Sarah says:
Too bad Heidi isn't around to join in but I'm going for it! Last year at this time we did a flashback photo for a whole week to celebrate Face The Day's 1st birthday so now I'm trying to do the same. Today's photo above is quite the same as the two below from the two previous years. I still have that lamp as you can see!
Above is a photo from 02 September 2006 - last year at this time... Check out this link to see what Heidi and I were up to last year...
And that one above is from 02 September 2005 - two years ago today with much shorter bangs... And follow this link to see what Heidi and I were up to two years ago today...
And above is just a cute photo from today of our friends' kids and our daughter on a see-saw. It was another fun day for them and for us. Our home was very alive and kicking this weekend. There were Barbie dolls and fashion shows everywhere, competing with soldiers, forts and war play. Fun! Fun! Fun! Absolutely lovely, splendid children!
And below you can see my Post Secret pick of the week. There were a few goodies today but this one stood out because lately my kid has been talking a lot about her being American. "Half- American and half- Belgian," as she puts it. She really likes the fact that she is both nationalities (as far as her little mind allows her to understand what that means) - and she proud of it, to say the least. Sometimes we have to remind her not to brag about it. It's weird. It's like it makes her feel special - feel different - but in a good way. As her parents though, we have to let her know sometimes she sounds like she's being arrogant about it and bragging (if an 8 year old is even capable of that!). But you know how kids are, they do brag and they do try to show-off a little. She means no harm by it at all and I totally understand why and how it makes her feel like a special little person. She is special - I'm her mom - of course she is special!!!! I do wonder how she'll feel about her dual-nationality and double- cultural upbringing later, when she is older. I wonder how her self-identity will play out. This weekend because Flemish-speaking kids were here, she and I agreed to speak Flemish to each other so that her friends wouldn't have to wonder what we were talking about. She and I rarely speak Flemish to each other. It feels so unnatural - mother-tongue and all! I become different to her. She is proud of me and ashamed of me (though she doesn't say it directly) all at the same time - and she'll experience that a lot in her life at all her different phases. Right now if I can judge by what she says all the time, she likes her American half of herself better than her Belgian one. But she's too young to get what that's all about. It must be hard and exciting to have two quite diverse backgrounds being channeled into you by your parents. I am very curious who this little child of mine is going to become. Here in Belgium she'll always feel a little special but that can also turn into feeling like an oddball. I still feel like an oddball in this country. But I also feel like a bigger oddball in America at this point in my life. In a way I guess I could say that right now I like my Belgian half better than my American half because in so many ways I feel more European than I do American - just because I have lived here in Belgium for so long now. But who would I be without my American side?
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