christmas and WAHM Dad

sherpa's christmas treat
yes, sherp gets gifts, too. he was awake before baby e so we let him open some gifts first. *please note that all bags and boxes are recycled year after year. you may see an old gap bag or whatever but do not worry!*

mom's got coffee, babe's got water.

her fave book is "i love my duckling". it's one of those things where we have read it so often that i now just recite it from memory. a practical but fun duck scrubbie for the bath.

aforementioned duck, frog toy that is really a bouncy ball, wooden train whistle that sounds like a train when one blows it, wind up wooden train that was free b/c it lacked a price tag at world market, etch-a-sketch palm pilot thingy that was also free (some lady gave it to ez one night when we were out at tyler's)

vegan lip balms, dr bronner's lavender, avalon organics lavender conditioner *mom made my stocking when i was two*

fire starters, marzipan, navratan korma sauce, our traditional toblerone bar, garam masala spice mix, dried chiles, and butter rum almonds to go with rum and rum or rum and rootbeer or rum and rosa. *mom made andy's stocking when we got married*

she likes wooden trains. my mom sent these to her in the mail. thanks, mom!

the question on people's lips is "how was your christmas?" i don't know how to respond? it was a nice day? i have a lot of responses in my head, but i try to be polite and say, "it was good. how was yours?" but i don't even know what i mean by asking that question and then i start feeling like a phony. what do people really want to know, anyway? Is it still like fourth grade and we want to know what cool gifts our loved ones with money gave us? I did ask my friend, "did you get any good loot?" she is a pirate so i try to speak her language. so, my chirstmas day was uhnhm...good.

mostly, i liked getting an overdose of hubby time. I wish he could work from home every single day. i like days when he doesn't have to leave the house for work. i am so into our together time. but i know something about him...he starts to go stir crazy if we don't do stuff outside of the house. i want to convey this thing about him in a way that doesn't make him seem like a meanie. it's not that he doesn't like spending time just hanging out or one-on-one time with his fam. he just needs stimulation in various forms. Mainly, he needs to interact with a variety of people and within changing scenery. he really cannot sit still, pet the dog, read and interact with babylove for an extended period of time before his head starts swelling up with boredom. not that those things are boring, really. they are just hard for him to stay in the moment with. plus, the romantic image of lounging on the sofa absorbing written words, one hand petting the quiet puppy and a contended baby playing silently on the floor is soooo not what is usually going on around here. our large dog (120 pound rottie) is usually ramming and charging his ass into the just-learning-to-walk baby; she does handle it well and usually lands on the floor with a laugh. Even though big dog is gentle with her, he never looks behind him when backing up and that's when she takes a tumble. When the dog is not mauling her (98% of the time), they play tug of war or trade off chasing each other's toys. This leads to one parent or both yelling, "drop it!" when dog face begins to rip apart a plastic toy/stuffed animal or splinter one of the millions of wooden trains around here. (Baby love has already said "drop" b/c she hears us say it so freakin often.) There is no possible way to focus on a sentence in this sort of situation, you understand. Thus, no relaxin around the house is really happening on his days off or his work from home days. Regardless, the sound of dad and babe playing in the tub at lunchtime (happening as i type) makes a flexible work schedule worth the chaos of staying home (IMHO, at least).