Partied out

Trav and I hosted a gathering of friends last night for a holiday party.  We invited several of our co-workers and friends and neighbors, and while not everybody knew each other all that well, the kids melded just fine and we had a really, really nice evening.  I made cold sandwiches and cranberry/apple salad and hot cheesy potatoes, with bread pudding and pear sauce for dessert.  People brought snacks and wine and Travis served some sort of apple brady / whiskey concoction, to go along with egg nog and apple cider.  It was really, really fun!  Possibly the best part was the gingerbread house decorating.  I had constructed them earlier in the week, and made frosting and put it into ziplock sandwich bags for the kids to use like pastry bags, and stashed gumdrops and candycanes and m&m's onto the kids' table on the porch.  It was really, really fun!  Those kids were SO entertained!  The 2-year-olds on up to Julie, who's almost 10. Audrey was stuffing gummy bears in her mouth as fast as she could, and another 2YO named Sophie picked up the entire gingerbread house and took a bite out of it.  Emily was shaking sprinkles on hers, with no wet frosting for them to stick to, so they just went all over the place, while later I caught her sucking the frosting directly out of the bag. They were on quite the sugar high!   Audrey was able to stay up until almost 9:00, but Emily played with her cousins until nearly 11:00!!! I don't think she has ever stayed up that late before! She did pretty well today, but you could see the sleepiness in her eyes all day, and she was happy to be in her bed at 7:30 tonight. 

I think the reason for hosting and entertaining is that it forces one's home to be less of a private stash-my-stuff hole.  I had piles of things all over the house that I hadn't even realized were there because they weren't imminent to take care of, and the space it was taking up wasn't valuable real-estate like countertops or similar.  Once I looked through my house with hostess's eyes, I realized there was crap everywhere.  Even this morning, with beer bottles and paper plates and gingerbread house decorations scattered all over, it still looks better than before, and probably better than we've ever had it.  Travis and I really worked hard Saturday morning, and throughout the week, getting the house ready.  It's nice to have that payoff last longer than the hangover, metaphorically speaking, of course. :)

Audrey is getting much braver with repeating words to try them out.  Now, in her babbling, I catch a lot more words.  It's funny that her strings of emphatically-spoken nonsense are now containing real words, if you listen closely enough!  She is fully potty-trained now, and is really in charge of her own functions, unless the slime comes back, which it does every 2-3 weeks or so.  It's really devastating to her, and now she's hypervigilant about running to the potty whenever she feels any sort of lower intestinal activity, which is great, but depressing to see a 2YO try to deal with.  I've started a food diary online to help try to narrow down what is making her tummy flip out (candidates include apples, onions, corn, and canned tomatoes), and to take to a doctor once 2012 starts, because our healthcare for 2012 will meet the high deductible and that means it's a good time to make expensive doctor's appointments!  The food diary is kinda funny, because the best free site I could find to help with that is a weight-loss site, so it asked me what the weight goal was, and what her starting weight was.  I guessed that she's probably 27 pounds, and wants to be 32 by next spring? :)  Then the site scolds me each day for the low number of calories, because I always leave that part blank, and says that starvation is not a healthy diet method.  Anyway, last night when I was putting her to bed during the party, she was really distracted by all the noise going on, even though she was super, super tired, and I sang some lullabies with her.  Man, what a good singer she is!  She sang Twinkle Twinkle (of course), Lullaby and Goodnight, Rockabye Baby, and Golden Slumbers, and they were really, really on-pitch!!  It's so fun to sing through our lullaby book together at night, with Emily belting out her current favorites (Sweet and Low and Peace Attend Thee, which is her name for All Through the Night).  It's so fun.  She cracks me up all the time, with her expressiveness.  She loves to jump-dance, and she'll start the little Mozart music cube that plays little 15-second tunes, and jump like crazy, and then as the end of the ditty approaches, she runs back and hits the button again.  She loves to take care of dolls, and she insists on dressing herself every day, which often results in backwards shirts but if she doesn't care, I don't either!  She gets her own fork and glass for meals, and helps herself to cereal in the cupboard whenever she's hungry (which is a bit too independent, if you ask me!).  But, she will even hang up her own coat when we get inside the house!

Emily is such an easy 4-year-old.  She now makes her own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast, and all I need to do for her is get the jelly from up high in the fridge, and then cut the sandwich in half when she's done.  I always offer to do it for her in case she's tired of the exercise, but so far, she is having a great time with it!  She even made her own lunch the other day, getting out the ham, cheese, and tortillas from the fridge and putting them together, ready to be microwaved and rolled up!  She is starting to get a little mouthy at times, but it's just whatever her favorite phrase happens to be that she's picked up from whoever.  Lately it's been: Audrey! DO NOT do that...  But most of the time she says things like, "Mom could you get that for me?"  It sounds lovely, and I don't force the "please" because I forget to do it myself when asking her for favors, and it seems like it would be rude of me to reject such a lovely, pleasant request from her.  Anyone would be charmed by her, and never miss the please, I figure!  She still fits nicely on my lap, and we snuggle lots and read book after book after book during Audrey's nap.  She's been bringing home activities from Ms. Teri's that say they're Kindergarten curriculum at the bottom of the page, so, gosh, I sure hope she's ready for that in a year and a half!  We constantly struggle with fingers in her mouth, especially while reading books, and with her personality I am figuring that a nailbiting habit will replace the thumb, whenever that occurs.  Yet another thing I wish wasn't available in my genetic material to be passed along, but, well, like I said, she sure can sing!  I'm sure she gets the enthusiasm with which she sings from Travis, but I'm totally taking credit for her excellent pitch!

They really are getting to be so independent.  I just read an article about how parents tend to hover, over-priase, and offer primarily structured activities, leaving not much free-play time for kids to play and experiment, fail, and try again.  In the article, the author said she was asked what her favorite moments were as a kid, and then to recall if any adults were present.  The general response rate for "adults present" was about 10%!  I feel like my kids are little electrons - my mere presence deteriorates their kid experience!  Well, not right now, of course, and not across-the-board and forever, but it's a good reassurance that if they're in the basement being wild and silly with friends, I don't need to supervise, until I hear a crash or something. :)  And, I'm sure that when the baby comes next spring, I will be again impressed and grateful for the independence they've been developing.  What great kids they are! 

This afternoon, they were both sitting on my lap, under a blanket, kicking each other's feet, wiggling their toes together and giggling like crazy.  I wish I could capture that moment and re-live it when they're off to college and I'm a lonely old lady. *sigh*