Catching up on the Holidays

It has been a frustratingly long time since I blogged. So, a quick catch-up:

Halloween - Clementine was a jack-o-lantern. We have a lovely indian dress too, thanks to Grandaddy, but it was a bit chilly for that. We carved pumpkins, which she sampled (ew), and went trick or treating to like 5 houses. She liked her costume, and had a little candy and thought it was fun, but is still a bit young to appreciate quite what's going on, which is charming and sweet. She requested a "sad" face on her pumpkin when given a happy/sad choice. I find this is always her choice when we're drawing or whatever. Don't know if that's just her or kids this age find sad more interesting than happy or what. (Halloween photos)

Thanksgiving - Ryan ran the 5-mile "Turkey Trot", which I thought was very cool as he's not a runner at all. GAK (Great Aunt Karen), Aunt Kelly and I went down to the corner to clean green beans for the casserole and cheer Ryan and GUR (Great Uncle Robbie) on. I usually make one exception for turkey during the holidays, and we had some pretty good birds, but Clementine rejected turkey entirely, which was interesting. Of course with cousins around to play with, who can eat? (Thanksgiving photo)

Christmas - Ryan's dreams came true on Saturday when his Secret Santa brought him just what he wanted - a goat. It is good to laugh until you cry. He shed another tear upon finding out that it was a loaner, but I suspect the neighbors were relieved. We went on the Polar Express on the 23rd, which was incredibly fun. We had the whole clan there - GAK, GUR, Aunt Kelly, Uncle Dan, Great Granddady and Grandma Crane, Grandaddy and Tricia, Uncle Brian, Aunt Wendy, Trinity, Aria. I guess with all those people, Clementine felt safe, because she went to someone else and never came back. She was unbearably cute and *earnest* about the whole thing. Several times she clasped both hands to her little cheeks, and when Santa came on the train, she waved with such... really, earnesty is the word... it actually brought tears to my eyes. I could have burst into tears. I wish he could have spent more time with her as it all went too fast for her to process. He gave her a lovely bell which, unaccountably, is broken. Christmas morning Clementine slept until almost 8, which I guess was her Christmas gift to us. I was so excited I wanted to wake her up. I think Christmas Eve as a parent is even better than Christmas Eve as a child. We spent the morning cajoling her into getting through her stocking and opening one gift. That was really all she managed by noon! She was very excited about her candy cane. I'm aware that I'm dreading the hysterical, mindless, paper-shredding orgy that Christmas morning becomes when kids hit a certain age, so I tried to let her go at her own pace. It seems like just when I get the hang of putting my agenda aside, she has to teach me that lesson again. How silly of me to want her to be more "into" it. We've left a good 12 days of Christmas worth of gifts under the tree for her to open at her own pace. Anyway, we had dinner with the clan at GAK-GURs house and played until Clementine completely melted down. We didn't fit a nap in at all so she's been up several times tonight (thus the 3am post). (Christmas photos t.c.)

Generally, Clementine is doing wonderfully. She's cheerful, she dances, she loves swimming and just last week she's started singing. I hear her singing little songs to herself while she plays. I've been watching for when she'd yawn when she saw someone else (thinking this would happen at like 6 months) and that only just started. I wonder what developmental milestone that comes with. She is getting closer to 2, and starting to say, "No!" to us when asked to do something, which frankly baffles both of us. We don't want to be cajoler parents, constantly begging our child to mind us, but at the same time we don't want to be fiercely do-what-I-tell-you-or-else. We are starting to give her time outs, which is amazingly effective, though hard on me. If you think about it, the whole point of punishment is to make your child unhappy (of course with the ultimate goal of teaching something), which isn't so easy to do on purpose. She's incredibly articulate, adding signs and words every day. Cutest recent ones are "actually" and "zamboni". And "amazing", which she declares at strikingly appropriate times. Our pediatrician suggested that she'd be putting together 3-word sentences at 2 years, but she's certainly putting together 5- or 6-word sentences all the time. She has started to identify herself as separate from us ("Momma. Daddy. Baby.") and is asking a lot about reading pictures, which is a whole other fascinating tangent.

Ryan is doing well too, though full-time child care chafes. He wants to work more. When he does work, it's hard on everyone, though without any maternity leave benefits, frankly we could use it. He works naps, nights, mornings... So he gets no down time and stuff like dinner, shopping, etc. is hard to keep under control. We just got on a waiting list for day-care (we were really hoping for share-care, but haven't found anything) and are on a San-Francisco-like 1 1/2-year list. With the new baby coming, hopefully he can work more and have a little break or two on top of it.

Speaking of new baby, it is fine, as am I. I'm anxious because of all the work, cleaning and cooking that I want to do, which is much harder to wrap up than it was without a little one around. Oops...she's awake again... 3:45am, that's the 3rd time tonight. She has started to have bad dreams and is anxious about Ryan and I being "safe" -- me especially. This time in particular, she is worried about the snail on her bedspread. Who knows what's going on in that active little brain. I need to read up on that in my spare time, ha ha. Anyway, this new baby is really, really active so I'm also anxious that it will sleep as little extra-utero(?) as it does in-utero. My due date is 1/7, and no signs of an early baby yet, even though everyone says it should be early. I'm holding out for 2 weeks late! It is nice to be doing this the 2nd time around, to have some idea of what's going on and at least some vague sense of what to expect.

Finally, and happily, Pagosa is either getting with it or showing its true colors.

I will try to post more. I get behind and then it starts to seem daunting. And at least I can say "yay" or "nay" to whether a baby is happening.

Until then, happy Christmas / Hannukah / Winter Solstice / Kwanza / Day-After-Christmas Shopping / December 25.