The majestic and the mundane

The four of us went on a walk in the neighborhood yesterday. Literally: this is the park three minutes from our house. It still blows us away.

We scrambled up a loose rock trail to this spot

Alice and I stayed at this point...

...and Edith and Tom hiked on up to that tree in the center of the photo. Can you see them, tiny, waving from the ledge behind it?

Plenty of moments are less sublime. For example, while Edith and Alice are getting ever better at entertaining each other, their interactions can sound like this conversation in the back seat of the car the other night:

A: Poop.
E: Not appropriate.
A: Poop.
E: Not appropriate.
A: Poop.
E: Not appropriate!
A: Poop.
E: Not! Appropriate!
A: Poop.
E: NOT APPROPRIATE!!
A: Don't get frustrated, girl. Poop.
E: Not...
G: Edith, just don't respond, if you want her to stop.
A: Poop.
E: ...
A: [Mischievous grin.] Poop aPOOPriate!

Christmas adventures

Edith has had a Christmas week of firsts, making for some great small-scale, ordinary-life adventures.

But let's start with the the adventure we're not having: We are deeply envious of all of you enjoying holiday snow. Friends assume that living in Colorado, we must be buried in drifts. And some parts of Colorado to the west of us are indeed: My colleague who was headed winter camping near Wolf Creek Pass couldn't go, because the yurt in which her family was planning to stay was buried under nine feet of snow. Meanwhile, we're receiving email notifications of emergency closings in our old stomping grounds--the Princeton public library, etc.--while the pictures in the New York Times online make us drool with envy. Here on the Front Range, it's as dry, warm and sunny as it has been since we arrived in August. Thanks to Santa we have the snow boots, snow pants, and sled. We have the hills to slide down, too. But you can't do that on dirt and dead grass. So for those of you in winter wonderlands, do take a romp in the snow for us, and enjoy a holiday that looks for once like the greeting cards always portray it.

In the absence of sledding and snow angel opportunities, Edith has made use of her vacation mastering skills. A few days ago she sat down with a set of phonics books that Aunt Debbie sent her a few years ago and patiently sounded out four little stories, all by herself. We have the beginnings of a reader!

She also astonished us last Saturday by committing to learn to knit, doing so, and spending a whole day laboring away cheerfully at a washcloth she plans to give her teacher as a Christmas/baby-shower present. (Her teacher left on vacation early last week, fortunately buying Edith a bit more time on the washcloth.) Yesterday Edith accompanied me to downtown Manitou to find the local Sunday evening knitters' group I'd heard about; we enjoyed a Boxing Day gathering with them, and they were only sorry the 87-year-old regular who started knitting at Edith's age wasn't there to meet her, as she was at home watching a must-see football game.

Edith's final new endeavor this week came about courtesy of Uncle David. When I was growing up, Uncle David was one of those uncle types (there are aunts in this category, too) who always know just the unexpected gift to make you feel thrillingly grown-up at a given age. This year he surprised Edith with her own little digital camera. She spent Christmas afternoon mastering another set of skills--this, our five year old who still can't start the CD player because she never has had the patience to figure out which button is "on"--and then she was launched, documenting Christmas. And so, Christmas at our house through Edith's eyes:

 

The snake was sticking out of Edith's stocking when she came downstairs, and to my surprise, has been a favorite among her presents. Guess Santa knows her better than I do.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art advent calendar Edith enjoyed opening every morning

The loot

More loot, including Daddy's new banjo

Along with Rattle, the dragon Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon was the other big hit

The Santa Claus that Gigi gave us when Edith was little climbed up and down the ladder to help decorate throughout the Christmas season

Good Christmas stories are a must, though Edith didn't yet get the humor in this classic as fully as I'd expected she would

Even without frightful weather outside, Tom's fires have been delightful

It's hard to be annoyed with your kindergartner for barging in on the toddler's nap when she gets pictures this good

Other than snakes and dragons, horses were the central theme of Edith's Christmas

Clothes were the central theme of Mommy's Christmas. This marked the first Christmas ever that literally every one of her presents (except the orange in the toe of her stocking) was something to wear. It made Edith's current observation--"I don't have to go back to school until Mommy is 35"--feel even more like a sentence to middle age.

Edith's class has started Spanish lessons, and she loves them. "Mommy, what did they call the sun in your Spanish class? El sol? Cool! That's what we call it in mine!"

Our attempt at a fancy dinner (to wit, we turned on the stove, and we sat in the dining room). It's probably just as well that the neighbors we had invited cancelled  at the last minute due to sickness. They'd had us over for a lovely Christmas Eve repast the day before, and we figured out then that they probably aren't used to half-burned, half-cold meals made with one or two ingredients per dish.

Edith made the placecards

A butter dish, instead of the usual tub of margarine on the table, was another signal that this was A Fancy Occasion. Oh, and Edith sat at the table and ate her soup steadily until she was done! A new food, no complaining, focus on eating long enough to sit still in a chair for ten minutes = A MAJOR event!

Church activities were numerous during Advent and included a great play for the children that told the story of the life of St. Nicholas (without spoiling Santa Claus). I believe it was written by our local children's minister, but I'd highly recommend she make it more widely available. A great way to forge a connection between Santa and the birth of Jesus, which feel so discordant throughout most of the season, and a welcome activity for restless little people on Christmas Eve morning.

A few more grown-up photos to round out the post:

We got into the swing of things, and Tom lined the roof of the house in lights

Christmas Eve before Santa arrived

Christmas Eve a few hours later

Tom's big first of the season was successfully making his grandfather's recipe for corn pone, a family tradition

The only snow we saw was from afar, at the top of Pike's Peak (beyond the trees and the neighbor's roof)

Who knew Tom harbored a secret wish to learn to play the banjo? It turns out to be one of the few things you can do in downtown Manitou other than buy fudge and knick-knacks. Alice, meanwhile, awaits a reason to wear her new snowpants outdoors.

She'll wear the new boots whether there is snow or not, so pleased is she to put them on and take them off herself

More wondrously elegant were the kimonos the girl received from Aunt Robin

Headed out for a walk on Christmas afternoon

Santa's team was off-duty by then, enjoying a chance to graze in peace

Merry Christmas, all!

Christmas comparison

One 5x7 picture with Santa in New Jersey shopping mall: $17.95

One 5x7 picture with Santa in historic 19th century land-claims cabin in Colorado: free, plus you get coupons for stores in the surrounding commercial district

Christmas tree from typical New Jersey source (a garden store): $25-50 dollars, depending on size and type

Christmas tree from typical Colorado source (the great outdoors): $10 for a permit if you cut in in the national forest; free if you cut it on your church's ranch as part of a forest management program

Snow before Christmas in New Jersey: Usually none

Snow before Christmas in Colorado: Dustings at home, but enough to go sledding when you drive up to aforementioned ranch in the mountains

Good stuff!

Where's Alice? In her element!

This past Wednesday we attended a contemplative Advent service, at which everyone received a blessing upon exiting. The person saying the blessings at the door pronounced, "May your heart prepare you for the coming birth." I smiled and thought what that sentence would have meant to me two years earlier on the same night, as Tom and I wandered up and down Nassau Street in the frigid cold, trying to have a last date before going to the hospital for an induction.

Indeed, this past Thursday morning Alice had to learn a new phrase to replace the announcement she's been making for the last month: "My birthday coming up. Sing 'Happy Birthday to You'! I almost two." 

"Almost two" no longer, Alice is now of legitimate age to participate in the Sunday School class into which we've been sneaking her for the last month, an iconic age that justifies noun status--a two year old--and not just adjectival form--a two-year-old child (per Linguistics 114, fall 1994...). Hardly our baby any longer, she is talkative, social, loving, opinionated, funny, and on the go. 

The deer came to say "Happy Birthday" in the morning. We caught the last of them just as they were leaving the yard.

At breakfast Alice danced to her new Putomayo CD, with her new stuffed meerkat, her favorite animal from the zoo. 

We celebrated with a very low-key get-together, inviting over two other two-year-old girls from the neighborhood and their parents for a morning of parallel play, lunch, and cupcakes. It was just right!

Before the party Alice had been asking over and over where Ellen and Lauren were; afterwards she asked once more. Indeed, her most striking new habit is asking where everyone she knows and loves is, providing the answer herself when she can. "Where's Aunt Susan? In Pennsylvania. Where's Aunt Suzanne? In Virginia. Where's Pappy? In Delaware. Where's Uncle Peter? In 'consin. Where's Cousin Katie? In Delaware, waiting her baby come out her tummy. I in my house in Manitou Springs in Codoralo." She wants to know where far-away family is, where neighbors are, where various people from church or the YMCA or my job are. She's our extrovert, thinking always about other people and wanting to keep tabs on them.

In the evening, when Edith came home from school, we had a cake, featuring Alice's other favorite zoo animal.

At a well-child visit to a new pediatrician Friday we waited 75 minutes to spend 10 minutes with the doctor and confirm that Alice is a healthy, thriving two year old...if a small one. At 22 pounds she's hovering around the 3rd percentile for weight. Fortunately, her new pediatrician seemed very relaxed about that, even after looking at her growth chart and seeing how she has continued to drop through the percentiles since clocking in at 9 pounds at birth. First of all, he said, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization are debating the value of their respective growth charts, since the American ones are based only on bottle-fed babies, who tend to weigh more, with the result that the charts may be adjusted downwards soon to reflect a wider range of baby diets. Regardless of the charts, said the doc, Alice's cardiologist someday will be thrilled that she's skinny. And that was that. Now if we only could find some clothes that would stay on her...

Now that her birthday is over, Alice is grudgingly allowing for the fact that Jesus' birthday is coming up. Just so long as the meerkat is hers.

East Coast Thanksgiving

We enjoyed being able to get back to Delaware for Thanksgiving, with a day trip to Princeton on the side. We sucked oxygen and absorbed moisture as fully as we could, while catching up with family and friends.

One of the highlights of the week for Edith was our trip to Princeton, during which she got to reunite with best friend Torrey. Torrey's mother took him out of school for the afternoon, and he joined us all around town. Not one to be left out of Edith's activities these days, Alice insisted on being between Torrey and Edith, holding their hands, wherever we walked. As one of the biggest fans of "Baby Alice" back in the day, Torrey kindly obliged.

A partial reunion of Edith's pre-K class on the old seminary housing playground, which was still intact despite bulldozers transforming the landscape around it. (Note to former Loetscher Drive residents: Your apartments are all gone.) The kids were really happy to see each other again.

Ruth insisted on a just-the-girls picture.

We also spent part of the day at the girls' former school, hanging out with the teachers and kids. I was relieved that everything seemed much the same--the same teachers all there, the older kids practicing their Christmas and Hannukah and Kwanzaa songs for the holiday program. Everyone else from Alice's infant class was across the way in the Young Toddler room, looking a bit bigger and steadier on their feet, with more hair, but otherwise recognizable. You could see the wheels turning in Alice's head as she tried to make sense of where we were. After about half an hour, she settled back into a seat in Ms. Betsy's room and had a snack with the babies. Ms. Betsy seemed so happy to see her...while Edith followed Ms. Neelam around helping with snacks and projects for the preschool and pre-K kids.
 

No offense, Colorado, but this is what we mean by "fall color." It was good to get a dose of it this season, even if most trees were past peak.

Alice was good as gold while having her second professional haircut at her daddy's old family barber shop, one of those rare places where nothing ever changes.

We later learned that Ralph, who cut Alice's hair, had recently made a house call to give Alice's great-grandfather his last haircut a few weeks before he passed away.

We also got a dose of beach to tide us over the land-locked months.

Playing games with the seagulls

The rest of the week was dedicated to pumpkin pie, golf, and good time with family:

With Mom-mom

With Pop-pop

With Great-Aunt Eleanor

With first cousins Maggie and Santiago, icing cupcakes....

...and second cousins Emma and Danny (the same ages as E. and A.), jumping on a trampoline.

We had a little early birthday celebration for Alice, too.

At last, her own markers and coloring book! And the wedding may be over, but Edith and Jenna are still dressing alike...

The trip home was long but uneventful. On arrival we discovered that our neighbors had transformed the place in our absence. The lousy pictures don't do it justice, but welcome to mighty kitschy Manitou...

 

 

(A countdown-to-Christmas clock)

 Actually I love the lights, if not the inflatable snowglobes and Grinches. Edith and Alice love those, too. It does set a high bar for decorating, though!

Incidentally, this is the first year this blog doesn't feature the pilgrimage to a certain, ahem, November football classic. We couldn't make it to the East Coast in time for The Game, but we found a decent alternative:

 

We were very happy that another illustrious Yale team came to us during November, playing Colorado College at the World Arena. Strictly on the competitive merits, their 5-1 whupping of the home team was rather more satisfying than The Game has been in recent years.

Happy Hannukah to all those celebrating!