Christmas wrap-up

We had a great time with Eric, Rebekah, and Gus making such a long visit here with us over Christmas. The two-house situation we have here is ideal for keeping everyone comfortable and on schedule. I did miss staying up late, playing cards and talking with the adults, and we had intended to get a babysitter to stay with our sleeping kids so we could go over to Mom's in the evening to do that, but we never did. So adult conversation was perhaps at a premium. But the three cousins played together a LOT and we had lots of fun times chasing after them at one house or another. We traded hosting dinners each night (and by night I mean 5:00-- or maybe 4:30), and had a few outings. In a few years we will be able to sit down longer and talk more! But in the meanwhile, what a superfun time to be together with three beautiful, lively, funny children.

More Christmas zaniness

Snuggling our babies

Cheers!

Aunt Grace's awesome aprons

Christmas day, after naptime, at Gran's, opening her presents to the kids: happy chaos!

Christmas eve, Mama with no-nap Agatha

Christmas eve, with Eric's martinis

Merry Christmas!

I hope to post some photos of food and play soon, once Eric and Rebekah and Mom send me some of their pictures (our camera is still in the shop!). But I did get a few shots of Christmas morning, so here they are. We were a little anxious about whether Henry would like what he got-- this year was the first that Henry really kept a list and had strong ideas about what he wanted. On the one hand, we didn't want to encourage too much materialism; on the other, we wanted him to have fun and be excited with some new toys. As it turned out, he was delighted with his presents and we were so pleased! When he opened his new lego set, he said, "This is just what I wanted! I was going to ask Santa for this, and I didn't, but he brought it anyway!" Music to a parent's ears!

It was a wonderful holiday celebration with Eric, Rebekah, Gus and all of us here in Lancaster. To our loved ones in far-flung places, we send you Christmas joy!

The Devil Made Me Do It

Gran, Eric, Gus, Henry, Agatha and I had a Family Outing to the Mall today, which we usually do at Christmastime. Today we didn't shop, though; just let the kids play, went to look at Santa (although not to talk with him; too weird), and ate lunch. On the way there, in the car, Henry said: "All day, and every single day, my mind goes through my brain and I have the same eleven dreams over and over again." Wow, I said; what are you dreaming about? "I don't know yet; it's going to start tonight. I dream at night time." Are they happy dreams? "No." Are they scary dreams? "Yes." Are you a superhero in your dreams, I asked? "Yes. When there are real alive things in my room, I fight them, so I have to gather my weapons for tonight." Later, over lunch, I was telling my mom and Eric this, and Henry heard me and chimed in. "I have to fight the things in my dreams. You know what weapons I'll need? I'll need a torch, a sword, a shield, and a spear. First I'll burn them with the torch and then I'll spear them." Good plan, we said (Eric also recommended a cheese grater).

We had a good time but at the very end of our visit, Henry wouldn't stay close to me in the very busy parking lot and frightened me by running out too close to several cars. I chewed him out about the rules in parking lots and listening to Mom and then everyone was silent for awhile as we drove home. "Mom, the reason I didn't listen to you was that I was thinking about my dreams and the bad guys were telling me not to do what you said." Really? So the bad guys were telling you not to listen to your mom? "Yes. There are a lot of them. There's the Idiots, and the Lukers [or lucres?], and there's the good guys who are dressed up in monster suits to scare the bad guys..." Well, next time you just tell those bad guys to quiet down so you can hear your mom, I said. "Yes, I can yell at them, because they don't like that-- they like peace and quiet."

Big snowstorm!

Usually I don't pay too much attention to the weather predictions, because the weather is generally mild here. But I'm glad I went to the grocery store and stocked up yesterday, because we got LOTS of snow today-- about a foot, with more predicted tonight. Totally awesome and wonderful to have a big snowstorm on a day that none of us were traveling or needing to go anywhere or do anything. We played outside, made peppermint bark, and ate lasagna for dinner. The Texans enjoyed it, I think!

New sounds

For a long time, since she first said "ba" for "ball" back in early September, Agatha has only said the first sound of words. It's kind of funny and unusual-- for banana, instead of "nana" (Henry's first word) or "nini" (how Gus said it) she says "ba." She says the first sound of many words-- but generally only the first sound. It gets a bit difficult to figure out what she's referring to. In the high chair, hungry and pointing to something and saying emphatically, "Pa! Pa! Pa!"-- does she mean pear? peanut butter? pie? But today she really mastered the complete word, "hop," including the "p" sound at the end. She's crazy about "One fish, two fish" right now, and the verse about "all I like to do is hop from fingertop to fingertop" has inspired her latest accomplishment. This evening we got out "Hop on Pop" to celebrate, and that was certainly a hit!

Stats

We took the darling and talented Agatha to the doctor today for her 15-month check-up, and she is in blooming health. She is 30 inches tall (75%), weighs 22 lbs 14 oz (25%) and has a massive head: 19 inches (97%!!). She and Gus are going to have to have a melon-off when he arrives later this week. They don't measure feet, but hers are probably in the 5%-- she's still wearing her 6-12 month size shoes, and doesn't really fit in to the smallest size of real shoes yet. It must be hard to walk with such small feet and such a big old head!

Christmas cookies

We made a small batch of sugar cookies the other day at Henry's request, and I was surprised how fun it was. I was wary, because Henry has become a sugar fiend-- normal kid behavior, but weird for us because he was never much interested or obsessed with sweets before. But lately there have been tantrums over treats and I have felt miserable about how it was turning my efforts to do something nice and special into a power struggle and making me into the Bad Guy. Anyway: I was wary. But he was moderate and measured and we all had fun. And he did a beautiful, careful job decorating his cookies, too. That also surprised me. Agatha didn't care too much for the frosted, finished cookies but she ate a lot of dough!

Forts

These photos are from playing in a pillow fort the other day. We had a pile of balloons left over from a baby shower we hosted, and Henry set up a pillow fort with a cache of balloons as ammo. At first he tried to keep Agatha away, but when I reminded him about Santa watching him, he thought a moment and then pulled the blocking pillow aside and said, "Come on in, Agatha!" It might have been the first time the children were on the same team, laughing and playing a game "against" me. I kept popping up and surprising them and pelting them with balloons and they were both screaming with laughter. Sweet, sweet, sweet!

More commonly, Henry is outside in his fort with the boys. Tonight he came home from school and went straight out to their yard. I only saw him when he came in on quests for various materials: "Mom! I need a pillow and a blanket!" or "Is there a light I can have and not give back?" Or, "Mom! Can I PLEASE go to the blue dumpster with Carter?" This is their latest adventure: they run around the corner to the house that's being renovated and liberate building materials for their forts.

I went out to check on them around dusk and one boy was in a cardboard box outfitted with an LED light high up on a stair landing, the other boy was in the tree doing his homework in the descending twilight and Henry's head was just visible as he sat in his newest "fort" between two overturned kayaks and the neighbor's picket fence. When he came in looking for something and it was past dark, I was trying to entice him to sit and eat his peanut noodles, but he said, "Can you hold my plate for me while I climb over the fence?" He has learned the hard way that it is hard to climb over while carrying a plate of food. So I did. He ran ahead of me, saying to the boys next door, "I just got a bungee cord. And I'm going to eat my dinner in my fort!" One of them said, "Cool!"

A few minutes later he came in and announced that he was setting up for his party and it would start in four minutes. We went out and he had bowls of dried fruits and nuts and candied papaya set out on their little table, carefully lit with a flashlight tied in a tree branch above.

Another Christmas comparison

Because I think these two are so cute...Michael and Agatha at the tree farm, last year and this year. Note that Michael is wearing the same hat and coat! In fact he looks pretty much identical. The weather was certainly different, though!

Ta-da!

This video is from November 29-- by now she's gained a lot of speed and pretty much delights herself by walking all day long. (Ignore my annoying voice.)

Christmas tree farm

Right off the bat, I have to confess: we dropped our camera in the snow at the tree farm and now it's not working.  Yes, our NEW camera!  Now that the bummer news is out of the way, here are pictures from our expedition to get our Christmas tree on Saturday.  It was our first snowfall of the year, which was very fun but also wet and chilly.  This was our fourth year of going to this little tree farm, where Farmer Jim (it says that on his hat) drives us out to the field in a wagon to pick out our tree.  It's very small and low-key; perfect for us.  

tree farm, 2006

Henry, age 14 months

tree farm, 2007

Henry age 2, with Rudolph and best buddy Frances

tree farm, 2008

Henry age 3 and Agatha 3 months, asleep under blanket

tree farm, 2009

Henry age 4 and Agatha 15 months

Mermaid, hey

   We don't always manage to have family dinner, but we generally try.  One of the luxuries of our flexible work schedule is that we can eat as early as necessary.  It used to be 5:30 pm, but even that seemed too late, so I've taken to having dinner ready as early as 4:30 pm.  On his long days, Henry gets home around 4 (he gets out of school at 2:50, plays football {!} for as long as the weather allows, and then comes home with our neighbors-- all this is HIS choice; I constantly volunteer to pick him up at school earlier!) and is starving and exhausted, so on those days especially I try to have something ready to eat.  Monday we all sat down to a dinner of cauliflower soup and biscuits, and everyone was hungry at the same time-- but not too hungry-- and ready to sit down-- but not too tired.  The sweet spot.
   For some reason, Henry decided to milk the moment.  He bade us all join hands, and then he said very solemnly, "now I will sing a song."  And he began, "Mermaid, mermaid, hey, mermaid mermaid, hey, hey, mermaid, hey..."   This turned out to be a looooong song.  Michael glanced at me, then glanced at his rapidly cooling soup.  Eventually the song ended and we started to eat.  "Now," Henry said, "you have to say one thing you're thankful for."  I started to say something about my health and he interrupted: "NOT the same thing you said at Thanksgiving dinner!  It has to be a different thing, and just ONE thing, no more.  Understand?"  
  I asked him what he did at school that day.  "I forget," he answered.  "What did you do at school, Mama?"  I started telling him about the various things I did at home (I don't have office time on Mondays) and he cut me off.  "I just want to hear about school.  Daddy, what did you do today?"  Obediently, Michael began telling Henry about researching book proposals on the Yale University Press website.  We all slurped our soup.