Much better activity...

 Last night we decorated sugar cookies to give to our neighbors and classmates. Micah surprised us all with his perseverance in painting the whole batch with Mom and Dad! Notice his intense concentration.

 Ten points to the best caption for the face below. Perhaps something like...all this hard work, and we don't get to eat any?

 Again....where is the cheesy smile for the camera? I think he is on to us and frustrating our plans to paparazzi his life. So grandparents, you'll just have to visit to get the real Micah in his silly state. ;-)

What's wrong with this picture??

Here is a quote from the baby center update I got on my 2 year 3 week old PRESCHOOLER (read: not toddler!) yesterday: "The little sponge following you around has big ears! So give her plenty to listen to. Research shows that preschoolers whose mothers talk often to them build bigger vocabularies. And kids with fathers who also frequently talk to them develop even larger vocabularies. (Moms tend to use more comforting and nurturing words drawn from the child's own world, while dads are more likely to talk about less-familiar interests, researchers say.)" 

 

Do you think a "less familiar interest" could possibly be zergs and terrans and other StarCraft words I should not know? Why does my child look so engrossed? and worse yet, gleeful (if such a word exists)?

That elusive Christmas photo...

Well,  I told Rick he had to chase Micah around the house with a red blanket hoping that we could capture Micah in his Christmas sweater with a smile. This is the closest we came...

 This is his clothing advertisement face...

 And this is an outtake...with the best smile of them all. Micah thought playing magic curtain with the backdrop was more fun than standing in front of it. What can you do?

Losing the belly button

Tomorrow we will be at 25 weeks in this pregnancy...and as of last weekend we are mourning the loss of my belly button. A friendly classmate asked me last week if I was going to have twins. She is single and thus I forgive her. I'm rediscovering the creativity needed to be pregnant. Here is how I have survived the first 1.5 trimesters....

1st trimester:

- I decided I would not do any house cleaning as the cleaning products made me extra nauseous.  This was Rick's favorite decree.
- As I was easily getting woozy on buses, I attempted to go against my people-pleasing nature and force my way into the last remaining seat on the bus. Even if an old man got on, I would let someone else offer him a seat. This took a lot of willpower..but I affirmed myself with the thought that I could only truly be responsible for one of us not passing out while standing.
- I bought lots of heavy groceries on grocery trips so I could justify taking a taxi up our hill instead of walking. :)
- I decided I would just not wash any pants. Without the benefit of a wash and a dryer, my pants would stretch with me. Supposedly. 

2nd trimester:
- I get to eat double portions of my favorite foods....and claim pregnancy nauseau for my less-than-favorite foods.
- I unbutton my coat when getting on the bus so people know I'm pregnant and freely offer me a seat.
- We've convinced Micah that only Dad should be rough-housed with for 'everyone's health'.
- I've decided I won't drink any liquids after 2pm so that I can sleep through the night. I have yet to follow this one. 

Finished product

They have many Christmas decorations here because they decorate trees for New Year's...but we had to bring our own nativity set from home. Most of the decorations focus on snowmen and Santa...though I don't think Santa comes to visit. We'll learn much about this season and how it is celebrated in the next month! We've heard "This This"/Greensleeves twice in the subway stations now.

Christmas horse - aka Reindeer

Decorating the house

Birthday party celebrated, balloons still out, dishes put away.....time to set up the Christmas tree!!! Micah was much more involved this year, but a bit frustrated by the fine motor skills needed to put the little ornament loops on the tree. Mom and Dad had to work at it too. Best parts? The reindeer/Christmas horse that says 'neigh' and the red bead garlands that were dragged around the house. We were really thankful for a day off from classes to get ready for this month. We won't have any holiday days off in December, except for those we self-initiate. Rick and I both passed into the next level of language learning...so here we go! 

Micah's 2nd Birthday!!

We celebrated Micah's 2nd birthday today with a bunch of his friends. We were blessed to have several families share with us in making this day fun. Thomas the Tank Engine was also a featured guest. We attempted to play "Pin the hat on Sir Topham Hat" and "Drop clothespins into Thomas' Chimney". The older kids thought these were great. The younger kids did not want to interrupt their independent play for such community activities. Maybe in a couple more years. :) We had Cincinnati Chili (Chili over pasta with whatever fix'ins you like), turkish style pig-n-blankets, veggies, and chocolate cupcakes (thanks to an $8 box of Duncan Hines cake mix). 

Micah's latest word update

For the grandparents...

The words we hear most often:
up, down, in, green/green one (often used to express Micah's desire for his green cloth diapers above all the other colors), no, bye, cheese, uh oh, mom, and dad

and the following animal sounds:
meow, how how (dog), baa, neigh (horse/cow), ka ka (duck/chicken), toot toot (train-specifically Thomas)

Yesterday Rick & Micah called me from home and Micah greeted me with a "MOM!" and just before we hung up, he gave me an assertive "BYE!" I smiled all the way home.

advertisements

 Well, a friend once told us not to learn our language from advertisements. I think it is quite wise advice. But you do have to wonder sometimes...what is the thinking behind this?

Here is a pseudo translation of this ad for honey. It makes me think of something other than honey.

"renewed every day
like a miracle
like a light of the world"

And here we have the second holiday doughnut ad. The first we saw was for Krispy Skremes. Now they don't celebrate Halloween or Christmas here...  and supposedly it only snowed 3 times last winter in our city, so.....how are we going to "meet with the new year snow man"?

A first cousin!!

 Hooray! We are so excited that our first niece and cousin has arrived! Selma Magdalena was born on November 19.  We got to meet her for the first time on Skype when the family came home from the hospital...Micah thought she was pretty amazing. We can't wait to meet her in person!