The 22 Best Moments from December

This December was a wonderful, crazy month. Auric is beginning to talk so much more and over all, is acting like a little kid. Click here for a short movie that showcases some of his new words. With this, Thora is finding more to love about him. And we get a lot of moments like the one above, when they are expressing their affection for one another so joyfully. However, with his growing cuteness and ability to participate and show his personality, come more opportunities for him to steal the scene, which as we know, Thora will not tolerate. So there is growing a natural, although painful, environment of sibling rivalries. We have years to come of dealing with that. So I love photos like the one above, that allow me to focus on the moments that are blissful and hilarious.

A Visit From Family

This December saw a long-awaited visit with the Geneva Pococks, Sean's brother's family who live in France, right outside of Geneva, Switzerland. On their annual trip to Iowa, where Julie's family lives, they stopped over in Boston for 5 days and we all had a great time. Here, the kids mellow out with some pizza and an episode of the Electric Company circa 1970. Aedan (6) and Chloe (3) were in great spirits considering they'd been traveling ALL DAY before reaching us.

The next day, Sunday, we all spent in and around Harvard Square. We ate lunch at the Border Cafe, a mexican place that happily takes big families with lots of strollers and gear!

Coleman (4 months) gets some attention from his older brother, Aedan, while sitting in Brendan's lap.

This is Thora's 3rd visit with her cousins, but only the second one that she remembers. The first happened in the fall of 2007 when she was just 5 months old and we traveled to France to watch some of the Rugby World Cup. They were reunited a year ago, in January 2010 in Eugene, OR and hit it off. This trip solidified their relationships. And it was a particular joy to see Thora and Chloe, just a month apart in age, be so fond of one another.

These photos come from a particularly cute scene. Julie and I watched on while, across the huge table, Thora and Chloe talked intently, confidentially, raucously with each other, like girlfriends who have known each other forever. What could they be talking about? It seemed so beyond their years, the way they concentrated so completely on taking in the other's half of the conversation.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the content of their deep conversation was the ABC's. Perhaps they were discussing the differences between the ending ("Won't you sing along with me?" versus, "Next time won't you sing with me?"). Click here for a short video of this great moment.

Whatever it was, to them, it was captivating and hilarious, relevant and silly. More likely, it was just an excuse to share ideas with someone so much like herself.

Below is one of the few shots when we've got 80% of their family in the frame at one time. I thought this merited inclusion!

Later, we walked to the Cambridge Common and played at the playground there. Thora and Chloe loved this swing that goes in all directions. They thought it was hilarious to barely hang on, so that their bodies flopped around, giving themselves the illusion of flying off at any moment.

Later, while the temperatures dropped, and the sun set, Julie met an old friend at a coffee shop while the rest of us wandered around Harvard's campus and then back home.

Aedan gets a ride on Uncle Sean's shoulders

We had to make a couple trips each night to get their family back to their hotel room across the river, and so Chloe and Thora enjoyed a few more moments together, this time preparing food in Thora's kitchen.

Later in the trip, we all descended upon the Science Museum. And as expected, the kids had a blast. This enormous Lite Brite-esque toy is great for kids. But it particularly aligns with Auric's love of putting objects into containers. Here, these pegs make very satisfying thonking sounds as they slip into the holes.

At home, Auric loves his shape sorter, but when he tires of using the shapes, he loves to slide dominoes into the shape sorter. And he'll sort small things into all sorts of big things. He'll sort dominoes into his new sorting recycling truck, or into a slit that I cut into the top of a shoebox; he'll sort his toothbrush through the small holes in the step stool in the bathroom; he'll sort one of my stray hair clips down through the top of my small bedside lamp, to watch it fall back onto the base of the lamp. Our kids look so much alike; it's fun to be reminded how truly different they are.

Here is the one and only moment that their whole family is in the camera's frame at the same time! Julie and Brendan are sitting on a bench at the back, Brendan holding Coleman. And in the foreground, Aedan, Chloe, and Thora build in the K'Nex exhibit in the museum.

Then, with a few minutes left before the museum closed, we took them to Thora's favorite areas, namely the reflecting light and science in the playground exhibits.

More Weddings

Thora's fascinations with weddings has not diminished. She still marries Zach at least once a week and is constantly planning it. We went through a few weeks when she would plead for me to show her my wedding shoes, and the jewelry I wore at my wedding, and finally she asked to see my wedding dress. I pulled it out, lifted up all the layers of dry cleaning plastic, and let her see the white, silky fabric. Then one night, she asked if we could both wear wedding dresses, she would wear her red dress and I could put on my dress. And I thought, "Why not? It's just hanging in the closet? Why not get some use out of it?" So we fancied ourselves up, Thora wearing my only other pair of high heels, the long, red dress that makes her feel queenly, and my bridal veil, while I wore my wedding dress and shoes. She particularly liked orchestrating the drama of presenting me to my Prince Charming, Sean, as he cooked our dinner. "Tell her how beautiful she is, Daddy," she ordered.

This was such a bittersweet moment. Perhaps you can see the tears in the corner of my eyes. It was impossible not to reflect on our wedding day 8 years before and all that has happened since, the two wonderful children we have now, the life we've made together. I couldn't help but acknowledge how much she would've enjoyed our wedding. It's fun to think of having done things (like have kids) in a different order so that she could've been around for all the pomp and pageantry of it.

Winter Fun

One snowy day, Thora and her friend Zach made and decorated sugar cookies. This food coloring took days to come off!

Afterwards, they burned off some of that sugar in the park, (they ate an incredible amount of icing), throwing snowballs at each other and making snow angels.

The Month of Singin' In The Rain

Here's a great shot of the four kids, Auric, Ellie, Zach, and Thora, one cold afternoon, as we all enjoyed Thora's current favorite movie, Singin' in the Rain.

Thora absolutely loves this movie. The dresses, the singing and dancing: it is a perfect fit for her! She can do some great impressions of Lina Lamont's squeaky, nasally voice: "What's the big idea?!?" Click here for some Gene Kelly-inspired tap dancing. I found this great reference book called, The Best Old Movies for Families, written by Boston Globe movie critic and parent, Ty Burr. I'm encouraged and excitedly await the future of great movies we get to watch with her.

Thora's had quite a bit of fun sledding after the big snow storm we had at the end of the month. Here she is with her friend, Ally. And below, she's sledding with Zach.