Breakfast with Santa

So Saturday morning we went to have breakfast with Santa. Max sat on his lap just long enough to get a photo, but it was Annabelle's conversation with Santa that I especially wanted to remember.

Annabelle is sitting on Santa's lap and he says, "So do your parents like to read to you?"

Annabelle laughs, "No!" She acts like this is the craziest thing ever.

I am a little horrified to have Santa think we don't read to our children. but I say nothing.

Later back at our table, I ask Annabelle, "Why did you say your parents don't like to read to you?"

And she laughed again and says, "Pants can't read!"

She thought Santa said pants. When I explained it to her we all had a big laugh!

Annabelle's Fall!

I can't believe she is 4 and a half as she likes to say. Sometimes when I look at her I am surprised she has grown so much. She is so sure of herself at times and so confident and even independent too. She stills wants to "live with me forever!"

This fall she has been busy working on a "flower project." She has drawn and painted flowers, read books about flowers and how plants grow. We have went to local gardens to photograph and draw. She loves cutting flowers from our yard and making arrangements in vases. She has created paper collages and flower sculptures from clay. She has fallen in love with Impressionists painters, especially Monet and his flowers. She says she wants to be an artist when she grows up and made it a plan to try and paint everyday.

She loves to build zoos and she dances and sings everywhere we go. She sits on the couch and strums her guitar, singing her favorite song, "Do a Dear, a Female Deer..." She loves to pretend mama and princess and doctor and dancer and fairy and boat rider and queen and monster and ghost and gingerbread cookies or the "Tea," from The Nutcracker.

She and Max play so much together: ball and chase and dancing and blocks and brios and sandbox and dolls and cooking and eating and drawing and giggling and hugging and loving and living! She is so giving to him. Wants to help him and share with him and make him happy when he is sad. She also wants to play by herself (which is fine) and doesn't want to wait for him and sometimes just takes over (which isn't). She is respectful and kind more than she isn't.

She worked hard when we redid her room, cleaning and painting and organizing and being excited and then so very proud. Everyone who comes over has to see her room. She takes pride in cleaning it up and loves to sleep in her big bed.

What an amazing fall she has had!

More Max!

One of Max's favorite things are birds, which are all called "du-du." Obviously ducks are at the top of the list.

Annabelle wants me to type, "Maxie climbs a lot. He climbs on chairs and up slides and steps and stuff."

Max's Fall!

It has been a long time since I have posted. I have been very busy, but wanted to get back into posting. So much has happened this fall for Max. He is walking and pretending, painting and dancing. He signs a little and has a few words: mostly "du-du," (duck), "da-da," (sometimes it means Jack), "da!" which means yes, also "na-na," can mean Annabelle, another, or nurse. When he says no, he moves his hand from side to side and shakes his head no. He has just started say, "Mama," my favorite thing he says. For a boy with few actual words, he is really communicating.

He dances all the time, sometimes even creating his own music, with a few, "da, da, ta-das." He loves to push things around, like chairs and grocery carts, (that is how he learned to walk, by pushing the furniture all over the house!) He loves to do the yoga pose, "downward dog," it is one of the things he does when he is especially happy. He laughs a lot and it is one of the best sounds.

When we go on walks, sometimes we take his push car. He pushes the car up the sidewalk, stopping every now and then to carefully place a leaf or rock on his car.

He loves to paint and draw. He builds with blocks, by placing one block on the floor, then placing more all around it, all in a single layer. He will work for awhile on his "builidng." He has a lot of focus for such a little guy.

I find him so yummy, my heart swells and I am happy to be spending my days with this special boy, my Maxie!

Beach Photos

Annabelle sings at bedtime

Ananbelle pretty much sings all the time. She sings to her brother. She sings while playing at the Eno River. She sings while playing in her room. All the time! Sometimes she is singing songs she has learned from cds or songs we sing together, but a lot of the time she is singing songs that she just makes up, like the "summer song" she sang as we hiked at the Eno River earlier this week.

Well last night she, at bedtime, she was in a singing mood. She said, "Remember that song about the miller who trapped a bird and the bird caught a seed and the wind blew the seed and the bird jumped over a fence and the bird flew to its nest and fed its babies and then found worms and fed its babies worms?"
"Uh, no I do not know that song."

"I just told you the song!" (She looks at me expectantly, like she is waiting for me now to sing the song.)

"Oh, is this a song you made up?"

"Yes!" and she sings it again just as she had before.

"Sorry," I say, "but I don't know it, so I can't sing."

"Listen!" and she sings it again. Again she waits for me to sing. I start to laugh and she laughs and we giggle together. I guess I need to learn that song!

some words from Annabelle...

Yesterday, as we got ready to go blueberry picking, early (for us) in the morning, I asked Annabelle what she wanted for breakfast, and she answered...

Ima breakfasting on blueberries!

It had such a beautiful sound to it and everytime I think of her words, it makes me so very happy to be spending my days with this lovely poetic little girl.

Plus she picked so many blueberries, sharing tons with her brother and just being the best blueberry picking company I could have asked for. We went home and made some delicious blueberry muffins!