Christmas '08

It was a success, with lots of great gifts and even better than gifts - time spent with family. Thanks to everyone who gave to our family, thanks for joining us at our home for Christmas Eve and thanks for hosting on Christmas Day. The kids are fully enjoying the new toys and have already broken some of it, which I guess is good because it means they're playing with it lots.

Lick Me

Last night Shelly kept repeating something that sounded like "lick me." I'm pretty sure that's not what she intended to say but I had no idea what she was talking about and so... I licked her. First her leg, then her arm, then her cheek. And then Archer said "Do it to me! Lick me!" So I did. And of course, what's the logical progression of this game? "Mom, can I lick you?" Not wanting to be a hypocrite, I agreed. "Eewww!!!" We spent the next few hours wrestling around on the floor, giving horsey rides, and piling on top of each other in general chaos. It felt so good to just be silly with them and not worry about homework, or chores, or whatever. Thanks for the fun, kids!

All of a Sudden

It seems like overnight Shelly's vocabulary has expanded and she's even talking in short sentances now. Instead of saying "dee dee" for thank you, she actually says "thank you." And the sentance she says that I can hear very clearly in my head when I think about it is "Hit me. Ah da." Ah da is her way of saying Archer. Sometimes he really did something to her and sometimes not. Its getting tougher for me to know what really happened since they each have their own versions of the stories. Yes, Shelly, not even 2 yet, has her own version!

She's such a sweetheart, she lets me kiss and cuddle her (when she's not too busy with something else) and she comes running to the door when I get home from work. Sometimes she even ASKS me to put her in bed so she can go to sleep! Of course, she also has her share of frustration and naughty moments. She gets so upset when we can't understand her. I try very hard to get her to show me or repeat herself but sometimes she can't even cooperate, she's so frustrated. "No!" she shouts and refuses to talk any more. And if I tell her she can't have something or to stop doing something she shouts "baby!" and hits me! Then she gets a time out. She hates this and will apologize immediatley, her time outs never last longer than 5 seconds.

Its so exciting to watch her learning all these big new things every day, talking more and trying to repeat the things we say. Yaay Shelly!

Winter Wonderland

Last night the kids and I ventured out to the driveway to attempt some shovelling. Once the kids got out of the protection of the garage and into the wind things started going downhill pretty quickly. I gave up shovelling and decided to try to entertain them by getting out the sleds. I put Shelly in a sled and the plan was to take her around to the side of the house out of the wind. Archer wanted to pull her. We only got as far as the edge of the driveway before one mitten, two boots and a hat flew out, and the girl bailed, leaning over until she tipped out of the sled and into the slush. And that's how our first sledding adventure of the season ended. I order Archer to retrieve Shelly's boots, mitten and hat and we all went inside for hot chocolate and marshmallows. Or in Shelly's case, marshmallows with a tiny bit of hot chocolate.

Guest Post by Grandpa

Mom and Dad were kind enough to take the kids for a sleepover so David and I could get some Christmas decorating done without help from the little elves. This is what Dad wrote about the weekend.

We didn't have time to talk on the kid-transfer, but I wanted to let you know that Archer and Shelly done you proud. Saturday we went to the craft fair at Whitnall High School. There were hundreds of vendors selling all kinds of baubles, trinkets, candies and other assorted junk; all of it within easy reach of a child. We walked for 30-40 minutes through this mass of people and vendors and the kids just followed peacefully along never once reaching for, or grabbing anything! Archer peacefully was singing jingle bells most of this time. We did buy them a popcorn as a treat for being so good.(which grandma had the sense to get a second bag so they wouldn't argue over who should hold the bag.)

In the evening we went to the Hales Corners tree lighting at 6 p.m. It was freezing outside and the kids hung in there through 2 full songs by the band before Archer (because he had no snow pants) said that he was getting cold. Both Shelly's boots had fallen off, so we went inside where there were quite a few parents and grandparents who had brought their kids in. We had to wait half an hour for the program to move inside, then they sat through another half hour of story time, then they peacefully stood in line to see Santa for another half hour. (We had taken a bell with us and the reader asked Archer to ring his bell when we got to the right spot in the story of The Polar Express) No problems at all. All of this with tables piled with cookies within easy reach. We allowed them one cookie when they were first brought out and they never said another word about getting another one! All that waiting and temptation and they just stood quietly, nice job Mom & Dad.

Archer said this was his first visit with Santa. You should know that he asked for a fire truck. Shelly allowed Grandma to move close to Santa, but she wouldn't go to him, she asked for a dolly. (someone forgot their camera in the scramble to get hats, mittens, coats, boots, etc. all loaded and off to the library, sorry) Archer told me when we got home that he knew that wasn't the real Santa. I asked him if he thinks this Santa will call the real one and tell him what all the kids asked for. He said yes, he thought he would. They were so good we let them have a second cookie on the way out.

I won't go into all our activities here at home but some of the other highlights included landing paper airplanes in the Christmas tree, kung fu panda jumping in piles of pillows, crash bandicoot with boxes in the basement, grandpa giving a ticket to Archer for making the Christmas lights blink too fast and putting tape all over grandpa while grandma was wrapping presents. I woke up with 3 pieces of tape still on my sweatshirt this morning. ummmm.... Life is good. Hope you had a nice weekend, we sure did.

Love
Grandpa

Melodies

Shelly's really started talking a lot within the last month, she makes the sounds and though the words aren't always clear, if you listen for the melody you can understand the meaning. Archer often says "I gotta tell you someting." And Shelly now says the phrase, understood only by those who have heard it a million times from Archer. The song is the same though the sound is slightly different. And then there are words that are so clear there's no denying her meaning. Mine! I do it! I make it! Wait! Up we go... peas. Beebee. (That means baby.) And let's not forget the best one of all - NO!

We saw the miracle of language with Archer and now we get to watch it happening all over again, in her own unique way. Those sweet young voices sound like music and I'll miss them when they're gone, all grown up.

Hibernation

When I got home today I was so exhausted that all I could think about was going to sleep. I think the cold weather and early sunset are putting me into hibernation mode, and I would have gladly curled up in a dark room under a mountain of blankets if it hadn't been for... the kids. Of course I couldn't go hibernate in bed, it was only 5:00! They were waiting for supper, and looking for attention, and wanting to sing songs and play and... So I laid down on the couch thinking I could stay there for a few minutes and at least feel a little refreshed before they were after me for PB&J. Nope. My only hope was caffeine and a prayer. So I opened up a Diet Coke and sent up a prayer, asking for energy and patience and PLEASE LORD give me some energy! And He did. Before I even realized it, I had finished making supper (just mac and cheese) made up a new song (about mac and cheese) and gotten Shelly into the bathtub (to wash off the mac and cheese) while Archer willingly went around clearing the table, picking up toys, cleaning his room, and putting laundry away. The kid who says "NEVER" in response to being told to help with chores, tonight ran around willingly doing everything I told him. The girl who usually takes off the second I take her diaper off, forcing a race around the house to catch the naked baby, tonight laid still and made no complaints as I got her ready for bed.

And now, after feeding the kids and putting them to bed, its time for me to finally go crawl under the blankets and hibernate.

The LORD is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.
~ Lamentations 3:25, NLT