Back to school, growing up

Sorry Im not posting so often lately, I think maybe I'll try to do shorter tidbits more often and not feel like I have to cover so much information when I wait so long to write again!

We had a nice end to our vacation, celebrating "La Fête des Rois" (Epiphany) with friends on the last Sunday. We enjoyed lots of cozy quiet time at home after Ryan left, luxuriating in the unhurried time and new playthings. La Rochelle has not been very cold (the past few days have been in the upper 50s) but there has been tons of dense fog and some rain so the general feeling outside is wet and chilly and home is a good place to be. Miette is reading a new Christmas book "Eldest" and both kids have been playing together beautifully and doing lots of drawing. Julian continues to practice his letters and writing his name when he's not on castle duty.

Miette had swimming for the second time this Monday. Her class will be going each week for the next few months and she loves it. She comes out of school just bouncing with energy after the afternoon swimming. I'm glad she is getting an opportunity to continue building on all the progress she made this summer in her summer camp and really enjoying herself.

Julian's teachers said he seemed so much more grown-up after the holiday break. I said that he did have his birthday after all! But it's true, he seems to have moved onto another level. And we've been amazed because during the vacation, we started hearing french from him all the time. Almost always, when he's playing by himself he speaks to himself in french, using funny little expressions and sentences and I feel like I can hear the voices of his classmates and teachers being channeled thorough him. His teacher also remarked that he seems to have a much deeper level of comprehension now than before as well and that she heard him counting in french for the first time at school- very seriously, she said. In fact, I recorded a video of him doing the same at home and will post it to the blog, just not now, it's already too late.

I've fallen in love with a french illustrator who's inspiring me a lot at the moment, check her out- Emmanuelle Houdart. Here's a website with an interesting interview with her http://lsj.hautetfort.com/archive/2005/10/30/»-j-eponge-mes-peurs-l-alphabet-d-emmanuelle-houdart.html (in french). She's amazing but unfortunately when you see her images online in small format they absolutely don't do justice to the richness, vivd color and detail of the work. I got the kids each a book of hers for Christmas and have really been enjoying reading them with Julian an Miette. One titled "Emilie Pasteque" is about a little girl who is always collecting and bringing little objects home (stones, keys, leaves, bus tickets anything and everything, the kinds of thing one finds on the street, in nature, etc) until she doesn't have space for anyone else but herself in her room and her parents worry about her spending all her time alone with all this stuff instead of being with other children. I won't tell the rest of the story but I asked Miette why I might have gotten that book for her.... and I guess it is also somethings that reminds me of myself....the trash to treasure collectors. She knew the answer to that question without thinking too long.