Last week, Ana Luisa had her first post-surgery follow-up appointment at the hospital. The appointment was pretty early in the morning, and I took both kids with me. While we were eating breakfast, I told Juan Pablo that we were going to take Ana Luisa to the hospital so that the doctor could check her mouth and make sure it was ok. He looked disappointed, and said, "Quiza me voy con otra mujer." ("Maybe I'll go with another woman.") When I asked which other woman, he said, "Abuela."
Abuela says that although she never thought she would be anybody's "other woman", she is quite enjoying the experience.The appointment went well. Everything looks as the surgeon expected. Ana Luisa is still on a soft diet for another week. She doesn't mind, but we're ready to be done with this:
Soft foods diet + the messiest 19-month old ever = lots of work for mom and dad.Chapter Two: Preparing for Christmas
About a week and a half ago, to celebrate the first Sunday of Advent, we decorated for Christmas. We put up the Christmas tree, which ended up with a disproportionate amount of ornaments on the bottom half, thanks to our little elves.
They get shuffled around often, and sometimes end up in cupboards or on the coffee table, but the kids are enjoying the tree, which is the important thing.
Of course the nativity is a big hit. Who needs action figures when you have wise men to play with?
Chapter 3: What Happens When Dad Gets You Dressed
Jeff usually gets the kids dressed in the mornings, while I'm getting myself ready. I try to lay out outfits for them, but since he typically has no problem putting together outfits, I don't worry too much about it. I did however, recently complain that he always puts the same couple outfits on her (the ones that always end up on top in her drawer because when I put the clothes away, that's where they end up), and asked him to try to rotate things a little more so I'm not always washing the same two shirts. The next day, when I saw what Ana Luisa ended up in, I just had to laugh. Pink turtleneck, put on backwards with buttons open to reveal tags sticking out at the neck, tucked into black leggings.
Hmm...definitely not the way to end up on any "Best Dressed" lists. Although I guess Jeff does get points for coming up with an original outfit.In his defense, I had folded a load of laundry the night before, but not put it away, so most of Ana Luisa's clothes were in a laundry basket rather than in her drawer, leaving him limited clothing combinations to work with. And don't worry, I didn't let Ana Luisa out of the house looking like that. Instead, I just took a picture and put it in our blog for the world to see.
Chapter Four: "E" week
School is going well. Juan Pablo is really enjoying it, and he is learning a lot. In fact, the other day, just before going into our school room he said, "School is like special time." Awww. It makes the teacher feel good to hear her students say things like that. Last week we learned about the letter E. We talked a lot about elephants, and for our special snack, we made elephant ears. Juan Pablo was in charge of rolling out the dough. I showed him how to use the rolling pin, and how you need flour so that the dough doesn't stick to the table or the rolling pin. Evidently the dough was extremely sticky:
He did a great job though, and the elephant ears were delicious, if a little floury.
He has also been very eager to go to the museum to see mummies, after reading a story that involves a mummy in one of his Richard Scarry books. Learning about the letter E gave us a great opportunity to talk about Egypt, and we finally made it to the Kelsey Museum of Archeology...I think the mummies lived up to his expectations. The rest of the museum was fun too.
Chapter Five: St. Nicholas
Monday we celebrated the Feast of Saint Nicholas. On Sunday evening, we all put our shoes under the Christmas tree. Monday morning, Juan Pablo woke up at 5am. I tried to tell him that it was still night time and if St. Nicholas saw him awake he might not leave anything in his shoes. It totally didn't work. I did manage to keep him away from the tree until Ana Luisa woke up at 7 though.
Ana Luisa got a shape sorting wheel toy, and Juan Pablo got a family of dollhouse dolls that looks like our family. They have been happily residing in a block and lego house that undergoes constant renovations ever since.Chapter Six: The Whole Foods Kids Club
Grocery day for us is Wednesday mornings. This happens to work out great, because on Wednesdays, the members of the Whole Foods Kids Club get a free snack if they show their punch cards at the customer service desk. Both of our kids are card-carrying members of the club. Every Wednesday on our way out we stop by customer service to pick up boxes of raising, packets of fruit snacks, bags of crackers, and all kinds of other things that inevitably end up all over the car. The club is free to join, and every ten punches on their card, the kids get a special prize. Today was a tenth-punch day for us, and the kids got these awesome Whole Foods aprons:
Our little fashionista thought that, paired with a winter hat, it made a lovely casual lunch outfit. Seriously, she wouldn't let me take the hat off while she was eating. That little girl cracks me up.
And that about brings us up to date on life at the Pennings house. The kids are hilariously cute and as always, keep us on our toes. We are thankful that Ana Luisa is recovering well, and looking forward to the holidays. And maybe one of these days I'll get better at documenting things as they happen, rather than having to write big long catch-up posts every few weeks. We'll see.
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