New Years Eve: Out with the Old

For the past while I've been keeping a close eye on Ginny's mouth, watching for any sign of her first tooth. It didn't occur to me that there was another mouth in the house that I should have been watching a little closer.
Late in the afternoon on New Years Eve, Ethan came in with a concerned look on his face after playing outside.
"Mom, I fell and bonked my mouth and my teeth are funny now."
That put a concerned look on MY face. Upon examination of the "funny" teeth, we concluded that the two lower front teeth were "very wiggly." Only a few hours later, Ethan lost his first tooth. Literally his first tooth. That was the first one to come in when he was a baby, and now it's the first one to be put in the place of honor underneath the pillow. It's neighbor is acting eager to follow.

Thanks to the big gaps in his teeth, it's kind of hard to tell anything is amiss.

Cousins

Matt's sister Marci and her family are home for the holidays from Eugene. Ginny loves having her cousin Rocky around to do tummy time with.

Christmas Program

All the kindergarten classes at Ethan's school put on a Christmas program yesterday. They've been practicing for weeks and we've been hearing bits and pieces of songs around the house. I was really impressed with how many songs those kids had memorized. I also had no idea how many songs there were about Santa.

Marci, Brandon and Rocky were able to come up and watch it with us. When we walked into the gym, the kids were already sitting up on the stage. I loved that Ethan saw all of us show up and just wiggled with excitement.

My favorite was when they sang Silent Night. They sang the first verse and then hummed the melody while they did the first verse in sign language. Silent Night has been my favorite Christmas song since I was in Sonoma Valley Children's Chorale and we learned the whole song in german. To hear it in those sweet voices (and I swear I could pick Ethan out) and then to see it in yet another language. Oooh, I had goosebumps.

Ethan's favorite, the one he's been singing around the house the most, is I'm Getting Nuttin' for Christmas. I don't know if it's because he likes all the naughty things in the song, or if he secretly wonders it about himself.

All in a row

Joanna's passion lately is lining things up.

Add that to Ethan's penchant for a jumbled pile and you've got a recipe for trouble.

Decorating for Christmas

Ever since Ethan was one year old, decorating the Christmas tree has been a favorite event of mine. In years before that, I'd always enjoyed getting out the ornaments, remembering the stories that came with each one. But add the excitement of a toddler running back and forth between you and the tree, hanging every ornament within the same square foot of tree space, all with such care you didn't know their chubby little fingers were capable of. Oh man, it's bliss for me.
Trying to capture the beauty of these precious little faces lit up by the Christmas lights was a difficult task due to the fact that their precious little bodies don't stop moving. So we ended up with a lot of blur, but that's kind of how the evening ends up being. A blur of excitement and tradition and Christmas stories and hot cocoa and Christmas songs.

Joanna doesn't remember last Christmas all that well, so she's having a hard time this year understanding what the big socks hanging on the wall are for.

And even more kids stories

I wonder sometimes if these little stories I share are as cute to the rest of the world as they are to me. Maybe not, since I think my kids are the epitome of cuteness, and I know there are other moms out there who think their own kids hold that status. Either way, I know there's at least two sets of grandparents and a smattering of aunts and uncles who get a kick out of my kids so here we go with round three of my own version of "kids say the darnedest things".
We've been transferring photos from our old computer to the new one, so I'm going to throw in a couple of oldies but goodies towards the end.

I leave the kids in the car to run in and pick up my contacts. When I get back in Ethan says "We talked about it and (he throws his hands up in the air), none of us knows how to drive the car!"

Joanna ate a banana and carried the peel around for a little bit. Then she put it down in the middle of the floor and yelled " 'atch out! Don't swip!"

Joanna: 11 months

Ethan: "I'm going to wear my skull sweatshirt because I'm awesome and I look awesome in it!"

Ethan: 4 1/2

Aunt Jill: "Whoever says 'I'm a geek' wins!"
Ethan: "I'm a geek!"
Me: "Ethan, do you know what a geek is?"
Ethan: "umm...."
Me: "It's like a nerd. Do you know what a nerd is?"
Ethan: "Candy!"

Joanna: 1 year. Ethan: 4 1/2.

These last few are thanks to Ethan's vocab program in kindergarten.

"My favorite word is....The!"

Joanna: 1 year

"I'm not sharing. I'm a happy miser!" ( I think this one is thanks to Daffy Duck )

Ethan's silly face: 4 1/2

Ethan's playing in the creek bed with Carson, smacking a shovel against a rock to make sparks. I call for him, telling him it's time to come home and he yells back: "No! I want to linger!"

Joanna: 14 months