Birthday & Biscotti

Yesterday was my birthday.  Denis and the girls got me a lovely mother’s necklace, and we went out to the local hibachi place for dinner with my family.  The girls gave me the best present ever by behaving like angels at the restaurant.  Anna was initially horrified by the giant flames, until she saw the enormous pile of rice the chef was going to cook…then she got really, really excited!  Carolyn was duly impressed by the egg tricks.

Today Carrie and I went to Dan & Genevra’s new house to make biscotti.  They are way, way tastier than store-bought biscotti!  Carrie loves to help cook and bake!

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Seventeen Months Old!

Dear Anna,

Today you are seventeen months old.  Another month before you are officially one and a half!  You’ve gained one of your top molars to bring your total number of teeth to nine, and you’re just on the verge of outgrowing a lot of your 12-18 month clothes.

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What else is new this month?  You have a lot of new words and a lot of new signs.  Your favorite words to say are “belly”, “Molly”, “star” and “‘nack!” (you use this one a lot to get snacks).  Other fun new words are “plate”, “fork” and “Nee-Nee”, your best friend Nikki.  I think we’ve been out shopping with Nikki and her mom just a little too often, because pretty much whenever we get in the car to go anywhere, you start asking for “Nee-Nee”!

You’ve learned how to climb up on the chairs and couches, and I swear you’re going to give me a head full of gray hair by Christmas.  Because once you climb up on those chairs and couches, you stand and walk around on them without a care in the world.

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When you’re not playing Danger-baby, you have a lot of fun playing with your baby doll.  You really, really love babies – dolls, pictures of babies, babies you see in the mall – you’re obsessed with babies!  You’re also still obsessed with books.  First thing in the morning, before Daddy leaves for work, he walks into your room to say goodbye, and you ask him for a book.  That occupies you long enough for me to get dressed and start getting your sister ready for school.  And once your sister gets on the bus, you get your daily episode (or two, if I’m under-caffeinated) of Signing Time.

You are exhausting to parent lately, with your constant need to climb and explore.  Luckily, you still go to sleep really easily and sleep all night.  You’ve chosen a couple of loveys finally – a pink plush “my first doll” and a small baby Minnie Mouse.  Oh, and “Billy”, your small taggie square.  (I think maybe “Billy” is a combination of “blanket” and “pillow”?)  Now I just have to somehow manage to get myself to bed at a reasonable hour so I’ll be able to keep up with your danger baby antics!

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Love, Mommy

Ugh. Snow.

OK, I’m right up there with Anna’s feelings on snow.  Yep.  It’s cold.  And wet.  And the boots I bought Carrie last week don’t fit right.  (Side note: she has the skinniest little legs of any child I know, and I can’t zip the things up over tights, let alone socks or leggings – who on earth are these made for?!?)  So I was very unprepared and unhappy to wake up to sleet hitting the window.

Slushy, wet, heavy snow everywhere, and a five year old in mary-jane style sneakers.  Great combo, that.

At least Anna has hand-me-down boots and a winter coat that fit, so she’s stylin’ in the snow she’s not so sure she likes that much!  (It would probably help if I could convince her to leave the mittens on her hands before touching that cold white wet stuff.)

Welcome Home

I came home from work tonight to candles in the windows.  It’s been on my mile-long to-do list for a while now, to put those up, but it hasn’t managed to percolate to the top yet.  I do so love seeing those in houses this time of year.  I was so shocked to see them there that I almost drove right past our house!

What a sweet surprise my family gave me tonight!

Breakfast with Santa

We went to church this morning, and then to the pancake breakfast with Santa after.

This Santa was slightly less intimidating to Anna, although that might have been because this time I sat down with her.

"If I don't look at him, he doesn't exist."
"If I don't look at him, he doesn't exist."

Carrie was so excited to get to see Santa again that she sat on his lap twice – once before and once after breakfast.  You know, just to make sure he got her order wish list straight and all.

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Santa Visit

I took the girls to see Santa today.  Luckily, Denis met us at the mall after work and we all went together.  Yep, that was pretty lucky.  Because while Carrie was more than happy to climb right up on that red velvet-covered knee:

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Anna wanted absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Claus.

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That’s right.  Not even with Daddy sporting his festive Mets hat sitting with them.

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Nope.  No Santa for Anna this year.

Luckily, Carrie was happy to pass along that Anna really wants a doll for Christmas this year.  And I don’t think Santa takes it personally when babies scream at the sight of him.  At least, I hope not!

Spinach is not Fun.

Carrie and I had a conversation tonight about what she might like for Christmas.  I know she’s planning to ask Santa for pink ice skates and roller skates with “training wheels”.  (I hope Santa knows what she’s talking about, because I sure don’t!)  But I thought she might have some other ideas for other people (namely me) who might like to buy her a Christmas gift.

me: So, Carolyn, what else do you want for Christmas besides ice skates and roller skates with training wheels?
Carrie: PONIES!  And also, a Barbie named “Alexa”, or a book about a Barbie named “Alexa”.  And a sun that babies can’t play with.
me: A sun?  Like a model of the solar system?
Carrie: No, a yellow ball.  That’s really hot.
me: Have you ever seen a toy like that anywhere?  What does it look like?
Carrie: You could take lots of little pieces of yellow paper and make them into a ball and then somehow make it be hot.  Maybe by making it be on fire!
me: But then the ball would burn up, if it was made from paper.
Carrie: Well, maybe instead you could make me some yellow cookies.  With points!
me: Um.  OK, then.  Is there anything *else* you might like for Christmas?
Carrie: I don’t know.  I’d really be happy with anything I got for Christmas!
me: Well, that’s easy.  I’ll get you some spinach!
Carrie: No, not spinach!
me: How about dirt?
Carrie: No, Mommy, that’s silly!
me: Underwear??

And it got even sillier from there.  She finally suggested that maybe we should stick to toys.  Or books, or art supplies.  Basically, anything that’s fun.

I guess spinach is not fun.

Snow!

There was a smattering of snow on the ground when we went out to wait for the bus this morning.  Carrie was thrilled, running through the front yard in her sneakers (remind me to buy her some new boots soon!) and picking up the very packable snow to throw everywhere.

Anna’s not so sure about this cold, wet, white stuff.  It’s cold.  And wet.  And did we mention cold??