December

My four year old told me the other day… “Mom, it’s sooooo boring”.  We don’t usually have time for boredom so I inquired asking “why are you bored?”  The response; “when will Santa get here?  It’s just taking soooooo looooong”.  As an adult I think the month goes pretty fast… too fast.  But I remember as a child having those same feelings and December just seemed like the longest month ever!  Every year on December first as I hang the angel Advent Calendar I feel just a tiny smidge of that waiting as the star takes its place in the very first pocket.  These days I actually sort of enjoy it… but then the sensation leaves almost as quickly as it came on.  I know how fast those four rows of pockets will go to get to the 25 mark.  I’m an adult with five children at home after all, and plenty to do even on the most average of days.  So we set about meshing the regular aspects of life with the festive preparations and somehow we muddle through and the waiting blurs into a haze of mere memory.  This is how we’ve been spending our month “WAITING”;

Nathan’s attention span is lengthening!!!  I’m so excited!  On quiet afternoons I got down some of the word puzzles from up high for both Kaitlyn and Nathan to work on together.  Nathan worked on his favorite animal which has been a pig since he could first “oink” at me and very carefully matched up the letters searching through the big pile to come up with just the right ones and fit them into the right spots.  He named each letter and it's color as he slipped it in.  We made the sounds of that letter and clapped when it was completed correctly.  Kaitlyn worked quickly with little help from me or the board itself.  She definitely knows her sounds and takes very little thought but to methodically spell out her word  by “sounding” it out and she worked quickly.  

Sometimes the two worked together.  I got out the Playful Patterns and sure enough, Kaitlyn AND Nathan got to work on making bugs and robots and we talked about shapes… not just circles and squares but Isosceles Triangles and Parallelograms (which was pointed out to me can look like diamonds).  Again we talked about color and size and how they fit together to make new shapes.

We got out the trains!  We have a set of some Thomas trains which they no longer make (the same way) from when Tristan was little and he loved them.  We took some time putting the track together and it took up most of our walking area in the Living Room by the time we were done setting up. 

This is the first time Nathan has been constructive with the trains piecing tracks together and making the trains go on them.  He is learning their names and numbers and Kaitlyn is trying hard to be patient with her brother’s  different method of play.  Nathan is certainly more rough in what he wants to do.

 

I spend a good deal of time encouraging him to keep the trains on the floor or on the tracks (and off the piano and TV).

Night or day, Nathan makes sure that our Christmas tree lights are on.  All four cats find comfort under the tree’s boughs.  Much of the time there is Christmas music on in the background… I think I could listen to Christmas music year round but then it wouldn’t be as special.  When a lively tune comes on we turn it up and sing.  Nathan’s favorites are “Up on the House Top”, “Frosty”, “Rudolph” “Jingle Bells” and the funniest one is the song “It’s the holiday season” which Nathan belts “don’t forget to hang up your sock” and sings in a very deep voice with a serious (funny) face “He’ll be coming down the chimney, DOWN!”

Christmas movies are watched during “Quiet Time” in the afternoon and both children must have their special things to cuddle up with.  Kaitlyn NEVER sleeps or rests without her “quilty pillow” and a cat.  Nathan has recently rediscovered his cat which he has now informed me is named “MEOW” and often falls asleep hugging him since none of the real cats generally stick around him long enough for everyone to settle in.

There was lots of excitement about Christmas cookie baking… and tasting!

There were wooden balance buddies to play with, Christmas stories to tell with felt, and More Tasting!!!

Blocks to string and build with helped pass some of our rainy afternoons. 

Keeping Nathan at bay long enough to do this was an accomplishment.

The whole family gathered around one Family Night to make paper chains to help count down the last 12 days before Christmas.

This was Nathan’s turn for Activity and he likes anything involving scissors.  Coloring, gluing and taping is good but SCISSORS!!!  They are exciting!

More Kitchen help!!!  And we settled in to cut and glue some crafts too.

 

These little gingerbread men fashioned from a paper bag, rickrack, googley eyes and sparkles  cut the shape of a cookie cutter made thoughtful ornaments that could be sent to special faraway little friends in just an envelope.

 

Nathan again experienced the joy of scissors and spent nearly an hour fringing a paper bag as well as gluing with a Q-tip.

Crafts, baking, parties, performances, evening walks to see the lights, stories, singing around the piano and movies are the things that fill our waiting in December.