...and no time to say it. My brother made the mistake of sending me "Mad Men" and we've been having epic marathons of this show. Also, I'm really enjoying the new Franzen novel.
First, a Christmas break re-cap: We had two weeks of no school for Henry, and one week off for Eleanor, and basically two weeks off of work for me and patchy but generous time-off for Justin. I'm incredibly fortunate enough to have mom-friends who are much more organized and forward planning than I am, and so most of the time-off was booked with stuff-to-do. Henry spent two mornings with his friend Archer at the Little Austin Yoga House . It's run out of an old guest house, behind a huge house, in Clarksville (really cool neighborhood I wish I could afford to live in) and it was just a pretty young teacher named Abby and the two boys, from 9-12. They did yoga of course, but also lots of fun things like make New Years Resolutions, which Henry taped to the wall in the living room. His resolutions for 2011 are: Eat lots of Strawberries, Have a Happy Family, and Have fun!". You can't really beat that.
There were several play-dates at the park with friends (a highlight for me because it provided all us mom's an opportunity to curse and moan about our lack of childcare), coupled with unbelievably mild winter-weather. I am not even sure it's fair to say 60's and 70's is mild for winter. But the sun shone almost everyday and there were lots and lots and lots of bike-riding trips around the neighborhood. Henry got something called a balance bike (AKA a Glider). It's an incredibly genius invention that will all but guarentee he will be riding an actual pedal bike (sans training wheels) before his 4th birthday. He LOVES that thing. It actually teaches you how to balance on a bike, which is the whole hurdle of learning, by designing the bike low enough to the ground that you push yourself on the bike with your feet and then you rest your feet on these bars, and then you're essentially riding the bike--w/o training wheels! I think within the next decade training wheels will be obsolete and children will all learn to ride bikes before age 5. We've begun a nightly tradition of going around the block at night, before bath. It's pitch dark by 6 but he eats dinner and then we go back outside and he's so fast on the bike I actually enjoy the walk, unlike the beating it was to snail alongside him on the training wheels bike.
Henry's other favorite Christmas gift was a bike too. But this bike I truly despise. Coincidentally my mother and my MIL bought this for him (we had to send one back) so they share blame evenly. But it's a video game bike. It hooks up to the TV and you ride it as if you are competing in races (against Thomas the Train, or Batman, or what-have-you). He is so earnest on this thing and wants to do it all the time and perhaps it would not be so bad if he didn't constantly want me to witness every moment of his success or recognize each and every victory (which happens about every 15 seconds). I'm hoping this particular toy gets it's 15 min and we move on, as he does with all his toys (except for cars, blocks, books, bikes, and balls).
Eleanor received several dolls for Christmas, which she pays no attention to but Henry loves. My heart has melted a few times this week already, watching him put them down for a nap, giving them paci's, holding and rocking and singing them lullaby's. He wants them surrounding him at nap time too, it's very cute. I've already told him he is going to be a great daddy someday and that made him feel pretty good.
As I've mentioned before on this blog, Henry really loves Jesus. Eleanor received a pink teddy bear that sings "Jesus Loves Me" and Henry will not stop playing it, singing it, holding it, singing it on his own, signing along with it, etc.
Henry has fallen deeply in love with the cat, in tandem with my falling out of love with Kitty. When Kitty is not embraced by Henry, he is chasing his tail, groaning, hissing and darting to and fro. I am constantly letting him out, letting him back in, and contemplating having him put down. If it were not for Henry's love and devotion, Kitty would be in an urn right now. A vet friend has recommended Prozac, which I would consider if it did not take four people dressed in something that looks like they should handle eagles, holding him down to get a pill in his body.
Henry and his dad went to Dallas for a few days and had Christmas there, while Eleanor and I stayed back. She was way too ill to transport her. It was really really hard for me. Eleanor needed to be held all day. She had a fever, an enormous amount of snot and so she was waking up a lot because she was uncomfortable and couldn't breath out of her nose, and the days were just very very long. Since I did not go to Dallas, I can't really comment but I think Henry had a lot of fun running around with his cousin Maggy. He also got a horse for Christmas, slept in a trailer (winnebago, or whatever you call them) and Justin brought a little Christmas tree to light up the trailer with.
Eleanor is fully capable of walking alongside me while holding my hand but she goes a few steps and then wants to sit down. We also catch her standing on her own and then she realizes she's doing it and then immediately sits. She's funny--always smiling, playing, and if we're outside, completely independent. She will crawl off on her own without a second thought of anyone else. At home she'll do this if Henry is around but if it's just 1:1 she likes to be near, or held. She just has the two little teeth on the bottom but eats just about the same food we do. She even eats nuts. She got her first bang cut a few weeks ago. She LOVES bath time with her brother (well, anything with her brother). Sleep has been pretty weird. She is taking a long morning nap at 9 or 9:30 and then fighting her afternoon nap or not taking it at all and then has to go to bed by 5:45. And then of course she wakes up ridiculously early (6:00). It seems like this has been going on since I moved her crib a few weeks ago but I can't move it back because her room is an actual room now and not just a space where she sleeps. It's pretty cute--I'll take pics and post one of these days.
The last thing I want to comment on about Christmas break was New Years Day. We went to Mayfield park to meet friends and Mae's mom brought champagne. I don't need to say much about that, just want to note it in hopes the memory remains in tact. That was very cool.
Here's some pictures of that outing
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