Dear Family & Friends,
Bob is threatening to write the Christmas letter, so its time to get started. For once I am not stressing over it through Advent. I deliberately decided it was not worth stressing over before Christmas and decided to wait. After all, do I ever finish earlier?
Susan (5.75 years old) started afternoon Kindergarten this fall at our parish school, St. Luke's. Where to send her was the hardest decision we've made as parents. We live in an excellent public school district and have an excellent parish school. We visited both principals and toured both schools. We talked to parents who used both schools and parents who switched children between them. We made lists of pros and cons. The sides were well balanced.
The turning point occurred while watching Susan's first gym show (we started her in gymnastics last spring after she mastered scaling a 6” steel pipe column in our basement). You know how there is always one child who is off in their own little world, having so much fun spinning in circles that they don't notice everyone else is now skipping around the room? That was Susan! We realized she needed a school with a flexible program that would allow her to have fun, absorbed in her own world, and we felt St. Luke's could provide that.
We are very pleased with our choice. I was a little worried as the first day approached. I warned the teacher that she didn't go to preschool. But as we parted that first day, Susan skipped happily into the building without me, and Peter broke down in tears! (He got over it by the end of the block and is now used to the routine.) Susan loves school; her favorite part is playtime, although we learned her day is more than, “pray, play, pray, go home,” as reported those first few days. She's learning her letter sounds, noticing things like the “silent e,” can count to 100, and gets lots of practice writing. Conferences were in November, and the best part, in my opinion, was affirmation from her teacher that Susan wasn't having any problems because she didn't do preschool and that she was probably better off for staying home instead.
Susan is also a budding artist. Our walls are her gallery, and only occasionally her pallet. If she has pen, pencil, crayon, or marker in her hands, she will draw or write. She approaches her art with the same concentration that Just Grandma has for piano and Daddy has for programming. This year she learned how to color in the lines with multiple swathes of color (it is hard to explain - you have to see it to appreciate it); explored bleeding washable marker on paper towels; made bookmarks, wrapping paper, ornaments, paper dolls, and “STOP” Store credit cards (she made up the name - it was the only word she could spell); and crayoned on glass (both the car windows and our brand new windows with freshly painted trim!).
Peter (2.5 years old) loves his sister dearly. He is almost always a willing character in Susan's latest pretend drama, be it school, car crash, fire fighters, or Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus. But he knows how to push her buttons best. I don't know how many times I've heard, “Susan, you're bad!” (usually in response to something done to Peter), followed by, “Aahh (fake cry with whine)! Mom, Peter said I'm bad! I'm not bad, you're bad!” Susan refuses to ignore him, so he keeps on pushing. Back and forth it goes until I can't take it anymore and intervene.
Peter started talking and hasn't stopped. But when Susan says something like, “I don't like sauce!” and Peter follows immediately with, “I don't like sauce!” before either has tried it, we are left to wonder what exactly is happening inside his head. His infectious, somewhat devilish, smile often gets him out of trouble. He's developed a couple of other looks - the stubborn, I'm-not-going- to-do-that look, and the pouty, I'm-not-happy or it's-not-fair look. The last must be genetic; he didn't learn to stick out his lower lip from Susan, and Bob has matured since he last did. Peter uses his hands when he talks like any good Italian. He likes Kielbasa like any good Pole. And while he hates diaper changes, he has no interest in potty training, although he has some control and awareness. When we smell his poop, we ask, “Peter, did you poop?” His answer is an emphatic, “No!” “Then who pooped in your diaper?” “Susan did.” It's a joke!
Bob's family is doing well. Grandma Arrigoni still lives on her own. She occasionally confuses Bob with Guy, but it is better than being mistaken for a dog.
Time with my family felt short this year. My parents brought my Grandma Rawski up to Toledo for a birthday visit in early May, and we eagerly drove to Ohio to spend the weekend with her. We met up again, this time with my parents and all my sisters, brother-in-laws, and Katie's boyfriend Mike, in Fort Worth, Texas, for a short weekend in the middle of July to celebrate Dave and Katy Wampach's wedding. In August we met my parents at my cousin Janice's wedding in Ohio. Katie skipped the Chicago Marathon this October, but it seems we can't keep my parents away from it. We had all my family except Katie visiting, and my parents still got up early Sunday morning to brave the CTA without me and to cheer on a friend's son.
We took a last minute family vacation the week before Susan started school. I wasn't pleased with Bob's timing, given that I asked him about vacation about a month before he decided it was time for one, but I was pleased with the results. We got a rent-a-tent at Interlochen State Park, Michigan. Most of our time was spent in the Sleeping Bear Dunes area and Traverse City. We did the Dune climb. Susan made it much further than I did when I was 6 and my family vacationed there! But we started too late in the day to make it all the way to Lake Michigan. We also learned to kayak. We took two family tours, one on Lake Michigan, with a local who builds his own wooden kayaks. Bob learned first hand how to bail out a kayak.
Bob decided to change jobs this fall. His responsibilities at Gelber changed drastically over his 15 months there. He so disliked it he decided they couldn't pay him enough to stay. He is now programming at another firm. He hasn't had this much fun since grad school. He is much less stressed, and there are no more midnight support calls or weekends in the machine room.
With Bob's late fall job change, we were unable to travel around the holidays. I was hoping to make it to my sister Sarah's Ph.D. graduation December 22, but I didn't want to drive from Chicago and State College and back on my own with two needy kids, and was reluctant to plug them into a borrowed portable DVD player for 10+ hours at a time. It was good we decided to not go. Susan came home sick from school about 1.5 weeks before Christmas. Peter had the same symptoms a couple days later, and then I did the next day. The three of us weren't healthy for a week. Susan recovered in time for a classmate's birthday party, her class Christmas party, and Christmas break. Bob thanks the flu shot for his health. I thank my aunts for planning the Meyer Christmas over New Years weekend, which made it possible for us to attend.
As for me, I finished my continuing education requirements, and the State of Illinois renewed my architecture license for another two years. My parents built the addition I drew for them last year. I still sing in the contemporary choir for St. Luke (as does Bob, and Susan started with the Cherub choir, too). I still cantor for Mass and take occasional voice lessons over the summer. I still Jazzercise a once or twice a week. I am still a La Leche League Leader, and I am taking on the job of editing a quarterly newsletter for Illinois Leaders. I enjoy making Halloween costumes, Christmas ornaments, and special treats for birthdays and holidays.
I'm running out of room but have a few quick one-liners. Susan started loosing baby teeth last spring and has been singing “All I want for Christmas is my one front tooth,” lately. Our digital camera died in the spring. Our hard drive crashed over the summer. We drove to Kansas over the 4th of July to visit Andy and DJ for DJ's birthday. We bought two used bikes and an old trailer over the summer, and replaced our digital camera while on vacation. Bob took up woodworking more seriously this fall and is currently building a bookcase for Susan's room.