Latkes

Just want to give a little shout out to Trader Joe's for making such great frozen latkes, so I didn't have to make them by hand for Bella's class hannukah party.

Obama

Bella wanted to have an Obama treasure hunt at the bookstore, meaning we searched all the books and magazines for Obama pictures.  "Obama! There's another Obama! Obama over there."  I loved her passion, I laughed the sincerity in her voice, but my favorite moment by far was when she pointed to a picture of Oprah and said, "And there's good old Michelle."

Bella, Sledder at Last

Hmmmm..... last week went like this:  "I HATE sledding!  Its way too fast and scary. Don't EVER ask me to go sledding again.  Just talking about it is making me cry and be very very angry and grumpy at you."  

"Um--Bella??  This hill is smaller than your bed, way smaller than the slide you just went down and landed in a big pile of snow.  I mean, we don't have to talk about it very much--but I'm just trying to show you the very smallness of this hill."

"UGH!  You are NOT listening to me.  You are turning this into the baddest day ever!!"

"Okay-okay.  I hear you.  Lets go inside."

This weekend went like this:   "What did you do at school today??"

"Me and Anna went sledding the whole time!  It was the funnest thing ever, it was my favorite part of the day!  It was SOOOOOOO bumpy and that was the best.  Want to see a drawing of all the bumps??"

"Really???? I mean, yes, lets see the drawing."

Thoughts:  So I guess Darius and I could have skipped the whole discussion about Bella's anxieties and whether or not we should send her to a play therapist or a sensory integration specialist.  We could've skipped the part about where we went wrong and how to tell the teachers to help Bella during recess.

We could have stopped thinking so hard about exactly how to help her become a real bona fide sledder because it turned out (once again), the special ingredients that turn a girl into a sledder were just where they needed to be: inside Bella.

 I'm so proud!

Anni

Anni is so careful with her baby doll.  With most other toys, she runs and jumps and vrrmmmmms about, but I watched her with her baby doll this morning as she slowly unwrapped the blanket, laid the baby down gently, brought one finger up to her own mouth to blow on it (her version of saying shhhhhhh), wrapped the baby with each corner of the blanket, carefully brought the baby to her cheek and rocked it back and forth.  She repeated this over and over again, each time with the same care and tenderness.   And each time, it took my breath away.

BLOG the Word

Blog is a word that I didn't know until way after everyone was supposed to know what it meant. I am not even going to tell you when I learned its definition because you wouldn't even believe me. Its kind of like the way I don't know any actors names or bands or even titles of movies I have seen and enjoyed. My husband once explained to a friend whose mouth was half open in amazement at my lack of knowing someone-or-other (see--I still can't remember who it was!) "Oh, by the way, Li doesn't do popular culture." I thought it was a kind way to say I was missing a serious part of my brain.

Anyway--on that note, I recently read an article (can't remember where) about the ugliness of the word blog. And I have to totally agree. It doesn't sound natural. It reminds me of the shape and sound my mouth might make when I vomit. Also brings to mind a dirty hog. And the word blah. And booger.

Hello Out There--Its My Turn to BLOG!!!

Okay, so now that pretty much EVERYONE I know has their own blog, its MY TURN!!  I almost named my blog just that, but then it reminded me too much of how my girls, six and 1.5, treat every object in this house. 

 Just this morning, Bella (6) was reading a baby book and I saw the look in Anni's eye--it said, "this is my chance!"  "Nuuuuuuuuuu!" Anni yelled (translation: NO!)   Anni waddled her cherub tushy across the room and proceeded to grab the book out of Bella's big hands.  This behavior being,  of course, something Anni learned from direct observation and imitation of Bella.   Hard to totally understand then, why Bella looked up at me in despair. "Mom--she just grabbed the book out of my hands!"  Huh.