Connecticut Christmas

The snow arrived one day late, but we still had a memorable Christmas celebration in Connecticut. We visited real live reindeer, met horses, made a gingerbread house, took in a spectacular holiday light show courtesy of Paul Tudor Jones, visited Great-Grammy Krause, and had general fun times with Cousin Sophie and Aunt Jen, Uncle Derek, Aunt Melissa, Uncle Greg, Grammy and Grandaddy and more dogs than we could count.

Christmas morning was a real treat; Patrick loved his new Spiderman bike, Woody and Buzz, and many dinosaur toys. Sophie loves her new easel and butterfly wings, and Madeline loved the excitement in general, and also her new cradle and laying her baby down for "night night."

Donald and I got our present Christmas Eve, when Patrick whispered to Donald "I want to be with you forever," and asked me "Can you be my wife?" This was somewhat tempered on Christmas Day, when we heard him inviting his new Buzz Lightyear to come live with him forever as they both settled down for nap.

Haul Out the Holly

"Is it Christmas yet?" Patrick asked us all month. "How many more minutes?" We marked the time with sweet holiday activities like searching for our elf on the shelf Leon, decorating the tree, attending the Christmas Parade in Old Town, and doing holiday crafts. Our tiny dancer Madeline enjoyed swaying and bopping to the sounds of the season and was thrilled when Donald arrived home with a twinkly lighted snowman for the front porch. We turned him to face in so she can stand on the couch and wave out the window at him.
We capped it all off with Patrick's epic performance in the Abracadabra holiday pageant. This year Patrick's class was assigned to be trees and donkeys. Patrick however decided he was a horse, and the unflappable Ms. Nathalie said "just go with it." So five donkeys a very cranky horse, and it turned out, Donald, sat in the front of the church and hee-hawed on cue. We went immediately from church to the CVS minute clinic and diagnosed our horsey's crankiness: double ear infection. Antibiotics in hand, we turned our attention once again to final preparations and counting the minutes until Santa's highly anticipated arrival.

A Visit To St. Nick

Santa Claus listened intently as Patrick explained the precise dimensions of the "big huge" Transformer he wants for Christmas last week at the Christmas tea party. Madeline was fascinated, but was completely happy to observe Santa from the safety of my lap.

A Cornucopia of Thanksgiving Gratitude

In honor of Thanksgiving, we've gathered a little basket of recent gems:

"I like this potty Mommy. It's holding all of my pee really well."

Madeline's foot-stomping, hand-clapping, delighted squeals of welcome when Donald came home from work a few nights ago.

Patrick's attachment to a mini tube of lip balm that a local dentist handed out to the kids at school: "I need to put on my lipstick Mommy."

Madeline's eagerly anticipated morning routine of going into Patrick's room to wake up her brother. Every morning he hides under the covers, and every morning Madeline thinks that "looking" for him as she crawls around on the comforter is the most fun thing she's ever done.

Patrick's enthusiastic help making mashed potatoes for his school Thanksgiving feast, and the sight of 37 hungry preschoolers sweeping clean a buffet like a plague of locusts.

Cousin Colton's refrain of "Patrick, Patrick, Patrick" and the sight of all three cousins bouncing for joy in the moon bounce set up in Gran T's basement.

Madeline's Thanksgiving weekend appetite, which included two bowls of butternut squash soup, chicken marsala, and a giant helping of gumbo, which she was so eager to eat that she grabbed spoon and bowl out of my hands and started shoveling it in herself.

Patrick's new respect for Santa Claus, who Donald has brilliantly programmed into his phone, with photo. "Is Daddy really going to call him Mommy?" "I don't want Daddy to call him."

"I like having a baby, Mommy. How do we get a lot of family?"

We are thankful, every day, for our many blessings.

Patrick Draws a "Guy"

We were all coloring on a cardboard box the other morning (Madeline likes to use both hands a la Jackson Pollack) when I looked over and saw that Patrick had forsaken his usual enthusiastic scribbles and had drawn an actual thing—a person. He's since repeated the feat several times, and even managed a rudimentary "P" as signature on the bottom. Now I know how proud Mrs. da Vinci must have been when she first saw the Mona Lisa.

Twelve Month Checkup

Madeline was entirely too wiggly to get any kind of accurate reading on height or weight, but has been declared to "look fine" by Dr. Parke. She has some words, including "bye bye" "ba-da" (brother) "up" "hot" and "Mama" and "Dada," and can use grunts and yowls to get exactly what she wants. She knows to go into the bathroom for bathtime, nods eagerly and squeals when we ask if she wants milk, and claps for joy when we bring cheese out of the refrigerator. Mealtimes have gotten more interesting in the past few weeks as Patrick has decided he must sit as close to Madeline as humanly possible, eat the same thing she's eating, and use the same color spoon or fork as his sis. The two pick food off of each other's trays and laugh their heads off when one or the other does something naughty.

Birthday Girl

Three hundred and sixty five days ago a sweet ray of sunshine came into our lives, and we were so happy to bounce on Friday—and all weekend—in celebration of Madeline's big day. At one point on Friday I think every kid at the play group was inside the bounce house, and all seemed to be having a wonderful time. We were certainly having a wonderful time watching them. On Saturday Cousin Soph, dressed as a beautiful princess mermaid, joined us for a slightly lower-key family celebration and lots more bouncing with Colton, who spent the weekend looking for, talking about, and playing with balls. Clearly he and Patrick are related! Madeline seemed to enjoy it all, especially the moon bounce slide, the chicken gratin casserole, and the chocolate cake, which she ate with a spoon and was very reluctant to relinquish. It was a special weekend and we were grateful that Gran T, Aunt Whitney, Cousin Colton, and Grammy and Grandaddy Krause were able to share in the celebration.

Baby "Dah"

I'd been staring at the blank line under "favorite toy" in Madeline's baby book nervously for a while this summer. She didn't seem to have a favorite, unless you counted whatever Patrick was playing with, or her brother himself. In the past few weeks though she's really taken to the tricycle (much to Patrick's dismay) and anything that makes noise, like the little Thomas train that plays a song or a mini See-n-Say on a keychain that she carries all over the house. But her favorite toy by far is her baby doll, "dah," which she hugs tightly and "kisses" with a little clicking noise.

Bedtime Buds

Following a rousing game of "bye bye" with the bathroom door the other night, Madeline and Patrick both settled into her chair for reading and a sweet snuggle.

Halloween Fun

Halloween weekend began on Friday afternoon with the much-anticipated parade and cookout at Abra. Spiderman did a great job parading around the playground, and he found some partners in fighting crime: Spider Woman, Batman, and the always reliable Baby Spiderman. On Sunday Patrick pounded the pavement in his brand-new pair of Spider Man light-up sneakers. We hit a few houses in the the neighborhood and smiled as our superhero shyly said "trick or treat" (and thank you) to get his candy. Baby Spiderman happily cruised the streets on her trike, enthusiastically waving to everyone who passed. She and I came home early and spent a nice evening on the porch playing with the candy and pointing to our jack-o-lantern and then the one across the street and squealing. Patrick made a good candy haul, which we all examined and admired on the front porch when he and Donald got home.