Monday, January 21, 2008
once
Haven't posted about a film for a long, long time. By the way, I really love cinema. For those of you out there that wonder who I am besides a new mom, I love films. In fact, I proudly know names and films of both famous and lesser-known stars from all Hollywood eras. Seriously, my poor sister never knew what hit her when she purchased a Movie trivia game for Christmas one year. I think I ended up without a team-mate and still won by far. I don't recall exactly, but there was certainly a tone of "Don't ever play that game with tfox again!" in the air. It was a bit tense.
Anyway, being a new mom and being a film fan are a tad difficult to reconcile. I've learned to watch a movie in bits and pieces. Reluctantly so, I must admit. Nevertheless, I refuse to not watch movies that pique my interest despite my environment - with the exception of new releases in the theatre of course. An actual movie experience is just waaaay to abstract for me still - 2 hours plus travel and parking? Eep, that might be a while.
I heard great things about this film. Once. I've always been a fan of musicals (thanks, Mom) and figured whatever the content, with the rave reviews, it was worth a viewing. We rented it the other night and I must say I was in the entire time. The Irish film is solid for several reasons: the characters are poor and live that way (I hate that Friends live in Manhattan on jobs like a waitress, an unemployed chef and an unknown actor - it is simply ludicrous!), the music is brilliant and doesn't tell what's happening presently rather the entire backstory of the Guy (refreshing angle), the Girl is enchanting and authentic and so someone I'd love to hang out with (basically, not a tart!), Guy and Girl perform their own music and as a result the film is raw and brilliant, and the emotions of the film are true to life. The film quality is not all that. The music is raw, yet not polished. The story is simple. Once is a lovely experience of film storytelling which I had been craving but didn't even know it.
This song has been in my head ever since my Saturday viewing and I hope it's doesn't get out anytime soon.
*Update: As of today, the song "Falling Slowly" from Once has been nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars. Yes!
toys
The blanket game is certainly tops with Birdie right now. It's a version of peek-a-boo, I guess, when we throw the blanket over her head and lift it up and off with a wee gust of wind brushing over her face throughout the process. She gets really excited when this game begins and tires of it infrequently, even when she's right exhausted.
Birdie is a fan of the soother and yet, when she's not into sucking on it, she's into chewing on it and trying to get it in and out of her mouth accurately. She'll often chatter while toying around with this item leaving me free for all of five minutes. Hey, that's a teeth-brushing and a hair-combing. Pretty good.
I'm not really surprised by this non-toy fascination. In fact, I find most toys quite overwhelming. I think what I find interesting about this is that she's really just mimicking us. All of the items mentioned above are items we use every day. She makes great efforts to get tactile with the items that we use. At times, she wants to play with our cell phones or pens. I don't often go around playing with the crinkly book that doesn't really tell a story, or the shaggy dog that squeaks. (Okay, once in a while the crinkly book that doesn't tell a story.) At any rate, she's into what we're doing and so, I'm reminded of two things: 1) Who needs toys? and 2) she's watching me and copying me!
Be good, Mom!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
blur
Birdie's first Christmas proved to be eventful. She did exceptionally well considering the overwhelming amount of Christmases that occured in the month of December. Unfortunately, both Birdie and I got ill during Christmas week. She fared better than I, albeit with a high fever at one point and a nasty little cough, since it took me nearly two weeks to really feel like I could go out and look presentable.
As we all know, being sick sucks. Being a sick, breast-feeding mom sucks even more. I realized that I recovered so slowly since I never got to sleep more than 3 consecutive hours (okay, there were a handful of 4 hour dreamy-sleeps peppered in there) at a time. Nevertheless, we all got through it alright.
Birdie is in blissful, development chaos right now. She never agreed to the bottle really, but took to a sippy cup with an expression like, 'Duh, Mom, this is easy'. So, that's a relief. Birdie is also really stoked about eating some real food, that is, if you want to call rice cereal real food. I think, as a result, she's become more dense. Seriously, my arms are yelling now when she wants to be walked around for a while. Ah, soon enough she'll be wriggling out of my arms and I'll be appropriately sad, so I'm happy to do it.
I must admit that the whole Christmas experience was a touch richer with the babe. I haven't been able to put a finger on why, but it is. For many years, I've felt that Christmas gifts for adults is frivolous and silly. Of course, I enjoy receiving gifts, but deep down, I struggle with accepting them since I don't need them. I enjoy them and am grateful for the generousity of my families, although I'd love them just the same if they didn't give them. I also struggle with the purchasing of gifts since I'm perpetuating that same feeling I struggle with. Anyway, all of that said, I was able to 'get over' those feelings this year since Birdie was on the scene. I certainly think that we'll be considering our approach to Christmas with the kiddo more sincerely as she grows older and becomes more aware of what's going on.
Anyway, the blur of the season is officially concluded. Gifts are in designated spots in our place, tree is off and chipped, colds are gone, and all the chocolates and candy are, unfortunately, consumed. Happy 2008 to you all!
