O Boy

My Dad and his wife are here for a very short visit.  It’s the first time they’ve met BabyGirl and the first time we’ve seen them since - hmm, maybe July?  JediBoy was very, very excited to see his Pappy.

They brought a nice wooden rocker for BabyGirl’s first birthday (a tradition in our family) and several outfits and other presents from South Africa.  JediBoy got an “unbirthday” package with a Meccano set and a book and notebook from South Africa, but Pappy told him there might be one more thing for him out in the car.

Today they brought it inside (after: playing Legos, where JediBoy accused Pappy of “only building weirdos,” putting on a puppet show, reading books, wrestling, and then playing basketball outside).  JediBoy was beside himself with glee at the “grown-up” present he received:

A Lionel O-Gauge Pennsylvania Flyer set.

My Dad loves model trains and has a big collection and tries to keep a layout set up whenever he can.  JediBoy has always enjoyed playing with running the trains at Pappy’s house, but was never the one “in charge.”  He was so excited to get this set out and put it together and then be in full control of the throttle.

We have yet to figure out how to keep BabyGirl from “exploring” it… or where we might possibly be able to keep it set up year-round.  But Pappy has already suggested that if JediBoy finds himself greatly interested, the matching Pennsylvania passenger cars or track extension packs might be suitable birthday gifts.  But it blows away my tentative plan to put Thomas trains around the tree again!

Goodbye, Captain Kanapa.

JediBoy is standing next to me, chomping gum and reading the Star Wars reader Queen in Disguise.  I sadly realized that because he is reading now, he now correctly pronounces Captain Panaka’s name - instead of endearingly (and enduringly!) mispronouncing it as Kanapa, for two years, despite his dad’s best efforts to emphasize the correct pronunciation.

Goodbye, Captain Kanapa.

Baby Loves Burritos… But Not Santa

A crazy day today.  Another photo shoot, then a stop to meet Santa.  JediBoy did better than in years past, but BabyGirl had the typical one-year-old’s reaction:

Then a whirlwind stop at the grocery store and the adoption store copy shop, and a restless rest of the afternoon spent with books and dolls, balls and blocks, and a little Plaza Sesamo.

PisecoDad had to go to the calling hours for his friend’s son tonight, so when he got home late we all headed out to drown our sorrows in salsa.  It worked, too.  JediBoy got his face painted first.  He asked the girl to make him “Beowulf.”  She furrowed her brow and said, “I can only do what’s on this card.  See, here’s a wolf, okay?”

Then we got our yummy meals.  BabyGirl was very, very fond of her beef, bean, rice & cheese burrito.  And the chips and salsa.  And the chicken from PisecoDad’s burrito.  And a bite of JediBoy’s cookie.  And the balloons, and the dance music, and all the people to wave and coo at.  Have I mentioned this is an action-loving girl?  I didn’t get a straight-on picture of her all night, because she was in constant motion.

I’ve enjoyed some computer time tonight while PisecoDad plays The Amazing Labyrinth with JediBoy and keeps an eye on BabyGirl as she rampages about the living room, de-booking our shelves.

Those Damn Christmas Shoes

I hate those Christmas shoes.

Our choir is singing a version of the pop song.  I know it’s made to be kitschy, Hallmark, tug at the heartstrings and here’s-your-kleenex.  I’m not even a believer of the “now she’s gone to meet Jesus” faith.

But I do have this deep, dark fear of dying and abandoning my kids.

I have a blood condition that causes my blood to clot more than usual, making driving long distances, flying, or being pregnant very risky.  I was terrified the whole time I was pregnant that the condition would cause a clot in the placenta and kill me and the baby.  I was terrified the whole time I was flying to Guatemala that the extra aspirins and compression stockings wouldn’t be enough and I’d die before I met the baby.  I get terrified thinking about it in those dark, lonely, middle-of-the-night hours.

So when the little boy in the song sings “Daddy says there’s not much time…” my heart clutches.  My deepest fear for five and a half years has been leaving my little boy sad and searching like that.

Two more rehearsals and a concert.  It’s not so much longer.  I’m just afraid now that singing the song in the presence of my kids will send me over the edge.

Breathe.  Breathe.

In good news, this was my first no-kids choir rehearsal - they both stayed home with PisecoDad for the first time and everyone survived.

Masiakasaurus and Grendel

Today we’re striking a good balance.  I was up first and so had a little time on the computer to myself.  Then JediBoy joined me and we eagerly read the extreme dinosaur article in the December National Geographic, where he was most fascinated by the teeth of Masiakasaurus.  The essay by John Updike, as well as the cool images of the bizarre dinos, are all available right now on the NGS website.  You can download the images (like the Masiakasaurus below) to use as wallpaper on your computer here.

When BabyGirl woke up, we had a good long cuddle and tickle in bed that included JediBoy trying to teach BabyGirl how to do the movements to “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.”  Then we all trooped down for breakfast, where BabyGirl was trying so hard to sign - she’ll sign more for eat or more, and has an arm-raised spinning sign that meant turn on the ceiling fan but now somehow also means drink.  So JediBoy and I were working with her on eat and drink at breakfast and then sat with her to watch the short BabySigns dvd “I Can Sign: Playtime.”  We hadn’t watched it before, and she was quite delighted with the kids and puppets, but completely baffled when we got to the segment for bubbles - she crawled right out the door of the office, trying to figure out where those bubbles were going.  We did have fun, and JediBoy was very interested in refreshing his signs and teaching her lots, lots more.

The kids played in the living room long enough for me to flip the laundry and clear up a few bits of clutter, and then were hungry again.  We had a light, early lunch and then BabyGirl went down for her nap.  While she was sleeping, JediBoy and I finally had the chance to sit down together with his new graphic novel of Beowulf (the new version by Stefan Petrucha and Kody Chamberlain) and read the whole thing through.  We read the first section, the battle with Grendel, twice, because he was confused about all the characters and settings.  But once we’d done that, he followed the Grendel’s mother sequence and the dragon’s gold sequence quite well, and found the story very exciting.

Gradually, the short morning nap has turned into a long sleep, which may mean this is her only nap for today.  I certainly didn’t expect to read all of Beowulf, fold a load of diapers, get a snack and update my blog, all while BabyGirl slept happily upstairs!  Let’s hope the afternoon stays balanced as well…

Holiday Weekend

We had a fun long weekend with my sister, who bravely took a bus all the way up here on Tuesday (and back today) to meet BabyGirl and share Thanksgiving with us.

Aunt G. and BabyGirl

Now to try and get back in the swing of “real life” - with only a month to go until Christmas.  All of our tentative routines with naps and meals were thrown to the wind this weekend!  JediBoy always seems to have one “decompression day” after company leaves, when he’s a little gritchy and out of sorts - I’ll have to balance that against whatever mood BabyGirl chooses tomorrow.

PisecoDad is coping with the sudden death of the son of a friend from work - he’d been deployed in Iraq, was home on leave and killed in a car accident.

Makes us all the more thankful (come on, I had to say it) for friends and family drawing near.

Uncle J. and BabyGirl

Mama Speaks Giveaway

I don’t often post links or buttons to giveaways, even when I’m told that doing so will earn me “extra chances.”  I figure my luck at random draws is bad enough that extra chances won’t really help anyway!  But today I came across the Mama Speaks giveaway, where they have 6 prize packs for parents and kids of various stages.  You can click on the button above to enter - but only for one pack.  It was seriously hard to choose, because these are not the prizes you’ll find on all the boards and blogs from major companies and magazines.  These are cool, often indie prizes from mostly little, responsible companies.  Go check them out.  I really couldn’t pass it up, and since little miss Baby Girl will ONLY nap in the sling today, here I sit at the computer, weaving back and forth to keep her gently lulled asleep, so I might as well toss together an extra blog entry!

Mister Personality

I don’t know that the snow has brought us peace, but we have managed to have some fun minutes.

JediBoy was dressed in two green playsilks - one as cape and the other as hat.  He was swishing and posing and I made the little fanfare song: dum-da-da-DUUUUM!

He glared at me and said, “Mom, do you remember when we were playing the Lego game with Paula and I told you I DO NOT LIKE THAT NOISE?”

I meekly said, “Gee, sweetie, I thought you meant just during the game.  You were doing such a cool pose, I thought it needed a little music.  Can you tell me why don’t you like it?”

A toss of the head.

“It’s just my personality.”

Let the Snow Bring Peace

We had our first feels-like-snow snowfall last night, bringing an inch or two of powdery snow.  As the snow fell, BabyGirl was restless and wakeful.  We’re not sure if this is a resurgance of her fear and separation or if she wasn’t feeling well - at this age, you can always blame teething.  But I wasn’t much help as my upset stomach kept me up most of the night.  We all feel rotten this morning, but twenty minutes out in the snow helped some.

BabyGirl wasn’t sure what to make of it, but she did enjoy watching the big fluffy flakes fall.

JediBoy was thrilled to have our first playable snow, and made the season’s first itty bitty snowman.

We came back inside to tears over oatmeal, tears over toys, and what I’m desperately hoping is an early nap.  Let the snow bring us peace.

Ornithorhynchus anatinus

Environmental learning!

I was checking my Google Reader one last time before bed, when JediBoy wandered in to say goodnight. He found me reading We’d Rather Be Outside, ogling pictures like these

of foam on the beaches of New South Wales. He asked what they were so I read him a bit about how the foam formed, and then told him it was in Australia. Can we go to Australia? I had him get out his globe and we looked carefully at the US, then Guatemala (so he’d have some frame of reference for distance and travel time), then Australia. He was mightily impressed. I said casually and Australia is where kangaroos, koalas, and platypuses live. His eyes narrowed. What’s a platypus?

We used Google image search to pull up a bunch of pictures, and I tried to describe it as best I could. I also told him, with lots of nostalgia in my voice, of my childhood visit to the Taronga Zoo and our repeated stops by the platypus exhibit until we finally, finally, saw one swim out. He was fascinated by the animal and wanted to know just how big it was and what it ate, so we read several pages until we found specific answers. (About 3 lbs, 20 inches; insects, larvae, shellfish and worms.) And I sang him the Ornithorynchus anatinus song from Mister Rogers.

Then he went to bed.