The Fine Game of Nil

The four of us had a good Christmas this year.  Liam is already two and a half, and is getting to be able to get really excited about opening presents and checking out new things.  Dor is 6 months (actually 6 months on Christmas day), and while she wasn’t as into the whole receiving and opening presents process, she loved the crinkly wrapping paper that they came in.  While Liam was busy running around like a wild man, she wiled away many a happy hour scrunching up and trying to eat the wrapping paper.  Though we tried to discourage the eating of the paper, there was discussion at the time that her upcoming diaper might look like someone had set off a confetti filled party popper.

The week before Christmas the four of us went on the Somerville Illuminations trolley tour.  It was our first time going, and it turned out to be a lot of fun.  We took the bus down to the Somerville city hall where we all loaded up on trolley tour buses and cruised around the back streets of Somerville to check out all the over-the-top decorating jobs that had been done.  It made a fun evening out on the town, and was nice to get out of the house for a drive around town.  Liam had a great time looking at all the lights, and Dor had fun grinning at all the people on the trolley. For the next several days, Liam keep asking to ‘see more lights’.  By the end of the trip he had gotten the hang of saying ‘Ooh and Ahh’  when we passed another decorated house.

Christmas eve we made our traditional pierogi and mushroom soup dinner.  Looking through my mom’s old cookbook, Emily found a recipe for a sauerkraut, mushroom and sour cream filling which may have come down from my grandfather or great-grandfather, depending on how you read the reference.  We made that along side the normal potato cheese filling, and it was excellent.  Liam spent the afternoon up on his step stool helping me at the counter.  He was pretty good with the rolling pin and helped roll out the dough for the pierogies.

You wouldn’t imagine that the step-stool would be that much of an important thing to The Boy, but it really is.  For him, the step-stool turns out to be a powerful tool of acquisition and inclusion.  With it, he’s able to get up to the adult working height and take part in the stuff that mom and dad are doing in the kitchen.  He’s gotten really good at pulling it up to the counter and climbing up to help put food in the Cuisinart, roll out dough, or simply make a grab for whatever is interesting on the counter.

There’s far more to write about, but its quarter of eleven and I’m already exhausted.  My New Year’s Resolution is to get back to regular posts on this blog, and for right now, a short post is better than none at all.  Hopefully more later though, and hopefully I still have a couple of people still interested in reading.