Xmas Wrapup

So, as I was contemplating what to write about Finley's second Christmas, I realized there were far too many pictures to post than stories to tell. I can say this... Finley LOVES the kitchen set we got her. Nothing like forcing domestic roles on a toddler. But that's another rant.

Anyway, I've decided to go with Heather's suggestion and just post a whole bunch of pictures and keep the blabber to a minimum. So here's Xmas '08. Enjoy!

Daddy's sled invention gets another go in Oak Harbor.

Building gingerbread houses with cousins Braeden and Halle.

Christmas Eve with the cousins.

Nana reads "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" on the night before Christmas.

The new kitchen set. She didn't care about any other presents... She was too busy cooking.

But she will take a moment to pose with her new faux leopard coat in front of her new kitchen set. What's a diva to do?

New outfit. Snowman chair. Same new kitchen set.

Dress-up Christmas with Daddy's family. Can you guess what the theme is?

With cousin and fellow pirate, Jordan

A pirate in heels? Pushing her new stroller.

Slip, Sliding Away

As you probably already know, this past week Washington was hit with a decent-sized snowstorm. 

Despite what the news agencies were reporting, it wasn’t quite the end of the world, although it did slow down the normal flow of life in our neck of the woods.

The problem is twofold; we just don’t get enough snow to truly be prepared for heavy dumps and there are a heck of a lot of hills up here. It’s not like getting snow in the Midwest. Once you start sliding, you’ll be going for a while.

This helps to explain why even the mere mention of snow can pack the grocery stores and shut down schools. Which means the Wednesday before winter break, all the kids got a snow day and the ground was bare. Then the first snow hit. Not too much, but enough to make the Thursday commute a little slower than normal.

And that seemed to be the end of it. Until the news started warning us of an actual storm. This time the hype wasn’t too far off. It started Saturday evening with a little flurry that turned into actual flakes of actual snow. And it just kept falling.

By the time Sunday morning arrived, we were waking in a winter wonderland. And being the smart people we are, we kept the car where it was. Any traveling would be on foot. So we strapped on the boots, donned our hats and made our way up to the store. I put together the jogging stroller and mushed my way up the hill. Not a big hill, but big enough when you’re plowing through powder. The way back was much easier. And then we ran into our biggest dilemma of the day.

When the snow falls like this, you can be sure a few things will suddenly go out of stock… 3-hour logs, generators and sleds. And when you have a toddler, guess which one is most important on the whitest day of the year? So, I had to put my daddy brains to work and come up with a sledding solution.

If you remember a few months ago, I wrote about how Finley is just as happy playing with a laundry basket as she is playing with a new toy. The laundry basket. She likes to sit in it. It’s got sides. It’s plastic. Made sense to me. I just needed a test pilot brave enough and small enough to fit inside my creation.

One piece of rope later, I’m pulling my daughter through our parking lot and she’s chanting her new favorite word, “again.”

As much as I’m glad Finley understands what it means, it’s one of those words that instantly become more trouble than it is worth. Because the child will not want to stop saying it. Ever. And if you try to move on to a new activity, it had better be more fun than the current thing or the waterworks will flow.

So, I’m whipping her around the parking lot to a chorus of “again, again” when I decide to take a bit of a break. This doesn’t sit well with the munchkin. Before I know it, she’s literally screaming “AGAIN!!” What’s a dad to do?

Needless to say, I got quite the workout and Finley’s first real sledding experience was a hit. And the best part was later that evening, right before she went to bed. She went over to the basket (that was back as its old job as a toy box), emptied it out and pushed it to the door. 

It looks like Dad’s creation turns out to be the hottest toy of the season. We’ll see what the future holds, but I’m pretty sure there are some more inventions in my noggin ready to be tried out by the cutest test pilot around.

Laptop

It’s that time of year, again. When the air is frosty and the 

lights are twinkling. When the bells are jingling and the cash registers are chiming.  Yes, it’s time for the holidays, which means several things are supposed to happen; Heather turns on the Christmas music EVERY day, I get to play the role of the Grinch and Finley gets to sit on Santa’s lap. Wait a second. Finley’s never been on Santa’s lap before. This could be interesting.

As we all know, beginning Thanksgiving Day, there are several opportunities and locations for you to shell out several dollars to get to put your kid on the lap of a dude in red pajamas. And yes, I’m still talking about Santa. Every department store or shopping mall has their designated Claus and his band of merry little elves with their picture package plan. But before you can decide on which size prints to send to the grandparents, you have to get the kid on the lap.

In my one short stint as a Santa at a restaurant I worked at in my younger days, I got to see first hand the terror that crosses the faces of most kids under five. I think at that age, there are a couple of things that are going on that wreak havoc in the mind of the child. The first is that it’s probably not their idea to do this. Most of the time, mom and dad have dressed them up and convinced them to get a picture with this strange man without asking them their opinion on the matter. Which leads to the second thing going on; Santa is pretty scary for a kid that small.

I would think it’s much like going to Disneyland when you’re less than five years old. You see these fun little cartoon characters on TV that are no bigger than your hand. Suddenly, you’re face to face with a five-foot tall mouse who doesn’t talk and his pet dog, Pluto, who’s even taller and walking upright the whole time. I expect it’s the same with Santa. He’s fine and dandy and safe when he’s an ornament or trapped inside the TV, talking to Rudolph and that elf that wants to be a dentist. But when he’s flesh and blood and mom and dad drop you on his lap, and then run away for a picture, it can’t be a whole lot of fun.

Which brings us to Finley’s first visit to Santa’s workshop this past weekend. I was of course, expecting cries of terror once she was plopped on the old man’s knee. Luckily, we had a few things going on, distraction-wise that helped us out a bit.

First of all, we had to drive a ways to the party. This was a kids’ party put together by my company at a great children’s museum about 30 miles from where we live. So, by the time we got there, she was ready to get out of the car and discover something new. This museum was the perfect place. Lots of space and things to play with, crawl on and slide down. There were tree houses to explore, buses, planes and trains to climb on and even some water to splash. So after we let her let go of some energy we swept her up and got her to Santa. Before she could let out a peep, the picture was done and we were off to another room to build a stuffed Christmas Moose. She was in sensory overload.

At any rate, I was prepared for the worst and my little girl not only surprised me, but impressed me a bit. I think she’s beginning to get the hang of cameras and figuring out that it’s much easier to flash that little smile and move on than it is to struggle and take shot after shot.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a bit of a fuss with St. Nick. I kind of wanted to see the guy work a little harder. But then again, I’ve been on the receiving end when Finley doesn’t want me to put her shoes on. Trying to hold on to a squirming toddler is like trying to catch a greased pig. There’s no real reason you should be doing either.

So, we’ll chalk this one up as a successful mission and wait to see what happens next year. Maybe we won’t let her nap before we go for the picture. Let’s see how Santa deals with that. It might just be worth the coal I’ll get in my stocking!

Meeni Keekuu

As we creep ever-so-closer to Finley’s second birthday, certain things are beginning to take shape in her little world. 

She moves around with much more ease, but still needs to learn to pay a little more attention to where she’s going. She has a tendency to be so enthralled in something, that she walks right into walls and chairs and people.  I’m pretty sure she gets that from her mother’s side.

She’s also more aware of who people are and is good at putting names with faces. And, we’re also noticing that she’s starting to string words together into mini sentences. “Daddy’s shoes,” “Mommy’s car,” and “Finley up please” are staples of her emerging language. She’s also doing her best to try and say whatever we can throw at her. 

The simple words are well, simple. But it’s the more dynamic words that result in some interesting interpretations. At least she’s giving them a shot. In fact, tonight, while she was making a batch of Christmas cookies with Heather, Finley was having quite the conversation… albeit one-sided and mostly unintelligible. But that’s what she thinks talking is… a series of random words, highlighted by inflexion and pauses. And for the most part, she’s right.  For all the talking we do… how much do we really say?

Finley clings to the important words, like Daddy or Mommy or whatever she’s interested in. Cars seem to pop up a lot. So do her dolls, her “babies.” She even knew to talk about cookies while she was baking them. Eventually, her gibberish will turn into “real” words and her sentences will get longer. But it’s good to know she has the basics down.

At any rate, she had fun having a little bit of “girl” talk with Momma. I’m not sure what they were talking about (and either does Heather), but they were gossiping away in the kitchen, baking the cookies. Finley seemed to be giving the low down on who does what at daycare… we think. And she thinks she’s responding to Heather’s prodding questions for more.

But the best part came at the moment when Finley had just the right amount of sugar from the cookie dough to regale us with the following holiday message:

(Push play to hear Finley's Holiday Message)

 

Meeni Keekuu will officially be the new holiday cry in our family. Finley and Momma will continue to bake Keekuu cookies and I’m sure the princess will be excited to unwrap all the presents she finds under the Keekuu tree. And come Keekuu morning, when they see their Keekuu stockings filled with goodies, all the kids will be meeni and bright.

And so, it may be a bit early, but from our family to yours, we hope you have the meeniest of Keekuus!

All in the Family

One of the good things about Thanksgiving – other than the abundance of food and family – is the fact that, for most of us, we end up with a four-day weekend. And we had some great plans made. There was a trip to the Zoo planned for Friday. There was a night out for dinner with friends for Momma and Daddy on Saturday. And there was a whole day of just Daddy, Finley and football on Sunday. It was looking like a great weekend. But you know what they say about best laid plans.

After a great get together with my side of the family on Thursday, we woke up Friday to find our little Princess not quite herself. Instead of being excited when we go into her room to get her out of the crib, she just laid there, lethargic. This is the girl who squeals your name when she sees you coming. This is the girl who can’t wait to see what the day holds or can’t wait to find out where you’ve put her morning juice. But THIS morning, she was as lively as the Seattle Seahawks’ offense.

Another sign that things weren’t right was how she passed on breakfast, including her favorites… yogurt and applesauce. Then, she just sat on our laps, not wanting to play or read. She was a bit warm, but didn’t have a fever. Finally, a few hours after waking up, she threw up. Unfortunately, as we would find out a little later, this wasn’t going to be a one-ended ordeal. 

She didn’t really throw up again, but we went through plenty of diapers, if that tells you anything. The munchkin was definitely sick and the zoo was out of the picture. She did rally a bit after a LONG nap and we were able to get some fresh air that night.

So, we were hoping that after a livelier evening, we’d have our girl back the next morning. It wasn’t to be. Saturday morning was almost identical to Friday morning and we made plans to unmake plans. Our night out for dinner was going to be just the Daddy, while Mommy stayed in and took care of the little “Sicky Dickey.” And as we were about to discover, even unmaking plans can’t help you avoid the inevitable.

I got home from dinner around 9:30 and checked in on the Princess and the Mommy to make sure everyone was okay. Not even ten minutes later, I started getting cold sweats and my stomach was having second thoughts about my meal. I was actually doing fairly well, containing the stampede, but a few minutes later I was in bed. I only wish I got to stay there. I was up every 20 to 40 minutes and finally started to see some rest around 5am. And that’s when it hit Heather.

It was tag team toilet trips for the rest of the morning and into Sunday afternoon. Of course, Finley was feeling much better, so we had to take turns laying down and keeping her entertained. Needless to say, it wasn’t much fun. To her credit, Finley seemed to sense there was something going on and did a good job of keeping herself busy. She didn’t need too much extra attention and wasn’t into some of her favorite crazy antics. She was happy to read a book or color on her own, which was good because I would be laying on the couch almost literally keeping an eye on her. It was the only one I could keep open.

The good news is that this was apparently some sort of 24-hour stomach bug and as I write this on Monday night, I feel almost normal and Heather is following close behind. Finley was a little lethargic, again, this morning, but ended up having a good day. I figure her guts are a lot newer and it will take her a little longer to get over things like this.

I will say that being sick is never any fun… we all know that. And having a sick kid is not much better. If you’re lucky you can be sick with the kid and still have one parent standing. But when the whole team gets wiped out by the same bug, it’s like someone unplugged your family.

We knew that having a kid would introduce a lot of new experiences into our lives. We’ve been able to see the miracle of birth, the wonder of walking and the joy of laughter she brings. But, I could really do without the coughs, colds and crud every month or so. I guess that’s part of the deal. All or nothing. In the long run, I guess it’s a pretty fair trade off. I’ll trade as many nights as you want, running to and from the bathroom, as long as I get an infinite number of hugs and kisses from my Sicky Dickey in return.