When your children wake up at 6:30am on a Sunday morning, you find yourself in desperate need of activities. After eating leftover blueberry compote, we decided that both kids probably needed a bath. What a fabulous way to kill time! Neko was in there for almost an hour.
We also discovered that the bathroom at 8am has amazing natural light, and if we ever open a photo studio, it will have to be in the loo.
This year we’ve been doing a Playmobil Advent Calendar with Neko. This year’s theme…”Christmas in the Park”. I swear, this might be the best $15 I ever spent. If they had an advent calendar that went 365 days a year, I would be so in. Every morning Neko bounces out of bed demanding to open the next box.
This morning we opened a little brown dog. Together we surveyed the contents of the box.
“Look, that dog has a coat!” I said.
“And a penis,” she replied.
And so he does. Kinda gives a whole new meaning to the term “weiner dog”.
Neko is sorely in need of one-on-one time these days. On an unexpected snow day, my parents took Shep for a few hours and we made gingerbread people. (She has been a little obsessed with all things Christmas since introducing her to one of my childhood favorites, “The Sweet Smell of Christmas.”)
Okay, I made gingerbread people while Neko rolled her dough out over and over and over in between eating big pieces of it.
In between, we went outside in our coats and pajamas and checked out our first snowfall of the year. It is SO COLD out there. Winter has arrived with a resounding thud.
This afternoon Neko demanded that we build Disneyland out of blocks. I helped her by building the foundation with about six blocks, but then she quickly jumped in and took over.
I have to admit, I’m pretty impressed with her composition and symmetry.
On cold days, it’s so easy to stay inside. It’s warm inside and it’s so much effort to bundle up in coats and hats and mittens.
But sometimes I forget that kids love the outdoors regardless. They don’t care that it’s cold or windy. They just want to run and play. When I opened the door the let the dogs in, and the kids went lunging toward the door even though they were in bare feet and no pants, I got the hint.
Even Shep went flying for his locker and gathered up boots and his coat at the mere mention of going outside. And I’m glad we went. I needed the fresh air, too.
Ever since the creation of the Henry the Octopus hat, Neko has been on the hunt for the ultimate Henry costume. Today she hit upon one that made her extrememly happy. Her bathing suit, several tee shirts around her waist for extra arms, and boots on her feet and her sparkly shoes on her hands, Henry was born. Even though she more resembled some bizarrely dressed cabaret singer, she was delighted.
Perhaps the funniest part were then her demands to see and be photographed with “her kids.” I then realized she was replaying the Disney experience of posing for the camera with various characters like Ariel and Buzz Lightyear. Shep, being the only kid around, was quickly pulled into service, a role which he he was none too thrilled to accept.
So watch your calendar, Henry may be coming to a venue near you.
Nancy and I braved the museum with all six kids, and, unbelieveably, we left with no blood shed and all kids fed, content, and accounted for.
Of course, the only good picture I took was on the way out the door when four of the six were strapped into the strollers.
Tom and I have meaning to spend more one-on-one time with the kids. It happened sort of by accident today. We desperately needed to take the recycling (which, of course, was at the far away location today) but Neko just really wanted to stay home. Shep and I set out to save the environment while Tom and Neko hunkered down to be creative.
First, they made a Henry the Octopus hat out of an old pizza box (which turned out quite nicely), and then they moved into enthusiatic multiple brush painting on cardboard.
My only complaint is that when these moments occur, Tom must start taking the 30 seconds required to install the bounce flash.
Sometime in the near future, Neko will start hiding from the camera and wincing when she see photos of herself. She will refuse to let anyone shoot her profile (as I do) and point out every imagined flaw as she demands I delete each one. Which, of course, I won’t, if I can just stay one step ahead of her.
On days like today, when Neko suddenly melts into a well of tears and irrational protests which leaves her completey incapable of having a normal conversation, I need to remember that she's only been in this world for 3.5 years. In that time she learned to walk and talk and think and laugh and joke and dream and, meanwhile, I've been meaning to learn to use my bread machine for nearly three years, and it's still sitting in a box in the cabinet.
Some days I need to just chuck all the rules about proper pre-school negotiating tactics, scoop her up in my arms and rock her to sleep because it's been a hard day and it's a big world and she's really just so very new to it all.