Merry Christmas

Monday morning I looked out the kitchen window to see two (2!) foxes frolicking in the snow in our back yard. They were there long enough for me to call Ethan, who saw one of them walking back out of the yard. I can’t help thinking that the children’s stories I read Ethan about the various and sundry wise and tricky foxes must have some merit in order for these creatures to coexist so closely with so many humans.

Christmas went very well. We had all the older kids over on Christmas Eve, and Alec and Julie over on Christmas day. Santa brought Ethan a giant tiger and a transformer. Other presents included a transformer mask, dress up wigs and hats, DVD’s, stuffed animals, and PJ’s. We opened presents slowly, and luckily Ethan didn’t get too overwhelmed. I, however, got quite sick with a bug on Christmas, and have been fighting it off every since.

This weekend my friend Dave and his wife Amy and two kids Laura (5) and Michael (2) came to visit and stayed over. The three kids got on really well, and we were actually able to have some adult conversations (which of course were just about the kids anyway, but oh well….). On Sunday we went to get Dim Sum in Chinatown, and all the kids behaved themselves very well.

When I read books with Ethan, he likes to point to the pictures and say, “I’m going to be this one – which one are you going to be?”. He often points to the kid (or puppy, etc), and wants me to point to the mom. For example, in the three bears, he’ll point to the baby bear and say, “I’m going to be him – which one you going to be?”. He isn’t satisfied unless I point to the middle sized ‘momma’ bear, and I have to be a female character. If there aren’t any creatures on the page, he’ll often pick a superhero, or a car/truck to be (he’ll be the small one, I have to be a bigger one). This morning it was food (he was the pizza, I was the cooked chicken).