Carnaval

This year, Aimy participated in her first Carnaval. The theme for this year was Fables and Fairy Tales, and Aimy's class dressed up as the 3 Little Pigs in each of their 3 houses, and the teachers and parent volunteers were Big Bad Wolves. All of the children from the preschools and elementary schools of the city (about 950 according to the city's website) paraded from their campus to the rugby field parking lot, where they all showed off their costumes by parading around the Monsieur Carnaval set up in the centre, and then at the end, they threw confetti and watched as Monsieur Carnaval was burned.

A little background for those who are interested:
Carnaval is originally a Catholic celebration based around Mardi Gras and Lent. Mardi Gras (this year, it fell on Tuesday February 17th) is the last day that Catholics are allowed to indulge in fatty foods - hence the name Fat Tuesday - before the 40 days of Lent leading up to Easter. The tradition of dressing up and parading around is actually a pagan ritual that was integrated into Catholic culture. Since the winter holidays for our area fell between from Saturday February 14th and Monday March 3rd, the schools in the city decided to hold Carnaval after the holidays.

Burning Monsieur Carnaval is another ritual with pagan origins. The schoolchildren build an effigy that represents all the negative aspects of Winter (cold, sadness, poor crops etc.) and, by burning it, symbolically announce the end of Winter and welcome the warmth and colours of Spring.

Aimy was not feeling very well but still had a good time, especially when it came to throwing the confetti. I had Alixe in the baby carrier on my back and she too enjoyed watching, though she probably would have preferred to be out parading in costume with her sister!

A little pig in a straw house!

Spending time with a Big Bad Wolf.
Note the girl to the left wearing a brick
house.

Having fun despite having to
wait to cross the street

First glance at Monsieur Carnaval,
who was made by the kids in before
and after school care

Aimy's teacher, all dressed up

Throwing confetti

She grabbed a whole bag!

The neighbour's son with his confetti

More confetti

Starting to burn...

Goodbye Monsieur Carnaval and Winter,
Hello Spring!

Party Time!

Oops, I forgot: I have birthday photos of Aimy that I didn't post!

At school, the kids get to participate in making their own birthday cake, which is shared with the class. Aimy and another little girl from her class both had birthdays in December, so they made their cakes together. Aimy looks a little camera-shy but she was definitely excited about making a cake at school. For weeks after she kept telling me that it was her birthday and that we needed to make another cake for her.

Enjoy the photos!

Mixing away

Very focused

Ooh the electric beater!

Almost a smile!

Blowing out the candles

With the other December birthday girl

Winter Months

January: 

The first month of the year brought us some pretty bad weather. Lots of rain, and for several days in a row, which isn't usually the norm. However, I managed to get out with Alixe a few times while Aimy was at school and enjoy the few nice days. I started spending more time with my neighbour, who has a son in Aimy's class at school, and doing things in and around town with her during the day while the kids were at school. This month also, Alixe took a tumble off the couch and chipped one of her front teeth as well as ended up with a nice egg on her head, but was otherwise ok. 5 minutes after she fell she was snuggled in my arms, singing lullabies with me. We also took Aimy for an ultrasound of her heart (the pediatrician noted a heart murmur at birth but no one ever followed up on it) and fortunately it is nothing to worry about.

February: 

This month, we our few snowflakes for the year! We also had some super high and low tides - and the high tides were high enough that we lost several meters of dune at the beach. So much sand was taken away by the waves that a bunker that had previously been buried under the dune was exposed! We also had a few warm days, warm enough for my neighbour and I to enjoy a tea on the deck at one of the more well-know hotel restaurants on the Bassin d'Arcachon. On the kid front, Alixe and Aimy started holding hands on the way to school and Alixe in particular loved it. Alixe also started asking to use the potty occasionally, and went through a phase where getting her to eat became quite difficult... fortunately phases don't last long in kid world!

I also completely forgot to mention this on the blog before, but in September, I joined the local community concert band, or as they call them here, wind orchestra, l'Harmonie des Lacs. We performed a few times at the end of 2014, once at the local church for the Sainte Cécile mass, and two back-to-back concerts on December 6th at the local theatre. There was even a film crew for a local association at the concert, and they put together a video of us playing one of our pieces. If you look carefully, you can see me more than once! I'll be writing more about the Harmonie in future entries - the people there have progressively become a big part of my life this year.

Next time: Aimy's first time participating in a local tradition.

Proving that she can still fit inside

A new favourite activity: colouring!

Winter stroll at the beach

Looking at a man flying a kite

Snow! It only lasted a few hours,
but still!

Making mini croissants with her cousin
Samantha

Even Carlos got into it

Sunny day outing at la Coorniche,
the hotel/restaurant right
next to the Dune du Pyla

Vacation rental houses reflecting
in the tidal pool at Biscarrosse
Plage

Holding hands

Aimy next to the exposed bunker.
I had no idea it was even there!

Heading Into the New Year

Just a little bit behind on updating the blog... I've been very busy lately. Can't believe how quickly May, June and July have flown by. But more about that in future blog posts!

On December 31st Carlos and I put the kids to bed and started on our own New Year's Eve dinner that we ordered from the catering service at our local grocery store. It was fun to get dressed up and have a meal for just the two of us, champagne and all! 

Alixe made a bunch of progress language-wise at the beginning of the new year. Lots of little sentences and phrases. She even came up to me one day, gave me a hug and said "I love you, Mama!" without any prompting. She began pointing at objects and naming them, much to our amusement, and Aimy would praise her every time she got something right, which was almost as fun to hear. Alixe also began calling her sister by name (though it sounds a bit more like Mimi than Aimy!) The girls played together even more, with Aimy trying to show her sister how to play properly, even if Alixe was more interested in doing her own thing.

Aimy was happy to go back to school in January despite having a lot of fun during the holidays. Though her shoulder injury had healed enough for her to not need the sling anymore, there were still days where she would ask me if she could wear her "backpack" to school. She started to pout all the way home on days where I would pick her up from school and not have her stay at the cafeteria for lunch - definitely a sign that she enjoys being at school with her friends. And she even began to try telling me about her day at school in French, She definitely made progress with her language skills, though she still had trouble making sentences in clear French. 

New Year's Eve Dinner

Admiring her rolling pin

Taking a selfie!

Tea time

A princess and a dragon

Rocking out with Mama

She loves putting on my boots

More dressing up

Using tools, just like Daddy

Here, I can help!

Story time is always a hit