Corduroy's Christmas Surprise has been found! It was apparently still in my backpack from our last airplane trip. This is what I get for not unpacking all the way in between trips.
You may all now return to the rest of your day.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Advent
Advent is a big hit in our house. Nicholas will repeat back that we are waiting for Christmas, but he doesn't really get that part. What he gets is that we get to light a candle every night at dinner and sing a special Advent song. Oh, man, has that kid latched onto the Advent song. How long do you think until he knows all the words?
Tonight was the second night of Advent candles and Nicholas has spent a good 10-15 minutes at each dinner giving a long soliloquy about how he can't blow a candle away but he can blow the fire away, and other such very informative insights into the nature of candles. I don't think it is a coincidence that he hasn't been eating much dinner. I mean, really, who has time to eat when you have to opine on the nature of candles?
Just wait until Thursday when we break out the Advent calendar and he gets to add opening a flap and chocolate to the Advent routine! Toddler heaven.
Tonight was the second night of Advent candles and Nicholas has spent a good 10-15 minutes at each dinner giving a long soliloquy about how he can't blow a candle away but he can blow the fire away, and other such very informative insights into the nature of candles. I don't think it is a coincidence that he hasn't been eating much dinner. I mean, really, who has time to eat when you have to opine on the nature of candles?
Just wait until Thursday when we break out the Advent calendar and he gets to add opening a flap and chocolate to the Advent routine! Toddler heaven.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Lost in the Mess
Our house is a mess. I know this. I figure that I get a break this semester. After all, if I'm working 50+ hours a week and single parenting, the fact that I pack our lunches every day, we eat out only once every 2 weeks, I do the dishes every day, I do the laundry each week, and there is no food or other actually gross mess around is enough. And clutter is just going to be a part of our life.
These arguments were all pretty convincing to me. Until this weekend. When I discovered that I can't find anything in this mess! I was certain Corduroy's Christmas Surprise was in the black diaper bag. Certain. But when we went to pull it out in NY, it wasn't there. I was annoyed but figured we'd get home and I'd see it sitting on the floor right next to where the bag had been, removed by a little helper. Nope. And I've searched the house. It is nowhere to be found.
It isn't really about the book. I did a quick search and I can get copies on Amazon starting at a penny. But we have the book. Somewhere. It has to be in this house. Or in the car. How can I be that person whose house is so cluttered that I can't find a book?
I also spent half an hour last night looking for matches to light the Advent candles, only to eventually give up and go buy a lighter. That I blame on the move, however.
I also spent 20 minutes last night searching for the mug Joe got as a groomsman's gift from Brian and Shayna last month that I didn't remember unpacking and was worried was sitting in the bottom of a bag waiting to be smashed. It turns out I actually did unpack it and put it in the last place I thought to check--the hutch with all the nice glasses. Exactly where it belongs.
So I'm hoping Corduroy shows up on Nicholas' bookshelf and I was just blind to it the 4 times I checked. Not because I don't want to spend the penny to replace it. But because I'm starting to doubt my sanity.
We have got to get this house cleaned up!
These arguments were all pretty convincing to me. Until this weekend. When I discovered that I can't find anything in this mess! I was certain Corduroy's Christmas Surprise was in the black diaper bag. Certain. But when we went to pull it out in NY, it wasn't there. I was annoyed but figured we'd get home and I'd see it sitting on the floor right next to where the bag had been, removed by a little helper. Nope. And I've searched the house. It is nowhere to be found.
It isn't really about the book. I did a quick search and I can get copies on Amazon starting at a penny. But we have the book. Somewhere. It has to be in this house. Or in the car. How can I be that person whose house is so cluttered that I can't find a book?
I also spent half an hour last night looking for matches to light the Advent candles, only to eventually give up and go buy a lighter. That I blame on the move, however.
I also spent 20 minutes last night searching for the mug Joe got as a groomsman's gift from Brian and Shayna last month that I didn't remember unpacking and was worried was sitting in the bottom of a bag waiting to be smashed. It turns out I actually did unpack it and put it in the last place I thought to check--the hutch with all the nice glasses. Exactly where it belongs.
So I'm hoping Corduroy shows up on Nicholas' bookshelf and I was just blind to it the 4 times I checked. Not because I don't want to spend the penny to replace it. But because I'm starting to doubt my sanity.
We have got to get this house cleaned up!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Christmas Decorating, Day 1
Grandma Alice loves Christmas. I mean loves Christmas. And Nicholas has been begging to "make a Christmas tree" and see a gingerbread house since he became obsessed with Corduroy's Christmas Surprise back in early fall. So Joe asked his mom if there would be any Christmas decorating that Nicholas could help with over Thanksgiving weekend.
And oh boy was there. Most of Grandma Alice's normal Christmas decorations are way too fragile for a pint-sized helper. But Grandma Alice got Nicholas some very special Nicholas-sized decorations to work on.
Nicholas' first surprise was a 4-ft tree set up for him in the basement. Grandma and an uncle or two set up the tree and got the lights on before bringing Nicholas down. And his face just lit up when he saw it!
He then went right to work, putting on every single ornament that had been laid out.
He then asked about the box of candy canes that were there. And all it took was someone saying they could be hung on the tree too and he was on a mission.
He did all of this by himself (okay, except the bow on top):
Just as the adults had decided that this looked good and maybe we should just skip the garland, Nicholas saw it. And there was no going back. His first attempt to do it himself was, while hilarious, not very productive. So Aunt Melinda helped him and they got it wrapped around the tree nicely.
The tree looked just as pretty when we left this morning, although not the same. Nicholas has rearranged the ornaments and candy canes (especially the candy canes) at least a half dozen times in the past 3 days. But he does it carefully and methodically and enjoys it, so why not? Given this, however, this year we might want to just skip any breakable ornaments on our tree so he is free to re-decorate at will.
After decorating the tree there were still more fun Christmas surprises in store for our very lucky little boy.
A real gingerbread house!
Grandma Alice bought a gingerbread kit and Aunt Melinda took on the bulk of the work of helping Nicholas decorate it.
I cut out the fondant for the windows and doors to the right size and we pointed to the general area where they should go (which was also designated by lines on the gingerbread), but Nicholas put them on. He also picked the pieces of candy he wanted and put them on after Melinda dotted frosting on the backs.
Nicholas did discover pretty early on that the "glue" was yummy frosting and so was intentionally wiping it off the candy pieces and liking his fingers. Sneaky.
We had to re-glue some of them.
The grownups put the house together and Melinda and I did the piping for the roof lines, but Nicholas did the bulk of the gumdrops.
Putting them on the roofline was my idea, but he carefully placed them all neatly in the line. (Watch the video below to see the excitement.)
It is so fun watching him do projects, now that he is old enough to really get them and enjoy them. And he is such a careful and mellow 2-year-old that it is feasible to let him.
Nicholas loves looking at the gingerbread house, but he has also asked to eat it a couple times. Technically it is edible, but I'm not so sure I'd want to eat it. Maybe we'll make some gingerbread cookies to eat closer to Christmas instead.
We'll be back again in 2 weeks for the extended family Christmas party, so Nicholas can see "his" tree and gingerbread house again soon. We also left the other Christmas-themed goodies that Grandma bought there, to be rediscovered on our next visit. I don't think I need to pack any toys. :)
And, best of all, as we read our knock-off Corduroy's Christmas Surprise last night (I couldn't find the real book in his bag even though I was certain it was packed, so I made him one), he stopped when we got to the part about decorating the tree and exclaimed, "Corduroy decorated a tree like I decorated a tree!" And, if possible, even more excitedly proclaimed when we reached the next page, "Dolly made a gingerbread house like I made a gingerbread house! That was so much fun!"
The next month is going to be one new exciting thing after another for him. He's working on a bunch of Christmas songs, trying really hard to learn the exclamations in Rudolph and figuring out what each of the songs on our Christmas CDs "is about." Currently he likes Frosty because it is about a snowman and we built a snowman, Rudolph because he loves the exclamations (especially "ho ho ho" and "yippee"), and "The Little Drummer Boy," because "it is about a little boy like I am a little boy."
2 is simultaneously such an awful age and such a wonderful age. I guess this wonder and joy and excitement is there to balance out the stubbornness and boundary testing. As I have said before, God knew what He was doing when he made little kids cute.
And oh boy was there. Most of Grandma Alice's normal Christmas decorations are way too fragile for a pint-sized helper. But Grandma Alice got Nicholas some very special Nicholas-sized decorations to work on.
Nicholas' first surprise was a 4-ft tree set up for him in the basement. Grandma and an uncle or two set up the tree and got the lights on before bringing Nicholas down. And his face just lit up when he saw it!
 |
| From 2011 November |
He then went right to work, putting on every single ornament that had been laid out.
 |
| From 2011 November |
He then asked about the box of candy canes that were there. And all it took was someone saying they could be hung on the tree too and he was on a mission.
 |
| From 2011 November |
He did all of this by himself (okay, except the bow on top):
 |
| From 2011 November |
Just as the adults had decided that this looked good and maybe we should just skip the garland, Nicholas saw it. And there was no going back. His first attempt to do it himself was, while hilarious, not very productive. So Aunt Melinda helped him and they got it wrapped around the tree nicely.
 |
| From 2011 November |
The tree looked just as pretty when we left this morning, although not the same. Nicholas has rearranged the ornaments and candy canes (especially the candy canes) at least a half dozen times in the past 3 days. But he does it carefully and methodically and enjoys it, so why not? Given this, however, this year we might want to just skip any breakable ornaments on our tree so he is free to re-decorate at will.
After decorating the tree there were still more fun Christmas surprises in store for our very lucky little boy.
A real gingerbread house!
Grandma Alice bought a gingerbread kit and Aunt Melinda took on the bulk of the work of helping Nicholas decorate it.
I cut out the fondant for the windows and doors to the right size and we pointed to the general area where they should go (which was also designated by lines on the gingerbread), but Nicholas put them on. He also picked the pieces of candy he wanted and put them on after Melinda dotted frosting on the backs.
 |
| From 2011 November |
 |
| From 2011 November |
Nicholas did discover pretty early on that the "glue" was yummy frosting and so was intentionally wiping it off the candy pieces and liking his fingers. Sneaky.
 |
| From 2011 November |
We had to re-glue some of them.
The grownups put the house together and Melinda and I did the piping for the roof lines, but Nicholas did the bulk of the gumdrops.
 |
| From 2011 November |
Putting them on the roofline was my idea, but he carefully placed them all neatly in the line. (Watch the video below to see the excitement.)
 |
| From 2011 November |
 |
| From 2011 November |
It is so fun watching him do projects, now that he is old enough to really get them and enjoy them. And he is such a careful and mellow 2-year-old that it is feasible to let him.
Nicholas loves looking at the gingerbread house, but he has also asked to eat it a couple times. Technically it is edible, but I'm not so sure I'd want to eat it. Maybe we'll make some gingerbread cookies to eat closer to Christmas instead.
We'll be back again in 2 weeks for the extended family Christmas party, so Nicholas can see "his" tree and gingerbread house again soon. We also left the other Christmas-themed goodies that Grandma bought there, to be rediscovered on our next visit. I don't think I need to pack any toys. :)
And, best of all, as we read our knock-off Corduroy's Christmas Surprise last night (I couldn't find the real book in his bag even though I was certain it was packed, so I made him one), he stopped when we got to the part about decorating the tree and exclaimed, "Corduroy decorated a tree like I decorated a tree!" And, if possible, even more excitedly proclaimed when we reached the next page, "Dolly made a gingerbread house like I made a gingerbread house! That was so much fun!"
The next month is going to be one new exciting thing after another for him. He's working on a bunch of Christmas songs, trying really hard to learn the exclamations in Rudolph and figuring out what each of the songs on our Christmas CDs "is about." Currently he likes Frosty because it is about a snowman and we built a snowman, Rudolph because he loves the exclamations (especially "ho ho ho" and "yippee"), and "The Little Drummer Boy," because "it is about a little boy like I am a little boy."
2 is simultaneously such an awful age and such a wonderful age. I guess this wonder and joy and excitement is there to balance out the stubbornness and boundary testing. As I have said before, God knew what He was doing when he made little kids cute.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Thanksgiving 2011
We have had a thoroughly enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend in New York. We've been having so much fun, in fact, that I haven't gotten around to posting. And I've also managed to squeeze in a lot of grading and glorious glorious sleep!!!
Per usual, Nicholas' favorite part of the trip has been spending time with everyone. This little boy just absolutely can't get enough of his aunts and uncles and grandparents. This trip people were in and out and we were all together for I think a total of 12 hours, of which we slept for 7. But I realized that this marked the fourth time that we've all been together in the past year, which given how spread out we've all gotten, is really amazing. So I'm thankful we were all together, even if it was not for an extended period.
As usual, Nicholas' uncles taught him some new things. You've already seen the "Dominick the Donkey" video Joe posted. Since then Nicholas has mastered a lot more of the words and learned some dance additions from Uncle Brian.
Uncle Brian also taught Nicholas the "special fist bump," a more advanced version that involves an exploding opening hand after the bump. Nicholas, of course, thinks this is both hilarious and totally awesome.
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| From 2011 November |
In addition to his aunts and uncles and grandparents, Nicholas also got to meet some second cousins who were in from England.
We were extra excited Michelle and James and the kids were in because Declan is our godson and we haven't seen him since his baptism. Three years ago. Yes, we are that awesome as godparents. But it was so great to spend time with them all and made me vow that we have to make it out to England. Don't ask me when or how, but I am determined. Nicholas and Declan share an intense love for Elmo, dinosaurs, and fruit snacks. And Nicholas and Amelia enjoyed playing the piano and making the airplanes fly.
And all three of them absolutely could not get enough of running laps around the living room-kitchen-dining room circuit. After Nicholas and Amelia got bored of the game, Declan and I added in a pit stop for him to get tickles or hugs each time through the living room, making it all the more fun for me. :) Since all the adults were busy catching up as well, however, there aren't many pictures.
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| From 2011 November |
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| From 2011 November |
We did Thanksgiving on Wednesday and so started in on pre-Christmas fun on Thursday. I'll post more on that later in the week. For now, I must sleep. Tomorrow we have to drive home and then re-enter the real world. But for now I'll leave you with some more pictures of family togetherness:
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| From 2011 November |
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| From 2011 November |
Friday, November 25, 2011
Passing the Torch
In my mother's family, "Dominick the Donkey," a 1960 Christmas song performed by Lou Monte, is a classic and a tradition. Nicholas is very excited for the song this year, in part because Daddy thinks it's cool (or so Mommy tells me), in part because it's about an animal, in part because the whole family lights up when he gets excited.
Also, the song is totally awesome.
If you don't believe how excited Nicholas is, take a look at this:
Also, the song is totally awesome.
If you don't believe how excited Nicholas is, take a look at this:
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| From 2011 November |
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Grandma and Uncle Peter
We had a great visit with my mom and brother. It was actually the first time Peter and Nicholas had met, since Peter has been living in China and hasn't been back in the States since a month before Nicholas was born.
My only regret of the visit is that we didn't get a great picture of Peter and Nicholas. Well, at least not in the traditional sense. Peter did capture this on his ipad:
Which is incredibly awesome. We had a really good picture set up at the zoo, but I just couldn't figure out which button to hit on Peter's phone before Nicholas got bored. And so, me being me, I am kicking myself for that missed one because I can see it in my head.
But, yes, I know, pictures are not the most important thing. Nicholas now has another uncle he adores, which is a much bigger deal.
I had to work Friday morning, so the three of them went to the Children's museum, where by all accounts, they had a blast. Nicholas certainly enjoyed trying to make the big bubbles:
And Saturday morning we drove down to Rhode Island to go to the zoo. It was a little on the cold side, but definitely tolerable, and probably the last chance for the zoo until spring.
Nicholas was SO excited! After we had finished going around the whole zoo, he was still exclaiming, "Let's go find some more animals!"
We also spent lots of time just hanging out at home, playing Candyland, building towers, reading books, making enchiladas, and just in general having a good time.
The only problem with having visitors is that they have to leave. I was crying a little after we dropped Peter off at the bus station and Nicholas asked me what was wrong. I said I was just sad because we had to say goodbye to Uncle Peter and it would be a long time before we saw him again. And, sweet Nicholas responded, "Don't be sad, Mommy. I make you happy."
And he does and I don't want him to think he isn't enough, but I do miss having grownups around. I am generally happy with my life and go about day to day fine. But after a couple days of a good visit, I find myself looking around and feeling very lonely and isolated here. In other words, I am happy with my current life as long as I don't have reminders of what I'm missing. And I miss my friends and family.
My only regret of the visit is that we didn't get a great picture of Peter and Nicholas. Well, at least not in the traditional sense. Peter did capture this on his ipad:
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| From peter pics |
Which is incredibly awesome. We had a really good picture set up at the zoo, but I just couldn't figure out which button to hit on Peter's phone before Nicholas got bored. And so, me being me, I am kicking myself for that missed one because I can see it in my head.
But, yes, I know, pictures are not the most important thing. Nicholas now has another uncle he adores, which is a much bigger deal.
I had to work Friday morning, so the three of them went to the Children's museum, where by all accounts, they had a blast. Nicholas certainly enjoyed trying to make the big bubbles:
 |
| From peter pics |
And Saturday morning we drove down to Rhode Island to go to the zoo. It was a little on the cold side, but definitely tolerable, and probably the last chance for the zoo until spring.
 |
| From peter pics |
We also spent lots of time just hanging out at home, playing Candyland, building towers, reading books, making enchiladas, and just in general having a good time.
 |
| From peter pics |
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| From peter pics |
 |
| From peter pics |
The only problem with having visitors is that they have to leave. I was crying a little after we dropped Peter off at the bus station and Nicholas asked me what was wrong. I said I was just sad because we had to say goodbye to Uncle Peter and it would be a long time before we saw him again. And, sweet Nicholas responded, "Don't be sad, Mommy. I make you happy."
And he does and I don't want him to think he isn't enough, but I do miss having grownups around. I am generally happy with my life and go about day to day fine. But after a couple days of a good visit, I find myself looking around and feeling very lonely and isolated here. In other words, I am happy with my current life as long as I don't have reminders of what I'm missing. And I miss my friends and family.
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| From peter pics |
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