Christmas and the New Year

So, it's been since November since the last post. That's about par for the course from here on out. 


First things first, what can the kids to and what have they been up to?

• Clara: 20 months now and loves dancing and singing (at least when others sing...even badly)
• Clara: Loads of words. Will mimic most anything you say. Pronunciation is not her strong suit but she'll try anything. For instance, Laraby Bar (a health bar you can buy in the store) comes out as "Bi-ba-bee bar", which is close enough. 
• Hadden: still excellent at being difficult. His teachers at preschool claim he's a delight and does whatever they say. Sometimes, though, that's not the case at home. Overall, thought, still delightful.  
• Hadden: all over climbing jungle gyms now. Can get to the top and frighten his parents now. 
• Hadden: learning some letters and numbers. "duh, duh, duh...is for 'd'!"
• Hadden: can count pretty high (he claims up to 51 but I've only heard into the mid 30s). Although you often have to spot him 14 since he is prone to missing that one. 

Tel Aviv
The second week of December Yvonne jetted off to Tel Aviv for a week on "business." I can only assume there was business but there sure were a lot of sightseeing photos. Steve and the kids hung around rainy Seattle for 9 days while Yvonne tried to avoid sunburn in Israel. About a week after returning we decided in an uninspired moment to order out from "King Falafel" (http://www.yelp.com/biz/king-falafel-grill-seattle-2) one of the many Med. take out places in Greenwood. As we are eating, ever the food snob, Yvonne states, "This hummus is not as good as the hummus in Tel Aviv." No kidding. Rub it in some more please. I'm pretty sure the Shawarma wasn't as good either.

Christmas
We stayed right here in Seattle this year. Christmas was just Yvonne, Steve, Hadden, Clara and Nona. Small but great. Clara and Hadden got more stuff than they can remember and had a great time opening presents. We went at their pace and I don't think the last presents were opened until early evening. Highlights were a Buzz Lightyear from Angela (for Hadden) and baby dolls from Santa and Angela (for Clara). Lots of great books and other presents from relatives - Buzz Lightyear shirts, etc.I will not recount all the presents - if you are looking for validation in a blog like this...keep looking. I would be happy to validate your wonderful and loving present in person. Of course, the real highlight was a day after Christmas when Auntie Leslie, Uncle Karl and Cousin Cole came for a week. Hadden and Cole got along great and made HUGE messes. Fabulous. On another note, the Fenner family now has a brand new baby daughter (Madeline) so Clara will get into the Fenner-Muench fray soon. Cole enjoyed very much chucking toys into the tree. 

Clara sorts through Christmas ornaments

Mom needs help with delicate ornaments

Preschool
Since the last post, Angela (nanny for 3 years) has gone on to better things - a job at Zoom Language center (a Spanish language pre-school). At first, we were interviewing new nannys but were only making marginal headway. Then, in mid-December, about 10 days before Angela's last day, got a call from the UW child care at Laurel Village and they had a spot for Hadden (after 3 years on the waiting list). Sign from heaven! Took the spot and he started in January. First week was a bit rough (Daddy, I don't want to go to preschool today) but since then it's the most fun thing around. His favorite days are those in which he goes to preschool early in the AM and stays there all day. He still does Zoom from 8:30-noon on MW but other than that it's preschool. 


So Hadden was "in" starting in January but Clara was not. We cobbled together a nanny network for her in January:

• Monday: Jennifer all day with Clara (also, Jennifer picks up Hadden at Zoom at noon and drives to preschool)
• Tuesday: at neighbor's in a nanny share until about 1pm after which, Angela comes
• Wednesday: Jennifer all day with Clara (also, Jennifer picks up Hadden at Zoom at noon and drives to preschool)
• Thursday: Nona all day
• Friday: Angela from 9am on

Luckily, Clara got into preschool starting February 1st. Once Hadden is in, Clara leapfrogs everyone on the toddler waiting list and is first in line. So, word of advice, if you have one child you might as well have 2 just to take advantage of the nearly automatic daycare option. So, after January we were out of money with the pieced together Nanny scenario but we are back to somewhat normal for February. Jennifer still comes on Wednesdays and cleans/cooks and takes care of Clara for the day...quite nice.


Sabbatical
Preview of later this year: Steve is going on a 9 month sabbatical. Now that I have tenure I get the big-shot sabbatical. For those of you unfamiliar with such things: http://www.engr.washington.edu/mycoe/faculty/paidproleave.html.  Basically I get to do something that's not normal. We are planning on going to Rome for about 1.5 months in October/November. If you know any contacts there let me know. If you'd like to visit us, please send me your babysitting credentials and hourly rate and we will consider your in the order received. Seriously, let me know if you're going to be in Rome. After that, we will probably be back in Seattle and then off to Hawaii for a month or two. Weeee! 


TTFN,


Steve