Christmas

We arrived. We have had Christmas. It was wonderful and exhausting and wonderful.

Highlights:

--Christmas Eve service (at 6:30pm)...Lily calling out during the candlelit Silent Night, "Put it out. I want to go home."

-- Waking up Grandma and Grandpa at 6:30am Christmas morning. Andrew was nicely and quietly wishing them a Merry Christmas. Lily went to her Grandma's side of the bed and said, "He ate the cookies. He drank the milk. He left us presents. Now GET UP!"

-- Lily opening her first present from Santa. Instant tears and break-down. "He didn't get me the princess castle. I don't want this!" Until I hugged her and gently suggested that we give it to a child that didn't get very many presents this year. Suddenly it was, "It's okay that I didn't get the castle. This will be fun."

-- Waking Michael up so he could have the joy of seeing all the presents under the tree. Andrew and Lily were dragging him here there and everywhere, shoving presents in his face and forcing his reaction. He was WAY overwhelmed. Whining and lying on top of boxes in tired defeat. But he rallied after breakfast.

--Andrew getting a live tree. Seriously. Santa is an amazing fellow. Andrew couldn't have been happier. Weirdo.

--Children fighting over the same toys. Children using the most annoying noisy toys ever made. Me kicking myself because I was the one who bought the stupid annoying toys. My MIL and FIL high-fiving each other that they were not to blame.

-- Food. Lots and lots of food. I think Lily at 2 things THE ENTIRE DAY that weren't candy. That's it. Only 2 things in the 13 hours she was awake.

And we're off tomorrow to celebrate my parents' 40th wedding anniversary and party-down with the other side of the family.

Merry Christmas!

I'd get a lot more done...

...if I weren't so busy taking blackmail shots of Mike.

While I'm at it...here are some shots of Lily's holiday show. The video is priceless.

Can you find her?

Go time

It's go time! Time to finally get stuff done for the trip back to Ohio and the gift-giving season ahead. The time that procrastinators round the world wait for. Crunch time. Go time.

So we had a wonderfully full and social weekend. Two group parties where the kids were invited. And they were so incredibly self-sufficient and self-entertaining and the only mishap was when Andrew ran full force into the corner of a glass coffee table. Table was fine and the child was almost fine. Jeff managed to talk to strangers and was also self-sufficient. Lovely days.

But it resulted in us not getting nearly as much done off my "to-do" list. 3 days until we leave...

Jeff still has stuff to do to. I left him in charge of his parents' gifts this year...I do all the rest of the shopping, and I thought the gifts would mean more coming from their own son. Needless to say, Jeff called on Saturday to ask his parents what they would like for Christmas. He has not made it out shopping due to all our social engagements. It looks like they might get a Pittsburgh mug from the turnpike rest area. ;)

Cookies have not been made, presents have not been wrapped, teacher gifts have not been completed. Fish food has not been bought, mail has not been stopped, laundry has not been done.

-sigh- I should really get off the stinkin' computer now.

Merry Christmas!

Taking a turn for the positive

Yesterday afternoon, my kids proved to me that the holidays ARE wonderful and special and magical.

I picked up Andrew from school and we scooted over to the mall to visit Santa. I'm not a big pusher of Santa Claus...not because I don't love the tradition, but because I think it is kind of a weird one to force on kids. "I know I tell you not to talk to strangers, but sit on this oddly dressed, huge, strange, and loud man's lap and smile! You don't know him, but don't worry...he's going to break into our house in a few days while we're sleeping."

Anyway, my policy has always been to talk about the tradition and provide the opportunity to talk and visit with Santa. If they show up and don't want to talk to him, no worries. We wave from far away and send a safe little letter to let Santa know what we want for presents. Because of this, I have exactly one photo of my kids with Santa. And it is actually only Andrew, because he was 2 and there were no other urchins living in my house.

I was not expecting much, needless to say. Lily walked up already protesting. I did my standard, "Santa just wants to make kids happy. So if talking to him doesn't make you happy, then don't worry!"

Fast forward 2 minutes. Andrew is sitting comfortably on one knee (poor Santa) and Lily hopped right up on his other knee. Michael was less friendly, but agreed to sit on Santa's feet. A picture was taken and much money was exchanged. Then Andrew told Santa what he wanted (a live tree? WTH...his DS game was on the letter...) and then Lily went on and on about this Playmobile Princess castle that she saw in a catalog (which she is not getting, and I am really worried she's never going to forgive Santa...but seriously? That stuff is expensive and she already has 2 other doll houses!?!). Lily was telling Santa every detail, even putting her hands on her cheeks at one point and exclaiming dramatically, "It is so so so beautiful, you wouldn't believe it". Michael blurted out that he wanted Thomas (shit...I didn't get him any of that either. My kids are going to have such a crappy Christmas... ;) )

We all walked away contented and happy with our visit with Santa. We went to a kiosk and picked out our 2010 ornaments. While we waited for them to be personalized, we played in the empty play area. Michael kept pointing at all the decorations of gingerbread men and exclaiming, "Loo! KooKee Boy! KooKee Boy!" This is possibly my favorite word this holiday season. When I announced it was time to leave, Andrew asked, "Mom? Are we going to stop for refreshments?" which sent me into giggles, because, really? What 7 year old asks for mall snacks like that?

It was a delightful afternoon...at the mall...with 3 children and no stroller. If only Jeff could have been there to enjoy them. Instead he got home to 3 overtired kids. Maybe today we'll finally bake cookies so they will be also on a sugar high ;)

To whom it may concern:

Dear Grocery store cashier lady,

I did not want to come to your store in the first place. I am never happy with the customer service at this large grocery chain (that starts with a "G" and ends with an "unardi's") and your selection of products is usually piss poor. Today was no exception, since you were completely out of gallons of milk...of any % milk fat and bananas. Also? There were only two containers of vanilla icing left and only one box of dried milk. And no holiday creamers at all. WTF?

But I came anyway, because my eldest had a student council meeting early this morning, and you are the closest grocery store to his school. So shame on me.

After getting as many items on my list as possible, I was already in a bad mood, because I am going to have to go to another store to get milk. But then there was only one checkout lane open, and the lady was obviously a big coupon shopper. And you couldn't have moved slower. Every item scanned, you had to exclaim about the price she was getting and encouraged her to run back and get more...repeatedly feeding out the receipt to show her exactly what she was saving. My 2 and 4 year old were behaving marvelously, but I knew the clock was ticking. I asked you repeatedly if there was any way another lane could be opened. You smiled and said, "Don't worry, she's just running back to get one more thing."

15 minutes later, I was regretting my decision to stay instead of abandoning the whole shopping cart and trying a different store. My kids had begun fighting and pushing and gnashing their teeth, and you were finally finished with the customer ahead of me.

I anticipated your fighting with me to get a club card. I have a club card, which I don't carry with me because I hate your fucking store. And despite 3 times filling out the sheet, you never have my phone number on file. And you have a crazy-ass policy that you won't scan a store card. I understand this. I am fully aware that I will be missing out on your trumped up club card prices. No, I do not want to fill out a form for yet another card. Can you not hear my children pushing and screaming and tantruming? You've had me waiting in line for 15 full minutes. Just scan my GODDAMN GROCERIES.

I did not appreciate your comment at this moment, "You just can't appreciate how these are the best years. Someday you'll be sad that all this holiday magic is gone. Parents bring on the stress. You should just enjoy these wonderful years as they are."

Yes, I acknowledge that holidays with children are wonderful and fantastic. BUT THIS IS THE EFFING GROCERY STORE AND IT IS NOT FILLED WITH MAGIC AND FAIRY DUST AND UNICORN FARTS. QUIT LECTURING ME AND GET MOVING, ALREADY.

Sincerely,

Won't make this mistake again



Dear Lady in line behind me,

It did not help that you were nodding along and agreeing with the cashier's lecture. I felt ganged up on. Also, please don't ever again lean over and tell a 2 year old, "I guess you don't know that Santa only brings presents to good children and not naughty ones." Next time I WILL kick you in the teeth.

Sincerely,

Should have kicked you in the teeth.

First day

Our speech therapist came today to play with Michael. I am not versed in protocol for these types of home visits. So I tried to stay out of the way, but may or may not have gotten too involved. I wish that they had a pamphlet on the first day that said things like:

Do (or do not?) suggest play items
Do (or do not?) help translate
Do (or do not?) encourage/force your child to participate
Do wait 2 (4,6,8?) weeks before deciding that your child needs a different therapist due to lack of rapport or chemistry.

We'll figure this all out. Michael was NOT into cooperating. He wouldn't look the therapist in the eyes for long enough to watch her say the sounds, and when he was pressed to pronounce something, he would retreat to my lap and curl up like a turtle. Typical shy Mikey behavior. He had no such issues during the eval, but they were just letting him play and talk, and not asking him to DO anything or fix anything.

Now my homework for the week is to write down any one syllable words he successfully adds the ending to. I can't think of a single one. But I know I'll find some, because I'm also supposed to write down any words ending in /p/, /b/, and /m/ that he tries to say, but leaves out the ending. When she told me, I couldn't think of any...and already I have a list going of about 8 (zip, sleep, soup, tub, top, cup, stop, help).

Tonight I have playgroup, and I'm going to grill the speech therapist of the group about what I'm supposed to be doing during these sessions. :) It's good to have friends with skills.

Just a regular Tuesday night

Andrew was trying to make a poem about his favorite Pokemon named Aipom. You know the type where you think of a word for each letter of their name?

A- "Mom? How do you spell 'awesome'?"

M- "M-O-M-M-Y"

A- (starts to write...then pauses). "No, wait. That spells Mommy."

M- "What's the difference?"

A- (looks at me weird). "Mom. Really. Spell awesome. I know it starts with an o or an a or something."

M- "Awesome is spelled M-O-M-M-Y"

A- (sighs disgustingly). "Dad? How do you spell 'awesome'?"


Meanwhile...Lily and Michael are playing cat family and are getting in and out of Shadow's dog kennel. Michael thinks he has total reign over being the cat and is screaming with anger that Lily has taken his spot inside the disgusting dog domain.

I yell over his screams, "Michael! Stop fighting! You have to TAKE TURNS getting into the cage."

Which made Jeff break up laughing.


You know...just a typical Tuesday night.

Beware the Christmas tree

Our tree is up! Hoorah! And I was so excited that I finally don't have a toddler/infant to worry about mouthing the ornaments.

But apparently 2 1/2 is still not old enough to quite quell the temptation to touch each ornament. Michael did fantastic decorating. He was so excited to put them on the tree, talking non-stop about each ornament in his garbly goop. Andrew decided to put all his ornaments on the same side of the tree, so, and I quote, "When people come, they can just stand in one place and learn all about me and what I like." Hmm. Lily raced through it and then went back to playing with the nativity set. That girl is into the story of baby Jesus, or "The Llllllllord." as she says it, drawing out that L like her life depends on it.

Anywho, the tree is up. So if you come to my house, enjoy all the random ornaments, the broken ornaments, the old, falling apart ornaments. Be sure to check the one side where you can apparently learn all you need to know about the 7 year old. But beware. As you approach, you may get a strong whiff of something bad. For our tree doesn't smell like pine or cedar or white spruce.

It smells like dirty diapers.

Because apparently, the small space behind the Christmas tree is the perfect place to hide and poop.



(and it's really funny, because he knocks off ornaments as he tries to wedge himself between the window and the tree, so he calls to me to fix them. And as soon as I put it on the tree, he points away and says, "No. Go. No Mommy. Go." So I give him privacy, he tries to wedge himself a little farther back, another ornament drops...repeat.)

A Perfect Saturday

I couldn't write yesterday, because I was still all aglow from having the most perfect Saturday.

Here's the run down...

We woke up and had a rather leisurely Saturday morning. Watched some taped Christmas shows, read books, drank coffee, etc. Andrew went to his very first basketball practice/game at 11. Michael had woken up long before sunrise, so I fed him lunch at 10:45 and put him down for a nap around 11:15. He fell asleep instantly. While he napped, I addressed half my Christmas cards and wrote little notes on the letters. Once I get my cute holiday stamps, those bad boys are in the mail. Lily sat next to me at the table and drew and begged me to play neighbor and colored and begged and chatted and begged to play neighbor with me. Very pleasant.

Jeff and Andrew got home and quickly scarfed down some lunch. I woke up Michael and we scooted out the door to my friend Alwyn's house. Alwyn has 3 kids very similar ages to ours and all our kids like each other very much. She graciously offered to take my kids for the afternoon so Jeff and I could go on our house date tour. Do you know how crazy good an offer that is. She took on 6 kids in her townhouse for 3-4 hours. At least Mikey had taken a bit of a nap.

Jeff and I left with no one really caring. Even Mikey was perfectly contented with being left behind (in a house full of new-to-him toys!). Our town was founded in 1685, but we didn't get to go through anything nearly that old. We toured 7 homes in our town, most dating from the late 1700s to mid 1800s. It was...fabulous. There are multiple tour guides from the town's historical society inside and outside the homes to tell you the history of the home, the renovations that had been done, the antiques and collectibles inside. It is so wonderful that people are willing to spend so much time and money keeping up these amazing old homes. And then to decorate them beautifully for Christmas and let us tromp through. To top off the wonderfulness, our local high school choir had stationed trios on the porches of many of the homes, so while you were waiting to go inside, you were treated to Christmas carols. And many homes had fresh baked cookies inside. Heavenly.

We finished all the houses we wanted to see and headed back to Alwyn's around 3:30. The kids were playing so nicely, that Alwyn invited us to have a cup of tea. Jeff and Justin chatted, and Alwyn and I chatted and the kids kept playing. Around 5, Alwyn offered to throw some frozen pizza and breaded chicken and broccoli things in the oven. Jeff and Justin ran out to get some wine, and we had an impromptu dinner. The kids were rounded up, they ate dinner, and then ran back to their games. The adults sat at the dining table...alone...and we sipped wine and talked peacefully and intelligently (mostly) the whole time. We had to get up and check on the kids a few times...but...it was nirvana. The four of us kept looking at each other in amazement. We will DEFINITELY be doing this again.

We left at 7:15, much to the dismay of the children. We came home and all 5 of us cuddled under one blanket on the couch and watched Shrek Christmas (our favorite tv special). The kids went to bed easily and the Jeff and I enjoyed peppermint ice cream and The Soup and then we discussed the day. We went to bed in our pre-warmed bed (electric mattress pad is the best invention ever), very tired and very happy.

A Perfect Saturday.

Advent calendar

a.k.a. "Chocolate for breakfast"

We finally found some lcalendars last night. So when we got home, the kids got 3 pieces of chocolate.

This morning, Mikey didn't know to ask for it.

Then Lily woke up. First thing she said was, "Can I open number 4?"

Then Andrew woke up. First thing he said was, "Did Lily have her chocolate yet?"

Then Mikey finally became aware of what was going on. He excitedly opened number 4, and squealed with delight that there was another chocolate inside. He wandered off, gnawing on his treat and marveling that Mommy just gave him candy at 6:15 in the morning.

3 minutes later (give or take), he walks back over to me.

"Now figh?" (now five?)

"No, Mike, you just get to open number 4 today."

"Eigh? Nigh?" (eight? nine?)

"Sorry Mike. Just 4."

"Two? Ten?"

At which point I just started tickling him. Nice try, Mikey. At least you didn't melt into a screaming fit like your sister did when she was this age and wanted to eat them all at once. ;)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In related news, Michael was evaluated for early intervention yesterday. His case manager, a speech therapist, and a teacher came to play with him and listen to him. Turns out he is a very bright boy (which we knew), who is ahead on many of the tests they gave him, but significantly behind in speech (which we also knew). They estimate he's about the level of an average 20 month old (he is 31 months old), due to the fact he has very few 2 syllable words, he drops the ending off of most of his words, and we really need context clues to figure out most of what he says. He should start in about 2 weeks with a speech therapist, who will come to our house for the sessions.

And I can't wait to see him progress. Because just this week, he started calling me "Mommy" instead of "Ma". And it sounds so good to be Mommy. He's too smart to be held back by his lack of articulation.

A Lily Laugh

Lily has been trying to get sent to a boarding school. Or it could be say, she is trying to convince me to go back to work full time. In another state. With no vacation time.

But yesterday she made me laugh so hard and so unexpectedly.

This will only make sense to those of you who have heard the Christmas CD, John Denver and the Muppets.


We listened to the CD in the morning.

In the afternoon, we were reading books out of my Christmas book crate. One of my kids' favorites is this huge board book The Twelve Days of Christmas. I always sing it instead of read it.

When I got to the "8 maids a milking", Lily sang, "Me me me me me me" instead of the words.

Just like Beaker. And totally out of the blue.

I could not finish the book I was laughing so hard.

And of course, Michael wanted to get in on the "making Mommy laugh" thing...so he was "me me me"-ing right along.

Bah humbug

Ugh. I always drop off the November blogging thing the last week. Because of Thanksgiving, live-in guests, and Andrew's birthday...I just don't get to the computer as much. Or too much happens and I just don't want to sort through it and make a coherent post.

This year, I am also battling a case of the Bah-humbugs. It started when Jeff brought down the Christmas stuff from the attic. We never do it until after Andrew's birthday, so Sunday it was. Except we were all exhausted from our New York trip the day before. And Andrew said, "Why bother? We aren't even going to be here for Christmas."

Why bother indeed. He has caught his mother's dreaded "must be home for Christmas" gene. I have ALWAYS wanted to be in my own house for Christmas...even as a child. Interestingly, my older sister always enjoyed the Christmases away. So it is officially a personal problem. ;)

For the record...I know this blog will make my kind mother and mother-in-law feel bad. This is not my intention. It is good for me to write it out so I can see how childish and un-Christmasy I am being.

I have to get over myself. The kids are only into the magic of Christmas for such a short time, I have to embrace this year. I have to let go of the selfish notion that I must be the bearer of Christmas greed, er, joy. Both of our parents are ridiculously generous to our kids at Christmas, which is a wonderful thing. My mother in law literally has a stocking for each of the kids that she fills each year. These things are actually a relief for us financially this year, since things are a little tight. So I am grateful. I am glad. The kids will have a wonderful, magical Christmas. I will enjoy it tremendously once it is here. But it does make me a bit bah-humbug-ish about the prep of Christmas. Since the only thing left for me to do for Christmas are the things I hate...decorating and baking. Blergh.

But onward! Today Andrew is home sick, even though he is not really sick. He came home early yesterday afternoon with a moderately high fever. His fever broke by the evening, and it hasn't come back. But this morning he is complaining of a sore throat and he isn't allowed to go back to school until he's fever free for 24 hours. So we are going to decorate today. I'm determined. It will be FUN, Goddamnit!

I wanted to get a permanent Advent thingy so I can supply the kids with a little treat each day of December. Target's are pieces of junk...junk for $30. When I realized that I couldn't find any in time, I scrambled to find the paper version. None left. We were going to go to a crafty specialty shopping area yesterday after school to look...but then Andrew got sick. No advent calendar. Blergh.

And then we got an e-mail from Andrew's elusive basketball coach. We signed him up months ago and knew the games would start in December. We had heard nothing. I sent e-mails everywhere and was told we would hear soon. We heard this morning...his first game is this Saturday. Right smack in the middle of the house tour Jeff and I were supposed to go on together. Our first date since August. I was so looking forward to it. Now I will scramble to see if our friend can watch them in the afternoon...you know, when Michael is supposed to be napping. Blergh.

Time to crank the Christmas music. Time to crack out the construction paper and make our OWN advent calendars. Time to pull out our Christmas books. Time to watch some Christmas movies. As hard as I fight it, the magic of Christmas will seep into me. I will NOT be Scrooge this year! (and after a certain little cyclical event happens this week, I'll be much more capable of cheer...)