A dozen eggs all at once

For some reason last night the girls decided to bed down under the house instead of on the deck, and when I went out to move them I noticed a whole PILE of eggs behind them. I sent Melina in to get them (brave girl - she doesn't know about spiders yet) and we counted ten. Tonight I found two more that I think I had overlooked. Unfortunately I don't think any are edible because they've probably all frozen and thawed several times, but it's good to know that the chickens are producing. Now I just need to get them to start laying in the coop.

The Girls

Here are a couple pictures the girls - in the first one, Martha checking out some toy chickens on the windowsill; the second one is a nice portrait of Abigail; and the third one gives you an idea of how ragged Dolley looks in the middle of her winter moult. We still haven't gotten a single egg since December 21. Lately I've had to go out in the 25-degree weather to break the ice on their water can in the mornings. They seem to be holding up pretty well despite the cold - even Dolley, who is missing about half her feathers. (I collect them and give them to the preschool for crafts.)

Melina sings Old MacDonald, with chickens

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Melina writes a story

Yesterday Melina found a little blank book and "wrote" a story in it. (This is her first official act of literature!) Here's the story (as I remember it):

"Goodbye. I am leaving. It is time to go, when mommy comes and picks me up at preschool. Bye-bye, everybody. That is end of the story."

I'm expecting agents to start calling any day now. (Seriously, though, I think it's pretty impressive that she's already writing stories!)

Too perfect.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Toddler status report (TSR)

Here's an excerpt from an extension publication describing the average two-year-old:

Physical Development

• Children are generally more active than at any other point in their lives. (!)
  
• They walk, run, climb, walk up and down stairs alone, and dig.
  
• They throw balls and kick them forward.
  
• They jump with two feet together. (Melina's been doing this for ages)
  
• They stand on tip toes. (Melina doesn't do this! Strange, because this was one of my favorite activities as a little girl).
  
• They take things apart and put them back together. They like to screw and unscrew lids. (That's the understatement of the year)
  
• They feel discomfort with wet or soiled diapers. (But not enough to actually want to do anything about it)
  
• They start to show an interest in toilet training. (A passing interest)
  

Emotional Development

• They begin to play simple pretend games. Their fantasy play is very short and simple. It does not involve others. (True, unless it involves putting mommy down for a nap, or playing monster with daddy)
  
• They are generally very self-centered and sharing is still difficult. They enjoy playing near other children. (True; Melina will sometimes share with Amanda, but that's about it, and that's pretty rare)
  
• They try to assert themselves by saying "no." (Often)
  
• They sometimes do the opposite of what is asked. (Often)
  
• They like to imitate the behavior of adults and others. They want to help with household tasks. (Melina got me the dustpan today while I was sweeping!)
  
• They become frustrated easily. (Yes, but not as often as six months ago)
  
• They refuse help. (Ditto)
  
• They still need security.
  
• They are more sure of themselves than one-year-old children. (Melina actually seems to have more fears now, because she has more of an imagination)
  

Intellectual Development

• They follow simple directions. (Sometimes)
  
• They use three or more words in combination. (Or ten)
  
• They express their feelings and wishes. (Forcefully)
  
• They use objects to represent other objects.
  
• They still have a very limited attention span.
  
• They can memorize short rhymes. (Or make them up - but then they don't rhyme)
  
• They join in simple songs. (Or make them up)
  
• They begin to think about doing something before doing it. (But not very hard)
  
• They have trouble making choices, but they want to make choices. (I want to do it myself! Help me!)

Melina is talking pretty much constantly now. Her two favorite themes are "Why?" (the Why phase started on December 26) and "One day?" (as in, tell me a story?). She is getting better at making up stories (and they ALWAYS involve her, and often Amanda or kids from preschool). A typical conversation might go:

Melina: Mommy, one day?
Jennifer: Oh, my brain is empty. How about if you tell me a one day?
M: No, one day, one day! One day!
J: OK. One day, Melina was out for a walk when she met a big bear.
M: (Plaintively) Why?
J: Because the bear was out taking a walk.
M: Why?
J: Because it wanted to get out of the house.
M: Why?
J: Why don't you tell me? Why did the bear leave?
M: Because it wanted to eat Melina UP!

She seems pretty much obsessed with monsters lately - friendly monsters who want to hold her hand, scary monsters who want to eat her up, and friendly monsters who tell the scary monsters that "no, you can not eat Melina up." Good thing we have the Monster Spray in the bathroom.

Melina's first 2008 ski trip

We went skiing a few days ago at Teacup Lake. The snow was fantastic - it is absolutely dumping in the mountains, and it fell heavily the entire time. Unfortunately, Melina insisted on keeping the sled roof open, sticking her feet out, and taking her boots off. She doesn't seem to get the connection between "no boots" and "cold feet." Her boots were a little small for her, which is why I think she kept taking them off. Eventually we had to go back to the lodge. Jeff did a short ski circuit by himself while I tried to take Melina sledding; unfortunately that didn't work either because she refused to wear her mittens. Luckily the lodge had a nice hot wood stove, so we warmed up and went back out when Jeff got back. Then, we had some fun, sledding down a little hill by the parking lot. The new sled works great! We're going to go again this next weekend - there should be about two more feet of new snow by then.


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

New Year's

We took a ski trip to Colorado for New Year's. I'm sure this conjures images of snowy mountain peaks and chic young people shushing down mountainsides with hot toddies in their mittened hands. Unfortunately the place we went was five degrees, with 45-mile an hour winds and snow that blew so hard it never actually had a chance to collect on the ground. Nevertheless, we did have fun. The highlight (for me) was a horse drawn sleigh ride with friends, singing Jingle Bells and talking to the driver (is that what they're called?) about mule teams. We also managed a bit of skiing (Jeff more than me), and once we got into the trees, the snow was deep and powdery. There was a bit of faux ice skating (if we'd had a sail we could have easily sailed across on the wind) and innertubing down a fun sledding hill. It was nice to catch up with my friends, too, though actually I didn't feel like I did much catching up because we were usually busy tracking down children, preventing squabbles, etc. Every family there had a kid under 3.5, so after a certain point in the evening we all had to go tend to our little ones, which put a damper on the partying. Times, they are a-changing. Maybe next year I'll have a child-free cocktail party - but that would involve more entertaining (see below).

Here's a video of the horses pulling the sleigh:


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Christmas

Well, I guess it's time to update the ole blog. Starting with Christmas, which was a whirlwind of activity complete with unexpected guests, a snow flurry and an embarrassment of toys. Melina really raked it in this year, what with the new dollhouse, a hobby horse that whinnies and neighs, dolls, a cool button/clasp book that my mom made, books, Playmobil toys, and even a brand new sled. It was great (she needed some new toys), but also a bit overwhelming, and I purged a bunch of her old toys soon afterward. I think this is the first year she's actually "gotten it" about Santa Claus. The eerie thing is that she said, a few days before Christmas, "Santa Claus is bringing me a dollhouse." Which he was. Prescient, huh?

This was also the year where I really began to understand the role of women in keeping the Christmas tradition alive. I was feeling a bit stressed (and that's an understatement) by all the entertaining, particularly since I had just put on a dinner party for nine the week before. (Next year I'm limiting the entertaining to one event with fewer than ten people entering the front door in any given day.) It occurred to me in the middle of it all how I was the one in charge of the entertaining now. I remembered all of the Christmases past where I sat around and played and read books and ate up all the food prepared by grandmas and aunts and moms, all without a second thought about how all this food actually came to be, how all the decorating got done, how this entire image of Christmas had to begin in someone's mind and memory. To me, this was just how Christmas was, had always been, and always would be. I remember all the men sitting around watching the game while the women cooked and bickered and laughed and cleaned in the kitchen. (At least, I *think* I remember that - my dad was probably in there doing the dishes too, but I seem to remember it mainly being a female thing.) And suddenly I felt like all this tradition was on my shoulders (I did get help, but still, the "vision" was mine). It was a strange feeling, like suddenly realizing that I'm an adult and I can't just lay around and read and watch TV while someone else does Christmas for me. Kind of a sobering thought - I can no longer be a slacker in my own life.

Here's Melina on her new sled, taken yesterday at Teacup Lake sno-park.

This is us on our New Year's trip in Colorado. The temperature was about 17; notice the snow blowing sideways.

Here's Melina cuddling with Ollalie. Mr. O is currently on vacation at my parents' house in order to reduce Jeff's allergies. When springtime comes he'll be back here living in a kitty condo on the porch. At least, that's the plan.

I'm a bit behind in my posting lately, so I thought I'd post some photos to calm the masses who are clamoring for a new post. Here's a handsome photo of the chickens basking in a rare sun break. We have gotten no new eggs since the Solstice on December 21.