Christmas Day 9

Mary figured out how to reach the glass ornaments high up.

Thank you to Grandpa R. and to Uncle Justin and Aunt Beezee!

Truly, I'm still not "over" Mary being a typical eater. I have to think so hard about whether John is eating enough nutrients, but Mary just eats what we eat, so I hardly have to give her nutrition a second thought. For breakfast she ate whole grain toast with peanut butter and honey, a whole banana, and a fried egg. For snack she ate a shake of banana, strawberries, whole yogurt, whole milk, and honey. For lunch (at an Epiphany party) she ate ham, green salad, corn casserole, and dessert. For dinner she ate pizza and green salad, followed by a Sunday dessert. Maybe with a few more kids under my belt, I'll get used to all of this normalcy. As it is, John is making good progress and is adding foods to his Food Journal, of which he is very proud.

Epiphany (January 6) celebrates when the Three Wise Men arrived to meet baby Jesus and Jesus as God was made known to the whole world. Today our parish homeschooling group held a party a few days early (on Epiphany observed) and the kids had so much fun. (I don't have many photos because our group's parents have requested that we not take photos of other people's kids, making it very hard to take photos of one's own kids.) When we first arrived, as is typical, the thirty-odd kids (belonging to seven families) simply started running. Running, running, running, with no organization or plan, but utter joy on their faces! John was off like a shot, attaching himself to Big Boys. Mary was off without a second glance and quickly a random eight-year-old girl attached herself as a babysitter/big sister to watch over Mary. After a half hour of unorganized running, we prayed and ate our lovely potluck lunch. Then there were Epiphany-related crafts for those kids interested, followed by free play with basketballs in the gymnasium. I was quite nervous for my kids, especially my two-year-old, to be out amidst 30 children, most bigger, with at least two dozen flying basketballs. But I noticed how all those big kids were acutely aware of little kids and not one single little one got hurt, even amidst Big Boys and Teens running around, throwing balls fast and hard. It was really neat to watch. The kids all seemed so polite. When it was time to put away the sports equipment, Pregnant Me was bending down to pick up something off the floor when a boy about ten raced over saying, "Let me pick that up!"

John says he can't wait till the next get-together.