I’ve never been much of a cook. There are a few things I can make pretty well (only a few) but I follow directions really well, so I can fake my way through just about anything with a good recipe (the simpler the better). It’s always been the eating part of cooking that I enjoy the most, so if someone else volunteers to do the actual cooking part, I’m happy to oblige. Really, the only time of year I get excited about being in the kitchen is Christmastime.
Category Archives: Kids and Parenting
A field trip . . . this time, on purpose
A couple of weeks ago, after completely missing that the kindergarten was going to take our child on a trip for the morning, the teachers at the school gave us a detailed and carefully translated list of upcoming school events. (Which we then promptly misunderstood. . . or thought we did. It appears that St. Nicolas actually WAS at the school — we’ve seen pictures — but B still says he wasn’t. He keeps saying, “He wasn’t there, he was just a surprise when we came back in from the garden”, so there’s some nuance we’re missing, but I have no idea what it is.) For today, there was a note about an excursion to a children’s theater to watch a play.
My horses make me a better mom
Liam got a nasty splinter in the bottom of his foot tonight. (I actually don’t know when he got it — I found it while he was in the bath tonight.) He’s walking and running now, and we have wood floors — it was pretty inevitable. So, after bath time, Dan held him as still as possible, and I removed the splinter from his foot.
My favorite gift
Reply
I know, Christmas isn’t (or shouldn’t be) about the gifts. It’s hard not to fall in to that trap — there’s SO MUCH to shop for, so many gifts to buy. Most years, my “favorite gift” is one I buy for someone else — one I can’t wait for them to open, to see the look on their face, to see if they’ll smile or laugh or cry like I thought they would. Sometimes it’s something I’ve had in mind for ages, sometimes it’s a gift that kept me stumped throughout the shopping season, only to occur to me as an “Aha!” at the last minute.
Lost in translation
We miss a lot. Last week, we missed the fact that Benjamin was going on a field trip with his school, so he had his first outing without us knowing it was going to happen, and without us being able to prepare him at all. (He did fine.) As a result, we’ve stepped up our own vigilance and reminded the school, too, that they need to be sure to keep us apprised of what’s going on.
St. Nicholas
So, I almost forgot to be St. Nicholas last night. No, I actually forgot — just before bed, Benjamin asked, “So, does St. Nicholas come tomorrow?” I’d been talking to him about it for a few days, I’d done all the requisite shopping, but yesterday afternoon it slipped my mind.
Two steps forward, one step back
By nature, I love efficiency. I like to spend a little extra time planning in order to save myself time executing the plan, I like to expend as little energy to be as productive as possible — I like to maximize both my time and energy. I’m really good at it. I can pack activities, chores and errands into a day as well as I can pack the back of a car for a vacation.
Meeting St. Nicholas
I’m still a little under the weather, but I’m not letting it stop me — we’ve only got 3 weeks (eek!) until Christmas, so I had to get stuff done this weekend, regardless. I crafted an intricate schedule for both Dan & I for the weekend — maximizing time for cleaning the house, getting shopping done, and (hopefully) still having a good time, all while managing both kids. Of course, by 9:00 Saturday morning, we’d already blown the schedule, but it still got us through the weekend pretty well. Dan (almost single-handedly . . . or worse, actually, because Liam helped) got the house cleaned up and vacuumed, while I got our Christmas decorations out and got a significant chunk of our Christmas shopping done.
Christmas pajamas
Shortly after becoming a mom, I inadvertently started a Christmas tradition with my kids. Every year, I buy them a new set of Christmas pajamas (at least, that’s the idea — I think they’ve each ended up with at least two sets every Christmas so far). I didn’t set out to create a tradition, I just really love Christmas pajamas (actually Christmas clothes of any kind). It wasn’t until this year, when I almost didn’t buy them, that I realized I’d been doing it all along without thinking about it. They’re like Advent pajamas — I get them out after Thanksgiving, and they’re another fun part of anticipating the holiday and enjoying the season. And, seeing them dressed in their fleece or flannel coziness on Christmas morning is just another warm & fuzzy aspect of the holiday.
This is our fourth year of Christmas pajamas, and I’ve grown really fond of the tradition. This year, Benjamin helped me pick out the pajamas I got for Liam, which added another nice aspect to it. I can imagine us continuing this tradition over the years to come, until both boys are old enough to roll their eyes about it (but secretly look forward to it).
With my boys in their Christmas pjs, it really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here, even though our decorations aren’t up yet. We’ve gotten all of our Christmas stories out, too, so bedtime is really becoming quite festive. This year, we’re going to add yet another set of traditions to our family, with the addition of St. Nicholas and some of the Austrian aspects of celebrating Christmas. I love our family traditions that we already have, and I can’t wait to see what new pieces we add this year.
Surprise excursion
A few weeks ago, Benjamin’s class at school went on a field trip. He was effectively uninvited, which bothered me a little, until I realized that he didn’t want to go. Their concern was that he was just starting to adjust to school, and they were worried that adding the stress of leaving the school, without us, might undo what progress we had made (and make him have an unpleasant time, too).
So, it was all for the best that he didn’t go last time. I was a little disappointed that he didn’t get to participate (they went to a farm and selected pumpkins) but it was ok.
This was only a month ago, so we were shocked today when Dan showed up at school to pick Benjamin up . . . and his class wasn’t there, him included. Dan was a bit stunned, and so was I when he let me know. The staff member he originally spoke to only spoke German, so he had to find someone else to find out what had happened. Apparently, they had a class excursion planned for today — to an Advent market. They put a notice on the class bulletin board a few weeks ago. Which sounds fine, except that we don’t really read German, and we had been assured by the staff that they would make sure to explain anything important (like taking our kid somewhere) to us personally.
Well, they didn’t. One of Benjamin’s teachers, who didn’t go on the trip, very sheepishly apologized to Dan and said, “We forgot to tell you”. They dropped the ball, no question.
I was worried. Was he scared? Worried? Freaked out? Cold (I hadn’t dressed him to be outside all day)?
But, when he got back, he was perfectly happy. He says he had a great time, he rode on the bus and on the train, he held the teacher’s hand the whole time. The Christmas market was great — they ate chocolate. He says he got a little cold, but he really seemed unfazed by it.
After we got over the initial shock, and after resolving to always read the bulletin board in the future, (in German or not — we can at least see which dates to ask follow up questions about) we realized that in a way, it’s not entirely a bad change. Just a month ago, they were so worried that Benjamin would freak out that they specifically asked us to keep him home that day. They’re obviously not worried about it anymore. It’s also a sign that we’re becoming just “some of the parents”, rather than “those American English speaking parents”, since they didn’t make a point to pull us aside and translate the notice for us. As much as it freaked us out, we would have given our permission if we’d known.
Don’t get me wrong — I don’t want to see this repeated. The phrase, “Where is my child?” is something I’d like to never say again. But Benjamin had a good time today, and I’m glad he got to be included with his class. I just wish someone had told me it was going to happen.