I'm in LOVE

It's pretty corny to fall in love with a vehicle, but it's especially corny when the vehicle in question is a van. I'm more of an off-road vehicle kind of gal, or a BMW or Corvette woman, or even a cute little VW Bug girl. Sadly, though, I am totally smitten with our "new" ride -- a silver 2003 Odyssey EX-L. It isn't new, but it was well cared for, and it has lots of wonderful bells and whistles: heated leather seats, built-in DVD player, power everything, CD/Cassette/stereo (and a nice one at that), and so much more room than we're used to having. We have definitely lost the nice space in the back that was great for the dogs, and we're not sure how we're going to work that out yet. But it's roomy, easy to use, and it's easy on the eyes. And it didn't break the bank -- it was a chunk of change, but with no financing, we're loving it! And the boys love being able to stretch out and to see everything out the huge windows.

Speaking of the boys, I promised an update on G and A. I'll try to keep it short! G is learning how to ride his bike without training wheels, and is soooo very close!! One ounce more of confidence, and he'll be flying around the yard. He does the monkey bars like a pro now, and there is absolutely nothing that is too high for him to climb. NOTHING. We're seriously thinking of getting him involved in a climbing group. He's totally into anything with Curious George -- very appropriate, I think. He loves games and puzzles, and has started building cities out of his wooden blocks. He's also adding and subtracting, and his reading is progressing steadily. He tends to hide a lot of his progress from us, so I find out what he knows on the sly. Luckily, I'm a sneaky person by nature. :) If I can get our in-laws to stop quizzing him, we'll be golden! My MIL tried to convince me that he was skipping 7 whenever he counted for her, but not only does he not skip 7 when he counts around me, I had to wonder why in the world did she have him count for her??

A is speaking SO MUCH now. He loves to call my mom and brother, or R's parents or sisters and chat. He has the unfortunate habit of just hanging up without saying goodbye when he's finished, but I'm hoping manners will come with time. He is way into sharing everything with his brothers, and loves to play games, especially Candy Land and Tell a Story, with G and K. He also likes to build blocks with G, but when he's finished, everything, including whatever G has built, goes flying. He's counting some, and if you need to find something in the house, ANYTHING, he's the one to talk to -- he can find just about anything, anywhere. Even if it's somewhere he can't reach (and there are literally only about 2 places that he can't reach), or can't get into, he knows what's there.

K sped through 2 volumes of Spiderman (the original Stan Lee, about 20 comics) in about 2 days, as well as a 341 page book in 3 days. He's a reading machine. 2 days ago, he got a Top Secret Adventures package from Highlights. It contains 25 pages of puzzles and codes that you decipher to discover who, what, and where. He's almost finished and can't wait to do another. The country of focus is Japan, and he's starting to learn some Japanese with R (who took Japanese in college, but is wayyyyy rusty now), as well as some cultural/geographical information. We've also been watching some biology and evolution dvds; some lean more heavily towards history, some towards science, and some towards the social impact. It's made for some very interesting conversations!

K has decided that telling children that Santa is real is an "evil, wicked trick." I can't say that I disagree, though my feelings are less intense than his, I think. I've often wondered why people go to the lengths they do in order to keep little children believing in something for so long. There's real magic and beauty all around us -- do we really need to invent it? A story is one thing -- a societal ruse, however well intended, seems to me to be something else.

Ah well, they don't call me the grinch for nothing! (Shhh... don't tell anyone that I've been listening to Christmas music, reading Christmas stories, and planning Christmas food/desserts for 2 weeks now -- it'll ruin my image!)