Christmas Pictures & Favorite incidents

If you're interested in seeing some pictures from our Christmas go here

We met up with some friends from AZ who now live in Houston. They have a 3 yr old boy and 6 yr old girl. The girl was very fond of Eirena and Adisu and took them under her wing while we walked the bayou and went to the park. Later, she was overheard telling her grandmother about Adisu: He doesn't talk much but he has a wonderful laugh.

We went to a Christmas Eve service at our friends' church. There was a children's message and Dr. Daddy asked Eirena if she would like to go up with the other children. Proving that she is not our child, she said, "yes". Adisu, following big sister, wanted to go up too. They both sat very nicely for the children's message (we don't have a children's message in our church, so we were curious how they would behave). However, at the end, as all the children were going back to their parents, we noticed we had a slight problem. Eirena was oblivious to this custom and was quite happy to stay up front with the pastor. (And she had Fuzzy Bear with her and I was really hoping she wasn't going to introduce Fuzzy Bear to the pastor!) Luckily for us, we were in the second row and could collect her with only a minimum of giggles around us. She is totally not our child!

Pull-Ups

Dr. Daddy enjoys his new present.

So does Eirena-she gets to hang on for a ride, and apparently an extra 30+ lbs is nothing for Dr. Daddy.

(Notice he didn't ask The Wee One and I to hang on!)

A Contest! A Caption!

While we organize, unpack and sort through things following our Christmas travel, I thought I would do something we haven't done before: a contest. See, we have this picture:

and it really needs a good caption

So, write in your best caption for this picture and we will send the brain behind the winning caption a bar of our soap.

No children were harmed or traumatized by the taking of this picture; their participation was purely voluntary.

recipe link

If you are at all interested in making your own bread, follow this link for Super-Flax Whole-Wheat Boule bread. I love this recipe.
Its easy.
It tastes good.
It has minimal ingredients.
It makes a hearty round loaf of bread that is full of the wonders of flax seeds.
(Google flax seeds if you're interested in all the amazing powers it has.)
This time I dumped in some fresh cranberries that I had. We'll see how that turns out.
I would take a picture but the camera is packed, ready to go to Tayta's house.
Oh, and just a word of caution, one of the wonders of flax seeds is its fiber- it works the digestive system. So don't eat the whole loaf in one sitting, or else you may be doing a lot of sitting... if you know what I mean. ;)

UPDATE: The cranberries add a fun sour zing to the bread- I would include them again.

Yet another first

For those that have watched the slow growth of Eirena's hair...

Overheard

Eirena picked up her toy phone last Friday, dialed and then had this conversation (which I transcribed):
Hi Tayta,
This is me. Canim* and Joel and Eirena and Adisu and Uc and Berji and Efendim and we have ChooChoo and James and Henry and the train tracks. Ok, sounds good. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.

What a nut.

*I am under the impression that Eirena thinks my name is Canim, as that is what Dr. Daddy often calls me. When she is trying to be a smart aleck she often calls out to me that way.

How to tell your driving scares your child...

The other day our family was driving over to some friends' house. We actually hadn't even gotten on the highway yet when I heard Adisu repeating something over and over again. Turning down the music Dr. Daddy (who was driving) and I listened closely.
We heard, "In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen."
Over and over again.
We both had the same thought and burst out laughing at the same time, because while he may have just been practicing his language, it sure sounded like a nervous backseat rider who could quite reach the "oh-my-goodness-handle".
(Did I mention that it was Dr. Daddy driving? ;) )

Ouch!

Last night was the first time in three years that I opened a tube of Neosporin. Hard to believe, eh?
Eirena fell off a stool and somehow managed to splice open her ear. This is her first "big" cut, the first time I really considered taking her to the ER for an injury**. Of course this happened while Dr. Daddy was not at home for consultation on the matter, so I did the next best thing- had him call me and then emailed him pictures. I love the internet!

After some ice, a cold wash cloth, anti-biotic and a band-aid, and some hugs, Eirena was ready to demand Adisu put the trains back on the train track. She will probably have a funky scar from it, but otherwise seems to be fine.
**(Part of my indecision on taking her to the ER stems from the fact that the only stitches I have received have been during the course of planned medical procedures- wisdom teeth removal and childbirth. I missed the childhood dramas of stitches and broken bones, so knowing what is worthy of medical attention is a little unclear for me- unless it is really obvious.)

On a completely different topic, The Wee One is belly dancing for me. I certainly couldn't move my belly that way on my own even if I tried! How he has room for such antics is beyond me. I certainly feel stretched to the max.

I'm a big kid now!

Eirena had a birthday yesterday.
She is now:

(sorry, she was too busy keeping an eye on the cupcake to look at the camera)

We went to "the bouncy place" in the morning.

She had a great time!

We met one of her friends there.

Adisu was less than thrilled with the inflatable stuff, but was pretty entertained with some of the other toys there.

We had hoped to go to the park for a picnic lunch, but it was too damp outside, so we had a lunch party at home. (There was much excitement about eating off of Thomas plates.)

At the birthday girl's request, chocolate cupcakes.

She ate the chocolate chips off first, then the cream cheese frosting, then the cupcake.

Of course, Fuzzy Bear had to get some cupcake too!

Happy Birthday Eirena!

Cooperative Play

Eirena and Adisu coloring the same Thomas coloring book together.
(Without arguing, fighting, grabbing or 'that's mine'!)

Language Learning

So you may (or may not) be wondering how the language acquisition is going for Adisu. Some days are really good, you feel like he's putting it all together. Some days ... go more like today. Now to understand why this morning was so frustrating, you must understand that he is mostly potty trained (except for sleeping times) and so we instruct him to pull up his underwear after he finishes his job. We talk about what he is putting on as he gets dressed in the morning and where to put each item (one at a time) in the evening. So words like "underwear"," pants" and "shirt" are very common around here.
This morning after his bath I told him to go get some underwear. Blank look. I repeated myself. He unsuredly bends down to his pants drawer and pulls out shorts. "No, those are shorts" I told him. He puts them back. "Get underwear" I repeat. Blank look. "Underwear go on your bum, where is your bum?" He points to his bum. "Good, underwear go on your bum, get some underwear." He reaches for his pants drawer again. I indicate that is incorrect. So he bypasses his underwear drawer and reaches for Eirena's drawer. This goes on for a while, until I pull underwear out for him and tell him that these are underwear. I have him repeat after me, several times. I think he has it. I point to his underwear and ask him what those are. "Shirt", he replied.

If anyone has any good recommendations for teaching language to a toddler please let us know!

Happy St. Nicholas Day

In our family we don't do Santa Claus... we talk about, tell stories of and remember St. Nicholas and then get to the stocking presents. Here are a couple of pictures from that.

Eirena got a recorder, Adisu a harmonica.
Wait.... who gave these kids noise makers??? What were we thinking?

Eirena was also pretty excited to eat her chapstick; Adisu was thrilled about having another clementine to eat!

Cookie Time

The Underfoots and I made cookies today, to take to a Christmas party tomorrow. They were meant to vaguely resemble candy cane cookies. They tasted good even though some of the cookies resemble partially-melted-in-hot-chocolate candy canes, rather than fresh out of the cellophane.

(note the ever-hopeful dog, waiting for tidbits of butter to fall from the beaters)

After being told she couldn't have anymore tastes, Eirena said, "maybe if we put these cookies in our tummies we could make more!" Nice try kid.

Kudos Dr. Daddy

Dr. Daddy is really good at buying me gifts. I think it has something to do with the fact that observes and listens to me when I mention things I'm interested in or need. So I'm not usually surprised by his gifts, but they are well appreciated.
Well, one of the Waldock family traditions has been Saturday morning waffles for breakfast. Quite a few years ago I got one from my parents to help that tradition carry on. But that waffle iron has been well loved, and it only made two waffles at a time. With a family of three it was pushing the limit. Add in a growing boy... Dr. Daddy banned the use of the waffle iron due to Saturday breakfasts taking over an hour to eat because of the time it took to make enough for everyone.
But here is where he is very wise. He knew that having waffles on Saturday is an important tradition for me. So he researched and hunted, and bought me a 'new one, a bigger one... that one!' (sorry, had to throw in a quote from Pirates of the Caribbean) for my birthday. We got to try it out this past week. Yum!

You Know It Is Cold When...

We're supposed to get snow tomorrow- I realize that for some of you this is a normal occurrence. Not so here in "God's Country", and even the underfoots with the fur coats are snuggling down under blankets (wimps).

She's a smart one

This morning I was telling Eirena and Adisu the story about St. Nicholas. I told them how he helped a family by putting money in their stockings so the daughters in the family would have a dowry to get married. After I finished the story I explained that it was because of that story, and to help remember St. Nicholas that we hang up stockings. Eirena looked at the stockings hanging up and then asked, "so what's in our stockings?". Does nothing get by this kid?