I have no idea what to write about these days. The kids are utterly incredibly, hysterical, exhausting, and growing up like crazy. There is so much to report, but we have been SO SICK and still have not really had a chance to relax, even with all of the sick days we have taken (Ava has spent 3 days in school so far during the month of November)—there are tons of things on the to-do list, given the holidays, and by the time bedtime rolls around, I am so tired and ill that I cannot think straight. Chronicling my children’s development is way beyond me at times.

But we weathered Thanksgiving very well, I must say. I completely gave up on the Martha Stewart routine and we all went to Nana’s this year. I rallied for the pies, the Irish Soda Bread, and the fruit salad, since Ava and Carter could help with that. Ava has been talking about this for days now, and I spent a lot of time preparing her for the formality of the occasion, talking to her about manners, and what the meal would be like, and so on. It is not like she eats with a stick off of a dirt floor here at home, but I just wanted to re-emphasize the expectations. And she was WONDERFUL. I did not really get to eat since Carter was in no mood to sit still, but I still had a great time because my eldest daughter was completely charming and a perfect little lady. It was like she turned off the threes and turned on the fours. I got a glimpse of what she will be like in a year or so.

She is full of imagination. She makes up complete worlds and stories and will spend hours talking to her creations. Tonight it was 8 donkeys that had to be taken care of and put to bed in their barn, often it is a school (?) of dolphins, sometimes it is her little sister—it can be anything. But if you watch her, she is conducting a huge story, chattering away to her characters that are nothing but thin air to the adults around her. Sometimes she will bring me into the story to meet a donkey or a dolphin, but often she barely registers my presence. It is very interesting. She makes up the craziest names too. Never Mary or Jill or David. We have animals named jaxsalasxa, avivia, solisrasita, and so on. I asked a friend that is a speech therapist about the making up of words, and she said it was a way of practicing with phonemes—the individual sounds in words. She sure is practicing.

Carter causes my heart to stop about 50 times a day. He is all boy. Climbing, falling, climbing, tripping. Ava never considered getting on the table. He parked himself right in the middle of it today. He has to be so sick of “Carter GET DOWN!” But he is a charmer, and appears to have more words than previously thought. He uses the first sound correctly for lots of things—so he makes a b sound for bird, bear, ball, a d sound for duck, dad, drink, and so on—today we got “AP!” for apple, and “CA!” for cat. It appears that we are on a cusp here.

We are still waiting for snow. It is finally cold enough. Would be nice to get a winter-themed picture for the cards this year…