Cozi had its annual holiday party tonight at the home of Robbie and Bonnie Cape. A surprise snowstorm in the early afternoon had us wondering if everyone would be able to make it, but the snow had turned to rain by the time of the party. With all the spouses and so on, it was a pretty good-sized crowd!
Jan turned 40 today! Angela arranged a great birthday celebration at Rover’s in Madison Valley. About twenty long-time friends attended, and it was great to enjoy an evening of fantastic food with all of them.
Liya (to Jan): “Okay, what do you think is worse: a birthday party, or dying? … I think dying is worse.”
Yesterday the girls experimented with more Matchbox cars-taped-to-the-feet roller skates.
Today we got a Christmas tree at the Christmas tree farm. We put it on top of our car to drive home.
(Anya’s first entry in our family journal!)
Klahiamsix Tillicum. Anya’s kindergarten class had a big potlatch event this morning. Anya and a classmate opened the event with this greeting: “Klahiamsix Tillicum. Welcome to our potlatch in the moon of winter.” All the kids wore Native American-style masks and vests they had made. They sang songs, played games, performed dances, and showed artwork.
Our day of school programs continued this evening with Liya’s preschool holiday program. She and a classmate opened the program with this greeting: “We’re glad that you could make it and we’re tickled you are here. It’s Christmas all around and it’s the BEST time of year!” She did quite well and everyone applauded. Including Liya.
Her class also sang two of the songs in the program: “Tell Everyone” and “Walking to Bethlehem”.
Sabriya’s first real food: a tiny breadcrumb of cornbread at dinner last night. Angela was holding Bree and looking at the cornbread detritus on the table. She slipped a little crumb into Bree’s mouth, who didn’t seem to mind. This brings the total list of things Sabriya has ever ingested orally to: breast milk, formula, infant Tylenol, and a crumb of cornbread.
We took Anya and Liya to see the Nutcracker today. Liya lasted until about halfway through the second act, then Jan had to take her to the lobby. He watched the ballet on a TV in the lobby, joined by a handful of other parents of recalcitrant children.
Our friend Satoru is passing through Seattle this weekend on his way to Japan. He was flying on standby yesterday, but the flight was full, so he spent another night with us. Since today’s flight was expected to be full as well, he elected to relax and spend Sunday with us and try again tomorrow.
Anya and Jan like to play “The Animal Game” at bathtime while Anya is soaping up. In the game, they each try to think of body parts an animal would have to wash that people don’t have. (The parts don’t all have to come from the same animal.) The game goes like this:
Anya: “Do I need to wash my shell?”
Jan: “No, but you need to wash your antlers.”
Anya: “Do I need to wash my thorax?”
Jan: “No, but you need to wash your flippers.”
Anya: “Do I need to wash my hood?” (like a cobra’s hood)
Jan: “No, but you need to wash your pouch.”
Anya: “Do I need to wash my forked tongue?”
Jan: “No, but you need to wash your hump.”
etc., etc.
Another perfect 10 parental moment. This morning Jan & I got up late. 40 minutes late. We had 25 minutes to have ourselves & Anya out of the house, dressed & fed! We sprung out of bed. Jan raced to Anya’s room–but she wasn’t there. Angela, noticing the girls’ bathroom light on, went there. Anya was dressed, with her hair brushed & styled, getting ready to brush her teeth. Then she went downstairs, set the table, and made Eggos for everyone. YES!
Heard Today. Liya singing to Bree, who is sitting in her carseat while we eat breakfast: “Bree you are so smart,
You are so smart
You are the smartest baby I’ve ever seen” Ahh, the brief moments when we as parents think, “Wahoo! I’m doing something right!”
Jessie’s last day. :( We had a nice farewell lunch at Boka.
Sabriya’s baptism. Grandma was there, as was Uncle Chris (who arrived from San Francisco last night). Pastor Sherri at Mercer Island Presbyterian Church led a very nice service. It was the fourth sunday in Advent, so the service was nice overall as well. Everyone liked the handbell choir playing, “Little Drummer Boy”.
Sabriya joined us at the dinner table in a high chair for the first time this evening. She smiled at a lot, and was delighted by the antics of her older sisters as they tried to entertain her.
We’ve been reduced to hiding office supplies. Jan needed to wrap some Christmas presents this evening, and couldn’t find any tape in any of the usual places the tape tends to end up. This wasn’t a big surprise: Anya and Liya love to play with tape. Jan wasn’t looking forward to a late evening run to the market. Thankfully, Angela told him about her super-secret stash of tape refills.
Merry Christmas! Skye, Jared, Chris, and Mom came over last night to celebrate Christmas with us. Everyone packed into the house: Skye and Jared in the downstairs bedroom, Sabriya in our room, Mom in Sabriya’s room, and Chris in Anya and Liya’s room. In the afternoon of Christmas Eve, we went to MIPC for the Christmas Pageant—Bree played the role of baby Jesus (although she only lasted about five minutes). We had a simple Christmas eve meal and opened stockings. Christmas morning we opened the rest of the presents. The highlight gift was probably a set of kids’ handbells from Mom to the girls. We tried to play “Silent Night” on it, a bit challenging in a single octave in C, but Mom eventually worked it out, and the bells sounded great. For Christmas dinner we had cheese fondue (equally palatable to the vegetarians and the omnivores present) followed by chocolate fondue for dessert.
Insights only a parent of a young child could make. Today, after one of our daughters SPRINTED for the bathroom (but unfortunately didn’t make it), Angela observed that one should take care of business much earlier than right when one is going to explode. When things are feeling a little full, or before then, so that things don’t get too, um, messy. And with holidays being such an emotionally charged time, Angela realized that this particular lesson holds true for much more than just potty training. Not to mention how, like potty training, this lesson takes a lot of practice before we’ve mastered it.