My, How the Holidays Fly By, Especially When you Don't Keep Up With Posts

Wow, I've got a ton of catching up to do, not having posted since before Christmas. Let's see, the girls decorated the Christmas tree less than a week before Christmas, probably making this the latest I've gone with an undecorated tree in the house. But that wouldn't last long, because every time we put an ornament on the tree, Brigid took one off and continues to do so regardless of the many, many times we tell her she isn't supposed to take things off the tree. It wouldn't be so bad -- just annoying -- if she didn't pull them off, ripping the hooks, ribbons or whatever device is on them to secure them to the tree branches. She's oblivious to our reprimands. She just flits to something else until she flits right back to the tree again. Normally, we would put presents to other family members and friends under the tree prior to Christmas but not this year. We feared the worse.

I got most of my Christmas cards out on time this year; I have a few left to send after the fact, but that's pretty good for me. I shot the photo on Tuesday afternoon and when I went to pick it up at Wal-Mart, they grilled me for the copyright documentation. I said What?? I'm the photographer. They thought I photo shopped something or other, but I said, "Did you actually look at it?" It's cute, but it's not Ansel Adams. The girls' portraits were in, too, so the timing of the Christmas cards worked out very well.

The girls -- Margaret and Patricia -- managed to get through the last day of school before vacation with minimal angst. Patricia had a Secret Elf present exchange and I had to make a run out to the store for her final present on Thursday night. Then I remembered she had to bring in a fruit platter so at midnight I made a run to the grocery store to buy a fortune in fruit. But I remember what it was like to be a fifth-grader and wanted her last Christmas in elementary school to be special.

We did last-minute shopping over the weekend and I finally got started on the girls Christmas outfits Sunday night, finishing them up on Christmas Eve day. Typical MO for me, but for once I had everything wrapped ahead of time so there was no 2 a.m. Christmas Eve wrap session. Just a relaxing glass of Bailey's and Christmas music after ushering the girls to bed.

We went to Christmas Eve mass at 6 and then over to Grandma and Granddad Downs' house for the annual Christmas Eve extravaganza with Grandma's family. They were later than usually starting the buffet, so we actually got our meal hot and with everyone else this year. The girls got their pajamas as usual and put them on, which makes a lot of sense because they're all ready for bed when we get home from Grandma and Granddad's house.


Brigid had a rough night and spent a lot of it in bed with us, which meant I was particularly exhausted Christmas morning. But to their credit, Margaret and Patricia got up and watched TV until we got up about 9 a.m. We had a Fisher Price bouncy zebra set up and she ran right to it.

Then we opened our stockings first, another tradition. We then had breakfast before ripping into the things under the tree. It helps stretch out the morning. Brigid got into the idea of opening presents even if she didn't get the idea of what was inside the packaging. We got some wonderful things and had a great morning. Our tenant, Kathy, joined us as usual about 11:30 a.m. She is alone, and we invite her over to share a little Christmas morning with us. She's always been good to the girls and gives them nice gifts. The girls hung around in their pajamas most of the early part of the day. I had a very nice phone call from Grandma Wright and caught up on everything going on in the family. Margaret learned how to sew on the sewing machine as she finished a pair of pillows for Grandma Downs. Then it was back to the Downs' house on Grace Avenue for dinner. Granddad is a spectacular cook and we had standing rib roast and a whole range of accompaniments. But the thing that greeted us when we walked in the door was a huge rocking pony for Brigid. She ran to it, "Horsey! Horsey! Horsey!" Other gifts followed after dinner and then it was home to bed.

The girls and I did a little day-after shopping but we've spent some pretty mellow days hanging around. I'm on vacation until after New Year's, so it's nice not to have to do anything. Tomorrow night we have Fr. John coming to dinner so that will be a nice extension of Christmas. Margaret and Patricia will go to Grandma and Granddad's for an overnight Saturday.

Before I forget, I wanted to poste about Brigid's developmental milestone: She's using her imagination, pretending to feed us imaginary food -- there is a page in the Hop on Pop book (or Op Op Op book, as she says) where you are invited to Eat a Snack with Brown and Black. They're eating apples and bananas, hot dogs and sandwiches and drinking milk. She pretends to take them from the page and gives them to you to "eat." She's expanded her pretend to other things, too, often around the idea of eating imaginary food, though.

She is also becoming more aware of when she's going pee-pee. She'll stop and tell you, "Pee-Pees!" But she doesn't necessarily want to DO anything about it. At least she is aware. That's the first step. Unless, of course, she's telling you Pee-Pees! as it's running down her leg because she's somehow managed to get one tab of her diaper off and it's down around her ankle. Then it's something else indeed.

Meltdowns are For the January Thaw, Not The Christmas Holidays

Brigid has been having a few true, no-holds-barred meltdowns lately. Last night was the latest, when she wanted to have her bath and I had to make her wait all of two minutes, and then when I tried to take away a calculator so she could take her bath, she pitched a major fit. She threw herself to the ground and wailed. When I managed to get the calculator out of her hand, she tried to hit me and screamed like she was being beaten. I managed to get her upstairs -- she couldn't climb them herself. I had to carry her. But she was hyperventilating and wiping the tears from her eyes. She perked up when she got in the bath, but it started all over again for a couple of reasons. One, we think she may have a urinary tract infection because when she was in the bathtub, she probably started to pee and stood up screaming "Ma-mee! Pee pees!" and started crying, scrambling to get out for me to hold her. She'd been reacting to her diaper in a similar fashion throughout the day, so we're going to call the doctor's. I hate the idea of her having to give them a urine sample, but it's the only way. But back to the meltdown: after calming her down about the ouchie pee pees, she wanted a bottle of tub paints that Auntie Shell gave her for Christmas. It had a picture of Elmo on it, and she kept screaming "Elmo! Elmo!" but after reading the lable it said do not give to children under three. So I hesitated giving it to her last night and she went ballistic. All the way down the stairs to her room and through the changing into PJs she kept crying Elmo! Elmo! It took me quite a while to calm her down. I think she's entering a phase that's hard for her to understand and she doesn't know how to regulate her emotions and reactions to things. Pretty typical, but pretty scary for her, too.

I got her to bed without too much screaming after me as I left her room. She fell asleep soon after, but she woke about 1 a.m. and fell asleep on my chest in the big chair. When I tried to transfer her back to the crib, she woke up screaming and clutching at me. I brought her into bed with me and she fell right back to sleep again on my chest. Can't say I minded too much because it's warm and fuzzy and reminds me of when she was a few weeks old. But she can't do this too often or she'll revert to wanting to sleep with us every night. I had to indulge her and thus myself last night. Plus, I really think she didn't feel right last night.

We made Christmas cookies with Grandma Wright's sour cream cut-out recipe. The girls cut them out and now we just have to frost them. Will probably do that tonight. One thing about the sour cream cut-out recipe: It makes a lot of cookies and they're good, all-around cookies. We like 'em plain or decorated. Yummy. Brought back lots of memories. And I have to give a shout-out to Michelle as well because she put me on to Reynold's quick-release foil. I used a sheet on each cookie sheet and they just slid off. I think I could even re-use the sheets numerous times, making it pretty economical in spite of the fact that the foil is a little more expensive than regular foil (you wouldn't use it for just any old left-over wrapping, that's for sure.)

We hope to decorate the tree -- it's been up for a week now without any ornaments on it. Because it's artifical and pre-lit, it's actually a breeze. I almost wouldn't mind NOT decorating it this year because of the baby. She's already demonstrated her Transformer personna as Destructor -- having taken ornaments off Grandma Downs' tree and the tree at the hair salon. We'll have to decorate half-way up. Good thing Michelle didn't have her tree up when we had our gift exchange the other day. As it is I spent most of the time chasing her around the house taking things out of her hands. I can just imagine what she'll be like with the tree all trimmed. I won't be bringing out my Santas and snowmen this year I fear because she'll be running all over the house with them. Now I can understand why the first quarter of my life was spent with a Christmas tree sitting on a table instead of on the floor. There was always a baby crawling or running around. We need the hearth gate from up at the lake down at the house this year to keep Brigid away. Maybe if we just put the heart gate around HER instead? (I can hear child protective services right now...)

The holidays otherwise are in full swing and I'm looking forward to vacation at the end of my work day on Friday. Christmas is meant to be a vacation. I should have been a professional student because it feels like you should be off between Christmas and New Year's.

BTW, Patricia's concert with the Champlain Valley Oratorio Society and Orchestra was spectacular! I was so proud of her, and the children's voices blended beautifully with the adult ones. Very pretty. And the orchestra! Holy cow, it blew us away. As good as anything we've heard anywhere professionally.

The Injustices of All This Snow Without a Snowday

Well, after being hit with about 15 inches of snow this weekend in our Nor'easter, the girls were very put off this morning to discover that the city school district was only one of very few not to have a snow day. But with this being the last week before Christmas vacation, how can they complain? Beside, we try to tell them they'll appreciate having that extra day at Memorial Day if the weather holds out that long. The snow tapered off last night about 11 and we figured that unless it picked back up again, the crews would be out clearing away side streets and parking lots with no problem. Being in the city school district, as opposed to St. Peter's as in previous years, the girls are at the mercy of the fact that there is no busing of students; they either walk or are driven in by their parents. The whole district -- nay, they whole city -- is only two square miles. There ain't a lot of terrain to cover. However, when they were going to St. Peter's, which had students from districts all over the county and whose enrollment dependended on those districts busing the students in, if a majority of districts closed, so did St. Peter's. That's the trade-off, I guess. But we did get a good dumping, making Jack happy as a clam because it means skiing weather. Now if he can only get some time off to go skiing, sans Baby Brigid. He's chomping at the bit to get Margaret some new ski boots so she, too, can get out there with him.

Speaking of Baby B, she's become a shrieking, screaming maniac. For no apparent reason, she'll let off with shrieks or screams, usually in your face or your ear. We're hoping it's just a stage, but she seems to take great pleasure in it because it bugs me no end. She has also really entered a hitting stage, and will strike out when angry or frustrated. We all have taken to telling her "no hits" and she gets mad and shrieks at us. We'll be employing time outs soon, no doubt. But until a kid is even old enough to understand the meaning of time out, it's wasted. She's getting there, oh yes, she's getting there.

Her climbing has reached epic proportions. I found her sitting in the middle of the dining room table not long ago. The other day, she was sitting on the computer table. She climbs up on my bed and gets down by herself. No small feat because it's a pretty high bed. She also climbs "up" on us. We hold her hands and she braces her feet against our legs, making her way up our legs until we grab her up. She delights in that and says "Up, up, up" with her arms up. Her vocabularly has exploded and she says so many things, and puts words together to make little sentences. I couldn't even beging to list all the things she says, or the sounds that are words to her, that she makes.

She has also become a bit clingy and weepy when you leave her -- even if it's to walk into another room. She'll come running out after me -- Ma-mee, Ma-mee, Ma-mee. I'll say, "Honey, I'm not going anywhere, I'm right here" and she'll bury her head in my legs and hug them. It's kind of heartwarming, actually. You just want to take that head in your hands and hold her there forever. Last night, when I was attempting to check on her before turning in, she caught me and cried out so I picked her up and she hunkered down on my shoulder, with her arms tucked under her body against mine. I threw a blanket on her and sat in "the big chair" and she fell asleep. I could hear her breathing. I took in her smell and the feel of her hair on my cheek. She was an infant again and I was Mommy. I could have held her like that all night, but knowing I needed to get to sleep I was able to make the transfer to her crib without fuss. She woke up again about 5 and Jack brought her into bed for her mah mah mah, or, as she says more often now, "boob." She fell back to sleep and woke up in a great mood, unlike her sisters, who felt a great injustice was done to them. Brigid will someday feel that, too, but for now it's nice to know she's still my baby who only feels what she wants to feel and occasionally what she doesn't.

The Getting to Bed's Not So Hard, It's The Waking That Gives Us Trouble

Brigid decided at 4:45 a.m. to have a major meltdown scream fest. She was crying so I brought her in with us and she wouldn't settle down. She kept jumping up and down, and finally she started trying to climb over me to get off the bed. When I told her to settle down, she started screaming, shrieking and flailing all over the place. I tried to help her work through her meltdown. It's hard when you're half asleep yourself, but I know she was out of control and didn't like it, either. She finally settled down and fell alseep, but it didn't make it very easy for me to go back to sleep. She woke up in a fine mood, however, and was happy to eat breakfast and watch "Ba-bee." at nearly 21 months, she has discovered the almost toxic affects of Barbie. The other girls had Barbie videos and DVDs -- Barbie and the Nutcracker, Barbie as Rapunzel, Barbie in the Princess and the Pauper, etc. Brigid decided she likes Ba-bee, although again, nothing beats Buzsh and Wooooodieee. Shrek has even taken a backseat these days.

The last couple of evenings have been generally pleasant bedtime rituals. Last night, like the previous two, I suggested it was time for some Mah mah mah, and she said, "Chair?" and ran to her room to sit in the big chair. I sat down with her and she wanted Mah mah mah but didn't seem particularly sleepy. But after about 15 minutes, I said, "Time for night-night?" and she said, "A-tee (OK)" and pointed to her crib. Doubtful, I lowered her onto her blankie and she snuggled down. I didn't hear a peep out of her until her meltdown this morning. She's been very amenable to bedtime.

She was, however, put out when we had to turn off Blues Clues last night -- which we put in for her in the first place to keep her busy so Margaret could do part of a home and career skills project that required her to tape a "commercial" for a new food product she had to create. I didn't want Brigid running around screaming, so we put her in front of the tube to keep her occupied for 10 minutes or so. But then we needed to view the video on the television to make sure it worked, which meant pre-empting Brigid's Blues Clues viewing. She was very put out by this, and kept saying, louder each time, "Clues? Clues?" She got very huffy at one point. But by then, it was big-chair and Mah mah mah time so she forgave and forgot.

Margaret's "commercial" turned out to be very cute. Her product, "Snacklaces," were also a cute idea. She had to, as part of the project, create a new food that was healthy. She had to package it someway and include nutritional information. Then she had to advertise it somehow. The Snacklace is Cheerios and dried fruit strung on dental floss, kind of like the old candy necklaces. But instead of a stretchy elastic string, the dental floss then acts as a tool to clean up after your snack, "because you shouldn't neglect your gums," as she says in her commercial. She had to turn it in today, so I'll be interested in hearing how that went. She said her teacher showed them a product someone made before -- chocolate-covered eggs. Ugh. The teacher said she didn't care if the stuff tasted like glue so long as it was new and healthy. At least Margaret's snack tasted good. The girls ate some after filming the commercial. One of the problems with dried fruit is that many just look like raisins. Except dried strawberries. They look like animal droppings.

Patricia's choral concert with the Champlain Valley Oratorio Society (CVOS) and orchestra is Sunday. She has rehearsal smack dab in the middle of the day tomorrow, which isn't very convenient, but with the concert on Sunday that's one activity that will be over soon. Her school holiday concert is Wednesday night, but because they had a snow day Monday (for the HUGE three inches of snow we got) she has two rehearsals next week -- Monday and Tueday -- before Wednesday night's concert. Then that activity will be over until after the holidays. Another collective Whew! Christmas will be here before we know it, and I'm no where near ready for it. I am hoping to put the tree up in the next couple of days, but I dread the thought of Brigid using it as her personal plaything. Should be interesting. While neither Margaret nor Patricia were that interested in the trees as toddlers, I have the feeling Brigid is going to make up for it and be very, very interested in the tree and all it offers her inquisitive hands. I won't be surprised to find her climbing up the middle of the thing. She's a monkey, and she knows it. Forget partridge in a pear tree. She's monkey in a Christmas tree.

As Long as She Stays Away from The Yellow Variety

Life has gotten in the way of the blog I’m afraid; hence, the lag in updates. The week of Thanksgiving I came down with laryngitis and bronchitis, which I’m only now starting to come out of. That really threw me for a loop. But everyone else managed to escape the misery. Jack has been busy ripping out the downstairs bathroom as he prepares to renovate it. It’s slow-going because his time is limited when he has to watch the baby in the mornings. He took the week of Thanksgiving off to get a start on it, and it’s coming along. We’re fortunate he can do the work himself.


Brigid has been growing and changing before our eyes. Her vocabulary has just exploded and her personality is emerging. She’s outgoing and chatty; she loves to be praised and enjoys being applauded when she says the right word for something. She repeats words you say as if to commit them to memory. She certainly understands way more than she can verbalize herself. Her climbing has continued to be a source of entertainment for her and frustration for us. She disappeared for a scant 10 seconds the other day and we found her sitting in the middle of the dining room table. She’ll try to scale the built-in bookcase in her room, she tries to climb on the computer table or the coffee table, flitting from thing to thing.

She knows the names of the people in her life and enjoys saying her sisters’ names especially. She adores them and plays with them non-stop. She also loves her Auntie Shell. The other day at church when Michelle was walking by for communion, Brigid saw her and reached out for her. Michelle kissed her and continued on her way; Brigid started crying uncontrollably. When Michelle came around the other way to comfort her, she didn’t want to come back to me. Michelle had to stay in the pew and hold her until church was over.


Yesterday we had our first real snow of the season – all three inches of it – and they closed schools. The girls and Daddy had Baby B outside for a while, and all she wanted to do was eat the snow. Patricia and I took her out for a few minutes after I got home from work and again, all she wanted to do was eat the snow. But she loved it, and she ran around and enjoyed her new “boo-oots” (she makes many one-syllable words into two-syllable words). She didn’t want to leave her mittens on, so we have to return to our arsenal of tricks we used when Margaret and Patricia were her age to keep them on her hands.



Last night she did something that was very cute and very grown up. After I got her in her pajamas, she ran around a little and then disappeared into her room. I heard her in there, yelling out “chair, chair” (we have an easy chair we call “the big chair” in her room where we read or nurse) and “mah mah mah.” I went in to find her sitting in the chair in the dark waiting for me. I nursed her for a while and then she indicated she was ready to go in the crib. I put her in and she snuggled for a moment but I thought “Uh oh, she’s not going to let me get out of here” because she stood up, but she wasn’t crying. She wanted her “Ruff” – what she calls a dog. I handed her the stuffed dog and told her to lie down, which she did without a peep. A fluke or developmental milestone? We’ll find out tonight.