The days are about as short as they can get, and it appears that we have been packing them so full that I have had little time for updating. We have been sneaking in late season brussel sprout harvests and prepping for the upcoming Christmas holiday. We are spending time with several indoor activities, such as hockey and soccer for Merrick and Girl Scout bake offs, bowling and Gymnastics for Sophia. We have spent some time outdoors although the activities are a little more limited as we wait for snow and ice to go along with the temperatures. We did get the Christmas tree put up and decorated right after the Thanksgiving day holiday. Merrick only broke a single ball, but made sure to secure all the others. We also made it back to EC several times including once for a wedding dance in which the kids danced all night long and Sophia even had a solid hand in starting a conga line. To challenge mother nature we do don the head lamps in the evenings and head out for night hikes around the neighborhood. The kids play shadow tag and run around in general which is of course the idea to burn some energy all over the neighbor's lawns rather than the living room. This night games are not without consequence, as Merrick's forehead and nose show some 'curb marks." Sophia and I, however have convinced him that his horn is coming in and the blood is really just from the horn tip, like a unicorn. We told him most 5 year old boys start getting their horns, but they fall off when they are teenagers, and being that he is the biggest in his class he is likely to get his before the other boys. I figured he had a pretty good sense of our jest when he just looked at me and said that he can't wait for Mitch to get his wings, like a big dragon.
A couple of other funny kid moments: We are reading Dragon's Tooth in the evening and with Merrick already asleep on my lab and Sophia close behind, the second armed character entered the story with a four-barrelled pistol. To which Sophia raised her head and with the voice of a 28 year old asked me "What is with men and their guns." Earlier in the month, Merrick and I were about finished making supper and Sophia was playing upstairs. I asked Merrick to go get Sophia for supper. With me still at the stove, I hear him hollering at the bottom of the stairs, "No Sophia, no more sex!" then he said it again, "No, I said no more sex!" I was obviously completely confused as to what was taking place and when I went into the living room he hollered it yet again. I asked what is going on? and he replied, "I told her no more sex" still bewildered I improvised with "Huh?" Merrick then said "I told her to come down and eat, but she said just a sec, so I told her no more
secs!, right dad there are no more
secs, right?" Laughing all to myself and the complete and fortunate bewilderment of both children we had a wonderful taco supper.
The Solitice has come and gone along with Christmas and while the days are getting longer we are taking some time between the holidays for slow evenings and afternoon naps. It is a good time of year to replenish, reconnect, reflect and recharge. Santa was pleased I am sure to find a batch of fresh baked sugar cookies shaped like planes, butterflies and little angels driving cars. The weather has been a beautiful curse, with temperatures hovering in the high thirties and low forties it has been great to be outside, but without the snow, little to do. We have tentative plans for a hike tomorrow and maybe finish it off with pretzels the size of our heads and some rootbeer at Titletown, today however is going to be some swimming and a trip to the dentist. Sugar plums come with consequences. The kids were not for want during the Christmas holiday that extended almost a week. The embarrassment of riches reached a new level this year when I found a whole bag of gifts in the truck the day after I thought the gift opening was over. The kids and I discussed several times how important it is to have and to remember that their are people out there that love us and are thinking about us even when we are having bad days and temporarily forget about the support we have. The temperatures yesterday were low enough to take a marsh hike in a nearby park. We played on the open ice sections and beat some paths through 12-15 foot tall reed canary grasses. It was cool enough that we needed some hot coco to warm up our bellies and we headed down to a coffee shop. We sipped our coco and played some chess on the monster chess board. Without the snow the Santa gifts of Cross-country skis and ice-fishing gear are of little value, but will be fun when the eventual snow comes. We have been playing a lot of nerf gun battles and both the kids have taken great pleasure in assassin type shots to my face from across the room. Merrick has also become quite good at actually stealing my gun if I set it down to dry dishes or change loads of laundry. So much for the armed society is a polite society philosophy. Although their slides and back bends have reached almost Matrix-like quality. Snow of no snow it is of course the time with the kids and the lessons they teach that are the most important. Merrick did get a new bag of green army men and as Sophia and him were setting up the battle field Merrick took dibs on the good guys, Sophia looked at him and said "Don't you get it yet? There are no good guys or bad guys just two groups with different ideas." She does scare me sometimes with her flashes of maturity, and a level of maturity that some will never reach. Merrick keeps me grounded; he did get a new 'puck' of hair product for Christmas and in hindsight I should have helped him the first time he used it. He was happy and he still has about half of it left--yikes! Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, best of luck on recharging and sticking to resolutions for the better.
