Merry Christmas

 

Dear friends and family,

I heard 12/21 was going to be the end of the world, so I put off writing my Christmas letter, as well as buying gifts, sending cards, and baking cookies. Now here it is 12/23/12 and my Mayan ancestors must have had some other reason for giving up on their calendar. I’m glad I didn’t blow my savings on dark chocolate, pepperoni pizza, ice cream, French fries, diamonds, and cute leather boots. 

So we’re still here and making the most of this beautiful world. It has been a good year for us - eventful and sometimes challenging, but good.

Claire finished preschool in June and we were so sad to say goodbye to Good Shepherd Preschool. She started kindergarten this fall and has never looked back. Melissa looks back all the time wondering where her babies went, but Claire loves school. She can’t stop making crafts and loves to point out “pocket words.” Claire played soccer this fall and thought it was just OK. She learned to ride her scooter and bike, too, and thinks that’s terrific. She’s always the lovingest person in the house, and we hope that never changes.

Audrey is in third grade. She turned nine just a week ago. She is becoming quite a young lady in the best sense of the phrase – friendly, smart, and fun. Audrey is getting great grades and her teacher has said several times how funny and entertaining Audrey is in class, besides being responsible and intelligent. Audrey has been taking sculpting lessons, piano, did the cheerleading clinic at the high school, and finally got glasses. She’s still our girl of boundless energy, and we are proud of her many feats of and strength and balance. 

I (Melissa) am busy doing freelance, acting as Claire’s room parent and team mom, and chair of a minor PTA fundraiser.  I still sing in the Torrance Civic Chorale and keep my garden growing year round. The bad news is I definitely over-committed myself – the good news is I think I’ve learned my lesson this time. Since June I have had a sprained ankle, three consecutive weeks of vertigo, four colds and bronchitis, a wisdom tooth removed, anemia diagnosed, and surgery on my sinuses (that’s the real reason I’m just now writing this letter). To say I am the new Calamity Jane would be putting it mildly. Here’s to good health in 2013!

Mark has made the biggest change of all of us this year. His office was relocated to San Francisco, and he opted for a generous severance package and has been home for several months doing consulting work, looking for a job, playing with the kids, and taking his turn driving them to many of their activities. The time off has been good for him. I have no idea how any of us will handle him going back to work when the time comes.

We haven’t done much traveling this year. We spent a few days in Santa Barbara over Spring Break; went to Yosemite in July and didn’t get Hantavirus; and stayed with my parents a lot during the summer.

So much of every day is devoted to the mundane – laundry, cooking, homework, paying bills, and so on, but the emotions behind it are not mundane at all. Family life is a roller coaster of joy, fear, worry, hope, frustration, and fulfillment. The probability that nothing will go the way I plan is something I have to accept every morning. It's not easy, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I’m glad to world didn’t end yesterday. I’m not done yet. There’s still a lot to do, and I don’t mean all the baking, wrapping and shopping I put off to the last minute. 

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Mark, Melissa, Audrey and Claire

Audrey's 9

For the past year I have been anticipating the huge change that would come over our household with two kids in school. I've broken my heart a thousand times thinking about how Claire would be growing up and away from us now that she's in kindergarten. And what has completely caught me off guard is the reality that Audrey is on the very cusp of big kid status. 9 is not a little kid anymore.

Maybe it's a good thing that I did not try to digest all of it at once; and I've had time enough to adjust to Claire's huge leap that I'm ready with the mental tactics I need to handle Audrey's new stage. I was not so good at the baby/toddler/preschool stage - too many unknown quantities, too much pressure, too much manual labor, never enough time or energy or help. Now they're bigger and more self sufficient and can go all sorts of places without heavy supplies and equipment; now they're more careful; now we talk; now they are adorable, and much more predictable. It's always going to be bittersweet, so I accept the bitter and will enjoy the sweet. I miss my babies - I love my girls.

Audrey was always very engaged. If she was napping I could not walk by her door or she would wake up and want to play. We stayed home a lot at first, and when I finally got brave enough to take her to the park - she was giddy. We went back the next week and when she saw the play structure she squealed and kicked her little feet with joy - she couldn't talk or walk, but she knew where we were and she was so excited. Audrey was not a cuddly baby or toddler - she had too much to do. She would sit and listen to a story or play with a game, but quiet moments, long hugs and snuggles were not the interaction she craved - she wanted to move.

Audrey was our first and so every part of the day was planned around her needs; every activity was organized around her entertainment from getting dressed to eating to going for walks to getting a bath. She still likes a lot of involvement in her daily schedule. I'm not sure we will ever cure her of that. She wants company, feedback, answers, approval, 'thank yous,' 'good jobs' and good wishes.

She is a great student - doing great at spelling and math and art and PE. Enjoys her 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Will. Loves her friends and tries to be the peacemaker. Plays with her sister hilariously. Reads a book a day. Still won't eat fruit or most vegetables. Likes cheeseburgers, pizza, tostadas, split pea soup with ham, cheese sticks, apples. Has pierced ears. Just got glasses - finally - and enjoys telling us the amazing things she can see now. Loves physical comedy. Doesn't mind being at the bottom of a good dog pile. Isn't crazy about homework -"Who invented homework?!" she says angrily. Resisted the piano but now seems to have settled in, likes her teacher, and plays well.

Now she wants quiet time with mom or dad - invites us to have SSR (sustained silent reading) together or "talks," especially with mom, about various and sundry social situations, memories, dreams, possible birthday presents, miscellaneous itches, and patterns in her own behavior that must be examined. Audrey gets frustrated with us bossing her around all the time and shows her displeasure in the usual ways - eye rolling, grimacing, sighing, grunting, stomping and slamming doors. We are trying to change our ways, trying to to show her the respect and autonomy a 9 year old deserves. It's going pretty well.

There is so much that remains to be seen. I'm always trying to figure out who she is and what she needs from me. These days there is less and less I can do - I'm just here to listen and show my support and love. I worry my head off like any other mom, but I have confidence in her. She's tough, and kindhearted, energetic and curious, a thinker and a doer, a sweetheart.

Joyriding with Papa

Fourth of July bike parade

Cheerleading at the high school

With partner in crime Abby

Balance beam in Yosemite

October 31

Our Thanksgiving pictures are pretty dull so it's a good thing I still have Halloween to share. This year Audrey was a vampire; Claire a candy corn witch; I was an angel (no stretch, I play that role every day); and Mark was a devil. Both of my kids chose a costume I would not chosen for them, but then they can't be princesses and ladybugs forever. They were both very happy with what they got. I was happy, too, but still amazed by the high cost of a badly-sewn costume made from the cheapest material known to man. Don't worry - I didn't say that to the kids.

We carved our pumpkins - grown and donated from a community garden friend; went to the school parade; and trick or treated far and wide. Mark and I both noticed a change from years past. All Audrey wanted to do was lose us - and she was successful. We're not sure where she went with John and Lisandro - and that sounds pretty bad when I put it into words - but she got home allright and was totally ecstatic. Claire was happy to stay with us, and for that we were grateful. We're not ready to be obsolete. It being a school night we only stayed out 'til 8, but I say we stopped just in time. The kids get about one piece a day, but Mark and I eat unchecked quantities, and there is still a ton left.

Audrey with her class

Claire with Jedi and good friend Jason

Not a good shot of my wings

All of us reacting to Audrey tripping over one of the lit pumpkins nearly catching her
highly-flamable costume on fire. The camera was set to timer.

Phew, no burning clothes

Happy and full of chocolate

Happy, tired and full of chocolate

The cheerleader and the soccer player

Audrey and Claire are busy, but not too busy, with various extracurricular activities this fall. Audrey does piano, sculpting, Brownies, and just finished a week-long cheerleading clinic at West High School. Claire is playing soccer. It's fun to watch them, we parents are so proud of the littlest things, and I think they are enjoying themselves.

With Melinda and Natalie

Dolphins huddle

She's ready

Endeavor

We went to see the Space Shuttle Endeavor make its way across Los Angeles city streets to the California Science Center on Oct. 13. We headed toward Crenshaw, watching the Goodyear Blimp and several helicopters above, and magically found parking on a nearby residential street. Claire asked me if we were at a parade, and even though it was not technically a parade, it felt like one. Police, camera crews, and tree crews were all busy doing their various jobs. There was music, there were hot dog vendors, there were families, there were crazy homeless people - and the crowd grew from hundreds to thousands.

After 30 minutes or so, and an announcement from the police that the shuttle would cross the intersection in 45 minutes, we decided to walk toward it instead of waiting. We ended up at Vernon with a huge crowd and saw the shuttle's nose at the corner ahead. It was an amazing sight - I read a quote in an article online that summed it up: "There's a space ship going down Crenshaw - now I know anything can happen."

We got ourselves a spot right at the police tape and took as many pictures as we could. The shuttle was enormous and its transporter just as massive. The wing crossed directly over our heads and everyone around cheered like crazy. I was so thrilled my heart was pounding. The girls were so excited - I'm not sure they knew exactly why this was such an amazing experience - but they knew. I didn't have to explain that it was a once-in-a-life time moment.

The shuttle moved by us and continued forward slowly with an armada of police, fire, utility and other service vehicles following. We walked along, keeping Endeavor in sight, for as long as we could. Its tail cleared some temporary power poles and people roared. Then it stopped for quite awhile so more trees could be cut. The transporter's wheels moved diagonally and sideways to shift the shuttle so its wings would miss trees and buildings by inches.

I know we could have just waited until the end of the month to see it at the science center, but being there on the street was something else. I'll never forget it.

This yellow sign says "Cut here for emergency rescue"

Under the wing of Endeavor

Stopped for tree cutting

One of the stranger, but not nearly the strangest, sights of the night - a city bus full of cops