When Shep learned to talk, he couldn’t say Neko’s name. He called her “Gee-ko” and that’s what he’s called her every day since. Obviously, he could say it if he wanted to, but it’s become habit. It’s his name for her.
How very fitting that as the new year sits just around the corner, he seems to be leaving “Gee-ko” behind. I heard the first proper “Neko” today, and it seems to be sticking. I don’t know whether to smile or cry.
We’ve loved the Wiggles for some time here. Tom and I were skeptical at first. We resisted, but finally gave into the Wiggly Way. You know, you have to respect four guys who banded together to sing about fruit salad and crossing the street. Plus, they can laugh at the whole ridiculousness of it, too.
Anyway, some time in the last year, Neko wanted a mask of Dorothy the Dinosaur (sidekick of the Wiggles). Tom made up this pretty good one, seen here. We taped a Mickey Mouse hairband to the back, and for the lifetime of the mask, this is how it has been held on. This may not seem that impressive, except this thing has been worn constantly. For hours at a time. She’s watched whole tv shows through those little cut-out eyes. Somewhere along the way, the mouth fell off, but a strip of green painter’s tape fixed it right up, and it went right back into action.
The most interesting thing about this mask is that she really believes everyone thinks she’s Dorothy when she wears it. When she flips it up in front of Shep, she smiles and says, “See, it’s just me!”
Last week we spilled some coffee on it. And then the mouth fell off again. I sort of feel like it’s time to slip it into her memory box while she’s not asking for it. But first I may have to set Tom to work on making a perfect replica.
With all this holiday let-down, the behavior has been the pits. Temper tantrums are the norm and we’re feeling a bit like the Gaza strip, although I’m not really sure who is Israel and who is Palestine.
Our tactic? Divide and conquer.
Tom kept the younger kids home for nap, and I sprung Neko out of quiet time to go ice skating. She took lessons last year, but wasn’t too keen on that whole being out there without a good friend or family member, so she declined when I asked her if she wanted to continue.
But I thought I’d give it a whirl again (the skating, not the lessons), and I’m amazed at what a difference a year makes. She loved it. She smiled and laughed and giggled and insisted we go as fast as possible. Although she wasn’t too keen about the idea of skating without holding my hand, she was almost doing it on her own. A few times she let go and did just fine, but quickly realized she would go faster holding on. We took a break for pretzels, but otherwise skated for the whole two hour session.
Next up? Skiing!
Today was our annual holiday get-together with Griffin and Vince’s families. Which was fabulous. Except for that part where Xmas let-down drove Neko to a full-on temper tantrum upon our departure.
But other than that, so nice to see everyone. I am currently heading up the effort to deport Vince’s whole family back to the Big City.
I can’t even begin to tell you the level of excitement around here. Neko is beside herself with this whole Xmas thing, and Shep sees Neko get all excited, and he really doesn’t know what all the fuss is about, but decides he should get excited, too. I think the fact that the word “presents” keeps getting mentioned helped get him on board. So we’ve been all Santa this Santa that for weeks.
When morning hit, we reached an all-time level of bliss. Neko bounded into our bed right around seven. She managed to rouse us, and then we proceeded to round up Shep (already awake) and Ellery (sound asleep). I’m glad I took some “before” photos, because soon wrapping paper was flying and kids were shrieking and total chaos reigned freely.
While Neko and Shep ran wild with their favorites (the $4 slinky and the $1.50 balloon helicopter), Ellery happily carried around Tom’s bag of vitamin C drops like it was the next big thing from Fisher-Price. Seriously, why do I shop anywhere other than the dollar store?
Then Tom made maple scones, and we have all continued our diet of pure sugar and fat for the rest of the day.
We’re still working out the kinks on this Xmas thing. Five years ago, it was just Tom and I. Now we have kids and two sets of grandparents, and we’re still trying to figure out how to see everyone we love but still have time to develop traditions for just the five of us.
I pat myself on the back in the wrapping department, however. For the last two years, I’ve spent Xmas Eve furiously wrapping presents until the wee hours. I vowed that wouldn’t happen this year. And it didn’t. I stayed up until 3am last night, but today we were free of wrapping duties. So there’s still room for improvement, but I’m getting better.
I had this great plan that today we’d go to the Big City, as they’re making a big effort to revive downtown with skating, carriage rides, and train and gingerbread displays. Those sorts of things seem magical to me, and I would love the kids growing up with that as part of their holiday experience.
But we didn’t make it. I was exhausted from my wrapping marathon and the kids were reluctant to get out of their pajamas. Instead we stayed at home, which yielded both a gingerbread house and gingerbread men. It sounds idyllic, but I was admittedly tired and a bit cranky and so were the kids. These holidays are hard…I have a definite idea of how I feel it should go, but it’s tough to squeeze it all in.
On the upside, the evening was fantastic. We hadn’t had time to make the switch from four hooks to five, so we hadn’t yet hung our stockings. After we checked that off the list and posed for a family portrait at Neko’s insistence, we were off to bed as she gasped, “We forgot something! We need to leave cookies for Santa!”
To make this an even ridiculously longer entry than necessary, I’ll mention that I’m not really sure how I feel about the whole Santa thing. I love the magic and the excitement, but I don’t like the whole idea that you’re essentially lying to your kids. I’ve settled on being a bit vague and not really pushing any of the ideas. I think Neko got the cookie thing from our Olivia Xmas book, and since she initiated, we ran with it. And omigosh, it gets even cuter when she writes her own note to Santa. And then we thought we’d leave a cookie for Mrs. Claus, too, since, let’s face it, she’s probably the brains of the operation.
I was sure we’d be up for a long night of protesting sleep, but all three kids were comatose by 7:30pm! Unbelievable.
My mom was over last night so Tom and I could meet some friends for dinner for the first time in, you know, ages.
In the morning, Neko proudly announced to us that Santa had come last night. And sure enough, there were presents under the tree. She had meticulously wrapped these packages for us, filled with toys from her bedroom.
These are the moments I really love having kids.
Dear ToyWiz,
Recently someone asked my four-year-old daughter what she would like for Xmas. She replied, “A purple unicorn.” Thanks to the power of the internet, a purple Beanie Baby unicorn arrived on my doorstep a few days later.
Then some other clever soul asked my two-year-old son what HE would like for Xmas. Having just heard his sister’s answer, he replied, “A yellow unicorn. With a guitar.”
Terrific. Purple unicorns are hard to find, but matching yellow ones? Really hard. But I found one on your Amazon store. I ordered on December 12th, thinking that would be plenty of time. And I chose you over other retailers since you are an Amazon reseller. My trusty Amazon. I then found a small stuffed guitar, and declared myself well prepared.
Until a day ago, when I received an email stating simply that my order has been cancelled. No reason, just cancelled. After chatting for a long time with some Amazon representative in India, we think the reason is simply incorrect inventory. But let me tell you, nothing is more frustrating than visiting the same web page to see that you still claim it’s in stock. WTF?
I know, this whole online retail thing is new territory for all of us, but I kind of feel like I just got dumped by my first love. No warning, just online betrayal. And the worst part? I was broken up with via email, with no explanation.
I’m not the kind of woman who goes postal over a Beanie Baby, but when you come between a boy and his unicorn? Expect a few waves.
After I dropped Tom off at Volvo today, I turned the wrong way out of the parking lot. As I was grumbling under my breath about how there weren’t any turnarounds, suddenly the heavens opened and angels began singing and I found myself face-to-face with a vision of blue and gold.
I had stumbled upon the nearly-complete IKEA.
Shep has been standing on this chair to reach the Christmas ornaments and un-decorate the tree. Neko decided to leave a little message for him to let him know that standing on the chair is not allowed. (That “now” should be read as “no”.)
Un-decorating the tree, however, is apparently kosher in her books, as there are no longer ornaments on the bottom half of our tree but her room is looking quite festive.