an interesting day...or not. i liked it, anyway

we started khary's occupational therapy today at children's mercy. it went well, despite us being late (and *that* despite us getting up before 6:30 for an 8am appt). during khary's session, khalil got a little restless, so i put him into the ball pit, into which he sank with every move as if in quicksand. here's a shot of him freaking out and begging to get out of the pit, lol:



(i'm really not a mean, terrible mommy. i just do psychological experiments with my infant.) :P

and today began "explore the city tuesdays" for my boys and me. we (i) have decided to do something cool every tuesday after ot since we've gotten up and about early and all. today we went to crown center, then via skywalk to union station, where we shared a huge, diabetic-coma-inducing cinnamon roll. now i *really* can't wait for the weather to be nice! i've got plans, you know.

after eating half of our respective grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and nap, we had the 2nd halves of our lunches. i noticed dozer freaking out a bit more than usual, so i peeked out the window to the porch:



that right there is a squirrel who's been visiting us lately gorging himself on the pecans i left out on the porch on sunday. (why did it take him so long to find them???) i had a couple handfuls of leftover pecans that my aunt had given me over the holidays. i made some yummy candied pecans and dawud made a pecan pie, which he tells me is fabulous, but i'll take his word for it.

...and soon i get to go taste and buy some wine!!!!

black snowman and another by khary

notice that the popsicle stick snowman has an appendage at the bottom of the stick.

and khary's salt dough snowman is, of course, black. now, it's because he decided he wanted to paint all the ornaments we made black. but given his ethnicity, it's quite fitting.

blueberry madness & tag-team driving

we went to hy-vee last night & the boys had a ball with the dual-driver racecar cart.



khalil tried blueberries this week. his fingers are still stained purple!

why church? why uu?

LOVE this ssermon about the purpose of church/shared ritual. EXACTLY!

UUA president William Sinkford Holiday Address

please watch and share at will. very important words.

holiday musings

since we are not christian (dh is muslim, i'm a pagan-leaning atheist), christmas is always a bit of an exercise in purposeful action and a LOT of thought. i rather enjoy solstice and all its meanings, and i recognize that the celebrations surrounding christmas are truly pagan celebrations anyway. khary has really gotten into celebrating all the various american holidays, and christmas is his new favorite. (no matter how many times i try, he still says "christmas" instead of "solstice" or "winter," though he will sometimes say "holiday." small victories.) anyway, we needed some family traditions now that he's cognizant of such things and itching to start some family traditions.

first, our wintry bough. it is not a christmas tree. it is a stark branch representing the barrenness of winter. we make ornaments for it and decorate it to make it beautiful and warm, just like we spend more time together to make the cold, barren winter feel warm and cozy. i know that evergreens were traditionally used for their color and fragrance (as both were representative of life amidst the lack thereof in the rest of the winter landscape). but i barely got dawud to agree to a branch at ALL, much less an evergreen branch.

the salt-dough ornaments, just out of the oven:


and the wintry bough:


we also got a candle to burn the night of solstice, and while it was burning we'd tell family stories, reminisce about the past year, & talk about hopes for the upcoming year. but the 2nd round of throwing up germs got in the way of that. we may get to do it on new year's day, though. that's the only night we're not booked for a while!

i think we'll fill the birdfeeder tomorrow, too, since it's getting cold again and we didn't get a chance to put birdfood out on solstice either.

we didn't send cards out yet, either. in due time, though.

khalil's amazing hands (now with video)

he's clapping all the time & soo tickled by it.

he also clapped/brought his hands together on his own when we showed him the sign for "more"! he'd take a bite, look at us, clap, look at us again, then lunge at the food for another bite.

also, i've noticed that when we're all done with something & i make the sign (the one where you brush your hands together as "all done"), he claps and says "dah". now, he says "dah" a lot, but he consistently puts them together.

crazy kid. he's amazing.

he also cruised for the first time yesterday, rather than dropping to his bottom and crawling for something he wanted.

he also learned how to high five yesterday. i have some CUTE video of him and daddy high-fiving.

finally uploaded and formatted the video:



khary's hands aren't bad, either. ;)