Pics from Thanksgiving - yesterday

Moving the Stickers

Yesterday Shara was sitting at my computer and she calls me over and says, "look what I did. I moved all the stickers." She meant the icons on the desktop. I'm going to make her pc single click to open a program, but I'll keep mine double clicks and very fast ones at that! She's doing really good at her computer and all I have to do is start the browser, homepage is sesame street, and she can get into the games and do the rest. She even wants me to leave the room.

I asked her what she wanted to give daddy for Christmas, because I hadn't actually planned any of this very well - no gifts, no cards, etc., and she thought a spiderman ring would be good. I was going to bring her out to get one, assuming we could find one, but at lunch she told Alan that she was going to get him a spiderman ring, so I figured at that point it lost it's cute factor. Doesn't always get the concept of a surprise.

We played in the driveway yesterday as well and had fun throwing snowballs at trees and other targets. She wouldn't let me go into the snow - started screaming for me to stop, because she thought I'd fall through and not be able to get out. Last night we were watching Shrek the Halls and she mentioned Donkey going into the snow and jumping out and then I realized that's where her fear came from. She wouldn't believe me that the snow wasn't that deep, so we stuck to the driveway instead.

She wore her new nightgown last night and we have some pictures that we'll post. After 2 nights of waking up coughing, the actual cold came finally out. After her nap yesterday the cough was constant so we gave medicine and it was great until 3 AM last night. Gave her some more and she stayed another night in bed with us. Our room is rather cold, so the nightgown didn't work so well and we added pj bottoms to the outfit.

We're still keeping our holiday plans because once she's medicated, she in great spirits and you'd never know she has a cold. At this time her nose isn't even running, so my fear of spreading it is low, and you can't tell me 1/2 the population doesn't have something at this time of year they're passing along. So as long as she isn't acting like she's sick, might as well make our rounds and just keep washing hands. I'm sure most of the people we're going to see would rather have a sick Shara than no Shara at all!

Oh, and if the Chatta Box leftovers weren't so extra spicy and the non-spicy one not beefy, we'd bring them to the Lookers today. Next time we'll pick up something to bring back with us. It was so good and Shara loved her garlic beef fried rice, fried veggie roll, and especially the miso soup with lots of tofu.

Storms & Hanukkah at Bubbe's

Last Thursday was the first big storm of the season and the wise governor sent everyone home early so the roads couldn't get plowed with all the people driving around. I didn't have a bad time, but Alan had it rough - needed a jump and didn't get home 'til after 9 PM. Shara & I had a pretty good time. We made cookies and she was a big help stamping and rolling the dough. She didn't like that daddy wasn't home for bedtime but we layed down together and she was out within 20 minutes. I think she was more tired than anything.

We made the pilgrimage to Bubbe's for another Hanukkah party and had the best time. The trip up was uneventful - we just played a little and read stories. Shara hasn't wanted a movie in the car in a very long time and is happy to listen to stories, play with a toy or two or relax and look out the window. I got a lot of knitting done too!

When we got there we settled in and then watched the video from Shara's dance party from earlier that morning. We all loved watching her on the TV and she was so cute. Later when we watched it with the Lookers, Jill said Shara was doing very well, and she should know, having brought up two dancers.

I had wondered if this would be the first time we saw the present frenzy because last week I took her to Hilliards to get a couple of presents and everything she saw was her favorite. When we were at Hilliards, they had a big, 5' tall snowman that sang and danced when you got close and she freaked, but didn't need to leave the store as she would have had to do last year. Well anyway, no frenzy. She was very calm in opening her presents, thanked everyone and really loved playing with them all. I had picked up a fruit slice candy to put in her bag of gifts from us, along with a toothbrush, tissues, and a couple other little things, and I looked at her later and she was trying to open the candy. I asked her if she could ask before she eats something like that and she said yes, she would, and then did. I said ok, but before I said ok, she had it opened and exclaimed, "I opened it all by myself!" But other things she asked first, like a chickpea from a bowl on the table, and I wonder if she would have asked if I hadn't been there. I doubt it would have occurred to her. As long as she isn't helping herself to alcoholic drinks, that's fine. If it's something spicy she takes by accident, she'll learn.

We had bought Five Little Gefiltas to give to Bubbe and that was all well and good until Shara realized it would stay with Bubbe. She cried and wanted it to go home with her and Bubbe said ok, and I said we'd bring it the next visit. It's such a cute book. I recommend it for anyone brought up Jewish or around Jewish Deli's!

She really did great, considering we didn't get to sleep until after 9:30 PM and she had the exciting dance party that day. The next day, we had a good breakfast of bagels & eggs, and Alan & I shoveled out and we tried to get on the road early because of the storm. We went an average of 50 miles/hour and it wasn't so bad as to pull over, but we were happy to get home.

Pictures will be posted as soon as everyone sends them to me! So please do!

Funny

Tonight for dinner Shara wanted mac & cheese (leftover) & soup. After she saw my bagel w/ lox & cream cheese she thought that would be good too. I told her I'd share with her and she pitched a fit about wanting the whole thing. We told her she could have 1/2 of the 1/2 with the lox and didn't like that so I gave her the whole 1/2 explaining that she had asked for the other and yada yada. Always thought that sounded funny. Anyway, then she say's, "I like this a lox".

Writing Rut

I know, it's been a month since I've written but it doesn't seem as though anything really exciting has been happening. The cute things shara says are unfortunately not written down, but here are a couple I remember - rememory, "I'll miss that" when wanting to read another book first.

Last night Shara woke up in the middle of the night and went to the bathroom. Alan went in to help her and I slept through the whole thing. I can't believe I missed it! She told me this morning the story and I wasn't sure if she was dreaming or if it happened for real, but Alan confirmed it did.

Yesterday we decorated Hanukkah cookies - Shara helped sprinkle the sugars and even cut out a sheet of cookies. We can't wait to share them next week at the hanukkah party. Then Alan and Shara watched Rudolph the red nosed reindeer and after supper we all played memory, which was a lot of fun. It was nice to have a relaxing time at home.

Dance is going well. Next week we have a party there and they'll do a little performance, so Alan bought new tapes for the newly repaired video camera so we can share with everyone. It may even be short enough that we can post it online. The teacher wanted them to keep the performance a surprise for us so she's been good about not telling us, but I did get her to show me one thing and it's very cute. One of the other parents said they were going to dance to Jingle Bell Rock, but I asked Shara and she didn't recognize that song but said they're going to be dancing to Jingle Bells.

Today we're going to Sophia's dedication and then over to John & Maggie's. It should be a good chance for the girls to play together. We missed Hannah's bday party, so it's been a while since they saw each other. Now she's playing on her own computer doing an Elmo game from the Sesame Street website. She's getting good at mousing, but we need to fix her play area. Her monitor is too high and there isn't room for her to move the mouse very well. It's great that she's enjoying all these games because they're very educational. Last week we brought home a drawing she did and she wrote her name - it was across the top of the page and I had to pick out the ara, but the S and H were very clear and right next to each other.