They were so realistic he probably couldn't tell

One of my favorite stories from Christmas at my parents' is this one that Surf was telling.

R received a cookie set from Santa, and one evening she pulled it out. Surf was sitting on the couch, and she handed him a cookie. He put it in his mouth and bit onto it.

At this point R grabbed it from him, wiped it off on her pants leg, and said, "No. It's pretend."

Christmas in Ohio

Whew. Christmas in Ohio was wild this year! Wild, I tell you.

It all started when we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's on the 22nd, a day before M and G and Trucker were scheduled to arrive. Only Geg was already there, so things were fairly quiet when we got there. We were so excited though because we were going to have a full house--my parents, the four of us, Geg, Surf, Cali, Little T, and M, G, and Trucker. We'd only be missing Local Hero and Local Heroine (who spent their holiday in Okinawa) as well as A, who was deployed in Guam. So there were going to be 14 people staying for a week in my parents' 3-bedroom home. My mom had spent weeks figuring out sleeping arrangements as well as a seating chart for their dining table. She had it all down to a science, complete with lists and diagrams when we arrived!

After we got there we spent some time posing for pictures. I love this one.
Grandpa played the piano with R (one of her favorite things to do at my parents' house) and she ran around breaking in all the toys that Grandma has hidden in various nooks and crannies. And, of course, R loved watching Grandpa run the trains while wearing the engineer hat. (My brothers and I absolutely loved those hats when we were kids. There is something about wearing an engineer hat while watching model trains that is absolutely magical.)
On the morning of the 23rd, we got up bright and early to head to the West Side Market and stock up on tons and tons of food. My mom started cooking a huge ham (so that we'd have leftovers aplenty to feed everyone over the next week!)

While M and the boys were supposed to get in sometime on the 23rd, M called and said, unfortunately, she and the boys were going to come on the 24th instead because G had a fever. We were all disappointed to have to wait longer to see them, but we also understood.

Then she called on the morning of the 24th and said they were taking him to urgent care just to rule out strep. As it was, they weren't planning to arrive until dinner time.

Surf, Cali, and Little T's plane was getting in at 4:30 p.m., so we were all psyched up for a huge family reunion for Christmas Eve. Presents were wrapped and showing up under the tree.

Surf, Cali, and Little T finally got in. We had the kids in their Christmas finest. Check out Little T and RUS below.
My mom gets out all the Christmas Eve foods-- an antipasto plate, chips and guacamole, a vegetable tray with an amazing veggie dip, a fruit tray with fruit dip, and other miscellaneous hors d'oeuvres. We're all milling around talking, watching the kids, anticipating M's arrival. Then we get a phone call, and as it turns out, A is on his way to join us for Christmas. We were shocked. But, there were the usual hijinks with his flight and other flights and, well, long story short, his plane wasn't getting in to Dayton until midnight. So he and M and the kids were going to be driving up and getting in really late. (This was, of course, after M and the kids had already been at the airport since 6 p.m.-- poor M!)

We then postponed our usual Christmas Eve family gift exchange until the morning, since it became clear that none of us were going to be able to just stay up and wait for them to arrive.

Oh, and of course, it wouldn't be Christmas Eve without my dad playing German music on the accordion.
So... Christmas Morning was Insane.

We tried to do the gift exchange, and we kind of did, but with five children under the age of three (for those keeping score at home, G was almost 3, R was 2 1/2, Little T was 16 months, Trucker was 11 months, and RUS was 2.5 months old) underfoot, there was no way that any kind of order could be imposed on the proceedings. We usually take turns opening gifts, going from youngest to oldest, and we really get into watching and talking about what everyone gets. Not so much this time. Plus, the kids all needed to eat at different times.

R is the earliest riser, so she gets up at the crack of dawn and eats right away with my parents. So she was okay because she'd already had something like ten bowls of cereal by 7 a.m. but the other kids--Trucker and Little T in particular--really needed to be fed so M and Cali were busy feeding them while others were opening gifts. Then when they sat down, we had to start passing out gifts because otherwise G and R were going to burst from anticipation. They'd already opened their stockings, but they couldn't wait to start opening other gifts.

The gifts got passed out and we just opened them pell-mell. G and R did the whole "first gift that I open is the gift I want to play with immediately and to heck with everything else!" For R that gift was a pink mixer. Perfect for mixing up cookie dough-- her favorite. For G, it was a set of walkie talkies. This was his favorite gift until he opened up a Polar Express remote controlled train set. So. Awesome.

The absolute surprise hit of the Christmas season, however, was a jack-in-the-box that Trucker received. R could not stop playing with it, and the other kids all took turns playing with it. I could not believe how much they all got into it. I mean, seriously? But, yeah. Seriously.

Anyway, for the purposes of this blog post, suffice it to say, after this point, J and I got really really bad at taking pictures. Mostly because we were always so busy with everything going on. Our entire week at my parents' house was packed. So I don't really have much photographic evidence of most of the week.

The day after Christmas we got to spend some time with my grandmother and aunt and uncle and cousins in Wooster, which was awesome. R, Little T, and G spent half their time there jumping out of a stool and pretending to be a jack-in-the-box. Hilarious.

The rest of the week is kind of a blur. My parents' living room looked like a toy store had vomited into it for the rest of the time we were there. R had the time of her life with Grandma and Grandpa, and one of her favorite things -- among many favorites! -- was watching Christmas videos ("Santa Claus is Coming To Town" as well as a compendium of Christmas songs from classic children's TV specials).

As for RUS, his first Christmas was spent laughing and hanging out with Grandma. She could make him laugh and smile like nobody else. He got bunches and bunches of clothes-- thank goodness, since J and I don't have a lot of clothes we can hand-down from R!-- and some great new teething and rattling toys.

Christmas in Delaware

After going to CT, we were back home for a little more than a week before we planned to drive out to Ohio and see my side of the family. We planned our at-home Christmas for just before we left for Ohio, and Santa made a special early trip to our house to drop off our gifts before we left. Here's what he left for R and RUS!

Here's R waking up in the morning and seeing her gifts for the first time. She still wasn't 100% sure what to expect about Christmas even though we'd been talking about both the Bible story and Jesus's birthday as well as the traditions we always do-- like decorating the Christmas tree and singing carols and baking cookies and exchanging gifts.R seemed to like just about everything she got. Here she is pulling things out of her stocking!
Obviously, the play kitchen was her big gift. She also got Candy Land, a LeapFrog Tag reader and a few books to go with it, and some play cookies for the kitchen. And there were the requisite socks, clothing, and other practical items thrown in there.

You can see her new cookies in the play kitchen picture below.
P.S. Oops, no pictures of RUS from his first Delaware Christmas! He slept through the entire thing, and I was holding him while wearing ratty old sweatpants and a t-shirt, so we just didn't think to take some photos! R was more than happy to help him open his gifts!!

She's Growing Up...Way Too Fast!

A conversation at breakfast this morning:

R: I like to read books. With my mommy.

S: You like to read books with your mommy?

R: When I was a little girl, I like to read books with my mommy.

S: Aren't you still a little girl? Don't you still like to read books with your mommy?

R: No! I'm a BIG girl!

What's RUS Wearing?

R, looking at this picture of RUS and J: "What's RUS wearing?"

J, to R: "What is RUS wearing?"

R: "Appawa!"

J and S: "What?"

R: "Appawa!"

J and S, looking at each other: "What is she saying?"

S, to R: "What is that??"

R: "From fa la la la la!"

J and S: "Ohhhhh, apparel!!" (You know--"Don we now our gay apparel")

J: "Her vocabulary is clearly more advanced than ours!"

Potty Training Update: Cool Toys

So Potty Training is only going "okay." Some days are better than others. We're trying the "routine potty interventions throughout the day" so that she gets in the habit of using the potty before and after meals and before and after naps/baths/bedtime. Most of the time she resists our "It's potty time!" exclamations, saying, "No! It's NOT potty time!" but other times she goes along with it just fine. She does sometimes say she needs to use the potty, but this still occurs mostly as a stalling tactic to avoid having to lay down for a nap or for bed.

I was inspired to give this update because of this post on DNA's Digital Diary. R does this too when she needs to wipe after peeing. She pulls on the roll of toilet paper until one of us grabs it to prevent her from unrolling the whole thing. I'm just glad she hasn't taken it as far as walking into another room with it, ha-ha!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2010 everyone! Feels weird to be starting a new decade. I can't decide how I want to pronounce it-- I've been saying two-thousand-ten but that seems longer than twenty-ten. But twenty-ten just doesn't sound right. How are you doing it?

Anyway, the 4 of us had a fairly uneventful New Year's Eve. We continued my family's hallowed tradition of having appetizers for dinner on New Year's Eve. Our menu consisted of

Soy buffalo wings
Vegetable Gyoza and Vegetable Tempura from Trader Joe's
Leftover Chinese food from the night before

and, my family's Christmas Tea Punch, which is a must-have at every significant holiday event between decorating the Christmas tree and New Year's Day.

Our neighbor across the street gave us a bottle of sparkling apple cider, and we were all excited because we were going to open it and have it to toast with. Unfortunately, we totally forgot. And went to bed at 9:30. Geesh.

But Grammie and Grampie showed up on New Year's Day to show us how to really celebrate. We made hats out of lace doilies (each person has a different number on their hat) and Grampie had bought 5 2010 glasses for us to wear. (Hey, it was for charity.)

Christmas in Connecticut

Once again, we celebrated Christmas three times. First with Grammie and Grampie at their house in CT in mid-December. Then, a family Christmas just the 4 of us in DE. Then we traveled to OH for a week to celebrate with Grandma and Grandpa and the extended family.

Here we are in CT!
R loved her gifts from Grammie and Grampie, especially this excellent stacking block set and her customizable monster puppet, which is pure awesomeness and so much fun! Everyone took a turn making a monster (all the different parts--eyes, noses, mouths, arms, facial hairs--fit on the main body with velcro. It totally rocks!)Over the weekend we were there, R also had a lot of fun playing in the snow with Grampie. We arrived just in time for all the roads to be cleared off but snow to still be on the ground. She's really gotten a kick out of snowman-making this year, and "Frosty the Snowman" was clearly the favorite holiday song, competing with "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (yes, she memorized all 12 things) and "Jingle Bells."
The only bummer about the weekend was that both R and RUS were sick with colds-- bad enough that RUS was throwing up from all the phlegm he had in his throat. It also meant we didn't drive up to see the extended CT family because we didn't want to risk any other illness when they were both clearly under the weather already.

Two Towers

After making these two towers, R announced that one was RUS and one was R. Can you guess which is which?

RUS weeks 7-10

Recent Fortunes

S--You are the crispy noodle in the vegetarian salad of life.

J--You will become a philantropist in your later years.

R--He that climbs the tall tree has a right to the fruit.

Our Tree

Decorating the Tree

Every year J and I talk about getting a real tree. And every year we decide against it--because of the cats, because we'll be travelling, because there isn't room, etc. This year was going to be "the year". We were really going to do it! And R was just going to decorate our little tree--the tree we've used since Christmas 2002--for fun.

Things didn't turn out that way, though. The week we were going to go get the tree, both kids were sick with colds. R was sick enough to stay out of daycare for a week, and we'd have only had the tree up for a week before we left to visit Grandma and Grandpa anyway. So we decided it wasn't worth the energy and expense.

But, I'm very pleased to announce that next year is officially "the year" that our tree will be large enough to actually put presents underneath. J's parents are giving us their fake tree. So no matter what, we won't have any excuses next year!

Snowflakes!

One of J's favorite holiday traditions is to make snowflakes out of paper every year when we start decorating for Christmas. This was the first year R was able to really help out. Here she is modelling one of their creations. It's really fun seeing the snowflakes hanging on our kitchen windows.

A is for Alligator . . .

. . . B is for Bee and C is for Cupcake!
We made these letter crafts a few weeks ago-- on several separate afternoons J and I busted out the construction paper, crayons, and glue and helped R make these letter creations. We keep meaning to move on to "D" is for.... something, but with the holidays we've been super-super busy. Maybe we'll find some new colors of paper for the next ones!

For the alligator, R got to glue on the teeth (I helped-- she actually insisted that we alternate turns gluing on teeth. Two guesses which teeth I glued on and which ones she glued on!). For the bee, R glued on wings, 3 legs, 2 antennae, and a stinger, and for the cupcake, R colored in the cupcake and glued on sprinkles. If you need a quick way to entertain your toddler, just come up with something that they can glue on to something else!

Talent Show

Growing up, one of my family's big Christmas traditions was a talent show on Christmas Eve, after church services and before opening family gifts. Usually we played whatever musical instrument we happened to be learning that year, but there were other talents as well--A drew something one year, for example, and often my talent was reading the Christmas story aloud.

Now that my brothers and I are so far-flung, the talent show takes on new forms. This year we've got some pretty impressive talents on display.

Local Hero and his girlfriend, Local Heroine, ran a marathon. Local Hero finished in just under 3.5 hours. Nice!!

A is currently deployed in Guam and he reports that he is the BBQ King of Guam.

So you can see that I've got a couple of tough acts to follow.

But I am proud to announce that I have been working on mastering the art of "Baking With Toddler." I've baked four loaves of applesauce bread, snickerdoodles, two batches of French buttercream cookies, peanut blossoms, two batches of peanut butter chocolate pillows, 6 or so dozen sugar cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, and a failed batch of peanut butter oatmeal cookies (failed because the sugar got left out... long story!).

Things I've learned along the way:
1) Always keep the toddler busy. Let her scoop, scrape, stir, and otherwise get her hands dirty.
1a) Give the toddler her own spoon, bowl, etc. This helps prevent the "helping" from throwing off the precise measurements you need for baking.

2) You cannot stop the toddler from eating whatever is in her bowl, no matter how gross it is.
(At this point, in this picture, I don't think there was anything other than flour and baking soda in her bowl. Didn't stop her from taking numerous fistfuls of the stuff and trying to eat it--thinking, perhaps, that it had magically turned into cookie dough since the last time she took a bite?)

3) Sprinkles are a toddler's best friend!
4) Licking the batter off of a beater can occupy up to 15 minutes! A lifesaver when you are trying to get cookies onto a cookie sheet!

Snow Report

12.5 inches and still snowing.

A Couple of R Funnies

Both said to J a few mornings ago.

****

J is washing his hands at the bathroom sink.
R: Need my stool, Daddy?

****

While eating breakfast in her high chair and talking to J. I am in bed, lingering as long as I can until RUS officially wakes up.
R: You will wake Mommy up.
J: I will wake her up? Why?
R: She will make a surprise face.

A Drive-By Update

This will be a quick blog post, as I only have a few moments to throw this up.

--We had RUS's 2-month appointment yesterday. He is 11 lbs 14.5 oz (50th percentile) and 23.5 inches. He looks to be growing very well. He also has a cold. BOO. The doctor said his breathing sounded good so it was all up in his throat.

--R has also been sick with some coughing but is definitely on the mend. It was just a virus so no antibiotics. We're glad she's getting back to her "usual self".

Evidence that we read her a lot of books

A dinner conversation.

J: "R, would you like some salsa?"

R: "More salsa, said R!"