O Christmastide

Last night was OLL's school postponed Christmas program. Though I feared that G wouldn't participate in the preschool portion, I hadn't counted on the halcyon effects of that morning: she went straight to Ms Monika to be outfitted for her angel wings and halo. It must be remembered, however, that G fairly loves Tinkerbell right now, esp after the latest movie, and seeing all the other kids with their getup might have illicited some cooperation from her.

The preschoolers filed in from the vestibule among many smiling faces and flashing cameras, and sang two numbers: Happy Birthday, Jesus and Jingle Bells. Frankly, I'm amazed that G got even as far as the altar/stage, but she stood their dutifully next to her friend Sam – with her mouth shut and no smile. I'm so proud. Really. Unfortunately, though we tried, we were badly placed to get either a picture of her walking to the front or "singing". I noticed Easton's mom Jenny right down front though so I'm going to see if she's got copies.

At this point in the night, I'm not sure either of them should have been wearing those halos: it was way past bedtime and fighting over those angel wings – we filched the second halo from somewhere – was our excuse for slipping out during the older kids' performance of A Christmas Carol.

And the Winner is...

The bottom front tooth on Z's left, victorious as of this morning. Unfortunately, the bottom front tooth on the right is striving to be a close second.

A Wave and a Kiss Goodbye

This morning in a fit of despair, G told me, "I'll go to school just this once, but not anymore after this!" Towards the end of last semester, everyday became more and more of a struggle on my part to get her to go to school; for her part, she would alternate between screaming and crying, and arguing with me at the top of her lungs. Her extreme reluctance was due to several factors, two big ones: Her perceived English-speaking inadequacy and class size. In late November they notified me that they were putting the Tues/Thurs kids, all five of them, into a classroom of their own with Ms. Stephanie as their teacher because it was getting too crowded in the regular classroom (with Ms April and Ms Monika). Of course we all hoped that this would be the answer, and after today I'm optimistic (though tempered considering we started off in the fall beautifully). At drop-off this morning, she gave me a little wave and kissed me goodbye, no holding on for dear life, no crying; but the real kicker was when I went to pick her up and she told me, "I really like this small class – I didn't cry at all! I'm going to go next time and keep going." She's never said that about her other class.

Kidney Beans

We had an appt with the pediatric urologist this morning regarding G's infection, a follow-up and review of the results of her tests in November. In an aside, while we were in the waiting room, we watched Yo Gabba Gabba, and let me just say, that's one of the weirdest children's shows I've ever seen – or maybe it's just DJ Lance Rock and his minions. In the examining room itself, the doc showed us the prints from G's sonogram and x-rays, and had only good news for us. Both kidneys are healthy looking, healthy tissue, a good size for her age; it's significant that her previous infection wasn't accompanied by a fever, which denotes an infection of the kidneys. The dye-filled catheter in her bladder looks good, and only during urination does it leak the tiniest bit of dye back up the tube to the right kidney. On a scale of 1 to 5, G's is a "1", and the doc said the current way of thinking is that a "1" is normal and will eventually correct itself without any intervention. He mentioned ways in which we might prevent further infections, but otherwise the prognosis is good: we can discontinue any meds and no more testing or follow-up is needed.

The Sistine Chapel

Drew and I were remarking on a baby milestone that we surely didn't take notice of in either G or BB. I was holding Z in my arms and she was looking intently at Drew so he slowly reached his hand out to give her arm a little squeeze – and Z expertly grabbed his finger before he could. It's a sweet memory in my mommy-mind's-eye to see her little hand wrapped around his finger. But surely, I've seen her reaching for toys before, so I guess it's not that much of a stretch that she should reach for someone's hand.

New Year's Resolutions

It's been years since I've made a determined new year's resolution. When I did, however, the resolution would usually be forgotten within a month; at the latest, be pushed aside in the excitement of preparing for the lunar new year. Well in thinking of a title for this post, I realized I'd hit on the perfect pun: get your resolutions here, batteries not included. No, I mean Christmas present opening not included. (I know, I'm a dork.) I'm still recovering from my frenzied push to get all my Christmas cards done, so from a complete lack of motivation, I've decided not to caption any of the December photographs.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

BB had a great little jig going prior to my turning on the camera – and then she got shy.


So it was with much poking and prodding (and begging and praising) that we got this clip. When my mom does her rendition of this song, Twinkle Twinkle in Chinese, she waves her arms about too, but I'm not sure if that's what BB had in mind when she was doing that dance. The violent jerk towards the end is when Z lashed out with her own arm and bumped into the camera.


I was hoping for a different song, but BB wouldn't oblige us even if I started her out.


Here, BB's more interested in jumping than dancing, and at the end, she sets up for a somersault, quite happy to be the center of attention.

Remembering Cookies Passed

I had made some sugar cookie dough before Christmas, an activity for the girls, i.e. applying sprinkles, but didn't get around to making them until New Year's eve, and while BB was napping.


The trouble with sprinkles is that they don't stick, so I was reading up on the internet and someone recommended brushing your cookies with some water, the easiest method. But maybe I used too much water? Because the sprinkles started bleeding color, and when they came out of the oven, some of them were melded together – or is that because they were in the oven too long?



Anyway take a look at that young thing: G at Thanksgiving 2006. We couldn't get the sprinkles to stick then either, which is what made me curious and determined to make these stick.

Coming Full Circle

Earlier this morning, I thought I saw Z slowly dipping her head sideways in order to roll from her stomach to her back, so I was determined to catch it on video.


In this clip, we might have been too close to naptime: she was a little crank.


After an interrupted nap (and in the process of cutting teeth) and from a better position, I finally got the clip I wanted. It's only the one direction, but at least she's got the rudiments down.

90210

We sent out the old year, rang in the new with an early dinner at a local restaurant, The Peachtree, boasting elegant soul food. (Though the restaurant has no relation to the 90's drama Beverly Hills, 90210, which neither Drew nor I watched, the name made us think of the show's local hangout.)

I normally detest catfish, but my Mississippi fried was decent; and the collard green dip, a variant on the standard artichoke, was tasty; Drew applauded their po'boy for being one of the betters outside of Lafayette, LA. We would return to that restaurant.

And it was here that YW realized her dream of having Z fall asleep in her arms.