snow, and more

Everybody enjoyed the snow! Iain experienced some frustration with his little mitts--he had such difficulty picking up the small shovel everytime he dropped it! Thomas threw his first snowballs, mostly at me, and was disappointed that there wasn't really enough snow to build a snowman. He announced this morning that he wished we lived in England. We were surprised by this revelation (since Thomas has never been to England); when pressed, he admitted tha the wanted to play in the snow as he had seen his favorite animated English characters (Kipper and Tiger, if these names are familiar to you) do. We'll wait and see.

Anna's eye surgery does seem to have been a success. Her opthamologist was pleased with the result; Anna's eyes are not crossing any more! Anna returns in March for a follow-up, when the doctor will determine whether Anna needs to continue to wear glasses. Again, we'll wait and see!

post-op news

Anna's eye surgery is over! We have to wait until Wednesday, when she is scheduled for a post-op visit to the opthamologist, to find out all the details. But she has recovered significantly this morning, and even asked for her glasses. She's still a bit puffy--the swelling has been made worse by the additional fluid she was given during the procedure. Some children do not need glasses following this type of surgery, but I suspect Anna will still wear them. After all, she has two parents who have worn glasses for many years.

I expect that by the end of the weekend I will have pictures of the kids playing in the snow: it has just begun to fall!

hats

who said people don't wear enough hats? granted, it's the same hat (Lewis's cowboy hat), but they all seem to make it their own. Iain has even tried to say 'hat', just to see if Lewis would give it to him. how could he say no?

all three of the children enjoyed the snow this evening--yes, snow! for a little while, it was really coming down. it settled on the patio furniture and accumulated there and on the grass. Iain stood with Lewis at the big picture-window and slapped the glass enthusiatically; all through dinner, he kept looking over his shoulder to see if it was still coming down. Thomas surmised early on that there wouldn't be enough snow to make a snowman. oh, well. the rain will wash it all away by morning.

Anna is scheduled, finally, for her eye surgery: this Friday noon. it is not supposed to be a big ordeal, but she will not experience it as such. we just hope it all goes smoothly and she recovers as quickly as the doctor says she should.

Ninth day

...of Christmas, that is. and we are still enjoying the things Santa brought. Iain loves to be pushed around on his little tricycle; Anna prefers How Do Dinosaurs Go to School? to her bike, still. Thomas's first ride on the street, on a family walk on the 31st, was a great success! He enjoyed it, despite having an ear infection--which was discovered later that day. Illness after illness has been the story here since just after Thanksgiving. We are hoping to get and stay well in the New Year!

Our next celebration, on the 12th day of Christmas, will be Lewis's birthday. And then we get back to school, Tuesday! Anna and Thomas are looking forward to seeing their friends, and getting back to the usual and ordinary routine.

bicycle neophyte

As promised, here is the video of Thomas on his new bike. It hardly qualifies as a video, really--it's just a clip. But you'll get the idea. He improves daily!

jingle bells

and yes, that little voice was Thomas's. it is worth adding that "Jingle Bells" isn't his absolute favorite Christmas song. that honor goes to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"--Bruce Springsteen's version, of course.

post-Christmas

(pictures to follow, of course: as soon as I get them off the camera!)

Thomas would say that Christmas was great. He was especially thrilled by two things Santa delivered: a new bicycle and a pair of kid-safe scissors. He definitely feels like a big kid now. The bicycle was discovered (by Santa, of course) at Toys 'r' Us a couple of months ago. The word 'hummer' and the H16 on the side were particularly appealing, for obvious reasons. Thomas is fond of telling people that he got a 'rescue-hero-hummer bike' from Santa. I am not sure where the rescue hero part comes from, but if he's into rescuing, that's fine by me.

Anna talks far less about what Santa brought. Although she wants to use her scissors when Thomas is using his, she has not yet ridden the bike Santa brought her. Far more interesting fro Anna at the moment is Angelina Ballerina: instead of riding the bike, she wants to try cartwheels. Of course she can't, yet, but I think some gymnastics and ballet are in our future--and not the distant future, either. Among the various Christmas gifts, she is particularly enjoying new Kipper videos and a new book--How Do Dinosaurs Go to School?

Iain didn't quite get into the Christmas morning frenzy in the way Thomas did. Predictably, his big fun of the day was the boxes and wrapping--particularly taking the torn paper and ribbons out of the boxes in which it had been put in the great clearing-up after unwrapping gifts. I am not sure how to link the short video I took of him playing in the paper to the blog, but I will try. (and if I figure it out, there's a bit of Thomas bike-riding to include as well...) He loves being pushed around on his new trainer-trike. It is a complicated little bit of equipment, complete with sound effects and music. A description would be practically useless: I promise a photo!

As for us parents, we're just happy they were happy. And tired! We finally arranged for a babysitter to come so we could attend midnight Mass on Christmas eve. Only a college student (whom Thomas calls "college Mark" since he started at UGA in the fall of 2006) would be willing to come over to babysit at 11: 30 on Christmas eve! Then Thomas was down the hall, Anna at his heels, at 5:00am, exclaiming, "Look, Santa brought a new bike!!" So what we didn't get for Christmas was a lot of sleep! But so it goes, and I was glad both that we made it to Mass and that the kids were happy on the day. Near Emory there used to be a billboard--one of those at the bus stop--advertising what appeared to be beer with caffeine. The caption simply read: "you can sleep when you're thirty." I remember thinking then, as I have many times since, "not if you have kids!"

The photos to come will, of course, be worth far more than these (less than a thousand) words. So don't give up!

m