Monday, January 12, 2009

birthdays and anniversaries

Well, perhaps it is that we are in the country, or perhaps it is only our neighborhood, but I think not. We have been invited on several occasions to participate in birthday and anniversary celebrations. Inevitably, these are for years that are divisible by 5. And, all of those have ended up with large catered parties. Lots of fun, although, we are hampered by our lack of Dutch.

Eileen normally loves to play with other kids, but this last party had a boy who was about twice her age and wanted to treat her as his older brother treated him (a do unto her as he did unto me thing). Well, Eileen was dragged, and pulled. I let her try to deal with it, but when every interaction ended in tears (the last one being a body slam from behind the crawling girl), it was time for hovering mom to become Mom of Action. So, I gave both kids some raisins, and from then on played on the floor with her and when he came near, picked her up, or hugged him until she was done with what she was doing and could be picked up.

I think things would actually be much more uncomfortable for us at these parties without Eileen, as our Dutch is basically still non-existent (despite being able to communicate for what we need, it just won't hold up to a conversation -- even about the weather).

Anyway, all is great here...and Eileen is becoming more mobile and excited about the world with every moment. Today she scaled the 18 inches to be on our hearth (Eric has now barricaded our andirons with a gym mat). And, while it is freezing outside -- coldest winter in 20+ years, we do have heating gas - so please don't worry.

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