Pre-Christmas post

Just a little family update before the holiday rush begins...

I can't post any pictures currently because on a short trip to Memphis last week, we left our camera battery charger. Bummer. But thanks to my sister Angela, we should have it back within a couple of days, and I'll try to post some pictures then.

The biggest changes lately have probably been with William. He is beginning to communicate with us which is just awesome. His first discernible words were "Thank you" and "All done". I remember Lily's first words being names of objects, but not William. He is all about the utility of language. Incredibly, he also says "Night-night" (nie-nie) when he wants to go to bed. How terrific is that? His preferred schedule is: up 2 1/2 hrs, sleep 2 hrs, up 2 1/2 hrs, sleep 2 hrs, up 3 hrs and sleep 12 hours. Again, how fantastic is this kid? When he is ready for bed, and we ask him if he wants to go Night-night, he says "yeah", claps his hands, puts his head on my shoulder and sucks his thumb. Both adorable and amazing to me.

William has also started some serious climbing. He now climbs on top of his musical table and attempts to crawl through the window that goes from the kitchen to the add-on hearth room, naughty boy. He also has learned to push Lily's step stool to whichever counter he wants to reach to obtain just-out-of-reach objects. He is pretty much into everything right now and is in general a one-man destruction crew. Probably one of my favorite things that he does is when we say "No no", he smiles so big, shakes his head "no" and proceeds to again do the forbidden action. The cuteness gets me every time, and I can't help but smile and scoop up that little boy for some kisses.

Lily is doing very well and just seems to enjoy everything. She loves school so much and now has a new love interest. In her words, when she first saw him, she just knew that they were meant to be together forever. He loves her, and she loves him, and they are going to get married. I have to walk her down the aisle, and then they are going to live next door to us. Plans for future: check. However, it should be noted that we just went on a date with her former love interest on Friday night. We went to see her friend's dad play in the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra's holiday concert (he plays the trumpet). I really enjoyed the performance, and I think that she did too. She loves to get dressed up and go to fancy places. Plus, Santa was there for picture-taking which was great as well. Lily's friend's dad came to talk with us at intermission, and I felt ultra-cool for knowing someone "in the band". :)

Lily has taken a deeper interest in the subject of death lately which is really tough to work through with a 5-year-old, mainly because it is such an unknown to adults as well. We try to explain it to her as best as possible, hopefully without scaring her, but it is such an uncomfortable topic. Her latest concern is that Carl and I will not remember her and William when we die because as she stated, "When your body dies, your brain dies too so you can't remember". Hmm.... The best we can really do is tell her that that is hopefully a long time off and focus on enjoying each other now.

My crazy, hectic semester has finally come to an end. Final grades were due this evening, and students will be able to view their grades tomorrow. Barring any resulting craziness, winter break is here!! I am going to try to use the time between now and the beginning of next semester to recharge. How, I don't exactly know, but I'm going to start with some cleaning and organizing. It always makes me feel so much better to have everything in order. I am proud to say that Christmas shopping is done (except for teacher gifts which I forgot about)! And, we hosted a very fun WUMCHA kids' holiday party at our house today with about 20 kids in attendance, so we are off to a good start.

Carl has been busy interviewing for fellowship at various institutions and has had a couple offers already. We may be making a decision sooner than anticipated which is okay by me! Even though fellowship is a year and a half away, it is also good to know the plan. And, it is always fun to think about the final year of this very long process!!!

Otherwise, we are looking forward to a quiet Christmas with just us and the kids (it looks like some nasty weather may be heading our way on Friday, so I am especially relieved not to be traveling). Carl has decided that he wants to cook the Christmas meal with a traditional Christmas goose and oyster stuffing!! I can't wait to see (and taste) that.

Merry Christmas to everyone! May you have a safe and happy holiday season, surrounded by those you love.