Manners

Henry is a vocal small chap. He gets his point across pretty easily.

Today he started saying "thank you." And my heart melted.

Where my daughter calls me Christ-like

"Mom, look at my picture. This is me. And that's Henry. And that's our baby between us. You're the baby. You're baby Jesus. I'm Mary, and Henry is Joseph. No one had a baby like Jesus, huh mom?"
"Nope, no one did."
"I liked you when you were baby Jesus. I'm SO excited for Jesus' birthday."

Friends, I'm working on a post about me and religion and Christmas. But sit tight, and in the mean time, know that I'm scratching my head about Willa's enthusiasm (and assignments) above.

Youthful editor

Let me set the scene:

Jim and I are at the table talking about his day.
Willa is in and out of the room, dreaming of princesses and candy.
Henry is walking around the house with his favorite ornament (he plucks the same one off the tree and takes it for walks).

Jim: "it just frustrates me. Such a dumb@ss way of doing things...."
Me: *eyebrows up*
Willa: "DADDY! We don't say dumb."

I'm feeling grateful for, and missing, John Denver today.

The kids and I were watching John Denver and the Muppets: a Christmas Together special on YouTube today. The kids were hypnotized and I sang along, making cookies at the table.

Then this segment came on (click to jump in the middle of the special, and from there you can get to the start). And I froze and listened.

Gosh.

Kermit and John Denver. Sweet genius.

I know that this lives in my sentimental past, when I was 6 or so and watching in footie pajamas with my family. I very vividly remember playing the (now long gone) record of this tv special while decorating the tree with my family.

The humble, genuine, gift that Jim Henson and John Denver created together was magic. It WAS Christmas.

For the truth that binds us all together
I would like to say a simple prayer
That at this special time you will have true peace of mind
And love to last throughout the coming year

Like Kermit, this season makes me homesick. My schmaltzy heart longs for the time that I was little and listening to my parents sing along, watching dad hang the lights outside while mom orchestrated clever decorations or giant family meals. And now - gulp - it's my and Jim's turn to ensure my kids have gentle, generous, joyous memories of Christmas time. It's such a big, wonderful responsibility.

Round and round...

On Monday, the Sinkis went to the GR public museum for a Christmas party hosted by our friend, Joe. Joe also happens to be our financial planner, and the party was a client appreciation event. Folks, if you need someone to help you with dollars and goals, and you want it to be someone you can be comfortable with, let me know and I'll get you Joe's information.

So... here are the Sinkis on the carousel. We took 2 rides. On the first, Willa informed me that her horse's name was Mary. After the first spin, we went back in the main hall. You can see the carousel through windows. Henry noticed, walked over and started signing "more." Neat.

Fun night in Sinki-ville.

holiday briefs

A few quick things:

The tree is up. Lights are on. When Jim plugged the lights in Willa literally gasped and said, "beautiful sight." I was delighted.

We've been holding off to decorate the tree. I've been concerned about a certain curious toddler. Last night we were ready to go, but Willa was terrible at the dinner table and wound up going to bed very, very early. Tonight we are hopeful, and thanks to winter, Jim's Masters class is cancelled. So, decorating is on if Willa behaves better and Jim gets home.

Henry and Willa have both taken turns lying under the Christmas tree. I don't know if they're enjoying a beautiful novelty or trying to show us how darn adorable they can be. Either way, it's sweet.

Henry has taken to wearing reindeer antlers around his neck today. Willa is wearing her pink boa, silver antlers, an orange scarf, a green skirt (don't worry, there are fleece pants under that), and a butterfly top.

The kids got to spend some time with Santa. It was fairly anti-Norman Rockwell. I got kid A placed on one Santa knee and reached for B while A was sliding off, repeat in reverse a few times before we gave up.

This pose is a lot like last year's pose. And Willa's first Christmas pose. Of course, at the end of the night, Jim and Willa spotted Santa and she ended up hugging him. A minute before Henry and I rounded the corner to join them.

And the family picture:

Sledding Sunday

We went sledding on Sunday with special guests, Joe and Julia.

There's a school down that block with a hill that is perfect for little ones. It's a good ride down, and not impossible to walk back up.

The girls went with their dads, with each other, and by themselves. Willa went with me. Henry enjoyed rides with both of his parents. He was pulled up the hill, lying in the sled and grumbling baby curse words until he could ride down again.

The dogs came along. They made friends with a lot of strangers. Arlo would jump on laps (after an inviting pat) for rides down, and Greta would race on foot. Arlo took - and seemed to enjoy - a solo trip down too.

Jenny stayed at home with a napping Jordan. We all joined them for a terrific dinner and a dance party in princess clothes.

Willa and is six months older than Julia. It's fun to watch those six months become less important as they both get older and play together.

Outside

Winter hits the Sinkis

Just got in from an quick romp in the snow. Willa's wearing pjs and those are socks on Henry's hands. But man it was fun. 3-5 inches predicted. Willa's got plans to make a snowman as tall as Jim.

My dad and I* took the kids downtown on Thanksgiving and met Jim (who was working the Turkey Trot in the morning). The parade was fantastic. The kids were pretty riveted:

We were at the start of the parade. This means a lot of balloon spinning. That's some exciting stuff that you just can't understand unless you've been standing on Woodward for an hour in the cold, and have had the kumbya moment in a crowd of convincing a group of people dressed as cartoon characters to run in a circle, each gripping their line that connects to the giant balloon above them. It's pretty awesome.

So, Santa came (escorted by the Cousino High School marching band - I am an alum - yes, I do realize just how dorky this post is making me), children squealed, and then we booked it back to the parking lot, in hopes of beating traffic. I opened the door to the mini-van to load in the kids and found a duffel bag full of several copies of one cd. Uh... someone broke into my parents van and left cds and didn't take anything. **

And in order to keep things light and somewhat brief, I'll just say, uh... I hate it when stereotypes are realized. Some people don't go to "the city" because of crime. Thanks cd jerk, for perpetuating that. Bah.

Anyhow, the parade was fun. And then we got home, took several layers off and then went to see the marching band assembled in front of a neighbor's house. They won a raffle which entitled them to a 20 minute concert from the 100+ member band. A marching band? In the middle of a street? Playing Michael Jackson's "Thriller"? I'm there!

Even more entertaining was cousin time on Friday:

Sorry for the sideways video. I'm tired of trying to get it to rotate, and will try again later.

* My mom stayed home to continue recovering post-sinus/ear/respiratory infection. Later that day she hosted one of two - back to back - big dinners. Big, fun delicious, family diners, but hardly taking it easy on herself.

** Detroit: kinder and gentler post-Kwame.