March Madness, Year-Round

In honor of March Madness, I'll take a break from the (gradual) holiday catch-up to talk about basketball mania at our house. Obviously they've been exposed to the sport living in our house, but I wouldn't say we've pushed it on them. Nevertheless, they've both developed what can only be described as a passion for it. And it's started early--you may remember that Myla had a basketball theme for her 2nd birthday party, and at the same age Luke seems to be developing the love.

Last year I took Myla to a couple of the ND women's basketball games, and she really had fun, so this year we bought season tickets. She has to be one of their biggest fans (or at least have one of the highest enthusiasm-to-age ratios). Her favorite player is Natalie Novosel, and she loves to get dressed up for the games and cheer them on like crazy. During the introductions, she gets so worked up I'm afraid she's going to pass out. And all through the game, she'll yell "Defense," "Go Irish Go," or even "Boo Huskies!" at exactly the right moments.

Here she is before the UK-ND women's game in December, the only game for which her loyalties were divided:


Luke got Myla a regulation-sized basketball (but in pink and purple) for Christmas, and it's one of her favorite possessions:



Given her enthusiasm, we decided to sign her up for Pee Wee Basketball with South Bend Parks & Rec. Imagine eight 3- or 4-year olds trying to dribble, shoot, pass, and even play one-on-one. It's chaos, but lots of fun for the kids. And to my surprise, Myla's skills have improved so much in just six weeks. At the start, she couldn't dribble the ball three times in a row. But she practiced and practiced at home (on her own, without us telling her to), and now she can dribble with both hands. I've counted her at over 20 times without losing the ball. She has also gone from not being able to do anything that even resembled shooting, to above 50% field goal percentage on our Little Tikes goal. It's great to watch her practice something and see it pay off.

Luke loves the round ball as well. In fact, their biggest disagreements are fights over the basketball, and what height the Little Tykes rim should be.

Finally, here are some more basketball-related anecdotes:

* Pop came for a visit and took Myla to a game. Afterwards, Nana was asking her about what happened, and Myla shook her head and said "Too many turnovers."

* Luke probably says a dozen words reliably and understandably (though he'll repeat or occasionally say lots of others). But one of the first is his version of "ba-ball" for basketball. And I swear his first two-word phrase was "bounce pass" (we'd been working on it with Myla).

* Myla sees John Calipari on TV and says "Coach Cal! He's the best coach." She even said he's better than Muffett (the ND women's coach), and that's something coming from her.

Faux Christmas Eve 2011

Before we left for Kentucky for Christmas, we had our annual Christmas Eve/Day in South Bend. We ask Santa to come to our house a few days early since we'll be traveling on Christmas (and he's happy to oblige, since that gives him one less house to hit on his busiest night!).

Here are some pictures from our Christmas Eve, when we made cookies to put out for Santa. Luke got to help this time!

Then it was time for the reading of "The Night Before Christmas." Myla loved it, Luke not so much.

After Luke went to bed, Myla put out the cookies. She paid a lot of attention to detail--she wanted it to be just perfect for him. She also dictated a letter (though she wrote "Santa" and "Myla" herself).

Carrots and oats for the reindeer, too:

Then the presents finally went under the tree, ready for Christmas morning!

Christmas Program 2011

Early in December, the kids' day care held their Christmas program. This year, they decided that even the one-year-olds would participate, so Luke was in it too. You can see from the photo how that went . . . the teachers sang while the kids did whatever they wanted. Luke chose to wander precariously close to the edge of the stage. And here he is picking up a jingle bell that fell off a prop (a.k.a. a choking hazard). But he looked handsome!

Soon it was time for Myla's class. This performance ranks up there as a favorite parenting moment so far. The kids were adorable, Myla especially (am I right?). :) They started to sing their songs, which we'd been hearing around the house for over a month. But Myla had never treated us to the gestures that went along with them. The best part was during "Santa had a Christmas Tree," when the kids were supposed to shake their bellies and shout "Ho ho ho ho ho!" As you can see in the picture below, Myla shook her belly like her life depended on it! And she was really the only one who did, which made it funnier. I wish I could post the video, but it's pretty long so I haven't been able to.

I was so proud of her. She can be shy, so I wasn't sure she'd like it. But she was the star (in my view), and it was clear that she really paid attention to her teacher, followed the directions, and remembered what she was supposed to do. Good girl!

Thanks also to Nana, Pop, Grandma, Baw Baw, and Uncle Andrew, who drove 4-5 hours each to see a preschool Christmas program. That's some devoted grandparenting and uncling (?) right there.

Blazejewskis' December Visit

Here are some fun shots of the kids playing with the Blazejewskis when they came to visit in December. I think Andrew likes the train/lego table as much as Myla and Luke do!

In that last shot, you can see that Myla still has her killer eyelashes. People still stop us in public to comment on them all the time.

Makin' Cookies (Melted Snowmen)

One of my favorite Christmas activities is making cookies, and I loved that this year Myla was old enough to really help me. She loved it, and I was really impressed with how hard she worked!



Luke wanted in on the action too (yes, he's wearing Myla's tennis shoes and no pants).



The best part: decorating!


The finished product--melted snowmen. These were easy and fun, a great cookie to make with kids!

More Chicago

Here are a few more pics from our trip to Chicago. In the first one, we are getting ready to hit the hotel pool. AT 7 IN THE MORNING. The kids were up early b/c of Central Time, and the pool was open, so . . . swimming it was! If you ever wondered why a hotel pool would open that early, now you know.