Vegetable Soup

My children are way more adventurous with food groups than I was.

Zoe is far pickier than Eleni, but even she outshines my childhood food adventurousness by leaps and bounds.

The girls love to sit on the kitchen counter and "help me cook." This means it takes twice as long to cook anything, because they need to help measure, pour, and stir every step of the way. And of course they need to taste all the ingredients to test them for freshness.

Fortunately, it also means that cooking is twice as fun.

One of their favorites is salt. They love to taste the salt, stick out their tongues, say "ewwww" and ask for water.

And of course the vegetables. No raw vegetables are safe on the counter.

Yes, mom, these really are my children.

In Her Mother's Shoes

I never get enough of toddlers in adult shoes.

My favorite part is the glee on their face while putting them on.

You would think they were stealing a cigarette.

That said, Zoe does not look particularly excited about her mother's shoes at this particular moment.

Good luck, Nana

Zoe and Eleni are busy sending all their good thoughts and extra energy to Nana, who is getting back surgery today.

GOOD LUCK NANA

We love you!

A Christmas like this...

...deserves a round of "The Wave"!

Weird Science

Eleni's hair does this every time she goes down a slide.



Just another reason mommy loves playgrounds.

Hello Nightmares

Zoe had her first validated nightmare last night. By validated, I mean that she told me about it. She started screaming like crazy around 1AM. I went running in because it was different than the usual night fussing. She practically jumped into my arms and kept crying with her head on my shoulder. Then suddenly, she stopped, sat straight up in my arms and announced:

"Birdy hit Zoe."

Damn birds.

Where the money goes

This past weekend, I shelled out $8 so that Eleni and Zoe could take three (3!) consecutive rides on a little ad hoc train ride that went around a track in the circle. I would have paid another $80 just to see that look on Zoe's face (similar one is on Eleni's too, although you can't see it).




This is also why I know that, someday, I will come home and Kostas will have bought them a pony.

It's all in the raincoat

Eleni and Zoe went fishing at the Chicago Children's Museum this weekend.

Note Eleni's expert two-handed-fish-netting approach.

Calling All Angels

It is a little known fact that Zoe moonlights as a cherubim.

Winter Wonderland

I almost decided not to bother taking the girls to Navy Pier's Winter Wonderland this year. I just kind of thought they'd be too young to enjoy it.

I was wrong, wrong, wrong.



I continue to be amazed that humans can construct such large indoor places.

And that we can heat them in the middle of the winter.

It was a kid Christmas paradise.

First up was a ride on the train, which Zoe would have been happy to stay on for the rest of the day. I think we were in the coal car. I think I lucked out because I had some extra headroom





Then we did a few laps up some ramps to a platform that had several toddler-sized slides (there were teenager-size slides there too...we stayed away from those).

Eleni got the "wave at Baba" thing down pretty quickly.



Next the kids went through an inflatable obstacle course. Zoe started crying halfway through so I had to go in afterward. That's me crawling out behind Eleni. This attraction pretty much freaked the kids out...I think that's a "thank crikey I'm out of there" smile on Zoe. I'm wearing one of those too.

The second longest line of the day was for the dragon ride. Nana and Baba waited with the girls for 10 minutes or so and everyone was very well behaved.

I was pretty darn surprised about the whole thing.

Amusement park rides make great photo ops.

I think it's the cartoon colors in a photo-size space. Nana was a trooper, considering she's getting back surgery in three weeks. Go Nana!

My personal favorite was the carousel. This was our second time on, and Zoe and I zoomed out from the line to get the zebra.

Afterward, Zoe tried to convince us that three time's a charm.

The longest line of the day was for ice skating, and lasted over a half hour. Apparently, the ice needed an extra 20 minutes to "dry" after the zamboni was all finished.

I have never ever heard of a "drying" period post-zamboni, and was ready to bag it but Eleni was dead set on ice skating, and she loved the whole 5 minutes I lasted (holding up a 2 year old while ice skating on dull-bladed rented skates is a real back-breaker.

That said, I haven't skated in years and it was magical to do it with one of my girls -- truly my highlight of the day. Zoe took one look at the ice skates and said "no thank you very much" to the whole idea.

All this and the girls were in bed for a nap by 1:30pm.

Not bad, right?

Nana fact # 385

It's never too early to begin appreciating the nose of a fine wine.

Jingle Bells reprise

Eleni and Zoe have not yet received the memo that it's no longer the season for Christmas carols.



Apparently, walking in a circle while mommy and nana sing Jingle Bells is more fun than it sounds, because they would go on for hours if we'd keep singing.

Have I mentioned how fulfilling it is to have two little people asking me to sing all the time?

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009! Don't judge a present by its cover

Because the coverings are waaaaaay more fun.

We saved half the Christmas presents to open with Nana on New Year's Day.

I think would agree that it was a delightful start to the year.