Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

The holiday season this year was marked by the kind of tightly wound excitement that only a 5 year old can generate. A whole month of making cookies and candy, counting the days with candy canes, visiting Santa (see below) and staring wistfully at packages under the tree--all of that build-up can make even the mellowest preschooler a bit hyper.

But all of that aside...for me, the best part of Christmas was seeing my two kids together. Those of you who know our saga also know that for a long time we thought that Hayden would never be able to share Christmas traditions with a sibling. And so for me, the simplicity of peeking in at my two peacefully sleeping kids on Christmas Eve--dressed in matching jammies--well, that is the best Christmas present I could ever have.

We got some other good presents, of course. Santa brought Hayden his very own robot. I got Ben Guitar Hero World Tour (and now Hayden can "rock" on drums). Marlo got wrapping paper to eat.

On Christmas Eve, we did Secret Santas, and the kids got a lot of fun things. Highly notable was Hayden's new jokelopedia, which may possibly mean that at least a handful of his jokes will make sense. We gave the kids their matching jammies and some Christmas books on Christmas Eve. Marlo slept through some of the excitement but later, bolstered by a nap in the car, cheerfully posed with her brother before she passed out in her crib. Many of us can remember sleeping poorly the night before Christmas, straining to hear a sound from Santa and counting the minutes until 6 am when we could shake our parents awake. Hayden appears to be unaware of that particular tradition, because he also passed out in his bed. He was completely out within minutes of hearing his night-time story.

On Christmas morning, I got up with Marlo around 7. Hayden was still asleep. Marlo decided to start Christmas morning with a bang by knocking a glass off of our kitchen island (it shattered). Hayden slept through that. He's always been my good sleeper. Once we finally woke him up, perhaps a first for a 5 year old on Christmas morning, we enjoyed Santa's loot. Hayden helped his sister open presents and Ben and I enjoyed the chaos. Marlo was thrilled by the shiny paper piling around her, the lights on the tree, and Hayden's robot (thoughtfully filled with batteries by Santa) going in circles around her. There was snow outside, hot coffee for the grown-ups, and cinnamon rolls in the oven. It doesn't get much better than that.

Santa Claus is Comin' To Town!

My son has unusual fears. When he was younger, he worried about hippopotamuses. "No," I would tell him, "there are no hippopotamuses in our neighborhood." For awhile, he was scared of meatballs. I don't mean he didn't like them--I mean he was scared of them.

Lately he has two new fears: Santa and snowmen.

Nana has a snowman decoration in her bathroom. Hayden won't go in there until I remove the offending figurine. There is some history to this; I suppose the snowman phobia is somehow related to his long standing fear of statuary.


Now Santa...I'm not sure about this one. He joyfully composed a list to Santa. He likes Christmas movies. He seems to like Santa in theory. But put him in the same room as the beloved icon...well, all bets are off.


The Santa at the preschool party stood a good 6'5". Add the patent leather boots and he genuinely towered over the children. But, Hayden was determined to get his list to jolly St. Nick. Poor kid swallowed his fear and gamely handed over the list while remaining as far away as possible.

At the Santa Claus brunch we went to a few days later, Hayden told Santa's elf that he had already handed over his list--no need to visit the big guy. Well, that was until he found out that Santa was giving away jingle bell ornaments. H has had a soft spot for jingle bells ever since we read The Polar Express. We assured him he didn't need to sit on Santa's lap, so he stood next to the elf and dutifully mumbled something unintelligible.

Marlo had no such reservations and despite being overdue for a snooze, cheerfully sat on Santa's lap.

Hayden, I can honestly say, has only been on Santa's lap once. He was two months old and wasn't particularly thrilled about it then, either.


Maybe that was the start of the whole thing? Santa doesn't look real happy either.

The good news is that Hayden was a very good boy this year and Santa will be sure to leave shiny new things under the tree. Even Baby Marlo will get a thing or two from the merry old soul. Even Dexter the dog, who has most assuredly NOT BEEN A GOOD BOY, will still get a chew toy in keeping with the spirit of the holiday.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Peas Please

I decided to make most of my own baby food this time around. Sounded fun, and it is. It helps that Marlo is, well, highly enthusiastic. Get the spoon anywhere near her and she launches at it like a shark. So far everything has been agreeable. Sweet potatoes, pumpkin, parsnips, acorn squash, applesauce, pears. She even likes green beans, which I just buy jarred because they are a pain to get really smooth. I thought Hayden was an eating machine, but she trumps her brother.

The next new food to try is papaya. I've never even tasted papaya.

This whole gig is cheap too. I bought one sweet potato, and filled a whole ice cube tray and 2 larger containers with it. We're still working through 2 dollars worth of pears, and a 2 dollar acorn squash. I think the pumpkin was 4 bucks, but it was organic, and I filled 2 ice cube trays with it. Plus I get to make all sorts of interesting blends. Pumpkin/apple. Parsnip/pear.

Good times.

Random Mouth Noises

I forgot to add...

Today Marlo looked at Dexter (the mutt), smiled and said clear as day, "doggy." I really don't think a 6 month old can say words, but the timing was remarkable.

One of Those Days

Today was one of those days where I find myself wondering where the time went. I think I've been on my feet straight since 7 am. Marlo has a cold and isn't napping well. I fed her and Hayden this morning, then dropped him off at preschool. I put her down for her usual 9 am nap, and she fell fast asleep...only to wake up at 9:25. Ugh. I figured I'd make the best of it, so I wrestled her into her snowsuit and we braved the 10 degree day to go to Target. I carried her (all 16 lbs) in my front carrier through Target. When we got home she was fussy, so I tried to put her down again while I carried in bags, but she was so fussy I had to nurse her to sleep. This is rare. Normally I sing the ABCs and stash her in her crib and she's out. 30 second bedtime routine. Brilliant. Anyhow, this time she really stretched out that nap to 3o minutes. I got half my lunch eaten. So we went to get Hayden from school and of course that took a good half an hour by the time I got him in coat, mittens, and hat, and grabbed his boots since we are due for some snow. Of course the kid is enormous so his boots are huge and heavy and it seemed to take forever to get everyone back out to the car. Marlo went down for nap #3 (she's still on 3 naps) and this time slept for an hour, but I spent the whole time on my feet fixing dinner.

Now, she's asleep (7 pm bedtime), Ben is playing with Hayden, and I can give the old feet a break. What a day! Somehow I managed to wrap a present with Hayden, box up old toys for donation, put away laundry, unload the dishwasher, and clean up the downstairs. I probably did half of it with a baby on my hip. It's a bit of a blur. Rough, long, tiring day--but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Although I fully admit that when Ben came home I passed him the baby, locked him, the kids, and the dogs out of the kitchen, and sat down at the booth to read. By myself.

Welcome

I've created this blog to A) be trendy, B) offer some sort of chronicle of something or other, C) join the "momoir" movement, and D) continue to write even though I'm a grad school drop-out.


I hope you all enjoy it and comment often. Also, if you have suggestions for good books to read, list those too. I always end up staring blankly at the stacks when I go to the library.


I'm not sure how I feel about blogs. They feel a little egocentric. It feels weird to post stuff on the internet for the whole world to see.


Here's our cast--Me, Hayden (AKA Thunderfoot), Ben and Marlo (AKA Monkey)



There's a dog in the cast too, but I'm too lazy to add his picture right now.



Today we're off to TF's holiday party at preschool. Should be interesting. Teachers told me the kids are beyond squirrelly, and if you combine Santa with sweets and hyper preschoolers...well, there might be some swears from the less tolerant attendees. My kid appears to be scared of Santa. He initially said he didn't want to go until I promised him he did not have to sit on Santa's lap. Bringing the list would suffice. Of course, then he had all sorts of difficult questions: How does Santa get here from the North Pole? How does he carry all those presents? How does he make the night so long so that he can go to all the houses in the world? Does Santa live forever? How does he "know when we are sleeping"? And so on.

Curiouser and curiouser.