Want to note that CJ has been sleeping much better (at night) in the past couple of weeks. This is the sort of news I hardly want to mention, for entirely superstitious reasons, of course. So touch wood. And rejoice. What happened was that after we returned from our Halloween weekend at Kevin’s mom’s, CJ had gotten pretty comfortable spending all night in our bed, and was waking soon after being put to bed at night, just so he could come and cuddle with his mama. I have only a vague sleep-deprived memory of the magic moment, but what I recall is going to bed early (because he’d woken and wouldn’t go back to sleep otherwise), nursing him off and on till sometime after midnight, CJ remaining fussy and restless and miserable, and finally turning to Kevin and saying: “My tank is on empty. I’m going to let him cry.” So I laid him back into his playpen, tucked him in, and let him cry. I patted him a couple of times, and he cried for a full fifteen minutes, but that was it. Fifteen minutes of suffering and he fell asleep. All by himself. And it’s been much easier getting him into his playpen since then, and he sleeps longer when he’s initially put to bed, too.
But he is right now downright miserable in his giant bouncy device, probably hungry, and the living-room is filled with children playing Playmobil (playdate). So I should really, er, get off this electronic device and attend to some non-virtual needs.
Oh, and I had the kids wear the Mennonite Central Committee Remembrance Day button to school today, a red button with the words “To remember is to work for peace.” We had a fairly long talk about it before school this morning, and at the end, Albus said, “I think it would be easier to just wear the poppy.” I told them they could also wear a poppy. I hope I wasn’t overstepping parental bounds by asking them to wear this pin, too, especially because I wasn’t entirely convinced they “got’ it. But I have deeply ambivalent emotions around Remembrance Day, having been raised a pacifist. To me, wearing the button isn’t about standing against people who offer their lives to serve our country, but about being aware of the effects of war, and imagining more peaceful solutions … but I’m typing one-handed … and my children are behaving most unpacifistically all of sudden.
Funny, I was having a very similar conversation with Craig about my ambivalence about wearing a poppy (though I do it every year). The MCC button sounds like a good solution. Where can I get one?
I got mine at church (they were offering them in a little basket for a donation), but I’ll bet Ten Thousand Villages might have them, or any other Menno-run organization around town. It feels like a good compromise.
Funny thing is, I’ve come *back* to wearing a poppy (though I have the menno button somewhere.) I used to get terribly upset with all of the Remembrance Day stuff. Seeing an exhibition of wartime art in Ottawa a couple of years ago turned me around, especially looking at a photo of exceptionally young soldiers in trenches. I now actually do attend ceremonies at the Cenotaph, usually with tears in my eyes, and I wear a poppy in solidarity with those men who did serve, who felt they had to, and with all other Canadians who are taking some time to remember.
Just my two cents.
Thanks for your thoughts and perspective, Julia.