gave him some tangram shapes and some circles (in case he wanted to do a vehicle of some sort) and let him loose with the sticky backed plastic.

The top one is actually upside down. He told me he was doing a road (while he was doing it - the bit that actually looks like a mosaic), but afterwards he said it was all nothing.

As you can probably see, we covered it with cling-film afterwards. This turned out to be fun too as owing to Mummy's lack of skill, there were lots of air bubbles which were great to pop, like bubble wrap.

This weeks theme is going to be beans.