Creche

The creche is also on display. Ted is in charge of this and Fans, he really outdid himself this year. Certain of our Fans know well that our creche is comprised of a motley crew, ranging from a panda bear to a tiger. Each year, Ted chooses one animal for each of the bambini to add to the menagerie; this year's have not yet been selected. This holiday season, working from left to right, Ted has created the following areas: angels-we-have-heard-on-high, a jungle, a dessert, a meadow, a farm, and a woodland. The woodland area features a lake made of blue construction paper. For our Fans familiar with the creche from its days at Ted's childhood home at Camel Hollow Road, we know that the question on your mind is "Where is the tee pee?" (Now, for other Fans, the question on your mind is "Tee pee. . .?") The tee pee is on the shores of the lake in the woodland area. The baby Jesus in the middle of it all, between the jungle and dessert areas, in front of both of those areas. Our babies visit the creche after their baths and affect migrations of various creatures--just like the Star of Bethlehem did!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

The first words out of Joe's mouth this morning were (you guessed it, Fans): "Can we put up the Christmas tree?" We got it out. While the bambini were awake. From then, until Ted left with the bambini in tow on a cloud of Julie's everlasting devotion, it was a glittery and shiny mess. Joe wanted to hang ornaments, so Clara did, too. Joe is capable of taking some--we stress the word some--direction; Clara, of course, is not. So Joe ferried ornaments to Ted to hang, while Clara got relegated to the carrier, where she was permitted to play with the Rottweiler jingle bell ornament. (She also played with her pink phone which she kept holding up to Julie's ear and saying, "Ello? Ello?!") That fragile peace lasted less than an hour.

After Ted and the bambini left (for Ridgedale mall as it turns out), Julie hung ornaments at a furious pace until reinforcements arrived in the form of Grandma Connie and Grandpa Charles. Grandma Connie trims a mean tree, but also has been known to spend a day doing it. Julie told her time was of the essence. Things were pretty well done by the time the bambini sailed back in, but there were enough ornaments for Joe to get his hand in it all again. Julie's heart smiled when she heard Grandma Connie giving him his first lesson in Tree Trimming According to Grandma Connie: the ornament has to dangle freely.

The tree is now trimmed. Julie finished the top up after the bambini had gone to bed. Ted helped after he saw her standing on the arm of the sofa again.*

But before that, and after nap, Clara managed to pull one ornament off, and is rather taken with turning on and off the lights. So although Joe could manage a "gentle touches" rule, and learned the word "delicate" in Christmas seasons past, we feel confident that a "no touch" rule must be the law of the season this year.

Oh but Fans, you should have seen Our Hero tonight, in his pjs, dancing around the tree, counting all the red ornaments as high as he could go, finding the purple one, and the snowmen, and the penguin and so on. Such joy.

*Longtime Fans may recall that Julie was chastised for pulling this stunt "when she was like, nine months pregnant." Let the record reflect that she was seven months pregnant:

http://joeekkers.blogspot.com/2010/02/unauthorized-cleaning.html

Clara's First Full Out Freak Out

Thanksgiving 2011 will also be the anniversary of Clara's first really big tantrum, featuring our Bird, on the floor, screaming, pushing away all within her reach that would make a racket in the shoving, crying (of course), spinning, arching, flipping. . .Poor Birdie. Who knows what was wrong? One moment all is well, and the next was on its way to hell in a hand basket.

Thanksgiving 2011

Fans, we have so much to report from Thanksgiving 2011. Settle in. Joe woke up chirping about. . .Christmas. He is keen to have the Christmas tree up, and Santa donate to him a Thomas the Tank Engine puzzle. You read that right, Fans. There is an organization here in St. Louis Park called STEP, that assists low-income folks with food and necessities and, around this time of year, presents for the holidays. We (by which we mean so far only Ted) have begun volunteering there. As part of his inaugural visit, Ted took some food and two toys Joe had helped choose: a garbage truck and--yes, you were no doubt there already Fans--a Thomas the Tank Engine puzzle. Joe does understand that by "donate" one means give away. But his definition is not yet so refined as to encompass the concept of give away to those with less. And so he has been keen to have donated to him a Thomas the Tank Engine puzzle. Fear not, Fans. The item has been secured and will be donated to Our Hero December 25. (It is perhaps worth noting here that later in the day, when Joe was kept occupied with making a list of all his heart's desires for Santa, his heart's desires numbered but two: the Thomas puzzle, and a fishing pole.*)

Alas, today was only Thanksgiving. We whiled away the early morning hours at the annual Walk Against Hunger at the Mall of America (Read: a good cause and excellent opportunity to let your toddlers tear about the Mall of America at warp speed thus tiring them out at warp speed; Joe tried an escalator! So brave!) with Marco and his entourage. As the meet was at the early hour of between 8am and 8:30am, we had cereal for breakfast. Joe charmed Julie when he brought his bowl to her at the sink and set it on the drain board, announcing, "Mommy, I'm just setting this on the counter because I need to go potty." That's verbatim because Julie was so taken aback by the completeness of thought and expression, she stripped off her dishwashing gloves to grab a pen and write it down. However, there was not a meeting of the minds, despite this clarity. Julie, assuming Joe meant he really had to go and thus was setting his bowl by the sink with a banana peel still in it instead of tossing it in the garbage first, tossed the peel and the cereal dregs and washed the bowl. Joe was rather sad when he returned from the potty, ready to finish the job. He meant he was setting it on the counter, but would be right back. !!!!!

Fans, by now, you may be thinking, "Editors. Get to it!" But we sort of like these little bits. They're really the good stuff, right? Also good stuff: the Grandparents Trump arriveth. Grandpa Charles is having hip replacement surgery in three weeks, and is really a trooper. Somehow, despite it all, he managed to tickle Joe on Joe's bed this morning for rather a long time. He has a cane for the time being, and Joe is quite taken with it. Let us simply say that Grandpa Charles does not deny Our Hero anything. Turns out, Grandma Connie is also rather good at tickling. While Julie and Ted were in the midst of the final moments of the Thanksgiving feast preparations, Joe and Clara were on the porch with their Grandparents Trump and Fans, we don't know what was happening, but the squeals could probably be heard throughout all of St. Louis Park.

And then it was dinner. Grandpa Charles said grace. (Clara banged her plate through it. Give it up for giving thanks!) Now, Fans. You would think that mashed sweet potatoes with maple syrup (you know, the stuff you put on pancakes) that are orange would be the biggest hit with the bambini. And Fans. You would be wrong. The clear winner: "that red stuff."** This would be the cranberry sauce. It is good. We use a recipe from Grandma Jane that notes she took it to Thanksgiving at Kate's in 20-something-we-cannot-remember-right-now-exactly. There was also, naturally, pie. Clara ate hers the way she eats cake--i.e. just picks the whole piece up and tries to eat it all at once. The meal ended sort of organically when Clara picked up a remaining hunk of pie on her plate and pitched it on the floor--splat! (Fans, our dinner theater goes up every day. Our show runs 365 days a year. Matinees twice a week in addition to the dinner show. Don't forget to tip your wait staff.)

We mentioned that Grandpa Charles said grace. He did, and he does, and it's always nice--familiar, but unique to the year, too. And as Clara was banging away anyway, we did not, in the end, do as Julie has thought of doing--going about the table to share something for which we are thankful. But, if we had, Julie would have shared what Joe said at some point this weekend: "When we're all together that means family."

To our family, right now in Fayetteville and Santa Fe, we miss you. Happy Thanksgiving.

And here are some pictures!

*Special to Kate: We forgot this! Or at least, I did! Clearly, Joe did not! [Fans, many--all?--of you may recall that Joe was rather taken with a toy fishing pole that was at the lake house we stayed at this summer.]

**Honorable mention to green olives. Julie grew up with a "relish plate" on her holiday table that included dill pickles, green olives, radishes, carrots, and celery (the later three collectively referred to as "rabbit food"). She still likes to do the dill pickles and olives. So does Grandpa Charles. As it turns out, both bambini tried--and liked!--the green olives. Joe also had a pickle. [Special again to Kate: You're cringing, right? :)]

Three Reports, Two Incidents, One Bird (and One Big Red Barn)

Tuesday was a big day for Birdie, Brigade. By day's end, in her folder, in her classroom, she had three reports. In addition to the usual report on her daily doings, there were two incident reports. Incident #1 occurred at 10:45am: "Clara was playing by the sink when another child bit her upper arm." Incident #2 occurred at 4pm: "Clara was climbing on the shelf when she fell and hit her head on the carpet." Here's what happened in between: "Today I. . .made a turkey! Clara had her hand painted with brown, orange, and red paint to make her turkey. We also worked on our colors and read Big Red Barn. Ms. Julie [the Learning Adventures teacher is also named Ms. Julie] came to our classroom today for music class. Clara had fun shaking the bells!"

That evening, Clara was at the shelf picking out a book to read during stories-before-bed-time. She pulled out our copy of Big Red Barn, padded over to Julie with it, sort of pitched it at her like "Let's do this thing," and said--big as life--Big Red Barn. !!!!! Julie almost fell out of the big red chair.

We are pleased to report that Birdie's various wounds are healing up quite nicely. She may even manage to look presentable for school pictures this week.