Christmas Update

I hope all of you had a great Christmas. Thank you to everyone who came by, thank you to everyone who hosted, thank you to well-wishers who drop by this blog and a huge thank you to everyone for the insane amount of presents for the kids. There is enough stuff here for another two Christmas's. We know we are lucky and we are striving to pass that message on to the kids.

On the Monday before Christmas, I took little t out to buy something for someone else, for someone who may not get any presents. Our local Christmas Bureau accepts new gifts for kids. Families who need the service can come and 'shop' for what they need. Little t busted out his piggy bank and put in some of his own money and I made up the rest. He chose a Nerf sword which he wanted to play with. It was interesting. I could see he really wanted it but he understood the whole exercise was to give it away. Thanks to friends N & L for coming too. I'm glad we did it. We need to do alot more of that I think.

Baby A proved herself to be a real party girl. She would not settle down for bed on Christmas night because there were new people around. When I went to pick her up, instead of rooting for milk as she would normally do, she pulled her whole body (and mine) toward the door and toward the party. She can't stand missing anything. I took her to the pediatrician for a check up on the 29th and she thought the waiting room was another party. Why not? There were kids, toys, books and a nice lady greeting everyone. When she's excited she lets out a James Brown yelp and that's what she did all week. Party, party, party.

I'm pretty exhausted so we're keeping things low key for New Year's Eve and Day. There will be a good dinner of course and hopefully a walk or two. We will also look through our pictures of 2009 to reflect on the year and share our hopes for 2010.

Here are some shots of our fun times. Up above, the kids are wearing their nisser hats. Nisser (pronounced something like Nissa) means elf in Danish. Down below we see baby A eating a good book in front of the Christmas carnage. Mmmmm book.

Here's little t on Christmas Eve in front of our tree.

Finally, here is baby A on her first Christmas, playing mostly with wrapping paper. This is my first experiment with iMovie. She normally smiles more than this but I didn't get nearly as much footage as I would have liked. Anyway, despite her serious intent, she's having lot's of fun.

Christmas Parties

December has been a busy month for everyone here. I suppose that applies to everyone who will read this. We're still putting the final touches on Christmas here. FF and FM are in town as well as Auntie A and Uncle V and we will have a wonderful dinner for Christmas Eve with riz a almande for dessert, followed by songs and gift exchange. The adults drew names this year to keep things under control. Christmas morning we'll have breakfast and then open the gifts from my family. Christmas dinner will be pork roast with crackling and red cabbage (very Danish). We've invited a few friends over for that so things should be lively.

We will miss you all greatly.

Here are some festive events we've been to recently.

All four of us at LS & WH annual Christmas fondue. It's rare to get all of us in one shot. Time for a professional I think. Check out baby A's YSL dress. My friend got it at a thrift shop. What a little fashion plate. She loves parties too!

Arrrrrggghhhh, Little t with pirates at the Science Centre's Christmas party.

Little t with Santa at the Science Centre's Christmas party. After hanging with the pirates he couldn't resist having his face painted as a pirate. Hard to believe.

Little t's pre-school Christmas party. He hasn't asked why Santa doesn't always look the same but then again, Santa is not the main event at our place.

Little t 'singing' along at his school party. The kids are all wearing reindeer hats they made.

mmmmmm bread

We've been making bread here a few times a week. There's nothing like the smell of a homemade loaf about to graduate from the oven to your table with some room temperature salted butter and if you're lucky some yummy soup. (It rains alot here and we could eat that meal everyday from October to April). So, those of you who know me know that I'm always in a hurry and always trying to cram too much into not enough time. You must be wondering what I could possibly know about baking bread. This no knead bread concept came out a few years ago and apparently swept the continent. It's really easy and simply requires a bit of a think ahead. You need a hot oven and a really good heavy enameled cast iron pot with a lid. I tried making it in a thinner pot at camp this summer and it was a disaster. Also, white flour or predominantly white with a little bit of whole wheat works best. We tried spelt flour and ended up with a cracker. This method is so popular that there are dozens of people blogging about their experiences and variations they've invented. Here's one example. I like it because I know what's in it and organic flour is cheaper than organic bread. Little A loves chewing on it too as of this week. Try it and let me know how it goes!

Feed Me!

A is no longer a vegetarian. Well, I suppose she wasn't really a vegetarian since I was feeding her mama milk and I eat meat but as of this week she has tried turkey and chicken directly from the baby jars. She loves it. It's like we've been starving her and she was already eating well.

Here she is trying to eat her brother's shoulder.

We continue to be grateful for everything that works. Feeding is one of them.

Big Bird in a Small Cage

Sometimes a piece of music becomes the soundtrack for a period in your life. This year, on Mother's Day the boys gave me Patrick Watson's latest album (yes he still makes albums). It's called 'Wooden Arms'. The whole thing is amazing. I don't know why this guy isn't mega famous.

We rarely get out as a couple but last week, T looked at his fancy pants iPhone and it told him that PW was coming to town so he bought us some tickets just like that. After scrambling for childcare (thanks buddy M!) we made it and I have to say it was the best show I've ever seen. I know I haven't got much memory left and it's been a long time since I went out to shows but really, it was simply amazing. It was like watching someone shining in their complete gift and sharing it so it spilled everywhere and made everyone else shine too.

The standout track for us is called 'Big Bird in a Small Cage'. It's A's song because that's what she is.

"If you open up your ears and heart, you put a big bird in a small cage and he'll sing you a song..."

Cool Blog Post for American Thanksgiving

I really need to post an update on Baby A. All is well but she's not getting enough airtime here. Crazy since she is the key instigator of this blog along with my brother.

I'm short on time as usual but I wanted to share this. My friend just sent me this link about food and the way we eat. This topic has been gaining strength in the collective consciousness (I hope) at least since Michael Pollan became a best selling author. We are foodies in this house or at least our food leader T is. I am along for the ride but I would never turn back. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Happy eating and also check out Vitalis Nutrition Adventures. The author was one of baby A's doulas and also part of the midwifery team.

How's she doing? 9 months old!

You would be forgiven for thinking life revolves around little t around here. However, baby A certainly directs her share of traffic. Being a baby is pretty involved and although she is far more even tempered than her older brother she certainly expresses herself and ensures her needs are met. In fact, our days are structured around her needs as much as possible with interuptions for big brother's school and swimming lessons.

So for everyone who asks, "How's she doing?", here's a summary.

Food: She's loving it. We're adding more texture now. She still favours zucchini and other squashes. She also loves swiss chard of all things. She likes carrots, turnips, lentils, green beans, peas and most other veggies. When offered apple or pear, she screws up her face and looks completely disgusted. It's quite funny. She does like sweet potato so I don't think it's an aversion to sweetness. Not sure what's up there. We are offering finger food too. She still grasps with her whole hand so it's more of an exercise than an actual nutrition input.

Sleep: This area has been quite a struggle but things are improving. I'm a believer in attachment parenting. I like to keep the babies close. A was in a co-sleeper in our room until recently but I noticed that she seemed to sleep more soundly when I wasn't there. It's almost as if she senses my presence and thinks it's party time. So with some reluctance, we moved her bed into the office. After a lousy week of adjustment, she is down to one waking per night which is much more manageable than the 3 or 4 that had been happening.

Elimination: No problems. She's very regular. We have started elimination communication (EC) which means we pay attention to when she's eliminating and we learn the signals and acknowledge it. Thanks to my sister for inspiring us on this project. When she's passing solids we bring her to the toilet right away and most of the time she finishes the job there. When she's peeing we make a sound and change her right away. Sometimes we catch the pee but that's pretty advanced and the goal is more to make her aware that we are aware and to get her used to the toilet early. We're using cloth diapers so that also helps her awareness.

Communication: Here is where she has surprised me. We've been using signs for awhile. Around two months ago, she started signing for milk! She is not consistent about it and sometimes when she does it, she really means she's tired but she is unmistakably following our lead and trying to communicate with her hands. The surprise is that she had made this connection earlier than her brother who is no slouch in the communication department. I'm trying not to get too excited because she doesn't do it all the time and she hasn't picked up any other signs but I still think it's pretty cool. She's pretty clear with vocals too when she's hungry.

Movement: This is probably where we see the most delay. She is certainly not as strong as her brother was or her cousin is but we do see good progress. She sits well. We are working on getting her to move from tummy to sitting and from tummy to hands and knees. She has started to scooch backwards on her tummy and sometimes gets some good distance if she's got a rug under her.

Overall, we aren't as concerned about each milestone as I thought we would be. We're seeing progress and a huge curiosity. She wants to grab everything (especially my glasses) and she's really interested in books. She knows who we are. I think she knows her name, her brother's name but not her parents' names yet. She hasn't had too many babysitters but when she does, she misses us.

We're all in love with this kid and super grateful that she eats well and has no health issues. We're just enjoying this age and this time and learning to trust that all will be well.

Here's A attempting to use the sippy cup. Still a work in progress but pretty cute.