Snow

When we woke up this morning, it was snowing. Tommy came down to our room to look out the window and then rushed up to his closet to get his snowboots. When he opened the door, however, he was disappointed that it wasn't sticking. Sigh.

Lizzie is a very good climber. But lacks any concern for her own safety, as is the case with most babies I suppose. She is also responsible for the open cupboards.

And in case any of you were wondering, it has been confirmed by Miss Dipti that Tommy will indeed play Joseph in the nursery Christmas play next week. She also said that he is working very hard with the number rods and she expects him to know all his numbers by the end of term in two weeks.

Merry Christmas

Eli made me join the Bechtel Ladies group which I think would be wonderful if I didn't have kids and could participate in the activities. As I do have kids, though, it mostly results in email forwards. Today, I got two very fun movies. Click here and here if you have time.

Chuck E. Jesus

Last night Tommy and Eli and I were eating dinner and one of us thought to ask Tommy about the nursery school Christmas play (it's coming up on December 9). Eli asked Tommy who he was going to be in the play, and Tommy said, "Tommy." After we explained what we meant, Tommy said he would be "Joseth." After we worked on his pronunciation, I asked Tommy who was going to be Mary. He looked confused until we asked who was going to be the mommy. He told us. Then one of us asked, "and who is the baby?" And he said, "Jesus! Chuck E. Jesus!" And it's true that "Jesus" sounds a lot like "Cheese's."

We had a nice weekend. On Saturday we didn't do much except pick up a package from Auntie Em that was waiting for us on Oxford Street. It was CRAZY on Oxford Street. They had closed down the street though, so there was more room for people to walk. Then on Sunday we went to Gambado in the morning (even Lizzie had a nice time except when she almost drowned in the ball pit) and in the afternoon we went to Sloane Square to see the Christmas lights and look for Christmas tree ornaments. We left all of those in Virginia because we never imagined we would spend Christmas in London, but here we are!

Happy Monday.

And now for a few cute pictures of Lizzie. I didn't have any really cute ones of Tommy on my phone, but I'll take some this week.

Lizzie headed for the ball pit herself. A near miss.

When I leave Tommy and Lizzie in Tommy's room, I often come back to this:

Happy Thanksgiving.

We are all feeling a little bit homesick over here -- the kitchen is quiet and Eli went off to work this morning and Tommy to school. I cannot imagine how it will be at Christmas without any visitors! We hope you all have wonderful dinners and go ahead and eat just a little more for us.

Love,

Laura

Budapest Pictures

These are not in order, because I can't figure out how to move them around.

Here is Lizzie feasting on pickled cabbage:

Here is Tommy at the opera house:

Tommy with Hanh's dog, Boston:

Tommy holding Air Force One in his hand. We lost it later in the trip, and while he really loved that plane, he does not seem to miss it too terribly.

Air Force One again:

From the Buda side, looking over the river:

The best picture we have of Tommy and Eli together. It just kills me it's so adorable.

When a backpack is necessary, Tommy always chooses the one my father was given free on Air New Zealand. Not his fairly expensive organic elephant backpack, or his Dwellbaby backpack.

Lizzie's favorite part of the trip was going after Boston's food and water bowls:

Buda at night.

Halloween -- sorry we're so late

A picture from the Saturday before Halloween -- we were in Trafalger Square after a trip to the Mac Store in Covent Garden. I don't know why I like this picture so much, but I do.

Here's a picture from trick-or-treating. Tommy and I went with his friend Leon (should have an accent over the e). We had a great time.

Budapest

We spent last weekend with Hanh in Budapest. It was wonderful. It felt great to go on a little break (even if it wasn't to the beach). AND, we even had a babysitter on Saturday night so we went out to dinner. Tommy really likes Hanh's dog, Boston, and spent a lot of the weekend winding up the already totally neurotic border collie. The travel days were long, even though it's just a two hour flight, and the other horrible part of the trip was Lizzie's refusal to sleep. She was awful, and Hanh lives in a gorgeous, rather empty flat with really high ceilings and sound roars through. So, if, say, Boston barked or Eli said something to me in a loud whisper, she woke up. I really love to travel with Eli, but frankly, the jury is out on the other two members of my family. We loved seeing Hanh and are so grateful for her hospitality. She was exceptional at hosting a high-energy three-year-old and overtired baby.

Pictures soon.

AN OLD POST I NEVER PUBLISHED

*I wrote this one last Wednesday but didn't get around to publishing it. Tomorrow I'll tell you all about our Budapest trip.*

Here's a sweet one of the Lulabell. Eli took it, of course.

We're busy around here. Today we went to see Santa (aka Father Christmas) at Harrods. Why today? Because it's the only appointment we could get when I signed up a month ago. Tommy had a nice conversation with Father Christmas about eating his vegetables, fighter jets and dinosaurs. Then, we looked around in the toy department at Harrods and Tommy told us he wanted everything he saw. "Oh, Mom! I want that! And that!" You get the idea. Tonight as he went to bed he told me he wants another lego digger. Even though he already has one.

The butterfly...

Sickies

We've been sick around here. Tommy was home last Wednesday and Thursday with a stomach flu. Lizzie had something that was not diagnosed but involved a fever for a few days and then a rash. Eli and I both had something that does not appear to be what either of our children had, but made us both feel just terrible for about 24 hours. Eli stayed home one day last week and one day this week. Here's hoping that we're all through this and won't get hit with something else for quite a while. It's exhausting (and makes me realize that it would not be possible to have another child, because how would one handle the stomach flu?).

Tommy has been offered a place at two different schools, and today I'm in the mood to leave him in his current school (the third option). While one of the schools wants a deposit at the end of November, I'm fairly confident that we can have a place even if I wait a while, so we may end up doing that. Or, we may end up taking that place because it's a happy little school with a nice play area and healthy lunches. I don't know.

We are going to Budapest to visit Hanh next week and we are all looking forward to it. Then, after we leave on Monday, Hanh comes here on Thursday to spend Thanksgiving with us! It was a last minute plan and we are so excited to have her of course. (It is especially nice because we have no Christmas visitors -- this way we'll have someone to celebrate one of the holidays with.) The Budapest flight is just 3 hours and we've been able to find cheap tickets, so hopefully, we'll see a lot of each other. Honestly, it might end up being about equal to when we both lived in DC, given how busy we all get.

Lizzie has cut six teeth now. She sort of saved up all her teething to do at the same time and my goodness it is making her miserable. She is also working very hard on climbing stairs and likes best to practice on the stool that Grandpa Bob made for Tommy. Not the safest place to practice, as it's not carpeted, but sometimes I need two hands in the kitchen and the stool lets me have them (and not have an indignant baby sitting on the floor wailing about how poorly she's treated). Lizzie went to her baby class yesterday. Despite the fact that the substitute teacher's guitar skills are not up to par, she had a lovely time bobbing up and down (dancing, I think) and shaking her shakers. She absolutely loves playing with scarves and gets very animated during that portion of the class.

Tommy is in a little bit of trouble at preschool for rolling up paper into swords and then "fighting" with the other boys. His teacher told me today at pick up that she also had a conversation with him about using his words when he's upset. He doesn't hurt anyone, but when he's frustrated, he pretends like he's going to punch the source of the frustration (yes, normally me). As I reminded him to use his words today on our way to school, he told me he hates all his friends because he is a bad pirate. Sigh.

What Lizzie Knows:

Halloween

Tommy went back to school today. He told me all week that he didn't want to go back to school and that he didn't like school (he recites Chester Racoon's monologue from "The Kissing Hand" whenever I mention school and it's very funny because he even mimics the voice I use for Chester). Anyway, we arrived and he was obviously thrilled to be there and believe me when I say that I was thrilled to leave him there. Tommy wears me out.

We had a fun Halloween. Tommy was Batman and still tells everybody that it's Halloween tomorrow and he's Batman. We went trick or treating in a neighborhood near our temporary apartment, with friends we made in the communal garden. A ton of Americans live there, which is why the trick or treating is so good. It was packed with kids, and some of the big kids had masks on that were pretty scary. The most interesting moment of the evening occurred at the very first house. Tommy rang the bell, shouted "trick or treat" and then ran right on inside. He was so excited that he did not listen to me when I called after him, and so I had to enter the house as well to collect him. It was quite embarrassing, but the elderly British couple were very nice and seemed to understand when I explained that it was his first time ever trick or treating. Obviously, I didn't fully explain the process...

Also on Halloween: Lizzie finally got her first tooth. It's the upper left and my God teething looks painful. She has slept better the past two nights. Which is nice, given the daylight savings hell that we're going through right now. You wouldn't think an hour would matter so much, but when you have your kids on regimented schedules, it's a big deal. Today Lizzie took her first nap from 7:30-8:30 (yep, up right at six), and then couldn't go back to sleep until we got home from preschool and ate lunch, at 1:15. HORRIBLE. And even though she had a decent afternoon nap, she pretty much cried from 5:30-6:45 when she finally passed out. HORRIBLE. All I want for Christmas is no more daylight savings time EVER.

Tonight Tommy was adorable. He put his babies (Tess and Daisy) to bed, "right next to me because they'll be cozy" and then read them stories. He read them Lizzie's stories (board books) because they are babies and those books are for babies.