Christmas Preparations

Merry Christmas!


Bella signing cat as the girls read The Animals' Christmas Carol

There's not actually a cat in this book. Bella loves the animals, but she gets confused as to what they ought to be called. When she finds one that she knows, she is very excited. She has signs for puppy, fish, cat, bird, rabbit, and baby. She tries to name all creatures using those words, so we're working on expanding her vocabulary.


Gabi pointing out the puppy while Bella signs


Gabi helping Daddy string up the outside lights

For parents, "help" becomes defined as "involved in some way." Earlier this week, the girls were helping me do laundry. Bella's contribution was to move clothes from my sorted piles back into the laundry basket. Gabi's job was to put clothes from one pile into the laundry machine (which she did one piece at a time, so it took almost as long as I needed to scrub the extra-soiled articles). When Gabi finished her light-colored pile, she picked up something from the basket that Bella was filling - namely, her dark purple panties. I told her that we weren't washing that yet because this was a light load, and those panties were dark. Gabi asked which colors were light and which were dark. I explained that white and pink were usually light, while red and purple were usually dark. Gabi immediately tried to help by sorting clothes from the basket, and she found a very dark hot pink shirt and lavender socks, which both, according to my descriptions, went into the wrong piles. What a confusing concept!


Gabi in front of our Christmas tree

I have yet to figure out how to teach Bella not to pull the ornaments off the tree. That little girl does love to be involved in whatever I'm doing. On Wednesday, I was wrapping a few presents to get in the mail before Gabi's dance class. I was diligent in keeping the scissors away from Bella, but she managed to get ahold of some wrapping paper (fortunately that roll was almost gone). Then while I was wrapping the second present, Bella started unwrapping the first present. Trouble! Gabi was also requesting to help, but at least she wasn't climbing on my wrapping surface like her little sister. Eventually, Bella decided she needed to curl up in my lap and snuggle, which was my clue that Annabelle needed a nap even though this meant that I would not be able to go to the post office before dance class. I stopped everything to rock Annabelle and put her down. Once Annabelle was asleep, not only was I able to wrap the presents more efficiently, but I was suddenly able to think clearly. I realized that since dance class is around the corner from the post office, Bella and I could mail the presents during Gabi's dance class (plus, that way I'd only have one kid with me!). That was so obvious, I wonder why I didn't think of it before. Somehow having two young children pulling your brain in every direction makes it impossible to think logically.


My girls in front of our Christmas decorations

Yesterday, I attempted to take some pictures for our Christmas card, but this proved to be a very difficult task. Often Bella won't even stay put long enough for the auto-focus on my camera to find her. Gabi stays in position but rarely smiles and her poses are a bit awkward. Whenever I do manage to capture a good shot of Annabelle, I realize that Gabi wasn't looking. My expectations of my three-year-old are probably unrealistic, and I am a bit harsh in correcting her, which of course means I'm guaranteed NOT to have a smile from Gabi in the next shot. So... I tried again in the evening with Michael's help, but without any improvement in the results. The following pictures illustrate why I dislike trying to stage a good picture of both children.










And yet another photo session in their pajamas after dinner...






At some point before Christmas (now less than two weeks away), I do hope to mail Christmas cards. Maybe we'll take pictures in front of the nativity scene outside the Greek Orthodox Church in our neighborhood.