Holidaze

At last classes have ended(!), and I can post about Alice's birthday, as well as other recent events of note. You'll notice that in addition to the more obvious disadvantages of a Christmas-season birthday, being born near the winter solstice means a visual record of one's birthday considerably impoverished for its indoor, flash-lit quality.

Mor-mor was able to join us in Princeton for 24 hours on Alice's birthday proper. The day dawned rainy and wretched, and it was quickly decided that bringing muffins to share with one's class perhaps isn't worth the damp and cold when most of one's class is still toothless anyway and that both girls could spend the whole day with Mor-mor and Daddy rather than go to school for the morning. (Mommy, alas, had to teach.) Fortunately the weather cleared in the afternoon, and they were able to get out around town.

Edith eagerly absorbed any time Mor-mor would give, but she did allow her grandmother and sister a moment to admire the birthday girl's favorite "tee" outside the front window.


That evening after a rice-and-beans dinner (one of Alice's favorites), we stripped her down and gave her the cupcake Tom and I had selected for the classic first birthday messfest. To our surprise she took a microscopic nibble of frosting, then smilingly moved the cupcake to the side and was done. Not the best strategy for climbing out of the 9th weight percentile, perhaps, but at least our friend and family dentist Dr. Lee will be pleased.


As mentioned in an earlier post, Alice's gift from her parents was a new carseat; she climbed right into it before we even got it in the car.


Indeed climbing into chairs of all kinds, but especially chairs her size, is one of Alice's favorite activities these days. She loves getting herself up, then turning around, getting her legs out from under her, and beaming on the world from her new perch. Last Saturday morning she accompanied me to a baby shower and made quick claim on the guest of honor's childhood rocker. As the only ex utero baby present, she also evaluated some of the gifts for the parents-to-be, including these infant spoons.

On Sunday a bunch of Lanks arrived for a triple-P: preaching (Tom), party (Alice), and pageant (Edith and some 507 other children). Slotted for several indoor hours on a packed day, the party was a more modest affair than Edith's first birthday extravaganza on our front lawn back in May 2006. Yes, we're aware of the charges of neglect and favoritism to which we're opening ourselves up down the road.

Finally, a crayon Alice could eat. (I decided on orange after looking in the cupboard and realizing we'd never made the Halloween cupcakes we intended.)



Alice approached this cake with somewhat greater enthusiasm and persistence than the cupcake on her birthday, but I think it was primarily the chance to practice utensil use that appealed. She won't let anyone else spoonfeed her at this point but loves to try herself.

For some reason she was anticipating the flash in this sequences of shots and deliberately closed her eyes a fraction of second before I snapped the shutter each time!


Meanwhile the older cousins enjoyed themselves at the kids' table. In keeping with the crayon theme, Edith had the bright idea of covering the tables with butcher paper and putting crayons at each place so guests could leave Alice pictures and notes.


We all left the party for the Christmas pageant at church, in which the 3/4 year olds were the youngest group, comprising the stable animals. They did an excellent job with their songs and were not bashful or uncertain even when the orchestra played the introduction to the wrong piece. Edith is second from the left in the row of animals, the taller cow. Hopefully there will be more pageant pictures to come from other sources.


And after the busy weekend, we got through a busy schoolweek, which ended today with a visit to Dupree from the Big Man in Red. I was hoping the teachers might put the girls on his lap together for a photo, but they had that idea only after he left. Too bad, because Alice apparently started shaking as soon as she saw him, and her teacher decided it would be too traumatic to have her sit on his lap alone. Considering how much she wants to do what Edith does these days, a joint effort might have worked. Ah well. Meanwhile, Edith and Santa enjoyed a brief chat. (I trust he had a face under there somewhere.)


This weekend, Edith's ballet recital, Tom's first memorial service as presiding minister, my choir Christmas concert, and SNOW...