Tomorrow I am going to Trixie's class to do a little presentation about Chinese New Year. I have red envelopes for lucky (play) money, a lion mask hand puppet, a book called "Lanterns and Fireworks" to read to them and the piece de resistance, a battery-powered "lion dancer" that moves and dances to a loud garish cymbal and drums music. Oh, and puffed rice cakes (for a sweet New Year) for snack after.
There are seven or eight Asian or part-Asian kids in her class, but somehow, I, the lo fan, am the one doing this.
Bailey was 12 weeks old yesterday. I celebrated by going back to work in the office and he celebrated by rolling over from back to front. I'd left him (safely) on his back on the couch to check on Trixie and her potty-prowess, and when I came back he was on his tummy with one hand stuck underneath him, and sounding pissed about it.
Rolling. Over.
He beat Trixie by four months in the rolling over department. Will be digging out the play-pen earlier than I'd thought, I see.
Trixie has taken more of a shine to Bailey lately -- I was in the kitchen doing something while Bailey was in his bouncy chair in the next room and I heard Trixie say "Peek-a-boo, Bailey! Peek-a-boo" so I looked around, and sure enough, she was playing pee-a-boo with him. She kisses him good-bye when I drop him off (down the hall from her) at daycare, and this morning she insisted that he sit next to her on the couch, so she could show him how to kick his legs.
Bailey started full time in daycare this week, which means dropping off (or picking up) two at once. This is a challenge for the solo parent doing the dropping off or picking up, since Bailey goes in the Kelty front-loader and Trixie is asked to walk with us, and she often wants to be carried by said parent. But she has thus far risen nicely to the challenge. I am no doubt jinxing it merely by saying so.
We aren't taking a stroller because a) they take up incredible amounts of space on the subway during rush hour and b) Trixie has legs and c) she's only being asked to walk a total of four blocks, two on each end of the trip, so it's not like she's tired.
Tonight when Josh took Rachel home tonight after a visit from her cousins, he left me home with both kids and a mess in the apartment. Trixie "helped" me wash the dishes, didn't spray me with water, or throw the plastic dishes I gave her to wash, "scrubbed" the cutting board, and didn't whine about finishing up.
She then did puzzles with me, cuddled, and took a bath when asked (and I could see she was getting tired). In short, she was the sort of angelic child that has been non-exisitent in these parts recently, and I really needed it tonight.
I expected a bad time of it because she is so very Daddy-oriented that I was afraid a two-hour absence would be enough to fuel a spectacular melt-down.
Oh -- Bailey sat in the bouncy chair and kicked the toys and cooed at us
(we took the chair with us from room to room). So they both get a gold
star.
I think the only major holiday we didn't celebrate this year was Kwanzaa...and I'm pretty sure Trixie celebrated it at school.
First, for Solstice, we did a quiet candle-lighting ritual after the kids were in bed. No gifts, no kid involvement yet, but it was a nice evening just the same.
Next, Christmas. Christmas Eve we drove out to cousins Gracie and Jim Dong's family gathering in NJ. It was nice to see everyone, and eat loads of food. Despite the "no presents -- except for grab-bag" edict, the tree was buried in gifts.
We enjoyed catching up with cousins we don't see often, as well as Wally and Amanda, whom we do. Trixie was the only child there, but as cousin Stacy is 7 months along, that won't be the case next year! She most enjoyed playing with Aunt Amanda and going to see what the very old and creaky dog, Galahad, was doing (generally it was: Lying on the floor under the food table hoping for scraps).
We stayed longer than we'd thought and got home at 11 pm. Then we started elfing for Christmas morning here; putting out gifts under the tree, setting up stockings, wrapping last-minute stuff. Then Trixie started her wake-ups. Josh got to sleep around 3am; I was out at 1 before Bailey woke me up at 4. Sleep? What is this thing you call sleep?
Josh took Trixie with him when he went to pick up Rachel and I enjoyed a quiet hour feeding Bailey while the Yule Log played on Channel 11, looking at the lights on our very nice tree and listening to "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Lovely. Then he got back with the girls and all hell broke loose.
Trixie thoroughly enjoyed opening presents, though we had to slow her down and point her to the ones meant for her. Restraint is a hard thing for a two-year-old. She immediately spread all the toys across the floor and went nuts. I was pleased, though, that she never did try to pull the tree over, or do much more than try to touch the high-hat cymbals ornament Amy gave us. Of course, I didn't put any of the breakable ornaments on, just in case...
I made an easy Christmas dinner: pork roast with some fried apples, mashed potatoes and veggies with ice cream for dessert. I may never mess around with turkeys again -- very fast and easy to cook.
Boxing Day we got into the car and drove up to WP to see Dad and Grandma and introduce Bailey. Grandma had warned us it was cold in her house, and I'm glad she did, as we brought fleece blankets and a sleeping bag for Trixie. (She's really too big for the portable playpen any more.) Josh was sick, so I drove while he and the kids slept in back -- a very uneventful trip, unlike our trip home.
They had waited to open presents until we were there so we had another bout of gift-opening (more excitement from Trixie). We ate left-over turkey and fixings (mmm...mashed potatoes...) and Trixie climbed up and down the carpeted stairs or played with her "baby." The next day we took Trixie sledding for the first time, on the new purple saucer we'd given her. She loved it until she'd fallen down in the snow enough times and gotten cold.
Our trip home involved not enough napping by Trixie, a dead battery in Stroudsburg, waiting for AAA, a trip to Sears for new battery and installation, and disrupted sleep patterns for all and sundry that night when we did get home after 9 hours on the road.
The next day Ellin and Ted came over and we had, yes, a third session of gift-opening. Trixie is now asking "Where are MY presents?" every day, because, of course, she's had constant presents for the last week.
New Year's Eve we stayed home. I propped my eyelids open until 12 and went to sleep at 12:05. New Year's Day we went to brunch at Stacey's place downstairs (very convenient!) and then to a Hanukah (last night) dinner at our friends' house. They had presents for all the kids (yes, Trixie, MORE presents!) but more importantly, great latkes, chicken and booze for the parents, and all in walkable distance from home.
We are offically holidayed out.