I just noticed that in one of the video's below, Nyssa looks exactly like Michael Jackson. Er or, Helena Bohnam Carter in Planet of the apes.








I'll let you decide which.

A spot of bother

Katy was out of town this Saturday so Nyssa and I had to look after Leila by ourselves. I do not have any other story than that. That seems pretty newsworthy to me.

So the three of us spent the morning at our friends Darci and Zach and Oscar's house and then when Zach got worn down and needed a nap we went out to lunch. First we tried The Cafe but there was a 20 minute wait. It was only 11:10am! With a few tears, in my eyes and Nyssa's we headed off to the Stomping Grounds and had a nice lunch, even though our so-called friends Joe and Amy stood us up. at the end of the meal, as we were leaving, this sanctimonious religious lady says about Nyssa or Leila or maybe both, "A real blessing."

I was so angry.

Sweet? Cute? Lovely? Dirty? Fine, it is nice to hear compliments of your children, even from creepy people you would rather not talk to. You have to put up with it. But this wasn't a compliment. This was a dogmatic statement. Did she not think I knew they were blessings? She'd seen me all through lunch, she knew how I cared about them. No, she was not telling me that they were special, but that they had been gifted to me. That what was special about them was not themselves but their being a product of God. She wasn't telling me my children were gifts from God, she was telling me I should be a believer...like the scripture licker (I didn't even know here) she was.

But I didn't say anything. I just left the restaurant, her intrusive comment sticking in my craw. They are blessings! They are! They are!

Like all great comebacks mine came late. I was putting Leila in her car seat and mock-chastizing Nyssa for wiggling on the sidewalk, "I am not wiggling," she said. "Just dancing."

"They are blessings," I told the old biddy in my head, "But not from your God." It was so good, that I almost marched back into the restaurant and told it to her face. By almost I mean I decided to keep the comeback on hold.

Katy took Leila to her 4 month Dr's appointment today and came back to report, "Our child is undersized." Leila is now in the 36th percentile for weight. She is a cute skinny girl. You don't notice anything at first, certainly not in the picture at the left, but it you look at her forearms and thighs you realize that there is not much meat there.
But she is healthy, except for a constantly stuffy nose, and thinking about sitting up. She is also realizing that she has the ability to grab things she wants. Right now she is like a dog, trying to grab everything with her mouth. For those of you who've not seen her, she is a charming and sweet natured girl.

MR. King Loved Fondu

I do not know if that is true or not, but every year Katy and I gather our growing family with the growing families of Nick and Jen Frohnauer and Jessie and Dan Gerhardt and celebrate MLK's birthday with a 3 course fondu supper.
This year we conspired to wear our children out by depriving them of nap-time and taking them to a pretty stinking cool gymnastics studio where Little Jack and Maddy ran and jumped and fell all over themseleves and Little Nyssa picked her way between entertainments. She is to athletics as G-dub is to presidents.
I thought we were risking multiple meltdowns, with screams and tears and a ruined dinner. But instead we gave them a bath:

And sent them off to bed.
In the glow of three children sleeping us parents gorged ourselves on meat and shrimp and tomato's and bread and broccoli and about seven other spectacular cheeseholding items.
But then one little boy woke up...and although he did not join or ruin the desert phase of the dinner...he did later on throw a fit for the ages.
Still, two out of three children sleeping through the night. was better than we deserved.

We were sitting around the other night talking about our neighbor who'd lost one of his dogs a month or so ago. Nyssa wasn't really sure about why Elizabeth was gone, and she wanted Kurt's friend to bring her back, but eventually she asked, "Why do things die when they are old?"
What a great question to answer. What a fun question.

Not that I knew how to answer it, but I sat there and thought for a minute and said, "well, people die so that new things can be born." Is that right? I mean, I don't mean is that the right thing to say--I don't give a crap about that--I mean isn't that why there is death. Out of death life? Especially here in Iowa, all this verdancy is just an excuse to decay, to make mud. I think I am a good father because I wanted to launch into a long description of how life decays and becomes fertile but didn't.

I am also a good dad because I sat next to Nyssa and her man sized poo for 15 minutes as she sat on her practice toilet. it was a mighty stink.

Yesterday Nyssa was walking bare bottomed up the stairs to get ready for bed and farted in my face. "I farted dadda" she said.

We've been potty training for about a week now. It came on as a surprise. But it has been a lot of fun, of course I like nothing more than to talk about poo and pee, but Nyssa is honestly excited about her new abilities. She even has a little dance to celebrate her big girl panties.

Videos

There are three Video's here that will show how far Nyssa has come in the last month+ with her reading. Here, is a nice example of her "reading" her favorite song, fire truck.




In this second video Nyssa is repeating direct lines from the book. She loves these two books about new babies in the house.




Nyssa is really a nice big sister. She is a little rough sometimes, but hardly ever out of frustration. Of course everything will become more competative soon. But right now she sings to Leila and is really interested in having Leila grow bigger. She talks a lot about what she will help Leila learn when Leila grows up (usually things she herself is learning).



She might be young but she's no dumb cookie



This is a good example of what life is like at the Reeder house on an average night.


And now for some Christmas day sledding in the street out front of our house.

Pictures

I've fallen really behind in updating here. The holidays were nice he traveling went much better than is could have. Nyssa really liked seeing her whole family and was really fun. Leila held up well and is getting stronger everyday. So here are a bunch of photos from the last month+.





















In the pre-holiday gift opening Katy and Nyssa model their pretty bows.















Leila is growing and growing and she loves to look at her mommy and smile.





















Leila and her cousin Katie.















Leila with her Grandpa Frank, wearing an outfit sent from her aunties Elizabeth and Amanda
















She's so big she can even use the baby bouncer.




















Nyssa with her baby Stella and diaper changing set.
















We had a nice and relaxing Christmas day. Here is Nyssa wearing one of her big sisters hair bands.
















A Christmas Eve family photo. Obviously this was a staged event, the planning for which started much earlier in the year. But the big news here is that I finally learned how to use the camera timer...after a mere 3 years.















Sitting up like a big girl.



















Nyssa modeling the fancy rain coat her aunties sent from Scotland.



















2 Pretty ladies.















Nyssa is no dumby, after seeing this guy, she new that she wanted Santa to be, "a real man."