Finally, it's Christmas break! Three weeks of only having one job: Mommy! Okay, two jobs: Mommy and wife. Well, Mommy, wife, housekeeper, cook. Nevermind, I still have eight hundred jobs, teaching just won't be one of them for the next few weeks. Except for my two workdays...you know what? Forget it. There's no such thing as a vacation.
Anyhow, I have been enjoying the last few days with the family: Craig and I have had a chance to catch up on TV shows together, and both of us have spent a lot of time snuggling with/chasing/reading to/building things with Ava. She's still randomly crying in her sleep but usually stops after a minute or so, and it's usually only once or occasionally twice a night: the fact that she's finally got two of her 2-year molars poking through (which means two more on their way soon) could be the reason...but she makes up for it by sleeping until 7-7:30 each morning...woohoo! We've also gone to lunch twice and she's been perfect...just to the Village Deli, but it gives me hope that we could try other places as well. We'll see...we should have a chance to test that theory sometime in the next few weeks. :) I'm LOVING Christmas as a parent right now...we're not getting Ava much right now since she doesn't know any better and has the attention span of a hummingbird on speed, but each of the gifts I've found for her have probably caused more excitement for me than they will for her. As much as I love the Christmas season and everything it entails (except for shopping), it's been hard to really get into some things: I have a wreath on the door and a rather sad looking tree, but that's the extent of our decorations...I just could not get out to do lights or anything else this year. Ava rips the ornaments off of the tree or runs in circles around out, tripping over the cord to the lights and knocking pine needles everywhere (Craig has promised me a nice, big, fake, pre-lit tree next year). I also would really like a sound system for our house, because I love me some classical Christmas music...I usually get my fix in the car thanks to Sirius radio but Ava is insistent on always listening Tom Petty. (She yells, "Tom-tom Petty! Free!" That means Tom Petty, Free Fallin' I guess, but she says the same thing for every song. Her latest favorite seems to be Don't Come Around Here No More...she especially likes yelling out, "STOP!" when Tom Petty says it in the song. HA!) But anyhow, we're looking forward to watching her open gifts, to see if she actually gets it this year.
Ava is still talking up a storm and every day we understand a little more. My favorites right now are when she laughs (or fake laughs) and then says, "That's funny!" Or when she hurts herself and we give her a kiss, she says, "All better!" And her most recent--when we sit down she climbs on our backs, hugs us around the neck, and says, "Hang tight!" Of course we then have to give her a piggy-back ride, but that's okay, it's too cute not to.... :) On a bad note though, she has been slapping me in the face when she's mad or wants me to pay attention to her, which usually just gets her a spanking, so hopefully that turns around soon.
Anyhow, to wrap things up, the last few weeks have been very stressful for a variety of reasons and very sad: a former student of mine who was diagnosed with ALS just about six months ago died on December 9th. Ben was one of my favorite students and one of the nicest people I've ever met. He had such a good heart and will be greatly missed...I'm glad I got to attend a beautiful memorial service in his honor last week. I'm including a couple of videos that were taken before his death because it's just amazing and inspiring that he was able to face his illness with such grace, courage, and faith in God.
