mathmom's blog

Today at ski school, when asked his name, Luke responded "Luke Skywalker !" He often gives alternate names when asked---once one of his Sunday School teachers approached me and said, "His name is Luke, right? Because he keeps saying his name is Colin, but his sister insists he's Luke." I knew that Luke and ski school would get along when they wrote "Luke Skywalker " on his nametag and offered him a light saber. "I already have one," he responded. He did in fact have fun skiing, riding the magic carpet, turning (in one direction, not the other) and charming the counselors. Amanda moved from the magic carpet in the morning to the blues in the afternoon. And Ella might or might not have gone down a black slope ("It says 'experts only', so I must be an expert!") but it's hard to tell whether it was today or last year. Tomorrow ski school again, so that I can work on writing a syllabus!

The other day I had to give Luke a bath by himself---Amanda was still eating, I think. He got in the bath, looked around and sighed. "I need some friends," he said. We call toys our friends sometimes, so I got him a few toys. He appreciated the toys, but repeated his request for friends. I was getting a little exasperated, so I asked him, "What kind of friends do you want?" "Sister friends! I need some sisters in the bath with me!" It is funny that he doesn't want to take a bath alone, which I think stems from the fact that since he was 9 months old I figured it was more efficient to wash two kids at a time than one. But also it is very sweet that he calls his sisters his friends. Hopefully that will remain for a long, long time.

We're finally taking down the Christmas decorations. There are a few other die hards in our neighborhood with their lights still up, but we're one of the last. This year I didn't have to decorate the tree at all---thanks to having a shorter tree, the kids took care of it after Michael put the lights up. Each child put their favorite ornaments in their designated area---the glass ones were all up high, the preschool made ornaments with pictures were all down low. When I took the ornaments down today, I found a number of interesting decorations: spun fiberfill a toy car a necklace rocks scraps of paper shoelaces branches from outdoor pine trees I'm glad we have an eclectic tree---I never noticed.