12/08/10 - Holidays

The holiday season seems to sneak up faster every year.  Halloween went by in a flash.  I vaguely recall a little Cinderella, Snow White and angel knocking on residents’ doors in Dave’s building yelling, “Trick or treat!”  The weather got colder, the winter coats and mittens came out of storage, and before long it was Thanksgiving.  We had our first snow (thought it didn’t stick), and took the five-hour drive down to Grandma and Grandpa’s for Thanksgiving dinner.   The girls got to gather eggs from the hen house, eat pumpkin pie and watch “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” with the family. 

 

Now the days are flying once again.  We set up the little tabletop tree, decorated the hedge with lights, and broke out the Christmas music.   We made a gingerbread house (though a little elf keeps sneaking M&M’s off of it) and decorated gluten-free sugar cookies.  Mom is racing the calendar to order presents online and get the Christmas cards out on time.  We’re looking forward to another trip to the Grandparents’, this time with the addition of Uncle Tim and the cousins.   Before you know it we’ll be ringing in a new year, and start the cycle all over again.   Where does the time go?

 

Time Keeper

Eva is becoming more aware of time now, asking me to show her where on the clock the big and little hands will point when it’s time for us to go somewhere or a friend to come over.   I put up a classroom calendar on the play room door, and Eva figured out pretty quickly how to keep track of the days until birthdays or holidays.  She’s very observant and curious, and you can tell from her questions that she’s figuring things out.  When I told her she needed to dress her naked Cinderella Barbie instead of letting her catch cold on the floor, Eva said that she needed a swimsuit to go swimming in.  I took a black permanent marker and painted a bathing suit on the doll for her, and Eva was so excited she asked me to do it for all of them.  When she got a new one a few weeks later, the first order of business was, “Mommy, Belle needs a bathing suit, too.” 

 

Eva loves to draw things that she’s interested in, and not a day goes by without a stack of new drawings appearing on my desk.  She has a very active imagination now and will make up elaborate scenarios to pretend.   A big Magic School Bus fan, Eva and Amanda were pretending a few days ago that they shrank and went into Miss Frizzle’s mouth during a trip to the dentist, to learn all about teeth.  To my knowledge, there’s no such episode of the Magic School Bus, but it was a very creative idea! 

 

Play Time

Amanda is getting to the age where she can come up with her own “make believe” ideas, and will interject what she wants to pretend instead of just following Eva’s lead.  It sometimes leads to friction, of course, but for the most part the girls play together wonderfully well.    She wants to follow along as Eva does her lessons, so I make photocopies of Eva’s worksheets for her to color on.  She already knows her colors, letters and numbers, and is beginning to pick up letter sounds from listening to Eva. 

 

Amanda is the princess of the family, and she naturally gravitates to all things girly.  She loves to play with dolls, tea sets and dress up…the toys Eva usually passed up in favor of stuffed animals, cars, and horses.   She’s noticed that none of her Disney princess dolls wear leggings under their gowns, so it’s become difficult to convince her that princesses DO wear leggings when it’s 40 degrees outside. 

 

Little Playmate

Bethany has started wanting to play with whatever her big sisters are engaged in.  She knocks down their block towers, rearranges play furniture, wraps their dolls in blankets, and gets really upset when they climb up on Mommy and Daddy’s bed to play where she can’t reach.   Her favorite toy right now is a cuddly Minnie Mouse in a Cinderella dress that Eva got from Disneyland.   Bethany carries it everywhere. 

 

No drawer or cabinet is safe now.  If it’s not childproofed, our busy toddler will find a way to get into it.  A couple of weeks ago I noticed that crayons were disappearing, and was mystified until I caught Bethany dropping them down the floor vents.  We’ve had to move the bathroom trash onto the countertop to keep her from playing in it, though she still manages to unravel the toilet paper roll.  She’s also figured out how to open the kitchen trash and throw things inside, so I’ve learned to inspect it for toys before taking it out. 

Gluten Intolerance

We got test results back last week, confirming that Bethany is gluten intolerant.  The report reads, “Intestinal antigliadin IgA antibody was elevated, indicating that you have active dietary gluten sensitivity. For optimal health, resolution of symptoms (if you have them), and prevention of small intestinal damage and malnutrition, osteoporosis, and damage to other tissues (like nerves, brain, joints, muscles, thyroid, pancreas, other glands, skin, liver, spleen, among others), it is recommended that you follow a STRICT and PERMANENT gluten free diet.”  Her Anti-gliadin IgA level was 117 units (normal range is less than 10 units).

 

It’s disappointing that she will have to stay on a gluten-free diet for the rest of her life, but I’m grateful that she hasn’t been eating it long enough to have done irreversible damage.   Also, I’m grateful that both she and Amanda were diagnosed at an early enough age that they are still developing their tastes, and won’t regret the loss of “favorite foods,” as they certainly would have if they’d had to change their diets later in life.   This way, all their favorites growing up will be gluten free. 

Hunter

A few weeks ago, Dave went to help our friends Christopher and Rocio put together a new shed in their backyard.  On his way out the door, one of their new kittens followed him to the car.  Christopher suggested that Dave take it home on a trial basis, depending on how Rebel handled it.  When he got home, Dave brought me a gift of organic beef from Rocio, but made no mention of his little companion.  I heard the girls yelling “Kitty! Kitty!” in the living room, and thought they were referring to Rebel.   When I came around the corner, there was Eva cradling a fuzzy orange bundle in her arms like a proud new momma.   She was in love.  The kitten was about 8 weeks old and already litter box trained.  The first couple of days it went around the house meowing for its mother, and Rebel would hiss at it whenever he came within sight.   Eva took it to bed every night for awhile, before it kept waking her up trying to play.  It wasn’t long before it was confidently stalking, pouncing and attacking everything in sight, so Eva named it “Hunter.” 

 

Now at about 12 weeks, Hunter is full of mischief.  He tries to climb the furniture with his claws, jumping onto the table or high chair to eat the girls’ food.  He lurks in corners and under furniture to spring on unsuspecting toes.  He launches sneak attacks on Rebel, pouncing and then dashing away.  Rebel calmly tolerates it until he gets his fill, at which point he’ll promptly flip the kitten onto his back and show him who’s boss.  The girls are learning to be more careful around a cat that actually has claws, and to steer clear when the kitten goes into what we call “hunting mode”.