Late December or late April?

Yesterday we had beautiful weather here (mid-60s!) so we decided to spend a little time outdoors. I should say that I decided to spend some time outdoors. I had to do some coersing to get Lily to go out with me. Over the holidays, we allowed a bit too much tv/dvd time while preparing for parties and such, and it has backfired in a big way. It's too bad because she used to love being outdoors so much. Hopefully we'll be able to wean off the tv slowly but surely and get back to some more active/interactive activities. Though once she started playing hopscotch yesterday, she really got into it, as you can see in the pics above.

Doing research

Awhile back, we went to a WUMCHA playgroup holiday party. Lily was jabbering away, as usual, and was telling all the moms about all the "research" she had to do and how much energy it took. We all laughed, and I kind of dismissed it, thinking that she had heard the word "research" but did not put any real meaning to it. However, I think that I was mistaken. Santa gave Lily a book that came with a projector and slides to further illustrate the book. While we were getting dressed yesterday, Lily said that she wanted to wear her "white coat". But, she stated, she only has one white coat so she would have to wear the same one all weekend. Sure enough, she pulled out a long, white sweater that does resemble Carl's white coat for work. Then, she said that she had some research to do and proceeded to gather all the slides and insert them one by one in the projector. Looks like we have a little scientist in the making!

Holiday Recap

Caution: Long post ahead. Proceed only if you have awhile (or are back at work and want to kill some time).

Unfortunately, we did not get our new camera in time to record our Christmas celebration with Carl's mom, sister, and her boyfriend, Ryan, last Sunday. You can check out some pics from that night on Ingrid's blog. We had a really nice time, and I think that the dinner was pretty successful. For anyone interested, the menu was as follows:

• Black-pepper crusted standing rib roast
• Scalloped potatoes with goat cheese and herbs
• Maple-glazed carrots
• Brocollini with pecan brown butter

Lily has enjoyed all of her presents this holiday season, but the children's digital camera that Ingrid gave her that night has been one of the big highlights. Perfect timing as well, since we have learned our lesson with adult digital cameras and three-year-olds. Lily really enjoyed her visit with Grandma Deetz (Mee-maw), and we were very happy and thankful that she made the trek here from northern Illinois. We hope to return the favor and visit there sometime in '09.

On Christmas Eve night, we hosted my dad's side of the family at our house. I was really happy that we were able to host because many of my relatives had not seen our house yet. As usual, it was a very nice evening of catching up with everyone. The pictures of the night are in the "Meyer Christmas" slideshow below. (Sorry to overload with slideshows this year - it was just the easiest format and hopefully more entertaining than viewing 20 pictures in a row from each event.)

My favorite memories from that night included Lily and Gannon (my cousin Andrew's son who is 5) going off together upstairs and watching some holiday cartoons in our bed (their idea). They were just two peas in pod, giggling and enjoying themselves to no end. And, the most priceless memory: During mass, my mom asked Lily if she was excited that Santa was coming the next morning. She looked at my Aunt Dee's husband, Tom, and said, "He's here right now." At dinner, Lily purposefully sat next to Tom (in a room full of people that she surely did not remember - without me or Carl) and then...climbed onto his lap and proceeded to tell him what she wanted for Christmas. I'm not sure that anything can top that - ever. Everyone there got a good laugh out of it and was able to see first-hand Lily's boldness. As I have told others, it is very difficult for me to describe Lily's personality. It just has to be experienced. And on that night, her independence and confidence came shining through, as usual.

Tom (aka Santa) and Lily

That evening, Carl and Lily sprinkled pieces of bread in the yard for the reindeer. Then we all read "On the Night Before Christmas" together as a family - a tradition that I hope to continue. Lily had decided that she would like to leave chocolate and bread for Santa. So, we arranged the food on a decorative plate and found a good spot for it where Santa was sure to find it. Then, Lily looked up at me and said, "I'll just take one piece of the chocolate and leave the rest for Santa. Okay?" Considering that it was already getting close to 10 pm and there was no way she was getting candy at that hour, I explained that it wouldn't be considerate to take part of Santa's treat. Lily briefly considered this and then said, "Well, I'll just take all the chocolate and then Santa won't know. We'll just leave him bread." Of course, I had to laugh, but it was still a no from me. In a generous act, Santa indeed left some of the chocolate behind for Lily to sample in the morning.

Christmas morning was so much fun. This is only the second time in 13 years that I have not had to travel for Christmas, and we were loving being able to wake up in our own house and experience Christmas together with Lily. When Lily woke up, she knew that presents were waiting for her, but she did not rush downstairs to see them. She was just generally excited and reveling in the glow of Christmas morning. I wanted to go downstairs ahead of her so that I could capture her first reaction to seeing the presents, but she insisted that she be the "line leader" going down the stairs. :) Her reaction was precious too. She had the stop-in-your-tracks, wide-eyed, jaw-drop, gasps of excitement reaction that parents just eat up.

I have to say that Santa did a better job this year than last. As the Deetz side will remember, Santa was very heavy on the books last year (probably comprising 90-95% of the presents). This year, only one book with many more games, clothes, active gear, and dance class stuff (tap shoes, leotard with tutu). Lily had only asked for one present from Santa and that was the "Rainbow Dash" My Little Pony. You can see her reaction to receiving this gift in the video below. Did I mention that I love this age? The biggest hits from Santa (besides the pony which also came with a video that has been watched many times over) were the "rollarcoaster shoes" and the Polar Bear A-B-C game (which I also very much enjoy).

Lily also received a doll from her cousins Lucy and Lainey that she adores. Out of curiosity, I counted how many dolls Lily has. Assuming that I found them all (which I'm sure that I didn't), she has 18. And, she loves every single one of them. If you were to ask her what she wants at the store, 9 times out of 10, she would tell you that she wants another doll. She also enjoys stuffed animals, and I could not even begin to count the number of them in our house right now. She added to that collection a dog she named She-Shawn made at the Make-A-Bear store with Aunt Ingrid. I thought that the name she chose was interesting because the name Shoshana is Hebrew for "lily".

We spent Christmas evening at my parents' house with Angela and Zach, again eating way too much delicious food. The day after Christmas, we celebrated with my mom's side. Once again, my Uncle Sal, Uncle Vito, and my dad came through with an extraordinary Italian meal (always a highly anticipated meal by everyone in the family). As is customary on the Pellerito side, the celebration included a reenactment of the nativity by the children in the family as well as a puppet show for the little ones put together by my Aunt Kathy.

I am really hoping that someone in the family captured Lily's performance in the play. If they did, I'm sending it immediately to America's Funniest Home Videos. Lily was supposed to play the part of the sheep in the nativity story. Each person dressed up as their animal, but something got into Lily before the play and she decided that she was not having any part of it. So in our very touching story, when Lily was cued to enter the stage, she rather loudly announced to the audience that she was not dressed up as a sheep. She was only going to bring out the stuffed sheep. She then placed the stuffed sheep on the floor and kicked it across the stage. I really wish I could show it on video because the attitude is half of the experience.

Christmas fell perfectly this year so that we could all have the weekend to recover and that is what we are doing now. It's a good time for us to reflect on this past year and look ahead to the possibilities for 2009.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Merry Christmas!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Rest assured that a new camera has been ordered and is on the way. I know this was keeping some up at night. Okay, maybe just me. I am chomping at the bit for the camera to show up on our doorstep. In the meantime, let me cover the events that have failed to be recorded photographically.

On Monday, we had some yucky weather so we thought it best to remain at home. On Tuesday, we met my sister and her girls at The Magic House. Lily had so much fun with her cousins. We were sad to see them go back to St. Joe. On Wednesday, we attended a holiday party hosted by one of the WUMCHA playgroup members. It was very nice with a cookie decorating station, ornament making station and plenty of toys and books for all the kiddos. Lily had a really good time but on the way home, she stated that she did not want to go back there again because it was too long to drive and there were too many people. What she was actually referring to was the number cars on the lengthy trip home. Because the party ended just in time for rush hour, we had to navigate through the city in some fairly heavy traffic. Lily was not a fan. For the duration of the ride, she discussed all the things that she was going to do when we finally got home. Her plans entertained us both.

Today we went to a Parents as Teachers playgroup. I was really impressed all around. The teacher in the room told me that The Magic House, located nearby, provided consultation on the design of their room, so it is not surprising that it was so well-organized and well-equipped. I really admired the way that they used every available space to include learning opportunities at every turn, not unlike the Magic House.

As for our "school", we started delving into other cultures starting with cuisine. We have an international cookbook for kids that we have used to prepare meals this week. We started with Mexico and some simple tacos. Then we moved on to Italy with pesto pasta. Today was a Swedish smorgasbord with meatballs, sliced cucumbers, stuffed tomatoes and Fontina cheese with crackers. Tomorrow, we will prepare an Indian feast with curried chicken and chapatis. We are kind of drifting toward more of a culinary theme right now. Lily has rediscovered the book "Jamberry". After reading it, she suggested going to the grocery store to stock up on berries. So we did, even though they are out of season. We also read "Lily's Garden" tonight, and it had many recipes throughout, so we will probably tackle some of them soon.

This weekend we will celebrate Christmas with Carl's mom and sister. I've taken some liberties with the holiday menu, but I think his family is used to me doing this by now. We are excited for some more merriment during this cold and rainy/snowy time. And, Carl only has three more days of this rotation! I'm not sure who is more excited, me or him.

Daddy's girl

Lily at 13 months

Carl at 13 or 14 months

When going through pictures to make calendars for my family, I realized that I didn't have many pictures of Carl when he was growing up. So when we visited Carl's Grandma Deetz this Thanksgiving, I went through some photos. Carl's Uncle Dave and Ingrid were kind enough to scan the pictures and put them on a CD for me. It has been fun to go through the pictures and compare them to Lily at the same age. I like this particular age comparison because Lily and Carl are both sporting a curl mohawk.

Breakfast with Santa

Second Santa event, still no good pictures with the big guy

Decorating Christmas ornaments

Lily, Mary, and Grandma shake a leg on the dance floor


So happy together

The last picture taken on our camera

Yes, our camera is officially done. Not surprisingly, I suppose, the last picture was taken by a three-year-old. Now we are in the process of shopping for a new camera, and it is quite overwhelming. The timing is just impeccable too. Our breakfast with Santa was Saturday morning. We celebrated Christmas with our immediate family Saturday night and then Sunday morning, I hosted a cookie exchange with the Pellerito girls. So, no pictures to share from these events. We are currently getting hit with some nasty weather (ice/snow mix) so we won't be venturing out anytime soon. Hopefully we'll be able to purchase a new camera sometime soon, before all our holiday events pass us by!

Lily reading to her baby

Lily says the darndest things

"Incredible", she says while shaking her head and crossing her arms. "Now I have to go downstairs for the inventory." [Sigh] And she heads off toward the basement.

"I always see your movies all scrumbled up with my movies."

Probably the best is from this morning when my mom watched Lily while I went on an interview. She informed my mother that she wants a little baby (or more precisely, a little baby girl). Then she added that mommy and daddy said that they are trying to get a little baby. Lily then told my mom that she told us to keep trying...try, try, try. And then proceeded to sing a song about trying that included verses like, "Don't give up! I know you can do it!" Freakin' hilarious.

Mole Patrol

We currently have a mole tunneling through our backyard, likely due to some construction across the street. Lily gets such a kick out of going out and stomping down the tunnels. It reminds me of the stomping of the divots scene in Pretty Woman. Lily is ever-so-proud of her all-important job; she strikes a strong arm pose that is the cutest.

A week in review

It's hard to believe that it has been a week since my last post. We've been busy beavers around here. To pick up where we left off, last Wednesday, we went to the Transportation Museum. We really enjoy their Creation Station room designed for younger children. Lily played with a tractor set, made a glittery train picture and played on the big wooden ship. Lots of fun!

On Thursday, we went to the Oakland House for a holiday extravaganza. Below are the pictures from this event.

The Oakland House

Holiday story - Lily was completely captivated by the reading

Puppet show. Once again, I don't think Lily moved during the entire performance. She was totally mesmerized.

Waiting in line to see Santa is hard work. Here, Lily takes a load off.

Lily finally gets to see the man of the hour. Luckily, we got a shot of the stark naked baby with Santa. I was afraid this shot would elude us this holiday season.

Into the kitchen for freshly baked cookies from a slightly scary Mrs. Claus. When sweets are involved, the kids don't seem to mind.

On Thursday night, Carl and I went to a cocktail party hosted by WUMCHA. It was nice to have a grown-up evening. However, Carl was already not feeling well at this point, and since he has been waking up at 4 am for work and not getting home until around 7:30 pm, going to the party was probably not a wise move. He is currently on his surgical pathology rotation which is by far the worst. He is getting hit particularly hard because the work load (number and complexity of cases) seem to be really high. The hours alone are not helping Carl recover from his illness, but the added stress of an incredibly busy work day makes it worse. All this right before the holidays - sheesh! This is the last new rotation for Carl. After Christmas, he will cycle back through all the rotations that he has done up to this point. I think that will be nice for Carl. It's always nice to have some experience under your belt and to know what to expect.

On Friday, Lily and I headed out to my parents house for a scrumptious chili lunch, some shopping, and gift wrapping. Good times! Lily has been very into wrapping gifts. At home, she gathers together little stuffed animals and trinkets and wraps them up for her baby dolls. She is so funny when she opens them up for the dolls and gives an exaggerated, "Oh, it's so cute! Look baby...isn't it great?"

Saturday is when Lily and I started feeling under the weather. I don't mind being sick in general, but it really ticks me off when it interferes with our social calendar. So far, we have missed: a holiday party held at the home of one of Carl's colleagues, a cookie swap with WUMCHA, cookie decorating at Whole Foods, and story time at Pottery Barn Kids. Stinky.

Today, Lily and I are having a completely self-indulgent day. She has been given an unlimited pass to tv watching today, and I am kicking back with my computer & internet access. We are pushing fluids big time. Our household is going through orange juice like it's going out of style. Luckily, getting in some fruits and vitamin C is never a problem with Lily. Since clementine season is back, we have had to limit her to *8* per day again. However, I have also allowed normally forbidden things, like say, eating frosting straight out of the can. Hey, whatever gets you through the day.

So far, Lily seems only mildly affected by the bug we have caught. Although, it is sometimes hard to tell with her because she remains in good spirits and is generally playful and active even when sick. But I can hear the congestion and coughing. She has occasionally complained of having a headache and seems aware that something is not quite right. She told Carl on the phone last night that her head is all wrapped up, and it's hard.

In other news with Lily, she has been impressing us with her use of some new words lately like "delicate". She is also really into telling secrets right now. The last one was that I was told was, "The hair is not real. It's fake." Like a bad toupee, I guess it's not a secret anymore. She has also gotten into Toot & Puddle lately which I like because they often visit other countries. As a sociology/anthropology major, I like that she is taking an interest in other cultures. During her play yesterday, she told me that we were getting ready to go on a camel ride. When I asked her where we were going on the camel, she replied, "Africa". That's pretty cool. Also, she was playing with a decorative fan the other day and when I asked her where she got it, she said, "China". Looks like some cultural studies will be our next topic in "school" whenever we both get to feeling better.

Our Lily

After finishing dishes in the kitchen, I came into the Hearth Room to find a little girl who had crammed herself into a tiny container while putting on glitter lipstick. Gotta love it.

Always something new

So here's a new one for my parenting files. Lily and I went out to lunch today, and before I could catch her, she ran straight into the men's bathroom. The best that I could do was quickly knock on the door, open it and call to her from the doorway. Luckily, no one was in there, and she came to me right away, but the girl does enjoy challenging my problem-solving skills.

Happy December!

We got a brand new tree this year with a few new decorations. We were so excited about it that we just couldn't wait to put it up - so here it is!

Luckily, we were able to use Carl's time off before Thanksgiving wisely, so 95% of our presents are purchased and wrapped! Certainly a first for me. And, it is a good thing that we did. I knew that the December calendar would fill up fast, and it has. So far, we have at least 6 different holiday parties, 2 cookie exchanges and various other events to attend throughout the month. I'm definitely not complaining. I love any excuse to celebrate. And with the shopping out of the way, we can focus on the fun stuff. Happy, happy holidays everyone!