We thought it would be fun to join the church at Camp Indianola over the New Year. We packed up (...four suitcases, three sleeping bags, a stack of blankets and sheets, two pillows, one travel bag, one Pack-N-Play, a pile of diapers, one stroller, one cooler, four bags of food, various stuffed animals and a selection of toys), caught the ferry, and arrived last night around 5:30. All was going well. Kenzie and Mason were both having fun playing with the kids...until it became time to go to bed.

Mason just couldn't relax without his crib. He kept falling asleep but then waking up progressively more and more agitated. At one point he just got the giggles, and then he wanted to play. Then he was irritated that he wasn't asleep.

So, when, at 2:30 AM Kenzie woke up and thought it was time to play, we threw in the towel and packed up (everything). The ferries weren't running at that hour, so we had to drive all the way around the peninsula. The good news is that there was no traffic, so we hit our pillows at about 4:30! Maybe in a couple of years we'll try again...

It's New Year's Eve and I was sitting here lamenting the fact that the long-standing plans were foiled, and we're relegated to watching basketball in the basement to bring in the New Year. Then our wonderful neighbors came over and "asked" if they could have the kids for the night. Yahooie!

He still hasn't quite figured out how to put his hand to his mouth for "eat." Instead it's a repeated thumping of his forehead.

And another one...eating peanut butter and celery.

We had a nice, laid-back Christmas. But perhaps a little nutty. Kenzie didn't get up until after 9 (a record). The grandparents came up and we had Eggs Benedict, followed by hours of present-opening. It wasn't that there were that many presents, just that Kenzie and Mason both open rather slowly.

Given that Kenzie was in a frenzy last night because she thought we were up too late and were going to run into Santa, she was surprisingly unimpressed with the concept this morning. Her stuffed stocking hung in place for an hour or so after she got up. Did she believe the stories of the man in the red suit?? She told us that Santa prefers chocolate milk to white, leading me to believe that she was just playing along with us the whole time. But, then again, I asked her if he came and she said, "yes, and he put stuff in my stocking." Who knows!

This is the kid who, without notice, proclaims "I'm Deedee" and role-plays the charismatic actress (from the Doodlebops) with such complete sincerity that I'm not quite sure what she believes there either!

"Deedee" (played by Kenzie) joined us for much of the day today, breaking into frequent song and dance. Her favorite song is "You Can Do Anything." She is both songwriter and performer. Typically the song goes on and on with different verb/noun combinations. "You can do anything, you can clap your hands. You can dance like this, See. You can do anything." When Kenzie becomes Deedee, she then refers to me as Leaf, Cindy as Gertrude, and Mason as Hammer. I don't know why. But she is very consistent and she insists that we refer to each others' stage names too.

Mason pulled the espresso machine over on himself. It wasn't hot, but left a series of bruises going down his face, starting on the forehead, then just below the eye, finishing up on his lip. That kid is so fast and strong. We had to team up to keep Grampy's cane away from him. Once he gets a grip on it--and he will given the chance--he wields it, chins beware, and it takes pliers to pry it away from him.

To top off the day, we spent the evening playing Whac-A-Mole and Hungry Hippo.

She made this magnet at school. How cute is that!

Please!
I'm so amazed at how quickly Mason's picking up signs. It's fun to read back just a couple of weeks ago to measure the progress. He really understands the concept of signing and is getting good at communicating. I can ask him, "What's your sign for..." and he'll demonstrate (if he so chooses). He also knows when and how to use them to get what he wants. His favorite new sign is "help" (slap your collar bones repeatedly with your hands). He defers to it now as the universal sign.

This morning I was showing him how to say "banana" - he didn't repeat it, but he kept watching. He doesn't have the dexterity yet to hold up one finger and use the other hand to "peel" it. I find that some of his signs overlap because of his ability to execute them. For example, "cat" and "eat" both look the same--they have to be put in context (and hope he's not asking to eat the cat).

It is so amazing to watch the frustration disappear as he can switch from grunting to asking. The frustration comes now if he's not understood!

Oh, and almost every sign is followed by "please." He figured out that increases his odds of success. (Does for me, at least, because it's very cute.)

The "adults" tested out the synthetic snow first, then the kids were safe to try it.

Then it was onto the serious business...

Snippets of Kenzie's conversations from the last week...

"So, Santa lands on the roof. [pause] Okay. And he comes down the chimney. But HOW does he get DOWN?"

"Grampy, is this your downstairs? So, THIS is the fireplace that Santa will come down? How is he going to get out of THAT?"

"If you wanted to go to Santa's house at the North Pole how would you get there?" I told her that Santa would take you. "So, you mean that if I want to go up to Santa's home, he has to [holding finger up to indicate a "one"] get in his sleigh, [two fingers] fly down to my house, I get into his sled and then [three fingers] he takes me all the way back up there?" Yes, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

"How does he dash through the fireplace. I don't know how he does that."

"Santa's coming in the fireplace downstairs? Well, then, he'll have to tiptoe upstairs really quietly to not wake us up and put presents under the tree."

I tried telling her that the red light on top of the water tower was Rudolf's nose. "No, mom, that's just a red light."

Oh, and Grammy, here is a poll of 4500+ people who claim that the average age when a person stops believing in Santa is 8 to 10. You have frequently called me "slow" for not catching on at the ripe age of six, when my best friend Molly spilled the beans and forever lifted the veil of trust to expose the harsh truth of humanity: parents lie. And here I am perpetuating it. Yes, it is our nature, but I still hold a grudge. And I wasn't slow.

Mr. Mellow, Mister Nothing-Bothers-Me. That's what we used to call Mason. Wow, is he getting an opinion about everything now! In particular, he insists on self-feeding. And eating only certain things -- bananas and yogurt top the list.

I have to admit, I still think it's cute and have a hard time saying no about anything to him...that's an issue we'll be lamenting later.

He is quite the kisser. He was trying to kiss the lady behind us in line today. She deserved it - she was flirting with him. He later crawled up on Grampy's lap (because Grampy's not supposed to be lifting him) and planted three kisses on him. He loves his grandparents.

Kenzie loves them too (and it's quite mutual). She got to have a sleepover with Grammy and Grampy. They had a "project" where they dipped pretzels and arranged them in the shape of a wreath.

Then they all went to see Chicken Little at the movie theater. I asked Kenzie if she would tell me about it and she said, "No, it's only for little girls." Later she said it was really scary and that Chicken Little kept getting into trouble. And something about an orange thing with three eyes (assuming an alien) who fell out of an egg, then went back into the sky. I think that was the happy ending, but I'm not quite sure.

I trimmed his hair. Had to keep the bangs from falling in his face.

Let's just say he didn't sit still. I think I'll have to take him into a professional for the full cut (Rebecca, hint, hint). Maybe I have one more month.

I'd like to think of it as imagination, not gore, as Kenzie tells her stories. They usually start out with some grounding to reality, but degrade to bloody messes. Frequently there's a loss of limb. If we're lucky, there's a happy ending. [My comments are encased.]


She went to the aquarium with Nathan today...then came home to tell this story.

Pepper and Conrad [the blue twin to Chirpie] went to the aquarium today and pet a starfish [refer to 2nd picture above]. Starfish have mouths that face the rocks. You have to pet them with one finger because if you pet them with your whole hand you SQUISH them into the rocks and they get mad and they bite you. Really hard. Starfish have REALLY big teeth that start at their uvula and go way far down [as she touches the ground]. One bit Conrad's arm, all the way up to his elbow. [For clarification, we asked her what is a uvula. She looked said, "it's that thing in the back of your throat that helps you swallow." Duh.]

As I started to blog, she continued the story from earlier. What follows is word-for-word, as best as I could type it as she was telling it. The only thing you're missing is the ever-present hand gestures and body movements.

I asked her, "so, you didn't finish the story about Conrad, Pepper and the starfish. What happened?"

It was way down in the sea and they swam down with their clothes on. And they got wet. And they had some new clothes. And the reached their sleeve way up high, then they reach down and they put their hand way down on a starfish. He was like "what's going on? I'll bite you kids!!"

And they backed away [she demonstrates...slow motion, large steps backing away]. There was a diver behind them. He tapped them on the back [finger tapping in the air], they turned around. They reached their hand out and put their hand on the starfishes hand and it bit their whole hand. He thought it was their food. He loves hand food. Yep.

And then they had to go to the doctor's appointment. I covered my hand on their wrist, put pressure on it. And there was the starfish watching them! On the ground. It was sticking way up, staring at me. He gave me dirty looks because he wanted to bite my hand. I kicked him out the window. Down, down into the sea. And he loved the sea.

I grabbed my diver's stuff, put on the slippers, and I swam down from the house. And Pepper and Conrad said [loudly], "be careful Mommy!!" And I said [hands cupping her mouth], "I'm okay buddy, I'm just going to get the starfish."

And I grabbed the starfish and tossed him into the house. You know what happened? He crashed down from the house and I caught him again. And I gently put him in with Pepper, [with emphasis and pause] gently put him under the covers. I put him in gently because he was hurt. He had fire on his feet. So he had to wear fire slippers. His feet really hurt.

"Poor starfish," I said. I gave him a big hug and kiss. And he reached out. And the next morning his feet felt better. I gently put him down in between the rocks and he said [emphatically], "thank you, thank you so much!! I'm glad I'm home now." And he slept all night long. And the next morning I came and said, "Good morning starfish! Now you can come play in our playground."

And he said "YEAH!" And he jumped in the water and got me all wet! [Smiling and laughing.] And got Pepper and Conrad all wet. And the baby in my tummy got wet too. It splashed in my belly button and got in the baby's mouth and got him all wet. And the baby peed it all out. It was a baby named Pepper and he was very nice.

[Directed to me] Ask me how I got him out of there. [Me: "How?"] The doctors had a sharp knive, but they were being very, very careful. They cut my belly off. [I cringed when she said that!] Mom, it's not Ewh! They just cut it gently because they wanted to get the baby out. And that's why, see, my new baby. This is Conrad's new brother. His name is Pepper. Sometimes I name him Chirpie. The End.

As much as I might like to delay it, Mason's learning that he can affect his world, not just experience it. In short, he's figuring out how to make me do what he wants.

Today he:

...found his coat and brought it to me. I thanked him, and set it down. He picked it up, found me again, handed me the coat and stretched out his arm. I understood what he was saying and helped him put the coat on. For the rest of the day he wanted to take his jacket off, put it on, over and over. Kind of like, "see, look what I can make you do for me!"

...learned that he can make me say, "cat" and "dog." He points to Zeke and signs "cat" and I say, "Yes, that's a cat." He points to Jordan, signs "dog" and I say, "yes, that's a dog." Over and over.

As a side, he now signs "thank you," likes goat cheese and poblano pepper dip but hates carrots and broccoli. He also loves Grandpy's cane and the broom.

(picture from the 1st day of school in September)

Kenzie got her first report card! I'd say it captures her "strengths and opportunities" well.

Marking Code
+ = consistently demonstrates behavior or skill
√ = demonstrates behavior or skill with an occasional reminder
- = inconsistently demonstrates behavior or skill

Social/Emotional Development

• Follows group instruction: √
• Follows classroom rules: √
• Plays cooperatively: √...no surprises so far
• Show's willingness to help: +
• Accepts responsibilities for behavior: + ...that's good...she is helpful and acknowledges when she loses it.
• Practices self control: √ ...don't think we would have believed otherwise.
  
• Tries new things: + ...very much so!
  
• Takes turns: + ...really? Makes me wonder about her classmates.

There were about 40 questions in total, most were +'s, including:

• Writes name: +
  
• Dictates a story to correspond with a drawn picture: +
• Represents ideas through random letters or symbols: +
• Speaks in complete sentences: +
• Expresses ideas clearly and audibly: +
• Listens while others speak: +
• Shows curiosity about environment: +
• Expresses observations: +
• Sorts and classifies objects: +
• Controls crayons and pencils: +
• Spanish: actively participates in oral language building: + ...now you know how Chirpie/Pepper became bilingual
  
• Shows coordination in large muscle activities: +
• Participates in games and gym activities: +

... with a couple of exceptions:

• Work habits on task: √ ...she's only 3!
• Cooperates by using Christian courtesy: √ ...who are they to judge?!?

Mason has picked up a few new signs. He now signs "eat," although instead of a closed hand to the lips, he hits himself on the side of the head. He also signs an adaptation of "dog" where he slaps his leg repeatedly. And, he does "please," which is almost letter perfect, but I'm not sure he knows what it means. And, of course he still does "more" and "milk."

Ewh.







But he didn't like it getting taken away from him (see below).

Chirpie was dressed up for Sarah & Kyle's wedding in the matching handbag.




Kenzie danced the night away at the wedding.

This morning she proclaimed, "Pepper and I are getting married! And we're going to move to a far-away land. We're going to take three dollars." (That'll cover it, right Randy?)

Later on, she invited Grammy. She described her love: "He's a puppy, he's real, he has a swimming pool in his back yard, and he speaks Spanish. Like 'hola, uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinco, ocho, and nueve.'" What a catch!